Our first day in NYC was wet and rainy, but good nonetheless.  Our second day, however, was sunny, warm, and perfect.

We had breakfast in a super fancy place.

And then headed straight for Time’s Square, which is awesome at night, but I think it’s possibly even better during the day…or maybe the rain is clouding my memory.

We didn’t spend much time there since we had a heavy suitcase that we wanted to drop off.  

Tip:  If you have heavy bags/ suitcases that you don’t want to roll or carry around NYC, if you do a search for “suitcase lockers”, it will come up with LOTS of places around the city where you can show up, leave your bag, pay, and come back later.  We used Schwartz Luggage Storage NYC and it worked out amazingly!  We dropped the bag off near Time’s Square, paid $10 and then picked it up later that night.  It didn’t feel like the best place to leave valuables, but for clothes and toiletries, it was awesome.  There are lots of other places, and I bet you can do something similar in any city you visit.

Actually, along the way to the bag drop, we saw Bryant Park, which was so much nicer than I remember!  They have all of these great (free) things to do, like ping-pong (balls and paddles included), and a reading area, with magazines and books.  LOVED that idea!

We saw Rockefeller Center, which is one place I think I’ve only seen in the winter.

We stopped at Trump Tower and then went through security to go inside and stop at Starbucks.  The barista told me Ivanka is a frequent visitor, but she’s never met Trump.

THEN we finally dropped off the bag, which only took a couple minutes.

We were bag-free and ready to walk, so we headed to Central Park, which is incredible in it’s size and how green it is!  

We walked through, had another sandwich, and then headed over to the Roosevelt Island Tramway, which was so cool!  For the price of one metro ride, you can take the tram (like a cable car) up and over the river to Roosevelt Island.  The views are unbeatable.

On Roosevelt Island, we took the free shuttle around the island, but I don’t recommend you do that.  There actually isn’t anything to see 😉

After that, we took the metro back to Manhattan in search of some good food.

First up, ANOTHER Knish.  This time spinach and potato, just to curb our hunger.  Then we went out searching for the real deal….

SUCCESS (from Kossar’s Bagels and Bialys)  One day I want to be buried in a vat of cream cheese with lox.

Some more photos for you…

Bloggers gotta blog, right?

Pure happiness ^^^

We (I) were so full, so we walked from there to Little Italy to check it out.

Lots of energy there!  By that point, it was late in the day and time to start heading in the direction of our lonely suitcase.  We walked all the way back to midtown (over 40 blocks!) and picked up the bag, and then headed towards the bus station.

Tip:  Getting to NYC is SUPER easy by bus.  You can get there for about $20.00 round trip, when tolls will cost you almost that to drive.  I 100% recommend the bus, which picks you up and leaves you smack dab in the center of both Philly and NYC.

We caught an 8:30 bus back to Philly and were home safe and sound by 11:30 (including train time).  For me, NYC is the “all-American” city.  It’s got the energy, the pride, the diversity, the fast-pace, the food, and all of the flavors of America.  I’m so glad Luis got to see it.