What We Did On Our First Day In New York - Travel Inspirations

After we're back home for already 4 weeks and I've been working for quite some time, today I'd like to write about our exciting New York trip, which we had granted ourselves after a long production period. I'm going to show you all the fantastic and awesome places and sites we could discover on our first day.

After we arrived around 12:00 pm, we wanted to sleep a little bit longer next day. But due to the jet leg and the noisy area, where we lived, we woke up relatively early. We lived in Brooklyn near the hip neighborhood “Bushwick”. Since we couldn't see so much at night, we discovered after getting up, that we lived in a factory-residential area, which was completely ok, because we always want it to be authentic. We were lucky to rent this loft, which is actually used as a photo studio, from a photographer who Daniell knows through his work. It was a super beautiful loft where we felt very comfortable. The soundscape, which is always present in New York, we simply faded out with earplugs. So we could sleep quite well. When you wanna travel to New York City you have to know, that it's really like they say, New York is the city which never sleeps. Even at night on the way from the airport to Brooklyn we had some traffic jams. This was the first time, where we were thinking: “Wow, how crazy!”

But I can assure you, that we were going to experience the real madness (in positive sense) of this city. The days are filled with incredibly great impressions. Stay curious and read on what we did on our first day...!!!

The first thing we wanted to do, of course, was having breakfast, a real American breakfast like in an American Diner. We were lucky that the dear Luca (from whom we rent the loft) already gave us some tips where to go for a good and cheap meal. Whereby one thing I have to say, New York is for us Europeans simply not cheap at all. It’s a very expensive city, but since we will probably visit New York once in a lifetime, we thought at first that we didn't care how expensive it is, we just wanted to enjoy. However, I can already say that at the end of the trip it really hurts and we changed our mind, because just for food and drinks we spent easy 500$ in these three days. Just to give you an idea, what you can expect.

But now back to the first day. After a refreshing shower we took a walk to the “Bushwick” neighbourhood. During the walk we couldn't get out of our amazement. Because since we got out of the door of our loft we'll find so many great places to take pictures, as you can see on the first pics, which Daniell took on our way to our diner.

The vegan diner we wanted to try was called "Champs Diner". It’s Brooklyn's favorite all-vegan diner and it serves up Americana comfort food with a no-fuss, laid-back attitude. I can say it’s really how they explain. I had a cold brewed coffee and vegan French Toast with fresh fruits and Daniell also had a cold brewed coffee with a vegan sandwich which tasted like chicken salad sandwich. Since this diner was pretty cool, in the truest sense of the word, we stayed for a wile, because it was soooooo hot outside.

After we got rid of $55 for breakfast, we went well satisfied but a little bit shocked to the next subway station and drove towards Manhattan. We wanted to start our tour in SoHo.

As we came out of the Subways Station we reached directly SoHo, which was at the end of the nineteenth century a large textile industry developed area. This background explains the many industrial buildings. SoHo is an artistic, creative and popular neighbourhood known for its many boutiques, galleries and restaurants. Numerous fashion brands and exclusive furniture shops are located here. We strolled down the streets and we soaked up the New York feeling. Of course, I couldn't pass all the fashion stores and shop windows. That’s why we needed some time.

The area is often used for film and photo shoots, so some streets may be closed for shootings. SoHo is one of the safest areas in New York. Especially if you travel alone, the neighborhood is a good choice.

Slowly we got closer to the Broadway, where we wanted to go, of course, as well. Because on one hand, the Broadway is one of the most famous streets in New York City and on other hand, the name Broadway is the quintessence of a colorful, shimmering theater world. In the area Broadway/Times Square most musicals are performed, here you can find the famous Broadway theatres. But the Broadway is so long that we still didn’t get to that area. This musical area we gonna see the next day.

After a while we discovered the district Little Italy in front of us, where we also strolled through to eat delicious homemade Italian ice cream. We found a nice authentic italian Gelateria called MO Gelato.

This district is not so big, actually it’s quite small, which is normally not common in New York. Little Italy is a nice neighbourhood in Lower Manhattan and is very popular for New York tourists. One of the most famous streets in New York is Mulberry Street, which is the main street through this district.

In the 1870s, many Italian immigrants came to New York, mostly in search of a new life in the city.

Organized crime has always been a big part of the neighborhood. Because the Mafia had a strong impact in Little Italy for many years. Celebrities like Robert De Niro, who grew up in Little Italy, incorporated his experiences about the neighborhood and his gangs into its movies like The Godfather or Mean Street.

