Weekend Getaway: NYC

This weekend was so much fun! We left Saturday morning and hopped on the bus to New York City. We made great time and arrived at noon near Penn Station. We walked to our hotel in Hell's Kitchen, Ink48, and they let us check in early which was great. We dropped our stuff off and relaxed in the room for a bit. The hotel was ultra modern and very cool. Then we headed out to explore the city and do some shopping. We hit up places the boyfriend wanted to go to (the Nike Store, the NBA Store, the Adidas store) and places I wanted to go to (Banana Republic, Esprit, etc). For dinner we grabbed pizza at this tiny whole in the wall place that had delicious pizza but not much space for enjoying it. Then we wandered around and got dessert to-go at this French bakery on 9th Ave and ate them in the room while watching the Slam Dunk contest.

Sunday morning we woke up early because we had to get our stuff together for check out as well get down to the Financial District to see the 9/11 Memorial. After what seemed like 12 different checks of our tickets and going through metal detectors, we finally made it inside. The memorial itself was very nice, very calming and somber. I thought it was a very well done and a great way to pay tribute to those who had perished. I also had no idea the story behind the "Survivor Tree" until I asked one of the very helpful guides what it was. She informed me that it was found in the ground but very badly burned. It was taken to a sanctuary for treatment and all of the old and burnt branches were cut off. It was re-planted (in a different location) in the memorial on the 10th Anniversary of 9/11. It is very cool how you can see the old bark and new re-grown bark. It was quite inspiring.

After the Memorial we grabbed some brunch at the Westway Diner which was a neat, fast-paced diner with delicious food. Then we headed to High Line Park which is an elevated park made from where the elevated train tracks used to be. It was very pretty and nature-filled, and gave you a different perspective of the city. It was quite peaceful up there, but I can imagine it gets very crowded during the summertime. After the park we just wandered around the city some more and then had to head to the bus stop to get back. All in all it was fun and I'm glad I was able to surprise the boyfriend with a nice get away.

Also, I spotted 3 different people in NY wearing the boyfriends' new headphones. Get them while they're hot: http://www.urbanears.com/headphones/plattan