My friend and I spent four glorious days eating and seeing our way around New York City.

Back in December, my friend and I went to New York City for a WOODZ concert. We drove up and everything, which is a common occurrence for me (although I usually take the bus). My life and work is based out of New York, although I live three hours away. I go up often.

But for my friend, I had no idea it was her very first time in New York City. Although she did not enjoy Midtown, she asked if we could come back up and stay where I usually stay in Brooklyn. I arranged the place to stay, and then we bought our bus tickets to go and eat our way around town.

We were in town for four days, and I planned everything. She said she wanted to do food and museums, so here is our completely itinerary for a somewhat touristy, but also not trip up to New York.

Let’s get into it!

We went to a chunk of the major museums while on a budget.

I made sure to tell my friend before we were leaving Maryland to bring her student ID, as we were going to need them in order to get into some of the museums for cheaper. I have never been so grateful to be a student before because of these discounts! As soon as we dropped our stuff off in Brooklyn, we hopped back on the train to Manhattan to our first stop.

The American Museum of Natural History is worth an entire day exploring.

We arrived at this museum at 3:30, which ended up being a mistake because it’s massive. If you read all of the placards and try to take your time, you’re not even going to clear one wing of the museum.

When we arrived, we came in through the back entrance and started at the stuffed animals of those living within North America. That was pretty cool, then we ventured through the hallways and ended up in the insect part. We spent a good chunk of time reading through and looking at the bugs, and I really liked the anthill architecture.

Now, this took up hours alone, and we rushed through the gems section before sprinting to find the big whale. Spoiler: we did not find the big whale. However, we did find the section of indigenous artifacts, which was my personal favorite part of the museum.

The MoMA, MET, and Rubin Museum are all some of my staples.

The next day after the natural history museum, we headed out earlier to go to the MET. My friend, who isn’t very online, had no idea what this museum was, but I told her it was a basic spot everyone had to hit up. I also told her we should go early, as it was going to get crowded pretty quickly, even if it was a weekday.

So we bought our student tickets when we got inside, and then we spent a solid four hours at the MET. I have been to the museum several times, but never saw the armor, so that was cool to finally see. I also enjoyed the exhibit on Pueblo pottery that was in their seasonal displays.

My favorite part, as always, is the Asian and Middle Eastern art. I looked at the new Korean exhibit while we were there, and was pleased to see another exhibit on Mughal court paintings.

The MoMA was another quick stop, as I had a membership and could get my friend in for $5. We were there for about an hour and a half, and it honestly was pretty crowded. I told her we should head to the fifth and fourth floors first, as those are the most crowded floors.

All in all, the MoMA is always pretty solid if you love art. I enjoy going into the hidden sale section of their gift shop and picking out some of the discounted books. This time I found one on women artists in China, Taiwan, Hong Kong, and Malaysia.

We also went to the Rubin Museum on our last day. I wanted to go as the museum was announcing its closing, which was pretty sad to see. My friend and I ventured through the spiral one last time, and we were there for a little under two hours. I still think this is my favorite museum in NYC.

Brooklyn Botanical Gardens and the Brooklyn Bridge are always solid spots—and so is Central Park!

My friend mentioned to me that she wanted to see some nature while we were here, which was hilarious to me because it is New York City. Literally the concrete jungle.

So on our first day, as we walked through the natural history museum, I made a point of having us walk up north, all the way through Central Park, and ending on 116th Street in Harlem for some West African food. We did the top half of the park that day, and when we did the MoMA + MET, we did the bottom half and hit up all of the highlights.

We did the Brooklyn Botanical Gardens one morning, but because it had a random cold snap in the city (when we were there, it was so cold), the cherry blossoms were not in bloom. Nothing really was in general, but my friend said this was her favorite part. I enjoy the botanical gardens—this was my third visit there.

One night we took the 6 to City Hall, and decided to walk the Brooklyn Bridge to see the skyline. I had never gone at night, but it was really pretty indeed seeing Manhattan all lit up at night. I truly love the city and how it represents humanity in so many different ways.

After walking the bridge, we walked 35 minutes to Brooklyn Farmacy for some ice cream. It’s an old school ice cream and soda shop, and I got a cherry cola float and my friend a sundae. We both enjoyed our ice cream, then got a $12 Uber home back to our part of Brooklyn.

Finally: New York is the place to eat our hearts out.

Honestly, at this point, I go to New York to eat. I took my friend all over town in order to sample some of the best food around. Here are some highlights:

Pikine Senegalese Restaurant in Harlem had some fantastic food. My friend dubbed this her favorite restaurant of the trip.
Shanghai You Garden in Flushing has some of the best deals I’ve seen around!
I got the Nutella latte at Paris Baguette in Flushing, and it honestly hit so well in the cold, rainy weather we were experiencing.
Xinjiang BBQ stand has some awesome meat skewers if you’re ever in Flushing. Most are only $2, too!
Copacabana is pay by the weight, and some fantastic Brazilian staples and meat skewers. We loved this place.
Finally: Ramen Danbo in Park Slope always hits the spot when you’re hungry and in need of some good ramen.

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