One thing I absolutely wanted to do when we went to New York was see a show on Broadway. I've always loved going to the theatre and was desperate to see an amazing show performed by the best of the best. I wasn't particularly picky about what we saw, but I think we definitely made the best choice in going to see 'The Book of Mormon'. The show itself was absolutely hilarious, but definitely not for the easily offended or the very religious. It follows two 'newly trained' Mormons on their journey to Uganda to convert the citizens of a small, deprived village. We laughed the whole way through the performance and there were a few moments where I struggled for air. I thought my knowledge of the Mormon religion (thanks, GCSE History) would be useful in understanding the plot, but it was covered very easily in a few catchy songs. If you want a good laugh alongside some music that will be stuck in your head for days, 'The Book of Mormon' is definitely for you. We also headed to Times Square as it was just around the corner from the theatre. It was definitely a lot busier than anywhere else we'd been but I didn't find it too overwhelming. It's just what I imagined it to be and everywhere you look there is a billboard or a street performer. It definitely gives you the 'chaotic New York' vibe. As always, thank you for reading. I'm sadly home from New York now but I'm already looking into going again. Have you been? Let me know your thoughts on it with a comment!
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One thing I definitely wanted to do when I visited New York was go to an art museum. I've always been a big fan of artwork and I've loved going to art museums since I was a child, so I just had to see some of the work that New York had to offer. So, we headed uptown to visit the Guggenheim Museum to have some time away from the city heat and to look at some work. The architecture of the Guggenheim is sort of what makes it so special - the building is circular and you're meant to start at the top of the museum and walk downwards using the spiral walkway. It was definitely nice to not have to use any stairs! There was a pretty good range of art in the museum (obviously) with some side rooms showing different exhibitions. My favourite pieces were some of Picasso's and a painting named "Tall Nude" by Giacometti. There was also an exhibition named "One Hand Clapping" by a collection of Asian artists which was much more modern than the rest of the art in the museum. Here are some of my favourites! After the museum, we headed to Central Park which was just over the road and enjoyed an ice cream. So, overall it was a very good day. As always, thank you for reading! Want to read some more? Take a look at my latest post. Can't get enough of me? Follow me on Instagram. New York is amazing, and it's even better from the sky. We visited the top of the Rockerfeller centre a few days ago to see what the city really looks like from above and the views certainly didn't disappoint. We had our tickets booked for 7:35pm so that we could watch the sunset, which was unreal. It only took a 45 second elevator trip to reach the top and you could walk the whole way around the ledge, so the views were 360. I was really blown away by how incredible New York looks from above and was shocked at how huge Central Park actually is (I hadn't visited there yet). If you follow me on Instagram, you will have definitely seen these pictures before. There's not a lot to write about my trip to the Top of the Rock but I just wanted to share the view with you, so thank you for taking a peek. Trigger warning: terrorism, 9/11 attacks. I am having the best time in New York and I have definitely fallen in love with the city. Between doing the really big tourist-y things we took a few hours out of our trip to visit the 9/11 Memorial, and I'm so glad we did.
I didn't take any pictures in the museum other than the two I've posted here, mainly because I just felt disrespectful to be experiencing the museum through my camera lens. There was just something about these two pieces, though, that really hit me. The blue mosaic was done by an artist who, over time, watercolored each of these pieces of paper with what he thought the sky looked like that day with the words "No day shall erase you from the memory of time" written in the centre. This mosaic was enormous and took up a whole wall, so was very overwhelming and emotional to see. The podium in the second picture is called The Last Column and was rightfully named due to being one of the last pieces of infrastructure to be standing after the attack. The graffiti and photos you can see on it were done/placed there by families and friends of the victims as tribute to them. For me, it was a very beautiful piece. I'm so glad I visited the memorial and museum for the 9/11 attacks because it made me so much more aware and educated on the event, and reminded me how ignorant I/we can sometimes be to the things happening around us. I could have made this post a lot longer, but I'm aware that the event is very morbid which is why I decided to focus on less negative aspects, such as the mosaic. However, if you do have any questions feel free to email me or drop a comment. As always, thank you for reading.
As some of you may know, I'm heading to New York soon. I've never travelled long haul before so I've tried to pack some important pieces in my hang luggage bag to keep me comfortable and entertained. Have a peek what's inside my hand luggage!
That's everything in my bag for my flight to New York! Knowing me, I'll throw a load more things in last minute but these are definitely the essentials. Make sure you stay tuned because the New York posts will be endless, I'm sure. Thanks for reading! Want to read more? Take a peek at my most recent post.
Can't get enough of me? Follow me on Instagram. After a stressful year and an even more full-on fortnight of exams, my stepmom and I thought it would be lovely to spend a few days in Lanzarote to switch off and relax. I'd like to say we got up to a lot, but we really didn't! I'm lucky enough for my dad and stepmom to own a little apartment on the island, it's only a one bedroom but we don't spend a lot of time there anyway so the space doesn't bother us too much - plus, we can't complain about having a property in the sun!! We arrived very early on Monday morning and left even earlier on the Friday so we had only had a few days to switch off, but it was definitely enough time for me to burn. We spent most of our time relaxing by the pool and I managed to read a book for fun for the first time in two years (shoutout to A Level English), but we went for some lovely food too and we even spent one evening at the outdoor cinema, which is one of my favourite places in the world. I also managed to sneak some shopping in! We had a takeaway from our favourite local Italian on our first and final night and headed out for a meal on our second night to a lovely restaurant on the harbour. The view was absolutely amazing and so was the food! I did have to be careful with my drinking, though, as I felt myself getting drunk after one cocktail which I'm pretty sure was 95% alcohol. On our third/penultimate evening we headed to the outdoor cinema at the shopping centre that's about two minutes away from our apartment and we watched Ferdinand. Even though it was a kids' film, I still blubbed. I always love going to the cinema in Lanzarote because the film starts at sundown, so you get an amazing view of the sunset before you watch the film.
Overall, we had a lovely few days and it was so nice to finally relax after such a tense year. It was also super hot and I managed to burn my backside on the first day after (stupidly) falling asleep in the sun - good one Soph. I'm not back on British turf for long, though, as I'm heading off to New York in just under a week! |