My First Week in New York: A Travel Journal of Pizza, Chaos, and Unexpected Beauty
Day 1: Arrival and Sensory Overload
Landed at JFK at 6PM. Took the AirTrain to Jamaica Station, then the E train to Manhattan. Total cost: $10.75. Total time: 70 minutes. The subway was everything I'd been told — loud, slightly confusing, and full of people who all seemed to know exactly where they were going while I squinted at the map.
Checked into a hotel in Midtown. Walked outside. Times Square was three blocks away and hit me like a neon truck. Screens everywhere, noise everywhere, tourists everywhere. I lasted 12 minutes before walking south.
First meal: Joe's Pizza in Greenwich Village. Plain cheese slice, $3.50, cash only. The fold technique — you fold the slice in half lengthwise so the grease pools in the center — is mandatory. The crust was thin, the cheese was salty, and I understood immediately why New Yorkers are evangelists about their pizza.
Walked through Washington Square Park. A jazz quartet was playing under the arch. NYU students filled the benches. A man walked by with a full-sized iguana on his shoulder and nobody looked twice.
Day 2: Central Park and the Met
Central Park is obscenely large. 843 acres. I entered at the south end and walked to Bethesda Fountain, then the Bow Bridge, then Belvedere Castle. Three hours passed and I'd covered maybe 30% of the park. The autumn foliage was spectacular — reds and golds against the Manhattan skyline.
The Metropolitan Museum of Art: $30 entry (mandatory for non-NY residents). I thought I'd spend 2 hours. I spent 4 and barely saw a fraction. The Egyptian Wing has an actual Egyptian temple (the Temple of Dendur) reassembled inside a glass-walled room overlooking Central Park. The European paintings galleries hold Vermeers, Rembrandts, and Van Goghs.
The rooftop garden had views of Central Park and the skyline that made me put my camera down and just look.
Dinner: Xi'an Famous Foods in the Village. Hand-pulled biang biang noodles with cumin lamb, $12. Spicy, chewy, magnificent.
Day 3: Brooklyn Bridge at Sunrise
Set my alarm for 5:30AM. Took the subway to the Brooklyn side. Started walking across the bridge at 6:15AM as the sun was rising behind the Manhattan skyline.
I was nearly alone. A few runners. A couple of photographers. The East River below was gold. The Manhattan skyline ahead was backlit and perfect. The Brooklyn Bridge cables created geometric patterns against the sky.
I stopped in the middle of the bridge and stood there for ten minutes. The city was waking up. The sunrise turned everything warm. I'd been in New York for 48 hours and this was already the most beautiful thing I'd seen.
Continued into DUMBO. Got the famous Manhattan Bridge photo on Washington Street. Had a pastry at Almondine Bakery ($4). Walked along the Brooklyn waterfront.
Afternoon: the High Line — a 1.45-mile elevated park built on old freight rail tracks through Chelsea. Free, beautiful, with public art that changes seasonally. Walked south to north, ending at Hudson Yards. Chelsea Market below had excellent tacos ($8).
Evening: TKTS booth in Times Square. Got tickets to a Broadway show for 40% off. The show was magnificent. I ate a $1 slice from 2 Bros on the way back. Best day so far.
Day 4: Chinatown, Lower East Side, and the East Village
Chinatown dumplings at Vanessa's Dumpling House. Eight pork and chive dumplings for $4.25. Ate them standing on the sidewalk because every table was full.
Walked to the Lower East Side. The Tenement Museum ($30, timed tour) was unexpectedly moving — walking through the preserved apartments of immigrant families from the 1860s-1930s.
Lunch at Katz's Deli. Yes, the one from When Harry Met Sally. The pastrami sandwich is $26 and the size of a small building. I split it with a stranger at the communal table — a retired teacher from Ohio named Linda. We talked about immigration and sandwiches for 45 minutes.
Evening in the East Village. Drinks at a dive bar on Avenue B. A man played guitar on the sidewalk and sang Leonard Cohen. I gave him $5.
Day 5: Williamsburg and Brooklyn
Subway L train to Bedford Avenue. Williamsburg is Brooklyn's coolest neighborhood — vintage clothing shops, craft breweries, waterfront parks with Manhattan skyline views.
Smorgasburg was happening (weekends only). Dozens of food vendors. I ate: a lobster roll ($18), Korean corn dogs ($8), and Japanese-style cheesecake ($6). Zero regrets.
Walked to Domino Park on the waterfront. Sat on the artificial sand with a view of the Williamsburg Bridge and Manhattan. Read a book for an hour. NYC doesn't have to be intense every minute.
Dinner: L'Industrie Pizzeria in Williamsburg — widely considered NYC's best pizza right now. The burrata slice ($6) was the best pizza I ate all week, and I ate pizza 11 times.
Day 6: Harlem and Upper Manhattan
Took the subway to 125th Street. Harlem is a different New York — gospel music pouring from church windows on Sunday morning, soul food restaurants, the Apollo Theater marquee.
Brunch at Red Rooster: fried chicken and waffles ($22). The cornbread was free and outstanding. Marcus Samuelsson's restaurant lives up to the hype.
Walked to the Cloisters — a medieval art museum in Fort Tryon Park at the northern tip of Manhattan. $30 entry (included with Met ticket). A reconstructed European monastery housing medieval tapestries, gardens, and stained glass. One of the most peaceful places in New York, and almost no one goes there.
Day 7: Top of the Rock and Goodbye
Top of the Rock: $43. Observation deck on the 70th floor of 30 Rockefeller Center. I booked the sunset time slot. The Empire State Building lit up in front of me, Central Park stretched to the north, and the entire city sparkled.
NYC is not kind. It's loud and expensive and indifferent to your existence. The subway smells. The rent is criminal. People walk fast because they have places to be, and those places are not your tourist photo.
But this city — at sunrise on the Brooklyn Bridge, in a $4 dumpling shop in Chinatown, standing on the 70th floor watching 8 million lives happen simultaneously — this city is the greatest show on Earth.
For more on New York City, check out our NYC vs. London.
Final meal: a $1 slice from a random shop on 8th Avenue. Perfect. New York.
