NYC Trip 2017

Ever since I went to New York City eight or nine years ago, I have wanted to make a trip back. NYC is such a magical place. I had so much fun exploring the city with my mom, my brother, and my brother's friend. We ate some delicious food, walked until our legs ached, and experienced things you can only experience in New York City!

This NYC trip was actually organized by someone who works with my mom. So, we all got up at the crack of dawn and got on a bus to take us to the city! It was nice because we got to watch a few movies on the bus to pass the time. It was also nice because we left so early that we actually got to watch the sunrise! I got some beautiful pictures of the changing sky throughout the four hour drive. As much as I hated getting up before five AM, seeing the sunrise was definitely worth it.

One of my favorite parts of the city was just walking around in amazement at the enormous, beautiful buildings all around us. It was so incredible to see the beautiful architecture that makes up New York. It was just as beautiful lit up at night, but unfortunately I didn't get any good pictures of that. I hate the crowds and the traffic, but living in the city might be worth it to me if I got to see those beautiful buildings every day!

Walking into the Disney store was an absolute dream come true. The decorations were beautifully done and the store really reflected all of my favorite things about Disney! My favorite parts were the gorgeous castle decorated with Christmas ornaments and the stairwell painted like the lantern scene from Tangled! Tangled is my all-time favorite Disney movie so that was so cool for me to see. As much as I wanted to buy everything in there from t-shirts to mugs, I stopped myself so I wouldn’t spend all my money in one store.

Did you know that NYC has an entire store dedicated to M&Ms?? I didn’t know that, but I think it is so funny! I love those delicious chocolate pieces as much as anyone, but you should have seen the amount of M&Ms merchandise in that store! There were t-shirts, tumblers, and packs of assorted M&Ms. The floor was even made to look like a bunch of M&Ms had melted into it. It was so cool to see the creativity and fun that went into that store! It reminded me of Hershey’s chocolate world here in PA.

I don’t think I have ever been so excited to step foot into a building as I was to walk into the NY Nintendo Store. Anyone who knows me knows I love all things Nintendo, from Mario & Luigi to Pokémon. I unfortunately didn’t get to spend as much time as I would have liked to in this store because we were running a little late for another activity. If I am being honest, I could have spent hours in this store looking at all the plushy toys and Mario & Luigi statues. My favorite part of the store was Mario on the pole. That is such a classic part of all of my favorite Mario games!!

Food!! I was so excited to experience some of the amazing food NYC has to offer. We were pretty hungry when we arrived in the city, so the first thing we did was look for somewhere to get breakfast. We stumbled upon a Hard Rock Café, which I haven’t been to in years. I love the idea of this restaurant because I can really appreciate the history of music. I have plenty of musicians in my family who would have really enjoyed this as well! For lunch, we actually ended up picking up some food from a food truck. I have always loved the idea of food trucks, and it is such a fun thing to experience while in the city! There was a little Godiva chocolate shop tucked into one of the floors of Macys, and I had to take some pics! My family has always loved Godiva chocolate and it was exciting to see it in shop-form. Last, but definitely not least, we ended the day at a pizza shop. It was pretty upscale for a pizza place, but that meant my mom and I could enjoy a couple of glasses of wine before we called it a day. It was sooo nice to have a nice glass of Riesling after nonstop adventuring all day.

As soon as Thanksgiving is over (or before Thanksgiving even starts), I am more than ready for Christmas! I absolutely LOVED all the beautiful Christmas decorations in the city. My mom and I explored Macys. We didn’t buy a single thing, but we went crazy for all of the Christmas décor in there! There was an entire floor in Macys dedicated to Christmas, and I was in absolute heaven! There were such amazing Christmas tree displays in there! My favorite was the one decorated with wine, beer, and champagne ornaments. It made me laugh. I also loved seeing the Christmas decorations outside. When my mom and I saw the giant Christmas ornaments and the giant Christmas lights, I was amazed. It was so cool! It was also amazing to see the famous NYC Christmas tree even though it hasn’t been lit yet.

Toward the end of the day, we had a reservation to go on a carriage ride through Central Park. The carriages even had blankets for us to use to keep us warm throughout our tour. It felt so good to rest for an hour while enjoying the beautiful park! I apologize for the blurriness of the pictures, it was a bit of a bumpy ride! I loved seeing the fall leaves and all the people walking around and enjoying the park. It was such an amazing and relaxing experience!

I had so much fun on my trip to New York City. If you have never been or are looking for a trip to take sometime soon, I definitely recommend going to NYC! There is only so much you can do in one day, so I plan to go back as soon as I can to experience even more of what the city has to offer. I hope you enjoyed this post, give it a like! Thanks for reading J

#travel #nyc #christmas