Monday was our busiest day ever. On our third last day, we decided to do an epic walking tour of the major landmarks in Midtown, and then cap our day off with a stroll across the Brooklyn Bridge.
We left the apartment at a good time, grabbed a coffee at the Swedish coffee bar FIKA (highly recommended), and began our pilgrimmage at West 59th Street & 5th Avenue. Here are some things we saw along the way.
1) Fairmont Plaza Hotel - of Home Alone fame (pictured below)
2) Flagship Apple Store (pictured below)
3) FAO Schwarz - New York's most fantastical toy store (no photos)
4) Bergdorf Goodman - luxury department store
5) Great architectural details, including the Coca-Cola Company
6) Tiffany & Co.
7) The St. Regis Hotel
8) St. Thomas Church (circa 1914)
9) Beautiful architectural reliefs, here at 636 & 640 5th Avenue
10) Radio City Music Hall
11) Stark skyscrapers along Avenue of the Americas
12) NBC Studios
13) This brings us to one of the highlights of our walking tour – perhaps my favourite Art Deco landmark in Manhattan: Rockefeller Center, which includes the famous 30 Rock. Outstanding.
14) The French Building (circa 1927)
15) The Empire State Building
16) The Bowery Savings Bank Building (circa 1834)
17) Another favourite along the way: The Chrysler Building (oh how I wish I could have gone to the top...)
18) Another favourite: the Beaux-Arts masterpiece, Grand Central Station
19) The New York Public Library / Stephen A. Schwarzman Building (circa 1911)
20) After a massive day of walking, we took a pit stop at the apartment, refuelled, and prepared ourselves for one final sprint across NYC's iconic landmark, the Brooklyn Bridge. We took the subway down to Chambers Street, and walked south east towards the water until we saw the steel-wired structure.
The Brooklyn Bridge is one of NYC's oldest suspension bridges, and took 16 years to build. The walk across took about 30 minutes, dodging tourists and cyclists. But the views were amazing. Photos below.
Upon everyone's recommendation, I waited in line for 45 minutes to get a piece of NYC's finest pizza pie at the iconic Grimaldi's in Brooklyn. Chewy cheese, perfectly seasoned sausage – it was the perfect ending to the day.
