Day 1

The start of the day really depends on where you are coming from to get into the city. We were fortunate enough to stay at Chris’ parents house the night before, so we only had to get on a 1.5-hr train ride from NJ to Penn Station. We took the 8am train to Penn Station to get us there around 9:30am. We met up with another couple, so we waited for their train to get there before we headed to the subway.

Our first stop of the day was the 9/11 Memorial and Museum @ 11:15am. I had been here before, and highly recommended this to our group because no one else had been. It was definitely a heavy start to the morning, but truly a great museum to visit. We bought tickets ahead of time to ensure entry into the museum; tickets are free for active/retired military, discounted for veterans, and $36 for adults.

We spent about 2 hours at the museum before walking 3 blocks to get a quick slice at Joe’s Pizza. No matter how many times I go to the city, I NEED a slice from a corner pizza shop. We then kept it moving toward Brooklyn Bridge, which was only a few more blocks from Joe’s Pizza. We did the walk across the Brooklyn Bridge, and it was so cool! I’d never done this before, but always wanted to. The bridge was very busy with people, but we got our obligatory photos on the bridge and walked across the whole thing.

After the leisurely walk across the bridge, we had to hightail it to the subway to get to the Empire State Building for our 4pm tickets to the top. Tickets are more expensive at this time because it is considered a peak time due to it being sunset. In my opinion, it is definitely worth it to get the sunset time because the 360-degree views are perfection! We spent an hour to get the full experience of before, during, and after sunset.

After the Empire State Building, we all wanted to go to the Harry Potter Shop, which was only a 13-minute walk. I consider myself a distant Harry Potter fan, so I thought the store was very cool, but didn’t feel the need to buy anything. The only thing I did get from here was a butter beer, as they have a dedicated butter beer bar in the store. We were running low on time until our comedy show, so we had to find some place quick for dinner. We ended up at an English pub (I cannot remember the name of it) for burgers and beer – not the best, but it worked.

We had tickets for the Gotham Comedy Club at 8pm, so we got in line around 7:40. This was the main reason for the trip into the city because I had always wanted to go to a comedy show in NYC. It just so happened to be the same week as NYC Comedy Festival, so the lineup was unknown until we go to the show. The comedy show was 2 hours full of belly laughs and hilarious jokes, I can’t recommend going to a comedy show enough. It was now 10pm, and we headed back to Penn Station to head back to NJ. We got home around midnight and jumped right into bed to get some rest before doing it all again the next day.

Day 2

The second day in the city started the same. We took the 8:30am train from NJ and we got to Penn Station around 10am. We didn’t have anything really planned for this day, so I really wanted to go to an authentic NYC bagel spot for breakfast. We walked 30 minutes to Broad Nosh Bagels on 58th St. There’s multiple locations, but this was near Central Park, which is where we wanted to go next. We waited 30-45 minutes in the line and waiting for our food, but incredibly worth it. I mean look at those bagels!

It was now time to walk off those hearty bagels, so we meandered through Central Park. We had both been here multiple times, but never together! We took in the fall cityscape, took pictures, and made our way to the steps of the MET for a Gossip Girl moment, of course. At this point we had been in the city for about 3 hours, but we didn’t plan on staying too long.

The last thing I really wanted to do was get a hot chocolate from Glace, which I had found on Instagram. They do seasonal hot chocolates and attract a huge crowd. We waited in line for 30 minutes before ordering our 2 hot chocolates. They are $11-14 depending on which one you get, but the quality is worth it. The hot chocolates are lined with burnt marshmallow, and are incredibly rich in flavor.

With bellies full of bagels and hot chocolate, we walked to the closest subway and made our way back to Penn Station for our 3pm train. This was more of a half day in the city, but we wanted to get back home at a reasonable hour (because we are old). We drove from NJ back to DE, and got home around 7pm. We really loved this weekend trip to the city, and always look forward to going to the city at least twice a year.