Woooah! What’s this? A highly anticipated follow up to part one of my world famous, sensational, informative, well written blog about New York? Well it would seem that way wouldn’t it. Shall we carry on with day 2? Grab a brew and let’s do it. (If you missed Part 1, what are you even doing? Go back and read it here)
It was the day of my 30th Birthday and I woke up fresh faced and ready for action, in the city I’d wanted to see for so long. I had less planned today but that didn’t mean the activities weren’t as fun. First off I was heading to the Natural History Museum, with nothing really planned until late afternoon I could take my time and enjoy the city. I set off, walking again to make sure I didn’t miss any sights along the way and decided on Bibble and Sip for some breakfast bagels and coffee. It came highly recommended and it didn’t disappoint. It was quite small and I sat in the window to eat, but left soon after to make room for others as the queue was growing. Full of food I began my walk towards Central Park, via Columbus Circle.
It was quiet in the park, a few street performers and runners, but not a huge amount of people given the time. It was cold and there were leaves everywhere, as much as I’d like to see it in full bloom, the Autumnal colours were special. I stopped off at a few points for photos, on the hills, at the lake and on a bench overlooking the musicians. It was calm and quiet, I soaked up the atmosphere for a while and then made my way out towards the museum.
The Natural History Museum was exactly how I imagined it, all except the dinosaurs on display in the main entrance, they really do catch you off guard as you go in, the sheer size of them is something I didn’t imagine. I had plenty of time here, so made my way round each exhibit, did a lot of reading, but didn’t take many photos. Before I knew it, it was time to head out, I needed to grab some food and be onto my next stop.
As it was my birthday I had one choice for lunch. New York Pizza! My pizza joint of choice was Joe’s Pizza and I was in luck because it wasn’t super busy. I sat up at the bar next to an older looking gentleman who was talking to the waitress, I ordered my pizza and started looking through the photos from my day so far. After a couple slices I got to talking with the older guy at the bar. It turned out he was an art teacher who had an exhibition up in one of the nearby galleries. We exchanged a few stories and of course it wasn’t long before he asked about Brexit. On that note is was time to order my Uber and head out.
Next up it was time for the thing I’d been looking forward to the most. I’d booked myself a helicopter ride over New York, something to really celebrate my 30th in style. I got my taxi over to the FlyNyon HQ on the other side of New Jersey and got ready for my safety briefing. I was with 3 others in a doors off flight taking us over various landmarks in the city, as it was my birthday I got to sit up front and yes, even at 30 that got me stupidly excited.
As we set off over the Hudson River it was late afternoon, very cloudy and on the brink of getting dark. We started off over Central Park. We got some great shots looking south over the park and lower Manhattan. After that headed towards the new Freedom Tower, we circled it to get a few different angles before heading to a few other buildings, the Empire State Building being one. As we went further south we flew by the Statue of Liberty and the Brooklyn Bridge, then it was time to get back. Shooting out of a moving helicopter is hard. You have to be fast, we were losing light quickly so I had to factor that into my ever changing settings and I got a lot of blurry or out of focus shots. Don’t get me wrong, I got some killer shots, some I’m really proud of, but it was hard given the conditions. Even so, I would do it all over again if I had the chance.
And just like that day 2 was over. I headed out for a well deserved burger and got straight onto editing. Then before I knew it, it was time for day 3…