A day in the life of a Newyorkcitytripper in New York City ... follow in our footsteps on a Friday-the-thirteenth route!
05:52 am: so much for our first night at the Z-Hotel in Long Island City. It is Friday the thirteenth and our goal is to stay in bed until 7 am. We've both been awake for some time now and it's still early. But what else is new? We've opened the curtains and are looking at the skyline of Manhattan. Wow. What a view. On our left are the Empire State and the Chrysler Building and to our right is the Queensboro Bridge. With which I have a special relationship with since the New York marathon.
06:45 am: Rise and shine! We pick our outfits for the day, jump in the shower and take the stairway down. Because, well...we almost always take the stairs in New York. Luckily we're on the 10 floor. By the time we've reached the breakfast room we're pretty hungry. There's enough to choose from. We decide to go for a light breakfast. Toast and jam.
08:50 am: We get on the shuttlebus. Great service of the Z-Hotel. We chat away with our driver Raymond and before we know it we've reached the final destination; 59th street in front of H&M across from Bloomingdales. Surrounded by the wellknown sounds of NYC streetlife. We're on our way to a tour through Carnegie Hall. But way too early. Across from the street is The Gap. We might as well take a quick look. 45 minutes later we're back outside. With some shirts and a backpack. Next stop: Bloomingdales. We check out the Kiehls section and the cool motorcycle in the men's department.
Time for a coffee break. Magnolia Bakery, here we are! We leave the cupcakes for what they are. Eventhough they look delicious. We leave with a coffee to go in our hands and walk past Central Park to 7th Avenue.
11:30 am: We're in line for our tickets to tour Carnegie Hall. Not much later our tourguide Elliot welcomes us. He sure knows how to tell the story!
1:05 pm: Lunchtime! We just cannot decide what to get in the deli close to Carnegie Hall, on 57th street. Just past the Russian Tea Room. Shall we get a cold lunch? A hot lunch? Or a combination? We end up going upstairs with some good stuff. And see that the place is pretty full with people having lunch. With their eyes on their phones or in the newspaper.
1:35 pm: "Tall skinny latte for Daffine" we hear at the Starbucks.
2:00 pm:"Shall I get this one or the other?" Esther asks me at Tiffany's. "This one" I answer. She decides to go for the other. As we walk downstairs we totally agree: Tiffany's is not what we had expected. It is a little bit outdated.
2:23 pm: What kind of store is this and how come I've never heard of it before? Henri Bendell. Known for the brown and white stripes. On everything. I just fell for the castiron fence and handpainted New York skyline wallpaper which I saw on the upper floor.
3:53 pm: We walked through Central Park and are now at the Guggenheim. Which has been on our list for quite some time. We are not going to run through this museum with our usual "been there done that" attitude. Nope. We are really going to check out this museum. On our own. We'll see eachother back at the entrance, when we're ready.
4:15 uur: I'm on my way back down and see Esther sitting there. We both have to giggle. Well....art is a weird thing. The Guggenheim is great but the exposition that was on ("On Kaware - Silence") was not our cup of tea.
4:52 pm: Chears partner! We are at the Loeb Boathouse enjoying our 10 dollar a piece beers. Which we've totally earned.
5:49 pm: We see lots of people skating at the Wollman Rink in Central Park. But we're freezing and make our way towards Pazza Notte where we'll be meeting friend J and his girlfriend M who just so happen to be in New York this weekend. Pazza Notte was recommended to us by the barkeeper at the Loeb Boathouse and it turns out to be a hotspot. The bar and restaurant is packed with people. The atmosphere is real good.
8:21 pm: Three Blue Moons and some snacks later we're back outside. With ringing ears and weird voices. Why do you always need to talk so loud in New York restaurants/bars?
8:37 uur: TAXIIIIIIII Esther yells,while sticking her arm in the air very nonchalanly. It is cold and we don't feel like waiting for the Z-hotel bus to come pickk us up. We just want to go. It's been a great first day.
21:32 uur: "Enjoy guys" barkeeper Dave says as he hands us our hamburgers with sweet potatoe fries. We are back at the Z-hotel and had decided we should eat something. How great if you don't need to hit the streets again for some food. Day one is almost history. It's been great.
So far for Friday-the-thirtheenth = bad luck. We don't fall for that anymore. No way.
