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NYC in a Day

This past weekend I visited New York City for a day. One of my friends is from Sweden and it was her first time in NYC. Visiting New York City for a day as a first timer is never enough, but here's what we did in our jam packed day.
10am
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My friends and I stayed in Staten Island for the night, woke up early, and ate rainbow bagels on the ride to NYC. We took the ferry which was absolutely beautiful and surprisingly a very quick trip. I took a shower before I left and this might've been the world's best blow dryer. My Swedish friend was to the left taking pictures of the Statue of Liberty.

10:30am

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After the ferry, we made our way to Central Park. I had to take a picture of the subway because it was absolutely empty for a Friday morning. The weather was beautiful and the mask mandate had lifted everywhere else. This was insane because for a heavily populated city and with COVID seemingly being on the decline, how empty it was in the city!
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11am

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Our plan was to eat lunch at Central Park, but we got a little distracted by the numerous amounts of horses around the park. We had to hitch a ride around the park with our friend Murphy and his hilarious Irish owner. At the end we got to feed him by the Friend's fountain. He didn't take the carrot out of my mouth. ** Fun fact, the actual Friend's fountain is in LA**

12pm

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aandddd finally lunch! My lovely non vegan friends ate sushi and 99 cent pizza which looked amazing, while I ate a veggie burger and sesame noodles from Whole Foods. We stayed for an hour until we found a museum which was a 10 minute subway ride away.

2pm

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The Museum of Illusions!! This place was interesting but you have to go in with your head screwed on or stoned. It was much more crowded than the subway, and I recommend going at a less busy time. Here are some of the illusions.
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Please look at the last illusion. There was some confusion as to how the illusion worked. My friend laying on the bench convinced me that I was doing it wrong. Now turn your head. She is just laying on the bench. Just to make this clear, she still doesn't understand what is wrong with what she is doing.
4pm
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This is on our way to Times Square. I just thought it was funny. We love honest people.
5pm
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Right when we got outside it was absolutely pouring rain. We ran into Krispy Kreme and HAD to get a warm donut. This is my Swedish friend enjoying Times Square and having her first Krispy Kreme. We showed her the M&M Factory and the massive Forever 21. When we were all waiting on the corner of Times Square, we huddled under a small $5 umbrella when a passerby switched umbrellas with us. His was a huge golf umbrella, strangers are so nice.
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7pm
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This was one of my favorite places of
the day. After a long day of walking
and rain we decided to take shelter in a
small restaurant on a side street of
Times Square. The rain was picking up and we had an hour to kill until our
last stop in NYC. We wandered upon one of the coolest places I have seen. There was a bar and frozen drinks at the start of the restaurant, then further back there was a huge basket around many of the tables. There was beach music playing, pink lighting all around, and sand on the side of the restaurant. They had strong and fresh drinks and delicious food. It wasn't busy at all on a Friday night, which makes this even more of a hidden gem. That's my favorite part of New York, we can walk into a random place exhausted and confused, and wander upon something insane.
8pm
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Finally, our last stop was at Top of the Rock. Our original idea was to
go at 8pm for sunset but the rain didn't like that idea. Regardless,
the rain felt like a movie. Although it was freezing and windy it felt like a
breath of fresh air. It got to the point where you forget about how cold you
are and just enjoy the moment. There was an engagement while we were there. The poor guy wanted to propose at sunset but got this weather. I guess that's love. T want to propose even if things aren't perfect, because you can't wait another second. Fun fact about our trip, our Swedish friend is scared of heights and water. Great time to tell us Magda!
10pm
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Finally, we made it back to the ferry after a long, long day. We hadn't eaten that much the whole day, and I stopped at Auntie Anne's for a quick treat. The worker was about to shut down, and ended up giving me 5 free pretzels. To make a fantastic day fantastical, New York City, you are truly the city of dreams.