The city is bigger than I thought, but luckily my mom, sister, and I had our aunt to help guide us to wherever we wanted to go. Here are some highlights and major points of interest from my trip:
Times Square and Broadway
I've done enough research and web browsing about New York to know Times Square is not that special. Times Square is definitely a tourist spot full of people dressed up as superheroes and cartoon characters, standing in front of souvenir shops and stands. It's just a bunch of gigantic electronic billboards. That's pretty much true, but I would recommend at least walking by it/through it once or twice because it is a unique site. Going there at night would be best because you can see all of the lights contrast with the dark night sky.
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| Times Square |
When I was in NYC, I can't even remember how many times we walked through there. I didn't spend a lot of time there as much as it was near our hotel and was on the way to wherever where we were going.
What I didn't know or realize was that Broadway (the theater district -- not the street) is right by Times Square. So I kind of felt dumb after I realized that. I did enjoy that about the area, though. I enjoyed seeing the billboards, advertisements, and theaters promoting all these cool shows, plays, and musicals.
Obviously, there are a lot of restaurants in the area, including touristy and normal everyday ones like Bubba Gump and Red Lobster, but my family avoided those and tried some unique ones we couldn't try anywhere else.
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| chocolate swirl cheesecake from Junior's |
The first restaurant in the area we went to was Junior's. While we were walking around Times Square and Broadway, our aunt decided we should get dessert. Junior's is famous for its cheesecake, and I can see why. The cheesecake has good cream cheese taste, but depending on how much cream cheese/cheesecake you like in your cheesecake, some kinds will be better than others. And the slices are all rather big. I had the chocolate swirl slice, which was good, but I needed something else to cut the cream cheese/cheesecake flavor. For example, it would've been nice if there was a thicker crust so it wouldn't be so much or if there was brownie with it. My sister got the devil's food cake cheesecake, and that was better because the cake made it easier to get through all the cream cheese.
We also ended up going to Junior's two more times during our trip there: once for lunch and once for a late-night dinner after watching a Broadway show. For lunch, I had a grilled cheese was ham that was really good. The bread was good, which is important because I think sandwiches are really only as good as their bread. And the cheese was nice and melty to complement the ham. Like the cheesecake slices, their sandwiches are pretty big, too, so take that into account when ordering.
For the late-night dinner, I just ordered the chicken tenders, which are actually an appetizer. It was near and past-midnight when we were there for dinner, so I wasn't really hungry. I was actually rather sleepy but thought I should probably eat something since it'd been quite a while since I last ate. The chicken tenders were very good. Nice and full of meat and not too much breading. I do admit, though, I just wanted ice cream and not actual food for dinner but thought ice cream at that hour was not a good idea. I regret that decision and wish I just got ice cream because I didn't eat any ice cream while I was in New York.
For dinner our first night there, we went to a Japanese place called An'nam. My aunt said they have rather large servings there, so instead of ordering five different entrees and sharing like we normally would at an Asian restaurant, my sister and I shared a big plate of pan fried noodles. We love pan fried noodles. My aunt doesn't have a big appetite ever, so we also ate some of her chicken katsu. I'd never had it before, but it was really good. After all, it was just breaded chicken, and I love chicken. All of the food was also plated beautifully.
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| chicken katsu from An'nam |
On the Saturday we were there, we went to the night show of Miss Saigon, my first Broadway show! As a Filipino-American, Miss Saigon has always been a big deal since Lea Salonga was the lead in the original Broadway run, and now Filipino-American Eva Noblezada is. To be honest, I didn't know anything about the story before going except for the fact that it was based on what happened with the Vietnam War. I really liked the show and thought the performances were all very good. The story is interesting and informative at the same time, and the ending is definitely not what I expected.
Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island
Yes, these are very touristy destinations, but they both symbolize something very important about the U.S. The Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island have long stood as symbols of freedom, hope, dreams, and new beginnings. As the daughter of two immigrants, I've always been thankful my parents were able to come to the U.S. to give not only themselves better lives, but me and my siblings as well. I can definitely say my life would be different if I were born in the Philippines and then moved to the U.S.
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| No, I did not intentionally match my outfit to the Statue of Liberty. |
Unfortunately, I did not get to go on/in the statue at all because pedestal tickets were sold out, but going on the grounds of the island was good enough for me. Not only do you get to see Lady Liberty herself when on the island, but it provides great views of the city.
What I liked about Ellis Island is that it was very informative and had a lot of different features. Of course, the museum and information building had lots of info on U.S. immigration history, but there were a lot of different exhibits and rooms.
There were some that had sample passports and papers, had information about Native Americans and the Trail of Tears, and some foreign language American newspapers. I didn't get to explore everything ― it's bigger than I thought it'd be ― but my favorite part was this tree that showed a bunch of English words and their foreign origins. As a writer and grammar nerd, I definitely enjoyed looking at the origins of words. It even had cookie on there, which I definitely liked because I have a huge sweet tooth.
The Metropolitan Museum of Art
Honestly, the main reason I wanted to go to the Met ― or at least go by it ― was to take a picture on the Met steps because I'm a Gossip Girl fan. I didn't know if we'd have time to actually go in it or if it'd be expensive to go in, so I just wanted a picture on the steps at the very least.
Luckily, we did have time to actually go in and look around, and the Met's entrance fee is actually just a donation, so my family and I could just give whatever we could to get in. I haven't been to a museum in over 10 years probably, and I was too young to appreciate art the last time I went to an art museum, so I was excited to go.
The Met is huge, so I definitely didn't get to look at everything. I was there with my two aunts and my mom, and they were kind of just roaming around casually looking at stuff while I wanted to look at stuff and take it in, spend some time reading about it and looking at it, but they were moving around pretty fast just browsing. So I didn't get a good look at everything I got to see, but what I did see was pretty fascinating.
I enjoyed the ancient Egyptian and African exhibits since I feel like I never learned too much about those cultures and histories in school. I also really liked one big room that had more Western art in it, but we were only in that room for like two minutes, so I can't even describe it that well. It did have the installation pictured below.
Which of these NY places interests you most? And if you've been to any of these places, what was your favorite thing about/part of it?
Also, I have so many photos from New York that I'll probably do another photo post, but be sure to check out the first one!
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