Cats and Trails and Garden Tales
Musings on cats, travel, gardens and life
Is New York City on your Bucket List? It should be!
The fact is I don’t have a ‘bucket list,’ but if I did, New York City would be on it. New York is the largest city in the U.S. with a population over 8 million, and a larger metropolitan area over 19 million! It’s thriving, vibrant, fully of history, and surprisingly fun to visit!
According to EB White, “New York is nothing like Paris; it is nothing like London; and it is not Spokane, multiplied by sixty.” (I might also add that it is not Seattle where I’m from, multiplied by twenty.)
“It is by all odds the loftiest of cities.”
My first trip to NYC was deep in the last century and was on the way to someplace else so it only included a day in Manhattan. Even then, I managed to take in some highlights though I don’t have the pictures to prove it.
So last month we headed off to the Big Apple, to visit my brother and his wife, and to get away from it all, leaving Seattle by the dawn’s early light,
arriving in NYC, a few hours later.
Just so you know, I didn’t want to be burdened carrying a ‘real’ camera on my trip, so my pictures are from my phone. On one hand, it was the right decision, but on the other, I can’t help wondering how fabulous my photos could have been!
Regardless, this post is about the city itself, and our experiences therein, starting with our first impressions (no not the bumper-to-bumper traffic in midtown Manhattan) but wonderful Central Park, where we amassed thousands of steps daily in a paradise of nature (between 6 and 7 miles each day according to my Fitbit!)
We visited the iconic Empire State Building, at 102 stories the tallest building in the world when it opened in 1931; the views from the 86th floor were terrific.
We had better views of the building itself from the Hudson River,
from our boat on the way to the Statue of Liberty.
There were many other wonderful views from the river, including the Freedom Tower, at 1,776 feet, the tallest building in the United States, built on the same site as the World Trade Center Towers which were destroyed in the terrorist attacks of 9-11-2001.
On Broadway we saw Back to the Future, the Musical (O what fun!)
And took in the lights and oddities, people and energy, of nearby Times Square. There I was just as thrilled to see Chuck Schumer, our Senate Majority Leader, addressing the crowds, as I was to have our picture taken with Bigfoot (or is it Yeti? Maybe it depends which coast you’re on!)
There’s so much more I could share, and I haven’t even gotten to the museums yet! But this is running long so I’ll close with dinner our last night in town with my brother John and his wife, Alex, who were the perfect hosts in the Big Apple. At Frank Sinatra’s favorite Italian restaurant, Patsy’s. It was fabulous!
By now, you may have noticed all my photos are from Manhattan, which is only one of the five boroughs that make up New York City. We did make it to one other borough, Brooklyn, which if it weren’t part of New York City, would be the fourth largest city in the country. I already shared about our walk across the Brooklyn Bridge here if you missed it.
And now I’m really done.
Sharing with Sunday Stills, Bucket List!
~ Susanne
Cats and Trails and Garden Tales 
Nice photos. I love NYC. I took a photo of my hubby with a big rat ( not a real one, a guy in a costume) when we were there one time.
Thanks so much! It truly was a trip of a lifetime for us! So very special! There were lots of characters at Times Square to get a photo with, and we settled on Bigfoot!
thank you again for the photos, Susanne! I’ve never been there and have no reason to go. I just purchased a Nikon Z30 body and popped a 26mm lens on it, it fits in my jacket pocket! Maybe a similar camera setup will work for you instead of using the phone cam.
Thanks, John. Glad you enjoyed the photos. I have a small compact camera that I’ve taken on trips before, but I didn’t want to mess with it. I think for travel purposes I’ll stick to the phone.
Just use it in Auto mode if it has it, I don’t enjoy using manual and don’t use it much. Should I have admitted that? 😂
Auto does do a good job! But I can actually see better usine my phone than on my small camera!
I understand, Susanne. I believe that the day will come that will see cameras in phones capturing images as good as a Nikon or Canon. That would be fantastic, would it? Have a great weekend! 😎
How wonderful you have the reason to visit NYC, Susanne, I’m sure its a pleasure to visit a family member there. I loved reading about the facts you shared about NYC. Your images are wonderful, you must have a good phone! So many iconic sites to see, from the Manhattan skyline, to Central Park, to the Empire State Building and the Statue of Liberty! You will have many fond memories of this trip!
It really was a special trip, staying with my brother and his wife. They rolled out the red carpet for us and showed us around town! I have a Galaxy S23 which takes pretty good pictures. But I didn’t get the ultra which I remember you have, mainly because I didn’t want the larger sized phone. Always tradeoffs!
Nice list
Thanks, Don.
The main thing is you had a great time and the phone takes excellent photos. I think New York would be too much for me these days!
Thanks, Graham! I agree. I didn’t want to be lugging a camera around my neck, rather just enjoy my time there. And enjoy it, I did, beyond my expectations!
I’ve been to NYC three times – once when I was a teenager just for a day (on the way home from our school camping trip in Canada!), once in 1982 with my husband when we stayed three weeks and still didn’t see everything, and once in 2008 for a week. But I’d very happily go back, so I guess it is still on my bucket list!
I know what you mean about carrying a ‘real’ camera around a city in particular. But I’m not always happy using my phone, especially in bright sunlight when I can’t see the screen very well. So my compromise is a small Lumix ‘point and shoot’ which weighs little, fits into even a smallish bag or a pocket, and (unlike most other compacts) has a small viewfinder. Worth checking out perhaps if you’re conflicted about whether or not to take your camera on future trips?
Thanks, Sarah. It’s the kind of city that draws you back, isn’t it? We spent just over a week and crammed in all that we could every day, and now wish we had fit in even more. 🙂
I do have a small compact camera (Sony RX100), but the viewfinder seems to have gotten smaller as we (me and the camera) have both gotten older! 😉 Maybe I should see wat else is available as things are always improving.
I would go back to NY. When we went in 2017 and stood on top of the Rock I thought “wow, we’ve barely scratched the surface of this place”. I bet you could live there for years and never see it all.
Exactly! We didn’t make it to the top of the Rock (I wish we had,) but did go inside NBC Studios for a TV show (Kelly Clarkson) and loved it.
New York put on a show for you, that’s for sure!
Yes, indeed! It outperformed all our expectations! You and Alex were the best hosts!
I won trip to New York once and loved every minute. I didn’t sleep much but I can always sleep at home! I love your pictures. Thanks.
Thanks, Darlene. That’s quite a prize! With jetlag and walking extensively every day we were pretty tired by the end too, but it was well worth it!!
Wow! I love the panoramic views!
Thank you! Such a terrific city to visit!
I don’t have a Bucket List, either, but if I did, New York would be on it. We have a family member who lives there and Cat Daddy has been to see them a few times, but I’ve not managed it yet. Hopefully soon!
It’s great that you have someone there to visit and show you around!
I’m sitting here thinking of what I could get my husband for Christmas and I know how much he loves New York. He’s been a couple of times for work but he never had time to be a “tourist”, and after both trips he came home talking about going back. He never takes time for himself and is so busy with our business, and while I’d never book a trip this big without him, this blog post would be perfect to show him to convince him of doing maybe a Christmas trip. Thank you for sharing!
Thank you so much! It was such a pleasant surprise and would make a wonderful Christmas gift!