Returning to the big apple

New York, the big apple. I was the luckiest in the world when I put my feet there again for the first time in a couple of years in May this year. Just walking out of the plane after a ten hour ice cold flight from Honolulu seeing the skyline of Manhattan in the far away was fantastic. New York, the city where dreams are made come true.

I always take the train to Manhattan and this was the case also this time. A quick stop at the hotel to leave our bags and then off for a luxury day in the city. Both me and my friend had been there many times so we pretended to live like locals for this stay. First we headed to our favorite brunch place, The Butchers daughter near Chinatown. We both aimed for their avo toast but our minds weren’t up to date so we mixed up where the best avo toast’s in NYC were to be found so we got a bit disappointed. The food was great though but damn, it was now very expensive compare to the last visit. Worse exchange rate, raise of prices due to Covid and with tip we paid 40$ each. For a avo toast and smoothie. Worth it but not worth it. After spending a long time at the outside terrace watching people we walked to Starbucks to grab a coffee before heading over to Brooklyn.

Like a local in NYC

I absolutely love walking over the bridges in NYC. We took Manhattan bridge on the e way over to get a view of Brooklyn bridge. At Brooklyn we stopped by at the water for relaxing and taking some pictures plus of course enjoy life. Our plan was to not walk to much but we already accounted for 15K steps.

We made our way back to Manhattan trough the famous wooden bridge and there wasn’t to many people. Tourist season had not yet took of and it was a regular workday. None of us were in shopping mode so we didn’t went to many stores. Just a few ones on our way up north. Next goal in mind was Union Square. When we got there it was not that nice anymore and had turned to a large meetup point for homeless people and other smoking pot so we didn’t stayed.

Next stop were our favorite burger place, Shake Shack at Madison square park. This places is fantastic. Best burgers and best outdoor seating. A must in NYC. We had a late lunch there and relaxed our tired legs a wile.

New York has changed a bit during Covid. I felt there were a lot more homeless people now comparable to in the -90s and also you could feel the smell of weed everywhere. Apparently it became legal end of 2021 which explains it but if felt like you smoked yourself after passing so many smokers.

The famous walk High Line became our next goal. It was the same as always and very enjoyable. But not for us this time because we were in bad need for a toilet so we ran though it all and finally found one close to the next sight we had scheduled a visit to. The Vessel. It is a newly built mall and construction which was really nice. It didn’t felt that New Yorkish but more Asian though. They had a large outdoor seating area where you could watch tennis at a large screen this day and a promo event for champagne.

Next must do on our luxury New York day was a rooftop bar visit. My friend Readyfortakeoff recommended the bar Margeretaville so we headed there for a cocktail and a great view during sunset. A NYC must and the place was also recommendable.

At this point it was both dark and we had walked our 30K steps with addition but still took us to Times Square to see the neon lights. No visit without at least walking by it once. Then we called it a day and took the metro home. One new thing with the metro was that you could blip the card instead of purchasing a ticket from the machine. So convenient.

New York post Covid was same same but not the same. Quite a few new high rise buildings had popped up, it was way more expensive and the amount of homeless people and problems in the society could be well reflected. I hope they will be able to take care of these welfare problems before it will be to late.

Have you been to NYC before and after covid? what was your impression?

/ Pernilla that got her NYC ´dose of 2022