I took a quick weekend trip to New York City with a few friends, but didn’t feel like writing about it for a few weeks. Here it finally is.
This was my first time visiting in over 10 years, and I was a very different person back then. Instead of sightseeing, younger me preferred to play games and lie in bed all day. So this trip felt like visiting New York for the first time with proper intent to travel.
There was a lot of walking, so I prepared some maps of the route we took. They are marked with numbered sections, which will be mentioned throughout this post. I tried my best to retrace my exact steps, but details might be inaccurate.
Day 1
The travel plan was to walk around in two areas: “northern” (north of the Empire State Building) and “southern” (anything south) Manhattan. Day 1 was northern Manhattan.
1: Arrival
We arrived by plane at Newark Airport and took a ride into Manhattan. Right away, the sheer size of the city was apparent; Toronto felt small compared to Manhattan’s density. There were people, events, traffic, stores, and unpleasant things everywhere. It truly felt like being in a concrete jungle, because everywhere I looked was filled with skyscrapers. We wandered around for a bit, checking out Madison Square Garden.
2: Lunch and the Top of the Rock
Lunch was at some Korean place (OkDongSik) I was recommended to check out. They serve a pork broth soup with rice, which I thought was excellently made. There is a potentially long wait time though, since the restaurant is very small. Reserve in advance if you plan to go.
The first spot after lunch was the Top of the Rock. Along the way, we saw the New York Public Library. The view from Rockefeller Center was alright. It’s not bad, but it’s just a view from the roof of a skyscraper in the end; nothing that will make you say “wow”.
Still, the Manhattan skyline was very impressive. It was incredibly dense with buildings, and then there was a huge contrast when seeing Central Park in the distance.
3: Trump Tower and The Plaza
Next was a walk to Central Park, with a stop at the Trump Tower (for meme purposes) and the Plaza (also for meme purposes). There was unironically no political intent behind these visits.
4: Central Park
Then came the extremely long walk through Central Park. We walked up to the giant reservoir in the middle, then headed back south.
As a tourist, I found the park to really stand out against the cityscape. It felt like an oasis in the middle of the concrete jungle, a green refuge where you can breathe from the sometimes suffocating steel and glass forest. Because Central Park is so massive, it felt like I could easily get lost in it and pretend I’m far from a city. Having this kind of space in a big city feels nice. By the time we left the park, it was almost dinner time.
5: Dinner and Times Square
We headed back south to Rockefeller Center and stopped for some really good Italian pizza along the way. One of this trip’s goals was to try New York style pizza, but honestly this was my favourite pizza.
The final visits were the Nintendo store and then Times Square, which was way bigger than what I expected. By the end of the day, my feet were ready to give in. We stayed in North Bergen, New Jersey. The route takes us outside of New York by a bus at the Port Authority bus terminal.
Day 2
Rise and shine, it’s time to start walking again. After busing from North Bergen back to the bus terminal, day 2 began.
1: High Line
Because this day was to target “southern” Manhattan, the first place to go was the High Line. While nothing exceptional in the grand scheme, I thought the concept of the High Line was very cool. It felt like a properly integrated way for pedestrians to walk along side cars and cyclists. Plus the elevated walkway gives the illusion of floating in the air, suspended on a really long series of bridges.
2: Halal Guys
Next was a long walk to the original Halal Guys. One of my friends wanted to try the original, and there was some hope that the OG might be the best. Turns out that it tastes no different from the ones in Toronto, which can be a good or bad thing depending on your expectations.
3: Chinatown
Then came another long walk to and through Chinatown. Toronto’s “Chinatown” can’t compare to New York’s. The latter is an order of magnitude bigger and more lively. It properly feels like an embedded town, rather than just one street with several Chinese stores. Toronto’s “Chinatown” needs a downgrade to a “Chinastreet” or something.
4: Downtown Manhattan
Next was even more walking. This time we walked through downtown Manhattan in the financial district to get to the Staten Island ferry. I found out about New York’s steam pipe infrastucture, and also that there are lots of scammers that try to get money from tourists. The Staten Island ferry is free of charge, but there are scammers that try to lure unaware people. Don’t fall for it.
5: Staten Island Ferry
We took a ride on the ferry and came back right away, since nothing on Staten Island seemed particularly interesting. It was nice to see the Atlantic Ocean, which I haven’t seen for a very long time.
6: WTC and SoHo
Next was a walk to SoHo, with a passby of the One World Trade Center. Dinner was pizza again, but this one was New York style instead of Italian. It was also really dirt cheap. I personally didn’t like it.
7: Subway
Because of the stress of all this walking so far, we ended the day a little earlier than planned. We took the subway to get back quicker, so we got to experience the New York subway network. It felt like an older but more developed version of the TTC, which is exactly what it is.
Day 3: Statue of Liberty
Our return flight was in the afternoon, so this was a truncated day. The main goal of this day was to visit the Statue of Liberty.
Getting ferry tickets to the statue is tricky for those that are unfamiliar with the process. There’s also two boarding spots for the ferry: one in Battery Park (Manhattan) and the other in Liberty State Park (New Jersey). We took a light rail train to the Liberty State Park location.
The ferry stops at two islands: Ellis Island and Liberty Island. We didn’t bother with Ellis Island because of time constraints and low interest. So we went directly to Liberty Island and saw the statue, then took the ferry to Battery Park (you can choose which location to get off at).
We planned to visit the Museum of National History but ran out of time and had to scrap that plan. The final meal was… New York style pizza again. But this time it was good pizza. After that, we went for one final walk to the bus terminal to the airport. Along the way, we saw the New York Stock Exchange Building and Grand Central Station.
Epilogue
Here are some bullet point thoughts:
- New York is big
- New York is dense
- New York is expensive
- The street naming scheme is the best in the world
The return flight involved a transfer from New York → Ottawa → Toronto. Ottawa is a tiny town so I won’t say anything about it. But the real contrast hit when we arrived back in Toronto.
Toronto feels tiny compared to New York. Even when in the heart of downtown Toronto, it feels empty and underdeveloped compared to Manhattan. It was also bizarrely cold when we arrived, so that was some extra contrast to New York, which had sunshine and warm temperatures through our trip.
I should probably keep a counter of me saying “Toronto feels small” after visiting a big city elsewhere. But it really did feel a little sad. Sometimes I get the feeling that Toronto is a somewhat boring city, and seeing megacities adds some support to that thought. New York is absolutely bustling, chaotic, cramped, and expensive, but it feels way more alive.
The world is a big place, and I hope I get to see more of it over time. I had a lot of fun on this trip.