Continuing our city stroll we visited one of my favorites places, the “Staple Street”. It’s a street in the historical area Called Tribeca. The Staple Street attracted me because of its beautiful bridge, which is made of cast iron and has picture windows along the sides, and connects the third floors of the House of Relief with the laundry/stables. Because of the cool street art and the beautiful scenery of the old warehouses many photo shootings take place here. That's why the scenery invited us to realize a quick shooting for my blog as well (coming soon).

The next absolute highlight is definitely “Ground Zero”, which we absolutely did’t want to miss. When you planning your visit to New York City the One World Trade Center, also known as Freedom Tower, must be on the bucket list. Located in the city’s bustling financial district in Downtown Manhattan.

This place has a massive atmosphere due to the 9/11 tragedy, although you'll find a lot of tourists, but each of them is very thoughtful and calm. The memorial of 9/11 are two large basins, builded exactly where the twin tower were located and around the basins all the names of the deceased people are engraved. The one who would have had birthday on that day has a white rose over his name, which gives you a reverent feeling. Nevertheless it’s good to see how the New Yorker recovered after this tragedy. They didn’t let themselves get down and built a higher skyscraper than the Twin Tower, namely the One World Trade Center. It’s the tallest building in the city and was built between 2006 and 2014 next to the site of the World Trade Center's.

After being at Ground Zero for quite a while we slowly would like to return to Brooklyn because it was already quite late and we wanted to spend the sunset at the Brooklyn Bridge. So we went to the subway station at Grund Zero, which is quite a special building. At first sight you are not sure what this white construction is supposed to represent. To me it looks like a dinosaur, due to the fact that it has swallowed up almost 4 billion dollars. Nevertheless, the station is architecturally unusual and looks absolutely futuristic as you can see at the pics.

Actually the best way to get around New York is with Citi Bike. It’s New York's bike share system. Which we tried out this evening to get to Dumbo where you can see the Booklyn- and Manhatten-Bridge at the same time. I must say that Citi Bike works perfectly, it’s faster than walking, cheaper than a taxi, and more fun than the subway. You just need the mobile App and you unlock a bike at one of hundreds of stations around Manhattan, Brooklyn, Queens and Jersey City.

After we drove through some interesting areas of Brooklyn, as the famous and one of the biggest Jewish neighborhood in the city, we arrived at Dumbo. Dumbo is the abbreviation for “Down Under the Manhattan Bridge Overpass”. It's a residential area in Brooklyn’s neighborhood. It lies on the East River and consists of two parts: One is between the Manhattan Bridge and the Brooklyn Bridge.

The most famous place in Dumbo is the Washington Street. It's an old cobblestone street and from there you will find a certain angle to get the Manhattan Bridge and the Empire State Building together on a photo. Unfortunately they are, almost certain, other visitors to take the same photo.

Next stop was the Brooklyn Bridge Park, that we reached before sunset. This Park is located at the waterfront and right next to the Brooklyn Bridge, as the name suggests. You will have a breathtaking view of the skyline of Manhattan, that makes Brooklyn Bridge Park so unique. The park has a terrace, a beach and many greenways. A lot of people meet on the steps to Brooklyn Bridge Park or make themselves comfortable for a picnic on the green meadow. But we went to the beach at Pier 4. From this place you have a great view of the skyline of Manhattan. We waited till it got dark, so we could take many sunset and night shots of Manhattan’s skyline. Also the Brooklyn Bridge can be well photographed from this spot. Although the park is relatively new, it’s even well appreciated by the New Yorker. As you can see the shot of the Jewish Orthodox family.

Due to the more than 15 km day walk we were extremely hungry. That’s why we chose a restaurant which was one of the closest to the park. And that was the Sugarcane Raw Bar Grill. The Restaurant is located directly at the shore of the East River and has a big outdoor sitting area. From there we still have a great view to the Brooklyn Bridge. We enjoyed a delicious dinner in nice atmosphere.

Again after the shock of the restaurant bill faded, we decided not to go back by bike because of the darkness. We went to the next subway station. Due to the long subway ride (first we had to go back to Manhattan and then back to Brooklyn), it was at least one hour, we arrived quite late our loft. Super happy, tired and curious what the next day will bring we fall a sleep immediately.

Stay tuned for the second day. You gonna see some more incredible things to do in New York City. I just telling you, that we walked almost 23 km on our second day… ;-))

See you soon,

Katy!

Analog pics by Daniell Bohnhof

Digital pics by me Look2 Ocean