New York City, home of pizza, subway, and fashion. The big city has over 60 million visitors annually. With beautiful views of tall urban buildings and food locations literally everywhere, this bustling city is a must-visit for all! I’ll be recounting my journey during my three days in New York. The sites we visited on our trip include Manhattan, Brooklyn, and more!
DAY 1: july 16, 2021
ARRIVAL & KTOWN
My friends and I departed from Bethesda, Maryland on a FlixBus. The total bus ride was about five hours. From the bus stop, we walked to our hotel: Even Midtown East Hotel.
KOREATOWN
After checking into our room and unpacking, we decided to head to Korea Town. Korea town was only a 10-20 minute walk from our hotel. I loved Korea town, it was just bustling with life at night. Bright and colorful vinyl signs of restaurants, foreign scents floating adrift in the humid New York air, rapid chatter from different friend groups, and huddles of young adults looking for good food to eat or clubs to party at. For dinner, we decided to eat some traditional Udon at Udon Lab. We were considering iconic Kbbq but we were just starving looking for a place opened without reservations required. Udon Lab caught our eye with their cute vinyl sign and their lack of long lines unlike some of the other restaurants on the block.
We went to Grace Street afterward for some bingsoo. Grace Street is an iconic cafe known for its beautiful and tasty bingsoos. Although there was a line trailing outside the store, it went by very quickly because of their quick service and system. Inside there were a lot of people, very loud. But wow, the bingsoo was so good.
DAY 2: july 17, 2021
MET MUSEUM + ROOFTOP
On the second day of our 3-day trip, we decided to do more exploring. Early in the morning, my friends and I started our embark to Remi Flower & Coffee where we tried the infamous flower-infused coffees. I opted for a Lavender latte. Remi Flower & Coffee is a gorgeous small store that was only a 5-minute walk from our hotel. My latte was pretty good, I accidentally sucked up all the lavender sweetener, leaving the bitter latte to fend itself. Unfortunately, I dislike coffee without any sweetness, so not my favorite. After a quick coffee stop, we decided to eat brunch at Bistango on our way to the MET.
MET MUSEUM
The line for the MET museum was extremely long at first, but because of the museum’s quick system of checking people in, it went by quickly. Definitely highly recommend a visit to this place. There are many floors and exhibitions of art. It ranges from sculptures and pottery to murals and self-portraits. Some of the work date as far back to the 1400s. A story behind every pot, every coin, every mural, every piece of work. You can see the famous works of some of the most well-known artists such as Claude Monet and Vincent Van Gogh. The whole tour of the museum lasted about two hours before we decided to go home.
CITY EXPLORING & ROOFTOP
We decided to walk around the city and go down to Times Square. We’d occasionally enter stores and explore the different goods they had. I definitely recommend setting a time to just explore the city without a specific agenda. After browsing the various stores in the area we settled on eating at ilili. ilili is a beautiful Mediterranean restaurant with a modern urban vibe. After eating we walked even further and stumbled across the Castell Rooftop Lounge. The lounge was part of the hotel. Although the inside was closed because of a private event, the staff allowed us to go to the outdoor deck. Because it rained earlier that evening, there was practically no one on the deck. We decided to take pictures of the cityscape! It was a beautiful view that we were able to access for free.
DAY 3: july 16, 2021
SOHO + CHINATOWN
SOHO
After packing our bags we ventured down to Soho using the metro. It is such a beautiful city. Lined along the streets are the homogenous architecture of apartment and store buildings echoing throughout. The beautiful architecture paired with the colorful accents in the buildings truly made Soho what it is. Soho also had an amazing array of stores ranging from high-end boutiques to famous chains. The variety is remarkable and a must-visit for any fashion lover. My friends and I decided to visit NoMo Hotel, known for its garden arch walking into the building. It is a beautiful scene that we just had to take pictures of!
CHINATOWN
There was one thing I refused not to try before leaving. Dim Sum Soup Dumplings. After packing our bags we ventured down to Chinatown using the metro. Chinatown is such a beautiful city full of culture. The streets are bustling with life, ranging from vendors selling knock-off versions of watches and luxurious bags to flute piping buskers playing songs for pocket change. Colorful lanterns hung from above streets as well as various posters in Mandarin hung upon the different walls.
We originally wanted to visit Nom Wah Tea Parlor, but due to the crazy long line, we couldn’t. We were essentially on a time crunch because of the other landmarks we wanted to hit before leaving. We settled for Shanghai 21. The wait was much shorter for this restaurant. Within fifteen minutes we were quickly seated by the waitress. There, we ordered soup dumplings, scallion pancakes, and stir-fried noodles. It was all SO delicious. Best soup dumplings I’ve ever had in my entire life. Definitely will be back.
BROOKLYN BRIDGE
Before departing home we wanted to hit one last stop: Brooklyn Bridge. The Brooklyn Bridge is a popular tourist attraction known for its symbolism. Being a large infrastructure connecting Manhattan to Brooklyn, this bridge is iconic and commonly seen in many shows or movies. The walk up to the bridge was treacherous and long. After trudging for hours by foot, the walk up to the bridge felt like a huge obstacle. This was definitely not my favorite as I’m not a fan of heights. But the beauty of its architecture is jaw-dropping.
To view more of my pictures from New York, check out my other blog post documenting our trip in photos!