On our second day in New York, we planned on having breakfast at Russ and Daughters, a place my co-worker recommended for Jewish food and egg creams. We arrived at our destination when lo and behold, we were slapped on the face with a two-hour wait time! Plan B was to head towards the general direction of Central Park and make a stop at the Grand Central Terminal on the way. The station was quite remarkable, boasting of 44 platforms and 67 tracks. We took a few minutes to soak in the scene before moving along, watching bustling commuters and tourists alike.

New York City - Part 1

Last September, I headed to my very first trip to the Big Apple and it was just an amazing experience overall! We took a red eye flight Thursday night and arrived at JFK Friday morning--3 AM Pacific time! Needless to say I was a bit disoriented upon landing, but with excitement rushing through and the power of Dunkin Donuts, Ryan and I managed to navigate our way through the subway system and make it to our hotel in one piece.

Fodor's recommends doing the Statue of Liberty tour pretty early in the day, since lines get very long and unforgiving as the day progresses. Lady Liberty was incredibly massive and surely deserves her iconic status! I was so pumped to get to strike an item off my bucket list--visiting a UNESCO World Heritage site--booyah! We also breezed through Ellis Island (at my nagging) despite being on the verge of collapsing from a sleep attack. Factoring in ZERO sleep into an equation filled with a lot of standing and waiting, we were more than ready to rest our heads on the nearest set of pillows. However I couldn't pass up the opportunity to visit an important cornerstone of American history, especially since I'm an immigrant myself. The great hall pictured below is the Registry Room, where immigrants queued to be interrogated and verified by an official.

Also featured on the photos below are the Manhattan skyline and the One World Trade Center. It may not look it but the latter is dubbed to be the tallest skyscraper in the Western hemisphere!