Last week, my two friends and I traveled to New York City (I feel the need to not mention their names, so in this post they will be called Z and G. Z has already appeared in an earlier blog post so if you want go give that a read!) They are both good friends from the rink so I was really excited to visit the Big Apple with them.

Our journey started on Tuesday, December 29th. We met up at the rink like we usually do before going somewhere together. Mind you, it was like 7pm so no one was at the rink aside from a few hockey players so my mom and I looked a little sketchy parked at the front of the dark rink in our little Mazda 3. Eventually, Z and G arrived and after piling into G’s mom’s car we set off on the 2 hour long journey.

Our plan was that we would drive to G’s grandparent’s house, spend the night there, and in the morning go into the busy city (her grandparents live just outside of NYC). Originally, we had planned to skate at Rockefeller Center but that didn’t happen as we would have had to lug our skates throughout the city which would have been annoying and tiring. Instead, we decided to go to a Hunger Games exhibition for the latest movie, which I haven’t actually seen yet (I know, I know, I’m lame).

Anyway, we arrived at my friend’s grandparents’ house and literally, every inch of the house was covered in Christmas. I kid you not, Christmas was everywhere, whether you liked it or not. Pine cones, reindeers, Santa Clauses (is that the plural of Santa Claus? I don’t know) everywhere. Every. Inch.

There were also clocks all around. And let me tell you that these clocks were very particular about when they chimed. One went off every 15 minutes, another every 30, I don’t even know but there were probably 5 clocks in that living room.

It also happened to be the room that my friends and I were sleeping in.

You can imagine how much sleep we got (hint: not much).

Nonetheless, G’s grandparents are lovely people and I’m very grateful that they took in three teenage girls for the night 🙂

 

Continuing, we went to a couple of different places in NYC so I’m just going to say a little bit about each of them. First, we stopped by Rockefeller Center, even though we weren’t skating, to take a look at the huge Christmas tree; I got a nice picture of it, I think! We also got to see everyone on the ice, slipping and sliding and falling. I have to say, there is something truly magical about New York during this time of year. I don’t know what it is but it feels almost whimsical.

Next, we went to Times Square! I had never been there before so this was super exciting. New York is such a busy and fast-paced city; everything and everyone is moving, all the time, never-stopping. Like G’s mom said, “you could walk by someone famous and not even know it”, simply because there are so many people. When we got there, people were setting up to practice for the ball drop on New Years’. What you see in movies is quite accurate; the hot dog vendors, the yellow taxis, the flashing billboards and lights. It’s all true.

*Please excuse G’s head cutting into the shot 🙂 *

Lastly, I’ll tell you about the New York Public Library, which is where we went to next. Although we couldn’t explore the actual collection, the architecture was absolutely stunning. It was beautiful. Walking up those steps, you just felt the history and the old age of the place. Inside, there were ceilings decorated with gorgeous inlays and wooden carvings, smooth marble stairs, and colossal marble columns. I’ve attached some pictures but they don’t do the library justice. If you’re ever in NYC, go to the library!

After this amazing day, we traveled back to G’s grandparents’ house. For dinner, we ate Chinese takeout which was really good (although not too healthy). After that, we set off on the 2 hour ride home which didn’t seem to last all that long, probably because we were laughing so much. I think I had a food baby because I ate so much stuff that day..

And that concludes this summary!

P.S. I’m really sorry I didn’t post on Thursday; school just started so I needed to focus on that a bit. I will do my best for this coming week! My civics final is coming up and, since it’s only a semester course, I will have one less class to do homework for soon enough (FINALLY).

Thanks so much for reading! I’m really glad that people are enjoying my blog and thank you to everyone who comments, likes, and follows my blog. It means a lot.

See ya 🙂

Anna xx