New York City - Day 4 💌

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The history of cinema contains countless landmarks from visionary auteurs, advances in special effects and storytelling that have captivated audiences worldwide and provided scholars with material to be analysed and scrutinised for generations to come. And of course the pinnacle of these is the 1998 Tom Hanks/Meg Ryan romantic comedy You’ve Got Mail, where in the words of Joey Tribbiani, they ‘get mail and stuff’.

While this introduction may seem slightly disingenuous, it hopefully at least conveys a sense of the special place that film holds in Ellie’s heart. She watches it when she feels poorly, feels sad, can’t sleep, or just because. So today she was very excited that we’d be starting our day by visiting the 91st Street Garden, which features very prominently in the movie’s conclusion. This was an excursion we’d both been planning since we decided to travel to New York together, and as would become apparent, there had been even more planning behind this particular journey than one of us had realised.

The day started by popping into the Empire State Building, as you do. No visit to the top today as we were only there to pick up some pastries from the Starbucks on the ground floor for breakfast. Whilst inside, the song ‘Dreams’ by The Cranberries came on over the in-store radio, a tune featured prominently within the film we were about to go and pay tribute to. It was as if the universe was trying to say that something is happening.

We took the short walk to Penn Station subway in order to catch a train northbound to 96th Street on the Upper West Side. From there we had to backtrack a few blocks south and then head in the direction of the Hudson to reach Riverside Park, where (spoiler alert alert) Shopgirl and NY152 have their romantic moment at the end of the film. If you haven’t seen it, watch the ending here: https://youtu.be/55oQA4cwd6M?si=a54ZAN8-EswZxev0

And so we found ourselves standing in the same spot that Ellie had seen hundreds of times on film. A place where she had watched the most heartwarming scene she could imagine come to pass. And I was about to try and beat that.

When we arrived the area around us was bustling with joggers, dog walkers and many others enjoying the warmth of a late summer morning in New York. But as if by magic, the surroundings cleared and we found ourselves alone and facing each other. And so I did the thing I’ve been imagining doing almost ever since I first set eyes on Ellie. I got down on one knee and asked her to marry me.

Reader, she said yes.

Typing that out now I still can’t believe it. If you’ve ever met Ellie you know what an absolute miracle of a human being she is. And I get to spend the rest of my life loving her. Pretty sweet deal, right?

There were many tears on her part as she accepted the ring, which fit perfectly. The enormity of the moment seemed to sweep over the both of us and we retreated to a nearby bench to recover and take it all in. Somehow we managed to gather ourselves enough to take our first photos together as an engaged couple and walk back to ‘the spot’ where it happened.

After such a huge, life-altering moment it almost seems trite to go on and describe the rest of a holiday day exploring NYC. But if you imagine the both of us floating three feet above the ground on a cloud of happiness during all points then that’s probably the best way of conveying our mental state for the rest of the day.

Bones! The future Mr and Mrs Clare had an appointment at the most romantic of all spots, the American Museum of Natural History (of Night at the Museum fame). Dinosaur fossils and animal dioramas are both very much in our wheelhouse so this was a reservation we fully intended to keep. The scale of the building once inside was enormous, to view all of the exhibits in any kind of detail would probably take days so as we worked our way through the floors we increasingly prioritised the areas we found most interesting.

We both loved the prehistoric floors (featuring the first T-Rex skull ever discovered) and the areas showcasing the wildlife of different areas of the world. Although the ‘Southern England’ diorama did draw some laughs from us considering how it compared to some of the more spectacular exhibits surrounding it. Although according to the plaque next to it, Teddy Roosevelt made a special trip there in 1900 to go birdwatching, so maybe a blackbird looks more interesting if you’re from elsewhere on the planet. Speaking of big Teddy R, the main lobby of the museum dedicated in his name was easily the most architecturally interesting area of the museum, with huge columns and paintings covering multiple storeys on the walls. As with all the best museums, the room was topped off with a couple of huge and complete dino fossils.

Our feet were definitely feeling the miles we’d covered over the last few days so once we’d exited we stopped for some cool drinks and a brief sit before heading for our walk through Central Park. On a hot day such as this it really did feel like an oasis in the middle of the city, a beautiful green space surrounded by towering buildings old and new. We meandered for a while along the paths and over bridges, taking in the views of the nearby lake where New Yorkers were merrily boating their Friday afternoon away.

The crowds began to increase as we entered the Strawberry Fields area of the park. The John Lennon memorial acted as an impromptu gathering point for tourists, overshadowed by the Dakota Building where he had lived and outside which he met his demise. A busker was doing his best to entertain the hordes but his singing voice was a grade below even Ringo standards which slightly took the edge off the tribute.

We’d intended to continue our walk through the rest of Central Park but I could tell that Ellie was really flagging at this point so we hopped on the nearby subway back to our hotel on 34th Street. Plus we had some news to share! Sadly the time zones worked against us in terms of reaching the Hubbards (hence this blog may be delayed in publishing!) but we were able to speak to my parents live from their cruise in the icy waters of Alaska and let them know of our very happy day.

After such a busy day we had a long rest back at the hotel. You might have thought that we’d head out for a super-fancy meal to celebrate, but after asking Ellie what she most fancied to eat in the world the answer was Chick-Fil-A! And so we ended the day with a delicious feast of chicken sandwiches, waffle fries and ice teas in our room. And we couldn’t be happier.

What a day.