Surviving New York During a Snow Storm

I made a recent trip to New York City and it just so happened to be the week that Storm Stella hit the north east coast of the US.Not the best timing for a Trip to the US but what's a girl to do when the flights and hotel are booked and a lot of time and effort had gone into the planning of the trip, you just grin and bare it and hope that its not has bad as everyone predicted.

I arrived in New York on the Sunday before the storm was due, to freezing conditions but the sun was still shinning, that's OK I an cope with the cold as long as the sun is out. If the weather can stay like this for the next four days I am winning, but alas this was not to be. It was similar weather to that what I arrived to on the Monday cold but bright so I was thinking usually it warms up a bit before a big snow storm maybe I have got away with this maybe the snow will have been blow off course and will by pass us and I will be lucky to have gotten away with it!

How naive I was, I awoke to snow covered roof tops and inches of snow covering the roads and footpaths with snow falling thick and fast as well as huge gusts of wind, winner!! Not to be deterred and hoping that the snow fall will stop any time I ventured out. I had been told that the museums should still be open and the like so I jumped on the Subway down town with the plan of visiting the Ground Zero Museum and Workshop. As I came out of the subway station a short walk from the Museum I saw Starbucks and it was open, so I decided to grab a quick breakfast before making my way to the museum, while I was enjoying a bite to eat and taking full advantage of their free WIFI I checked Google maps to see how far a way the museum was and how long it would take to walk it was then that a little alert popped up on my screen telling me that in actual fact the Museum would not be open today!! Bloody hell I've come all the way down town what can I do now? I thought best thing to do would be to visit the 9/11 Memorial as this was outdoors and something you can just walk up to. Unfortunately due to the bad weather I could see the Memorial but I couldn't get as close to it as you normally would be able to but was still very moving to be in the place that the horrible tragedy took place. Having paid my respects at the Memorial I thought I would nip in quickly to Target that was just a little further along the street to see if I could get some Knicks clothing for the Basketball game I had tickets for that evening.

Oh My God!! Trying to walk 300m up the street was incredibly difficult the now was not falling as massive hail stones punching you in the face no matter how well wrapped up I thought I and coupled with that the winds had picked up and were reported to have reached 60 mph. As you can imagine it was very treacherous conditions and it was starting to get a little dangerous. Once I had, had a little look in Target and hoping that the wind and hail would ease off I headed back out in search of the Subway station to head back up town, I didn't want to get stuck down here far away from the Hotel. I got off the subway at Madison Square Gardens, as I had, had no luck finding anything with the New York Knicks on I figured the Gardens would have a shop I could pick something up. As I came to ground level I was fortunate to find a discount sports clothing stores and picked up a T-Shirt. Once done in their the wind and hail had picked up again so I ran into TGI Fridays and decided that this was as good a place as any to grab some lunch and once again wait for the wind and hail to die down a bit before heading out, I was lucky this place was open as a lot of businesses had made the decision to close that day for the safety of their staff.

By this time a lot of the day had gone, trying to walk in 60 mph winds takes up a lot of your time!! So once I had eaten I headed back to my hotel to freshen up before heading back out for the Basketball that evening. When I headed back out the snow and hail had finally stopped and the wind had died down considerably so the worst was now behind me, thank god!!

The next day I headed back out to pick up where I left off with my New York sight seeing, taking in a tour of the Rockefeller Centre and a little stroll around Central Park. I was amazed at how quickly the roads and pathways had been cleared, there were people out doing this on the Tuesday and it looks like people had worked through the night to ensure that everything was done for the Wednesday. The snow unfortunately piled up at crossroads and I found a few crossings to be a bit dicey trying the clamber over huge piles of snow but for the most part getting around by foot was no problem at all. By the Thursday I had noticed massive trucks scooping big piles of the snow into the back and it appears that it gets shipped elsewhere to melt as the city just cant handle that amount of melted water!!

New York in the snow is so pretty and Central Park in particular was magical. Apart from losing one day of sight seeing the city was incredibly resilient and bounced back pretty quickly and was back to its busy bustling self in no time at all. I would definitely need to re-visit this amazing city in the summer one to do all the things I didn't get a chance to but also to experience how different the city can be in the warmer weather!

Wish List ~ US Cities

The USA being as vast in size as it is, has a lot of great cities with so much to offer visitors. Each one has its own unique charm and history wherever you go there is always some new and interesting to see and do. I have had the fortune to visit some of the wonderful cities this amazing country has to offer and here are a few that I have on my wish list for futures trips!

