Saturday 2nd April
When we woke up on Saturday morning it was pouring rain the forecast said it wasn't going to clear up until the afternoon. There was a quick change of plans including our boat trip being moved forward to the afternoon. I was oblivious to the reason and got myself ready for a rainy bus tour around Brooklyn. We never went across to Brooklyn last time and I wanted to see it all. This meant having to sit upstairs on the open top bus and unsurprisingly getting soaked. Brooklyn is lovely to see and seemed to have a good shops, if only it was a little drier we might have got off the bus!
Brooklyn Bridge Sign from the bus
Downtown Manhattan from the Bridge
By the time we got off the bus we had to go and warm up and dry off in Starbucks. We did a bit of shopping along SoHo and wandered towards Washington Square Garden for the annual Pillow Fight which was taking place. We didn't have a lot of time to see it as we had to walk just over 2 miles to get to the Boat and had under an hour to get there. It's fair to say I was almost running part of it. We walked the Highline which had great views and loads to see - I just didn't have time to snap any of it.
NYC Pillow Fight
3.59pm and we made it to the boat! I can't quite believe that we made it and it's fair to say if we didn't I'm pretty sure I'd have had a very angry boyfriend on my hands. The hop-on-hop-off boat tickets were free with our Freestyle Bus Pass. I'd highly recommend it as a different way of seeing the sights. The last boat leaves at 4pm so bare that in mind. We got amazing views of the city, the Statue of Liberty and Brooklyn - this time it was dry.
Manhattan from the hop-on-hop-off boat
The Statue of Liberty
Brooklyn Bridge
The first place you arrive into across the river is Brooklyn Bridge Park and the area of Dumbo. It had such a chilled out atmosphere, there was amazing views of the bridges, it really was a lovely place. We wandered around, taking lots of photos and enjoying the quieter, slower pace. After a good look around the left hand side of the park we headed to the right. It was much quieter and seemed to be still under creation. There was a good view of Manhattan, a set of steps and a bit of a walkway - not much more. On our way back to the pier I was asked to head up some steps and take a photo...
Brooklyn Bridge Park
A photo from the top of a set of steps...
Little did I know that when I finished taking the photos I'd be seeing my boyfriend get down on one knee and ask me to marry him! He had it all planned out since we booked the holiday. He'd asked my parents. He'd ordered a packet of Haribo rings. He'd found a ring box. He'd hidden it all in his suitcase. He'd changed the plans to make sure it was sunny. After 8 years together he proposed in the most amazing place. I couldn't believe it! I'd joked before our holiday that the only way he could afford to propose was with a haribo ring. Little did I know he'd actually use one in order to let us choose the ring together!!
5 minutes later with my Haribo ring
Brooklyn Bridge Park proposal
Walking back across Brooklyn Bridge
We walked back across the bridge with huge smiles on our faces. My trip to New York had gone from amazing to absolutely amazing! By the time we got back to our hotel it was past midnight and we couldn't Facetime anyone, but my parents knew as they had an update message that morning. That night we went to Planet Hollywood - somewhere where we knew we'd get good food and excellent cocktails. We also went to a rooftop bar for some more celebratory cocktails and a view of the Empire State Building.
Cocktails in Planet Hollywood, Times Square
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