Friday 15 August 2014

USA Day 22. NYC Midtown

Today I set off to discover the hustle and bustle of Midtown! I decided to walk there and all I can say is, after 2hours of walking in blazing summer sunshine I was rethinking my objection to the subway.
 Luckily it was a really beautiful walk through the Upper West Side, so streets were tree lined and littered with gorgeous old buildings and random shops that I could peruse on my way

I did a little detour so I would pass National History Museum which faces Central Park - I decided not to go in since I fee like I could easily spend an entire day in there and I didn't want to waste one an entire day when I only had a handful in NYC
 I also ensured I did another little detour so I could sample the Magnolia Bakery! I wish I'd taken more photos inside as it was adorable, and all the cakes and cupcakes looked delicious!
 As it was, I was too busy trying to decide which one I wanted to think about taking photos.
 I got a (mammoth) slice of the Caramel Cake and some freshly made lemonade. They were both delicious and the perfect accompaniment to the book I was reading!
 After spending a lot longer than planning reading in the sunshine with my cake I set off again
 I stuck to Central Park West so I wouldn't get lost and soon found myself in the heart of Midtown
 Look at all the yellow cabs! There really were hundreds and hundreds of them all over!
 As I wandered towards Times Square I was really glad I picked a Sunday to explore the city as it's always nice to be able to get your bearings in a new city when it isn't crazily busy.
 I quickly found out it wasn't because it was a Sunday that is was quiet, the streets had emptied because of the Dominican Day Parade!
 The parade was really fun, everyone was cheering and singing, and it seemed that anyone and everyone who was from the Dominican Republic and works for New York, in what ever form, was celebrated today.
 I was pretty impressed with just how many people turned out as well, the entire street was lined with people!
 One of the dancers!
 After spending some time at the parade I headed to Times Square! Where I found lots of food stalls set up for the Parade. There were all sorts of exotic dishes to look at while I wandered about

 Times Square wasn't quite what I was expecting, but I figured it'd have to see it in the evening to really judge the place as during the day it was massively crowded and the adverts, although pretty huge, weren't really all that.
 I had a play booked on Broadway so I decided to head over early to make sure I knew where I was going, and I'm so glad I did as it took me the whole half an hour to find the theatre!
 All the theatres are pretty close together but it still seemed to take me ages to track down the Minskoff!
 (thought this was a pretty good picture of two things NYC is pretty famous for!)
 My Theatre Tickets!!
(that I thankfully remembered to print off this morning before I left the hostel)
 I was so excited to see a Broadway show, and rightly so! The Lion King was amazing!
 I wasn't sure how they'd do it, since the characters were all animals, but it was very cleverly done and very, very impressive. Everyone who sang was also amazing, they were doing all sorts of routines and yet they were consistently on the mark!
Random photo of me outside the Minskoff Theatre after watching the Lion King!
 By the time it finished and everyone made there way out evening had set so I popped back to Times Square to get a feel for the place when it was properly lit up!
 Times Square was significantly more impressive in the evening!
 There were tons of acts and 'characters' all around the square, but this one stood out for all the wrong reasons - how creepy is that!?
I thought the statue's of Liberty were pretty good though, standing on stilts the costumes were pretty impressive really!

And this guy just made me laugh so I had to take a photo of him!
The crowds, although incredibly frustrating, definitely added to the 'vibe' of the square
I obviously had to have a photo at Times Square!

 After taking my photos I popped into a few of the shops because you can't leave NYC without doing a little bit of shopping! (although I'm not sure it really counts when you can't really buy anything because your suitcase is already right on the limit…)
Forever 21 has photo booths inside it's shops?!
Today has been really fun, with the show definitely being the highlight, followed by Times Square at night and then the scrumptious Magnolia Bakery! 

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