I have been all over the world, but never have I found a place that was like New York City as I just experienced it this past weekend

I have been to Paris, London, Tokyo, Seoul, Nashville, Los Angeles, Miami, Austin, San Francisco, Las Vegas, and on and on. While I haven't been to every major city in the world like NYC or Chicago, I still have done my fair share of traveling at my age of 22.<br><br>This past weekend, I had the opportunity to go to NYC and experience it for myself. I have been to the city before, but I have never had a chance to experience it like I just did this past weekend. I had the chance to spend the entire weekend with my girlfriend who lives and works in NYC. I flew in on Thursday afternoon and had to leave Sunday afternoon as she worked on Monday and didn't have time to take off.<br><br>So we start the weekend off by going to dinner at a local Italian restaurant in Manhattan. It was a place she was very familiar with and had been there multiple times with her roommates. The food and atmosphere was great. After we were done, we walked around the block and got a little shopping in for her. <br><br>On Friday, I woke up early and rode the subway downtown to the 9/11 memorial. I walked around for a while and went through both the museum and the memorial and spent a few hours there. I met up with her for lunch at a little cafe in the financial district and we walked around downtown a little for a while. We walked across the Brooklyn Bridge and then had dinner at a little BBQ restaurant in Brooklyn. It was amazing as I'm from Texas and you don't get a lot of BBQ in NYC. After dinner, we walked back across the bridge and we made it back to our hotel room, she had stayed over with me and then we went to bed.<br><br>On Saturday, we went to the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island. We spent a few hours at both places and also drove by the southern most part of Manhattan to see the Wall Street Bull. We walked around the park for a while and then had lunch at a sub sandwich place, which she was very familiar with as well. After lunch, we walked around the block and did some more shopping before we went back to the hotel to get ready for dinner. We went to a rooftop bar, which had a great view of the city. The drinks were great and the vibe was awesome and it was definitely a place to socialize. The view was spectacular and the vibe was very nice.<br><br>After the bar, we went to a little ghost town in Brooklyn. There were a lot of bars here and it almost felt like I was in Austin. It was a great way to end the night and we stayed there for a while. We ended up getting a little lost and walked down the wrong street, but it was a fun night and we ended up making it back to the hotel room in the morning.<br><br>On Sunday, I had to go to the airport a little early and I departed back to Texas and came home from the weekend.<br><br>My entire trip, I never once used my car or rode in a taxi. The subway was a great way to get around and it took me everywhere I needed to go. The only time I used a taxi was from the airport to my hotel. I did not see a single car accident, which was crazy as I'm from Texas where you see a car accident almost every day. There was no traffic and the traffic that I did see was not severe. I saw no homeless people on the streets, but maybe I just didn't look in the right places. All in all, it was a great weekend and I will be going back to NYC at the end of the year.<br><br>&#x200B;<br><br>EDIT: I have been getting a lot of comments about not actually spending the weekend in NYC, but just spending the weekend with my girlfriend who lives in NYC. To that I say, I have been to a lot of the places I listed above, but never have I had the opportunity to experience it like I just did. Maybe this would be more fit for r/truenyc, but oh well.