Our last day of the three days my sister and I spent in New York City was a Friday. This was the day we were going to see my niece dance. She’d be in a final performance after a two week summer dance intensive workshop. Knowing she was going to be in New York was the reason my sister invited me on the trip to begin with. I am so proud of my niece and I’ll always be grateful to have had a super cool reason to go to New York City.
Seeing things like the Statue of Liberty and Hamilton yesterday, I was still on a bit of a high. We had done so much in our last two days, I was okay with whatever else we could possibly fit in. But finally getting to the day I’d see her dance on Broadway… it was like adding sprinkles and sparklers on the cake I’d been icing the last two days.
If you missed any of my previous posts, catch up here:
New York City in 3 Days: Itinerary & packing for frequent or infrequent travelers
New York City Day 1: Central Park, MOMA, Time Square, Grand Central Station, Broadway & more
New York City Day 2: First time on a Subway, Statue of Liberty, Wall Street, 911 Memorial, Hamilton & more
Breakfast Day 3: Coffee in room, protein bars, fruit from home.
After I found what worked for me, I repeated it. The quick breakfast fueled me enough, and saved money and time. Plus, my sister said there would be options to buy great food where we were headed.
Chelsea Market
My sister really wanted to take me shopping at the Chelsea Market. To be really honest, I had no idea what it was. But I was in the follow the leader kinda mood and she’s got great taste. Forward we marched to the subway.
By day three riding the subway felt more like the expected thing to do. I hesitate to say I was getting the hang of it though. She was still doing all the navigating, and I knew to keep up and stay close. I had switched back to my comfy sandals I had worn on our first day. Rotating shoes helped since we were doing so much walking. But a lot of the time it wasn’t the amount of walking, but our pace at which we were doing it. Today we could slow down just a bit, and I appreciated that.
Chelsea Market is indoors. It’s very clean and well maintained and full of specialty shops, as well as has an artist vendor area. There was visible security around too. I felt 100% safe. Actually, there wasn’t a time during our travels I felt unsafe. I think that’s important to share. Our Central Park pedicab guide on our first day had mentioned areas to avoid. My sister knew this as well, and I was trusting her prior knowledge and our instincts all the time.
I loved the flower shop where I also bought a little gold snail with a faded green velvet pin cushion. (pictured below) Five little white pearl topped pins were poking into the snails shell, which was the pin cushion. It just jumped out at me. Some things will do that, and this did. Later it reminded me of the opposite of our pace in New York. But also the story of how the turtle wins the race, finishing before the rabbit. It’s not always how fast you go that matters. All that from a snail pin cushion? Yup. I don’t even regularly sew. Small enough to wrap and pack in my suitcase, home with me it went.
I also got a few art prints from a couple of New York City artists:
Lunch Day 3: Los Tacos No. 1
My sister wanted to wait until noon for a ramen type bowl with kale I believe it was. I wasn’t so sure I wanted that, and I wasn’t wanting to wait to eat. Plus after sharing the egg and kale breakfast bowl after sprinting to get to our boat tour, to then feel a little off on the boat… I had enough kale for a while.
Like I mentioned at the end of my last post, following the locals can be helpful, full of hints to stuff you just gotta try. I saw a line forming next to us at a Mexican restaurant counter. It was still relatively early for lunch, but we wanted to plan ahead to see what we wanted. I decided I was ready to eat, especially because I love Mexican. I quickly googled the restaurant, and it turns out they had been rated as one of the top places for tacos in New York. I told my sister I was getting in line. She started to place an online pick up order for her food that we could get on our way out.
I got two tacos. You could choose flour or corn. I got one of each. One taco had steak and the other chicken. The one with chicken was called a quesadilla, but it wasn’t like the quesadillas I’d ever seen. It looked like a taco, but had the melted cheese on top. When I paid I got a ticket. Then I moved over to the counter where they confirmed my order and asked if I wanted certain toppings. I passed on the spicy salsa and onion. I got the green sauce they called guacamole and cilantro.
Five stars and two thumbs up from Annie.
Sitting and eating the tacos confirmed why they are so highly recommended. I’ve had a lot of tacos, but these were unique and so so good. I enjoyed them each equally.
High Line, next time
Before we left that morning, we had asked for a later check out. By the time my sister got her order, 1PM was fast approaching, and so as soon as we could we bolted to the subway. We ended up going a little past 1:00 in the room because she wanted to take a moment to eat her lunch at the table. She loved her meal too. A lot.
She had wanted to take me to the High Line, but we had to make a choice in order to get back to our hotel in time. Plus, we needed to meet up with my niece before her show. We were able to check our bags with the bellhop at the hotel for only $5 a bag. They would hold our luggage until we came to pick it up later that night.
Dance Shows on Broadway (uptown)
My sister got tickets to both the matinee and the evening shows so we could see her daughter dance twice. We were still on Broadway, but way uptown. It’s so amazing she can now say she’s danced on Broadway. What an accomplishment and experience for her.
Afternoon Coffee Day 3: Charlotte Cafe
After the first show we had some time and I was feeling a little afternoon lull. The coffee shop across the street looked good. I’d been go go going almost three days straight now, and I knew we still had a good portion of our day left. It had a nice little outside area we sat at for a bit with our beverages of choice.
Dinner Day 3: Manhattan Diner
I love brunch food. Maybe you’ve read my story Sunday Brunch with Rose? I found a classic diner just across the street from the coffee shop I wanted to try for dinner. My sister probably could have stayed at the coffee shop longer but together we went. I ordered familiar comfort food and it hit the spot. We sat at the counter and I loved it. Afterwards we watched the evening dance performance.
Bryant Park, NYC Public Library, Empire State Building
There’s always going to be stuff you miss. It’s a great reason to go back to somewhere. We took the subway back to our hotel after the dance show to get our luggage. We then walked instead of taking the subway to meet up with my niece. She was getting her luggage from the place she was staying. On our way we passed Bryant Park, which my sister said has good hotdogs. I could smell them. Next time, I thought. We also passed the New York City Public Library. She had visited it the week before when she was on her own after dropping off my niece. Then she pointed out the Empire State Building (pictured below). It was visible from where we waited to catch an Uber to our hotel. My sister wanted us to stay close to the airport because we had a really early flight. It was an excellent idea.
The city that never sleeps
As we passed through the Holland Tunnel, under the Hudson River to Jersey City, the hum of the tires was beginning to break me out of the high alertness I’d been in the last 3 days. Looking back towards the city lights, I actually felt a real sense of accomplishment for myself. No I hadn’t danced on Broadway like I thought I might have some day. But I’d made it to see three shows on Broadway, one of which my niece was in. I’d seen a lot of New York City. I’d kept up. AND I knew I’d be getting little sleep that night, but after just visiting NYC it felt right.
Out of the three days of NYC travel stories, does one particular adventure stand out? Leave a comment below.
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