New York- Part Three

You may or may not have noticed that I inadvertently took a two week break from blogging. I've still been interacting on social media and reading blogs but I just haven't felt inspired to write anything. I had also run out of the stockpile of posts I had been writing in advance so I just ended up taking a break which I think was the best thing for me and has allowed me to get some inspiration back. Since April I've been posting twice a week on Sundays and Wednesdays which I found has worked perfectly for me and I intend to keep that up so here I am back with the third instalment in my New York travel diary series.

I can't believe ten weeks have passed since we got back from our trip. I'm still constantly thinking about it and reminded of New York. Just last night I was watching a new Netflix series called Friends From College and there was a scene where two of the characters are playing tennis in Astoria Park and it made me feel all sentimental.

On Tuesday May 2nd we ventured down to Brooklyn again. When I say down I mean into Manhattan and then down because it was a bit awkward getting from our area of Queens to Brooklyn on the subway considering the boroughs are right beside each other. Simon wanted to visit Prospect Park (being a huge Paul Auster fan) so we went and got bagels and sat and had a picnic in the park in the sun. It was another beautifully sunny and hot day so it was perfect for getting away from the city and wandering around the park. I didn't realise how big Prospect Park is, we only explored a fraction of it. We walked around the pathways for a while following chipmunks and squirrels and then came across the zoo. We had no intentions of going in at first (I'm not a big fan of zoos) but it was only $8 and was quite small and we hadn't gotten to visit the Central Park Zoo so we thought this would be a good alternative. 

We took our time in the zoo and I took lots of photos of the animals because it's something I've never done before. We also got to see a red panda which is one of the best animals of all time! Afterwards we were quite tired so we got the subway home. I wish we'd had more time to go to the Botanical Gardens and the Brooklyn Museum but I guess we'll just have to go next time. 

That evening we took outfit photos beside Astoria Park along the East River which you can see here. We watched the sun go down and then went back to the apartment and ordered a giant pizza.

The next day we decided to go back to Soho/Greenwich Village for brunch because we loved those areas so much the first time. I may have dragged Simon back to the Glossier showroom on the way there. We had brunch in a place called Egg Shop which as you can probably guess is a place that serves different kinds of egg dishes. We then wandered around Greenwich Village and sort of did our own mini Bob Dylan walking tour before stopping off in Washington Square Park to rest our weary legs. We fancied some refreshments so he headed to the Big Gay Ice Cream Shop and got soft serve ice creams with sprinkles and sat in Christopher Park and ate them in the sun. We got the subway home and that evening we went to a restaurant called Vesta in Astoria which was delicious but again I'll go into more detail in my dedicated food post. 

Jones Street where the album cover of The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan was shot. 

The following day we had a late start again and got breakfast in a bagel place in Astoria. The weather was great so we thought it was a good day to go to the Empire State Building as it was due to rain the next day. I was so excited to finally see the Empire State in person. Luckily we had our City Pass so we didn't have to wait around or queue for tickets. There's a level that you come out at first that has a whole series of photographs and facts about the building of the Empire State so we had a look at that first.

Like with Top of the Rock I had that breathtaking moment when we got to the top and saw the views. I'm so glad we got to experience the views of the city during the day as well as from TOTR at night. It really is a completely different view in the light of day. Of course all I could think about the whole time was Sleepless in Seattle, but sadly there was no Tom Hanks or Meg Ryan. We spent a while looking at the views from each angle and trying to spot places we recognised. 

We had to leave eventually and afterwards we walked around the area for a bit and looked in the shops. Our stomachs started to rumble so we went in search of a restaurant recommended by my brother called Spoon Table and Bar. We both loved our food and it's really close to the Empire State but a bit smaller and not touristy so its a great option if you're in that area looking for dinner.

I was hoping this would be the last post in my travel series but when I was editing the photos I realised I had a lot of photos from our last two days so I figured rather than cram them all in together I'd just write another post. I'm also trying to prolong writing about the trip because I've bene loving reminiscing about it so much. So part four will be up next week!

I hope you've been enjoying my NY Travel Diary as much as I've been enjoying writing it. Once again if you have any questions don't hesitate to ask!

Emma x