New York City: Day 2

Saturday was a grand day indeed.

When we decided to come to New York, we thought of our friends we rarely get to see who live outside Philly (side note: they went on the cruise with us last year!) and asked if they could possibly come up to the city for the day since they're not too far away. Luckily for us, they said yes! So that morning we met Heather and Matt at Penn Station and took the 1 down to South Ferry, the tip of Manhattan, to do a riverboat tour. We grabbed a quick brunch at Fresh Salt before our tour began at 2 o'clock. The quiche was incredible! It was the best way to start our busy day.

After brunch, we walked over to the pier and hopped on the boat. It was the PERFECT day for this. We got to see the Brooklyn Bridge, the Manhattan skyline, New Jersey, Ellis Island, and the lovely Lady Liberty all from the best vantage point - the middle of the Hudson River. It was such a great way to get a view of everything and I cannot recommend it enough! We also lucked out and had the most amazing weather ever. Sunny and bright, not too hot but not chilly either. It seriously could not have been better.

After our riverboat cruise, we walked over to the end of the Brooklyn Bridge to walk across it over to Brooklyn, since I've heard from so many other bloggers that it's a must-do activity in the city (thank you, Melissa, Anna, Jillian, and Colleen!). It was pretty great! We went at the hottest point of the day, so that would be the only thing I would change about it. I bet it's gorgeous at sunset. But it was still beautiful and fun, and it worked out that we ended up in Brooklyn in time for early drinks and dinner, because we were hungry! We took the subway over to Williamsburg, and ate at Berry Park, a recommendation from Colleen. This rooftop bar was just what we were looking for. We ordered some local beer and frickles and enjoyed the sunset over the Manhattan skyline. We also REALLY loved people watching here. So many hipsters! We felt like we got a true taste of Brooklyn - I think we were the only tourists there, and it was nice to do something off the beaten path that not most tourists do.

We decided to call it an early night since our friends had to get back on the train to head home, but we couldn't bring ourselves to end the night at 8:30. I mean, we were in New York City after all! We wanted to take advantage of every moment. Michael looked up a local bar online that specializes in small batch brews on tap, which was right up his alley. So we parked it there for a bit before taking the train back to Queens. Just like the day before, we were exhausted when we finally settled in bed for the night, but that's how it's supposed to be, right? It was a good feeling, knowing that we had a full day and had seen so much, and also that we still had two more days ahead of us and so much of the city we hadn't seen yet! New York, we were already head over heels for you.

Day 1

Day 3
Day 4