Nashville, Tennessee

This city was added to my wish list in the last year but has kind of shot straight to the top! I've always known about this city but not really known what it had to offer until I started watching the Country Music TV Drama Nashville which is set in its namesakes city. As well as opening up my music tastes to the world of Country Music I've also realised that the Country Music Hall of Fame is housed here and there are always live music performances happening all over the city in all kinds on venues including the most prestigious of all The Grand Ole Opry. As well as its Country Music scene you can also find the Antenbellum Plantation mansion houses turned museums still in keeping with architecture and interiors of the civil war period, you can also visit some civil war battlefields are near by too. As you can see there is so much for you to see and do in this southern city and I cant wait to see it.

New Orleans, Louisiana

So ill be the first to admit the reason this was added to my wish list was mainly because I really want to go to the Mardi Gras Festival, it just looks like so much fun and so colourful. Having looked in to what else this fantastic city has to offer I was pleasantly surprised and found there is way more to this city than its street festival. Just to have the chance to take a wonder around the different districts and neighbourhoods looking at all the different architecture and businesses etc. people watching is something I could easily spend an afternoon doing and I hear that the French Quarter is great for this. I'd also love to catch one of the street cars taking in some of the sights and scenes. There are an abundance of museums from the World War II museum to the Old Mint and plenty of houses for me to explore. As well as all this culture New Orleans is well known for its food scene in particular Creole cuisine with its wide variety of influences from French to German, Spanish and West Africa. As well as this there are loads of other culinary places I'd love to discover, Yum!

Boston, Massachusetts

I cant remember exactly what it was that attracted me to this city but I have a feeling It may well have been it's English town influences being in New England after all! Boston is well known for its prestigious university Harvard as well as other world renowned learning institutes, but there is so much else to see and do. Arnold Arboretum is the oldest public arboretum in North America and has some lovely landscapes I could lose myself in exploring and seeing all the different plants and species. Another big draw is the freedom trail, a two and a half mile walk taking in 16 of Boston's historic sites a great way to see all the important sites learning all about the historic events and buildings in this culture rich city. Id wouldn't mind taking in the Sam Adams Brewery Tour as well because who doesn't love a brewery tour and with the promise of free samples, I'm there! Sine I went to my first Baseball game in Tampa earlier this year if I got the chance I would love to go to one of the Boston Red Sox games, the atmosphere at ball games is so fun so going to see another game would be the best.

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

So I can see a theme developing here my stomach seems to be informing most of my decisions to visit certain places, oops! So as you will have probably guessed the first reason that drew me to this city was the cheesesteak sandwich it is world famous after all! Another big draw for me is he historic parts of this city, the Liberty Bell is housed here as well as Independence Hall and Constitution Hall where the Declaration of Independence and the US Constitution were debated and subsequently adopted, it would be great to find out more about the origins of the United States. You can also climb the steps of the Philadelphia Museum of Art made famous by the film Rocky, there is also a statue of Rocky himself commissioned for Rocky III and donated by Sylvester Stallone to the city and sits at the bottom of the steps waiting for that picture perfect moment.

New York, New York

This city has been on the wish list for as long as I can remember it has everything I love in one place, it has shopping, tourist attractions, museums, history, culture, open spaces, bright lights, great food, great bars. Some of the main things id like to see and do would most definitely be Central Park a great place to people watch take a nice walk in the fresh air have a picnic take a few selfies and maybe even a rowing boat ride. To get some great pictures of the New York Skyline I've heard that the Top of the Rock is one of the best because you can get the Empire State Building in your shot I would obviously like to go to the top of the Empire State building too but to get a shot with the building in is deffo on my list. I cant wait to get lost in all the amazing shops that New York has, in particular Tiffany's. Ever since I saw the film Breakfast at Tiffany's I have always wanted to recreate that iconic scene taking my breakfast pastry and coffee to the store and browse the window displays, and pop in to see all the beautiful jewellery. I want to walk along the Brooklyn Bridge, hop on the Staten Island Ferry, take in the Statue of Liberty, explore Grand Central Station, browse some of the many museums and galleries and stand in the middle of Times Square and take it all in. I'm lucky enough to be going to this amazing city next year and I actually cant hold in my excitement there are so many wonderful things to see and do that one trip will not be enough, so I'm sure that there will be many more visits to New York in my future!