Manhattan

Central Park, Upper West & Upper East Side

We spent a couple days on this end of Manhattan. First we explored the Upper East side, also known as one of the most prestigious and richest neighbourhoods in the city. Where you can hobnob with the elite, even just for a day hehe.

Some of the famous landmarks of course include Fifth Avenue, the Museum Mile that includes the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Guggenheim among many other grand Museums. We however did not venture into any of the Museums on the Upper East Side. Instead we only walked the streets and lunched. Yup, that’s right, I was a ‘Lady Who Lunched’ in the Upper East Side.

Once we wrapped up yet another incredible meal we headed towards Central Park. We spent half a day exploring Central Park, including the Central Park Zoo.

The concept is impressive

Central Park and the Central Park Zoo

Full disclosure, I have mixed feelings about the park. It is 100% an urban oasis bordered entirely by skyscrapers with the Upper West Side and Upper East Side on either side.

When I say the concept is impressive, I mean that the fact that city planners and landscape architects birthed this idea in the mid 1800s long before the city become what is it today. To have had the foresight and intent to build this park, this 778 acre monstrosity right in the middle of Manhattan fully knowing that one day it would be enveloped in “The City that Never Sleeps”. Preserving itself as a paradise among progress.

It is undeniably beautifully landscaped, so many paths to explore all revealing little intricate secret histories and so much to see and do in the park.

So what’s the source of my mixed feelings? Well, guess what, the media has pumped it up sooooo much that I was left feeling mildly underwhelmed. The media portrays the city to be massive, Times Square also seemed so daunting and Central Park seemed like a never ending labyrinth, the Empire State Building is depicted as a monolithic landmark, the Statute of Liberty towering over the waterway entrance… As with nearly every landmark in New York, nothing was as big as the media makes it out to be.

Funny, this brings me back to a post I wrote about the power of a single story, this is exactly what I just experienced. Read the story here >>

For Comparison: 

• Central Park is 778 acres in the middle of New York City.
• Stanley Park is 1000+ acres in the middle of Vancouver.

But like I said, we did spend a significant amount of time in the park just strolling around and from the moment you step off the surrounding busy streets and enter the park it is almost like you walk through a looking glass and you are transported into a calm and relaxing retreat.

Upper West Side

American Museum of Natural History

While I don’t typically love to visit museums, I do on occasion make an exception and this was an exception worth making.

Holy Cow, Intense. It is an incredibly awesome place to visit and in my opinion my second favourite thing we did in New York City. It’s sheer size is a wonder in itself. 45 exhibition halls, a library and a planetarium, 34 million artifacts, a mammoth skeleton and meteorite a t-rex skeleton and the FAMOUS life size model of a blue whale.

We have all seen A Night at the Museum with Ben Stiller right? This museum is a colossal giant.

Hands down It Was Totally Worth It! FYI…if you take your kids, start early because you will be in the museum for the entire day.

Upper West Side

Levain Bakery

This bakery stop is worth a section of this post. It’s actually a really funny story of how my visit came to be. Let me set the stage, It’s my 2nd to last day in New York (Wednesday) and my friend from Vancouver messages me and asks if I have heard of Levain Bakery. She has been following them on socials for a while and is always interested to know how it is and if she ever makes it to New York, a visit to the bakery will be the top of her list. 

Well it just so happened that the following day, my last day, we were going to the Museum and there is a Levain location on our way so we stopped in on the way to check it out.

I bought two cookies, 1 for me and 1 for my friend. Wait what? That’s right, this cookie made a very long journey to get into her belly. I bought it in New York, flew home to Calgary the next day and immediately put it into my freezer, then 5 days later I moved to Kelowna where I transported the cookie to that freezer and 2 weeks later my friend visited me in Kelowna where she finally got to consume her special treat. 

Let me tell you, it was worth it. These cookies are gold. It weighed a ton with all the chocolate chips, perfectly balanced sugar and salty. It was literally the sweetest gift. buwahaha. Get it? Cause it was sweet of me but the cookie was sweet. hahaha. 

If only they shipped to Canada. What say you Levain? Just this one time?

The Bronx

Zoo #2: The Bronx Zoo

Wear your good shoes. Seriously, don’t be a fool, wear the good walking shoes. My feet were literally crying by the end of the day. This was the only thing we did this day, we rode the bus to The Bronx, walked the zoo and took the bus back to the hotel and when I took my shoes off and sat on the bed, there was no way my feet were giving me anything more this day. 

It’s by far the biggest zoo I have been to AND, astonishingly enough, 1/4 of it was CLOSED…so we didn’t even see it all. Over 265 acres of hardwood forest and 10,000+ animals…makes for one heck of a day. This Zoo also focuses on conservation, which I fully support. They have successfully reintroduced some American Bison into the wild, an animal on the brink of extinction. They have reintroduced 3 Chinese Alligators into the the Yangtze River in China and the zoo is part of an integrated system managed by the Wildlife Conservation Society.

The way the zoo was built was extremely well planned. I think my most favourite exhibit was the Congo Gorilla Forest (also my favourite animal anyway). 6.5 acres of rainforest that is home to 20+ gorillas among other animals.

It is an award winning exhibit and for good reason. Visitors walk through the area and can also view it from treetop lookouts. When you walk into Congo Gorilla Forest you’re immediately immersed into the African rainforest.  The exhibit trail you walk down is approximately ⅓ of a mile long.

It Was Worth It!!!

_{Please note that I have not received these products for free or at a discounted price in exchange for my opinion.  There may be links that are affiliate links but at the time of posting this review, I have not received any monetary kickbacks.}