Why you should visit "The Big Apple"

"The Big Apple," AKA New York City, is one of the most popular cities in the world, and for multiple reasons. If this city isn't already on your bucket list, be sure to add it right now. I have personally visited New York three times and as a small town Canadian, visiting New York was a jaw-dropping experience. Within this blog, I'm going to be talking about my favourite places I visited along with my experiences there. This is a very big city, so keep in mind that there are millions of other interesting places and things to see.

Times Square

Times Square was definitely one of my favourite places to visit. It felt surreal to be there since I always saw it on TV. Whenever you think of New York, Times Square comes into mind. It is everything you can imagine and it feels like a movie. There are people everywhere and vendors selling things such as balloons, pretzels, and hot dogs. At night, seeing all the lights on the tall skyscrapers is so fascinating, you would never get bored. The stores within Times Square are also amazing. I visited an M&M's store and every single thing there had an M&M logo. I thought it was so cool and bought a few things for friends and family. Within the next few years, I'd like to go back to Times Square to see the ball drop on New Years Eve.

Central Park Zoo

The Central Park Zoo is another place you should visit while in New York, especially if you've seen the movie "Madagascar," the movie is based on Central Park. The zoo is fun and there is so much to see. My favourite exhibit was the exotic birds. You got to walk into the room with them and there were a bunch of bridges in the air you could walk on so that you could see them no matter how high up they were. The park is very interactive and great for learning about animals. The exhibits are also well suited for each animal and they display them well. The Delacorte Clock in the zoo is also cool to see, the bell goes off and the animated menagerie of musical animals announces the time every half an hour between 8:00 a.m. and 6:00 p.m.

Westfield World Trade Center

The Westfield World Trade Center is a huge shopping mall in New York. The mall has 116 stores and has two floors. The mall is very unique because the outside of it has white arches as the roof, and the stores are all underground. This mall holds many events for the public, such as, "Smorgasburg," "Oculus Beer Garden," "9/11 Memorial & Museum 5K Run/Walk," and "Sing for Hope." When I was there, there weren't any events, but an event didn't need to be happening anyways because the shopping there was endless and interesting in itself. It is the best mall I have ever been to.

The National September 11 Memorial Museum

The 9/11 Memorial was a very special place to visit. The beautiful tribute was dedicated to those who had lost their lives on September 11, 2001. The tribute is located where the two World Trade Center towers once stood. Instead of rebuilding towers there, they decided to build two waterfalls in the exact same spot with the names of the people who had passed surrounding it. Visiting it was an emotional, but also heartwarming experience. I thought what the city did was very honourable, and I'm glad that they did that for everyone in the city to see. Those who lost their lives will never be forgotten. If you want to pay respects, or just visit the the memorial museum in general, do it.

Yankee Stadium

The Yankee Stadium is a great place to visit if you are looking for something fun to do. If you love baseball, you definitely want to go watch a Yankees game. The atmosphere is fun and everyone is just so happy and excited to be there and watch the game. The idea of only being 100ft away from famous baseball players is crazy. When I was there, we ended up getting to stay for another free game on a nice day and it was a once-in-a-lifetime experience. My family even managed to get up on the big screen TV that day, talk about our luck. The food there is good and they have cute little plastic Yankee hats that they put ice cream in. You haven't visited New York truly if you haven't been to a Yankees game.