USA Day 2: New York

I'm an Englishman in New York

Well, a Scottish woman but I'll let Sting take the title of day 2. The second day was probably my favourite part of the New York trip. Starting with breakfast, the hotel provided us with a buffet, so I took it upon myself to try everything. I started with the waffle machine, and had a hot waffle with maple syrup and whipped cream (how American!). Then I opted for a bagel, with proper American streaky bacon (I told you I was trying everything, even if it meant 800 calories before 9am). It was, truly the best bagel I have ever had, possibly also the only bagel, but where better to have your first bagel than New York?  I can truly say American bacon trumps British bacon, sorry UK.

The first stop of the day was the Brooklyn Bridge, I know, straight into the top attractions. It was just as amazing as it looks in the films. Seeing it on the big screen all your life makes it all the more crazy to be standing on it.

The exact scene that came to my head was the one from 'Sex and the City', where Miranda and Steve decide to meet on the bridge, and if they both show up, they'll get back together. They both do, and run across the bridge the second they see each other.

After that, we didn't really have a plan, so we just wondered around New York, just going wherever took our fancy. As we got up and out of the hotel early, we didn't worry about time, we had the whole day ahead of us to explore.

We ended up walking through City Hall, before heading through Wall Street. Then we wondered through Battery Park, where we could see the Statue of Liberty in the distance.

After wondering around New York City for hours, we made our way to the 'World Trade Centre' and the 9/11 Memorial. Where the twin towers use to be, there's a memorial waterfall, with the names of all the victims round the side.

I saw a sign that stated that roses were placed upon victims’ names on their birthdates. Looking around I noticed multiple roses. It was truly heart-breaking and you felt the loss around you, but it was also inspiring, to see everyone coming together and being respectful, in sharing each other’s pain.

That was the first time I felt a sense of true togetherness in New York, there is such a strong bond between people and their city. If I’m being fully honest, I’m not sure if I would have gone to the museum, if my mum hadn’t insisted. She really wanted to go and it was on her New York to do list, and honestly? I’m so glad it was, because I spent hours in the museum, my family even lost me for a large period of time. I was utterly captivated by the whole experience, and found it certainly emotional in many ways. It was fascinating and informative, but also truly saddening, to hear from real people about their experiences. That was something I thought was really important, because as upsetting as it was, it all happened, and it’s important to educate ourselves and realise the true extent of how dreadful it was.   

The museum itself takes you through a timeline of the whole day, of the 11th of September 2001. It featured videos, as well as some voice messages, some of which not available to the public. There were also loads of items retrieved from the scene, from women’s shoes to parts of the building. I stood beside a woman, who turned to her friend and said “I just don’t know why he was in the building at that time”. The whole experience was so powerful. I spoke to another two women, who were just streets away at the time of the first buildings collapse. The streets were flooded with white dust. They both reminded each other of when they just had to run, not knowing where to go or what was happening. I’d honestly tell anyone that if you go to New York, go to the 9/11 Memorial Museum. I also found it remarkably heroic, the way people came together at the time, not knowing their own fate, but in the moment putting the lives of others first, saving as many lives as they could. A lot of firemen were warned the building would collapse, but they still risked their lives, and many of them passed away, dying as heroes. I found the whole experience breath-taking and I believe it’s a definite New York must.

After the museum, we headed through Chinatown, and stopped at a restaurant in Little Italy for some pizza. We didn’t eat out much because, as you’d expect, New York is pricey, but if you go you’ve got to expect that. As a 20 year old, I didn’t experience much of the nightlife, as the drinking age in the US is 21, compared to 18 in the UK. Most nights, we ended up just going back to the hotel and snacking on our snacks from the grocers -> chips and dip, and if I was feeling particularly unhealthy, a honey bun. The sugar was definitely much needed after all the walking though! 

Lazy Sunday Girl 💜x