New York, first steps in the city of our dreams
As you read in our article about Mexico, we split our honeymoon into two different parts. Indeed, we did a road trip in Mexico for the two first weeks, and we ended this trip with one week in New-York. We were both dreaming about this magical city for a while, for different reasons. Shirien dreamt about it through movies, and some of her favorite series. She always knew that there is no way that she could not like New-York. David grew up deeply involved in the hip-hop culture and history, so in a way he was attached to that city since he was a kid, and knew for ever and New-York would match his vibe and energy, like he was made to visit that city regularly.
Our trip was unbelievable! We does not like the New-York? We loved it even more now that we saw it. We knew that it was a bit short first discovery of the big apple, so decided to keep very chilled, and not rushing ourselves into doing all the tourists spot. And honestly, we know we will be back there within few years!
With this blog article we wanted to share with you some of the things we did and some recommendations that we could have in terms of restaurants and especially the gluten-free ones or the ones that are offering gluten-free alternatives, and in terms of activities and things that you should know. You will find the list below :
Gluten-free recommendations
You can find videos of those recommendations here
Schnipper's: It is a mini chain, family owned, serving different types of food. It is dream come true for us as they serve the best gluten-free burgers that we ever ate.
Shake Shack: Worlwide known burger chain, famous for their delicious smash burgers and milkshakes. They all have a gluten-free bun option.
Best Pizza on 1st: The name speaks for itself, this is a small pizza restaurant on the 1st avenue. They have many many gluten-free options for their pizzas and they are delicious!
Bonus recommendation: The must go to the korean restaurant called Antoya. You will be speechless after eating in that restaurant (Video here).
Time Square
The famous Time Square!! Just something you must see once in your life! That sounds a bit dreamy but picturing that in movies our whole life and now being in the middle of it, was such a cool and weird feeling. But that is the thing, you will have that feeling at every street corner in New-York if you watched a lot of series or movies that are taking place in New-York.
Anyway, full of light, full of life, impressive crossroad, many stores, mall, artists, dancers and so on, Times square is an intense experience, especially at night.
Empire State Building
This one was one of the “tourist building” visits that we wanted to do. And actually to be honest it was not bad. Quite interesting and well done with many animations and explanations throughout the tour.
As you can guess from our trips itinerary we are not huge fan of doing all the possible tourist things, and all the “must see”. We try to really chose what we have a real interest in and the time that we want to spend doing things that make a very relaxed.
The 301 meters are quite impressive from the top and the view is very nice. The building is in the Manhattan district, on the 5th avenue, between the 33th and 34th street.
We will not recommend our hotel which was not a good experience, but we were very well located, on the 51st, close to the 3rd Avenue. So, the empire state building, central park, time square, and so on, were really close to us, we just had to walk 20 minutes.
Central Park & Battery Park
In Central Park you will definitely remember few movie and serie scenes! That place is so epic! Having a walk there at the end of the day is such a special vibe! Of course you will see many squirrels.
The park is really big and is located in Manhattan. You will encounter there many water spots and cute gardens. Enjoying the sunset there feels magical!
As you will probably read online, avoid walking there at night or whenever it is getting darker.
We wanted to recommend another park that we appreciated a lot and is underrated according to us, the Battery Park, located in the financial district, next to the place where you can take the ferry to go to the statue of liberty. We had a really cool little walk there, watching joggers and school groups, and enjoying snacks from the few food sellers that you can find there.
Madison Square Garden
We were so happy and excited to have the opportunity to enjoy this big and iconic place. We watched a basketball game there, New-York Knicks against Boston Celtics. If you have the opportunity to attend to an event there, don’t hesitate and do it!
First, it is impressive in terms of size, that is just a enormous! And second, the celebration and entertainment culture in the U.S is just a different vibe. The way how everybody was involved during anthems, the shows during breaks, the celebrities, everything is done big!
Brooklyn
Brooklyn! That was important for us, and especially for David and the way how the local hip hop had a impact on his life, to see that part of New-York, and try as much as possible to feel the atmosphere there.
And of course we went on the worldwide known Brooklyn bridge. Gigantic! That describe how huge it is.
It is one of the oldest bridge in New York, and is linking Manhattan to Brooklyn. One of the reasons why it became that famous is movies, as it appeared in a lot of them. The bridge is more or less 2 kilometers long.
One thing to know it that it is hard to see it not crowded and have the dreamt picture with as less people as possible on it. So the spots with the most potential for that are at the beginning and at the end.
Statue of Liberty
This iconic statue is located in Liberty island, in the south of Manhattan. The ferry next to Battery is one of way that you can use to go make the liberty statue tour. If you come by metro, leave at South ferry or Bowling green. The funny fact is that the statue has been built and assemble to in France and given to the USA.
Regarding the price, some tickets exists, and they gather the way on the ferry + the access to the statue, and they costs a bit less than 30$.
9/11 Memorial - National Museum
The memorial of the 9/11 is really an emotional and intense tour. We actually felt so many things there. They kept many fragments of what sadly happened on that day. The atmosphere is really heavy and visitors remains quite silent. That makes the whole tour very powerful. Through the visit, you also hear some of the phone calls to 911 or firefighters. We actually recommend you to have a look at the memorial and the museum if you are interested in it. It is the kind of visit that defintely worth the price according to us.
Regarding the price, the adult tickets are 30$. The museum is located in the south of Manhattan, and you can access it by metro at the stations World Trade Center or Cortlandt St.
Our Review
New York was like a dream for us. We cannot really be objective on a New-York as we both dreamt about that city since we were kid. So, we obvisouly loved the experience, tried to enjoy every single bit, and pictured ourselves living there. We loved the customer experience there, compared to our european experience, it is two different world. And of course, as allergies are part of our life, it was heaven for Shirien to have so many gluten-free or sugar-free option literally everywhere. So for all those reasons we loved it. The only negative side that we could mention would maybe be prices. Indeed, New-York is very expensive, especially in 2022 when you go there with your euros. So when you want to do all the important visits, have fun, do some acitivites, and eat every day outside including a tip that you are not used to include, it can quickly become a nightmare.
