First Day in New York City

It was my first time travelling alone. I knew two friends in New York City, one of which I met whilst I was abroad in London and the other I knew growing and was staying with. I stayed at my friend’s apartment in the Chelsea area of New York. It was right in the middle of Manhattan and close to a subway stop. When I first arrived, it was 15 degrees, the coldest I’ve been so far in my twenty years of life. Never had I put on 5 layers of clothing to keep myself insulated in such frigid temperatures. I didn’t own gloves and my hands became so ashy, they started bleeding.

I began my exploration of New York City by taking a walk on the high line, an abandoned railway now turned into a garden. I came at the absolute worst time because all the plants shrivelled and withered. After such a disappointed walk, I made my way down to Battery Park, which is on the southernmost tip of Manhattan, because I wanted to see the Statue of Liberty. I walked along the Hudson River and eventually reached the park. Battery Park was the closest I can come to the Statue of Liberty without paying for the ferry to Ellis Island. I then made my way north to visit all the sites that I missed by taking the Hudson River route.

I first wound up at Wall Street. I saw the infamous Charging Bull statue (Unfortunately I wasn’t in New York the day that there was a statue of a little girl facing the bull). It was here that I tried Halal food for the first time and my goodness, it was one of the best tasting dishes I’ve had in my life. I visited a local church and sat down in a bench and ate it. While eating it, I overheard a woman walking out saying “I couldn’t buy a ticket to see his show, so I ended up seeing his grave.” My mind instantly went ‘oh shoot! Alexander Hamilton is buried here!’ And I got to see his grave!

I explored the rest of Wall Street and enjoyed what it had to offer. Because of what happens inside the banks make Wall Street exciting, I just took a picture of George Washington and left. My next destination was Ground Zero. Along the way, I got distracted by the random sculptures found around each corner and stopped and took pictures. Ground Zero was interesting. The atmosphere felt solemn. Its waterfall memorial is breathtaking. After that, I made my way toward the Brooklyn Bridge and Manhattan Bridge. It was a long walk from Ground Zero, but the view was amazing. I hit what I wanted to hit that day and tried to make my back to Chelsea. I wound up in Chinatown and explored bits and pieces of it. Throughout my walk, it was interesting to see many small things that I’ve seen in movies and TV shows like chain-linked fenced basketball courts.

Thanks for reading through this blog post. I’ll post my second day in New York in a few days!