KatelynJune 25, 2021 – June 27, 2021
Where We Stayed: Hyatt Regency Jersey City on the Hudson
Trip Highlights:
- NYC Pride Parade
- Harry Potter New York Store
- Finally seeing the Statue of Liberty (From a distance)
Favorite Restaurants:
Our trip to New York City was a quick one, with just about a day and a half to spend in the city. We arrived in NYC on a Saturday early afternoon, and after making our way over to Jersey City, New Jersey to drop off our stuff at the hotel, we decided to spend our first afternoon in the city. Our hotel was located right next to the ferry terminal over to NYC, so we boarded a ferry and spent a couple hours walking around lower Manhattan.
On this walk I got my first real glimpse of the Statue of Liberty from the mainland. Though we didn’t take a ferry to get closer on this trip, I know we’ll make our way out there on a future trip, once things have opened up more after the pandemic.
Our second full day in the city was a bit surprising. Shannon met us at Penn Station and we spent the first couple hours of our day at Baz Bagel in Little Italy eating delicious NYC bagels (including gluten free!) and catching up.
The only plans we had for the day was to visit the new Harry Potter New York shop once our time in the virtual queue was up later in the afternoon. However, as we walked around NYC, we kept noticing people dressed in full pride gear. After a quick Google search, we realized that that Sunday was actually the day of the NYC Pride Parade. We still had several hours until the Harry Potter store opened, and the parade would be marching just several blocks away from the store, so we spent a few hours people watching and celebrating with the other parade-goers as we waited for our time to go into the Harry Potter store.
Partway through the afternoon we got a text that it was our time to enter the new Harry Potter store! This store has merchandise from all over the world, including things typically only available in the theme parks or at the studio tour in London. The store was also peppered with props used in the movies and other themed décor. The best part, however, was the Butterbeer bar, where we all purchased a glass of draught butterbeer and split a butterbeer ice cream.
We were plenty hungry after spending all day at the Pride Parade and Harry Potter store, so we made our way across town to Chelsea Market for dinner. We started with delicious authentic carne asada tacos from Los Tacos No 1, then followed up with Korean fusion food (dumplings for Shannon and Sam and Kimchi fries for Katelyn) from Mokbar. We topped it off with gelato for dessert! I’d love more time to explore this market in the future.
We said goodbye to Shannon and slowly made our way back to New Jersey for the night, plenty tired from the day’s festivities.
Our final day had just enough time for one last stop in the city before heading to LaGuardia. We decided to spend it at Baz Bagel, enjoying one last NYC bagel sandwich to end our short but sweet weekend in the city.
