Given the perfect opportunity to spend the weekend in New York City, I, of course, took advantage and soon found myself being dragged around the Financial District by my husband, who was very adamant we walk absolutely everywhere. I believe I ended up logging about 20 miles total over two days, which, while not the best news for my feet, was very good news for my January diet, which required I burn off all the pizza and cheesecake I would devour over the course of 48 hours. Thankfully, my weekend was not all walking and devouring, and I managed to visit two places that I feel everyone living within close proximity to the city should visit at least once. Our first stop to check off the list was the 9/11 Memorial. Even on a very chilly Friday night, there were still plenty of tourists milling about the area, taking pictures and lining up to enter the museum. My husband and I exchanged a few somber comments, and I appreciated that the memorial is just as beautiful in reality as it is in photos and video. We waited for the morning for our next stop, which was less serious in nature. My husband wanted to walk across the Brooklyn Bridge. While I am not a fan of bridges (fear of heights plus lack of swimming ability equals dislike of bridges), this was still something I felt I “needed” to do, just because everyone should do it. Surprisingly, it was pretty nice. The views were great, even though it was cloudy, and you can just barely make out the speck that is the Statue of Liberty. While I still have plenty to knock off my list of NYC spots to visit, I’m glad that I chose these two for the days that I did. It was the perfect mini-getaway to start off my year. — Holly Riddle, marketing and sales assistant, Global Traveler