[NYC'24] Day 4 - Exploring Brooklyn

 

Hi angels, hope your summer is going well so far. It's hot as fuck over here right now and it's borderline unbearable to be outside. 

Anyways, we're almost at the end of my NYC trip so I'll try to make these next two posts short and sweet.

I can't remember what Reina got up to this day but we had different plans in the morning. I ended up meeting with my friend Justin for a bit. We've been internet friends for almost a decade at this point so it was awesome to finally meet. He took me to see Grand Central Station!

After exploring a bit we went downstairs to the food hall for lunch. We settled on this place called Tartinery. I got the smoked salmon tartine and it was lovely!

I think he was taking a work call when I took this lol

After lunch we met back up with Reina and Vix and took the train over to Brooklyn to visit the Botanic Garden.

There were lots of fun and interesting displays to look at. The first thing we got to see was this big pond garden. I wish the water was cleaner because it honestly was kind of gross LOL but otherwise the area was quite nice and tranquil.

Next we wandered into this bonsai display and I was so fascinated to learn that there were so many different species of bonsai trees. I guess I never really thought about that before this experience, I always just assumed it was one type of tree.

I really liked that some areas of this garden were set up as little biome bubbles so you could see all the different types of plants for that environment growing together.

We were pretty open for dinner options so Coop suggested that we try this steakhouse called St. Anselm but when we got there the doors were locked and the windows were boarded up. There wasn't any notice or signage to explain why but after digging online we found out that there was a fire the night before ( ˶°ㅁ°) !! Thankfully no one was hurt and the restaurant was able to open again after ~6 months. I hope I can go back and check it out cause I was really looking forward to eating there ( •̯́ ₃ •̯̀)

Anyways we were lucky that there were a lot of very well reviewed and established restaurants nearby so we decided to have dinner at this cute little bistro down the street called Recette.

I got the beef tartare and the grilled octopus. It was probably one of my favorite meals in New York and definitely one of the best octopus dishes I've ever had!! I can't wait to visit again and try some other things on their menu.

quick selfie with Justin to commemorate our meeting
cause we forgot to take pics together at lunch

After dinner we wandered around the DUMBO area to take in the sights. We got to see the Brooklyn bridge and also the 9/11 memorial lights. I really couldn't believe I was there in that moment, it felt like a scene from a movie.

We spent most of our time chatting and cherishing each other's company and it felt like the most perfect end to this short little visit. My flight was in the early afternoon the next day so I only had breakfast left to look forward to ｡°(°¯᷄◠¯᷅°)°｡

I was really sad that I had to leave so soon but I was grateful to have experienced this trip with Reina, Vix and Justin. Tbh I really needed this trip, it put so many things into perspective for me. At the time, I was still so heartbroken from my dad's passing and my ex best friend betraying me. I didn't know how to pick myself back up again. I felt so lost and angry. 

I'm not sure what it was but New York made me feel like it's not so bad to start fresh again. Being in a city where everyone had a main character energy to them made me feel like I really could be anyone I wanted. We're all the main characters of our own story so I could even be a new person every day if I wanted to. Life is so much bigger than the bubble we live in and it's a privilege to wake up every day to try again. I want to make the best of the time I have and the only way I can do that was by letting go of the things that don't make me happy so that I can have space for things that do.

This trip taught me so much but ultimately, it gave me the courage to try again. I felt reinvigorated and determined to take control of my happiness. I decided that I wanted nothing but the best for myself from then on and that the cost of that would be my old self and life. After this trip, I started fresh in every aspect of my life and as I'm writing this almost 2 years later, I'm happy to say that it was the best choice I ever made. 

That's all for this one! Thanks for reading and I'll talk to you again soon~