NEW YORK Day 1 and 2

I'm back from New York! It was everything I had expected and more! New York is definitely the concrete jungle where dreams are made of :) To my surprise New Yorkers are extremely kind and helpful unlike, for example, Parisians who in my opinion are quite uptight and snobbish. Although New Yorkers live their own lives and mind their own business, there is a certain community spirit which gives New York a great atmosphere. Taking Starbucks, which of course is a cliché (especially on blogs), as an example; it's a place where people come together to relax and meet up with friends, to work on their laptops and to have a nice cup of coffee while reading a book. 

I noticed that New Yorkers work hard, which is understandable since living in New York isn't exactly cheap. However, they have fun too and they love going out for dinner. My dad looked up the amount of restaurants in New York and there are over 8000! This means that you are able to go to a different restaurant every day for more than 20 years. That's insane! Another insane thing was the food: it was insanely delicious! :) I think I might have gained a few pounds haha. Every meal I ate was well cooked with fresh ingredients, amazing! My mum even mentioned that Italian restaurants in New York might be better than restaurants in Rome. This actually wouldn't surprise me given that a lot of Italians (and of course other Europeans) moved to the USA. I can assure you one thing guys, you will see a lot of food pics in the following posts! Now, about the first two days:

Day 1

We arrived at about two in the afternoon at our hotel the Giraffe. Our room was on the tenth floor so we had a New York street view (1). We were quite jetlagged, but we decided to explore our neighbourhood anyway. Our hotel was close to Madison Square Park (2 and 3), a beautiful park with squirrels! We had lunch/dinner at Eataly, a big Italian foodmarket with several shops and restaurants, which was on my New York wish list because I had read about it on many blogs and in many magazines. It was crowded, but the atmosphere was great! At about 18.00, we were all so tired that we went back to our hotel and I fell asleep immediately.  

Day 2

We got up early because of the jetlag and of course because we were excited to discover New York! After a delicious breakfast with fresh bread and strawberries, we headed for the subway. Our first stop was Grand Central (4 and 5) which was on my wish list, because the first episode of Gossip Girl was partly filmed there: "Oh my god, someone saw Serena getting of the train at Grand Central!" :) Our next stop was Soho. After spending approximately one day there, I can definitely say that Soho is my favorite neighbourhood in New York. I love the modernized industrial buildings and all the amazing art, interior and clothing shops. We went to several stores such as Dean&Deluca (6 and 7), a luxurious shop with delicious food products, and the Apple store, which was pretty impressive! The whole interior was white and it had glass stairs. My brother and I were goofing around a bit, which resulted in taking effect pictures (8), yes I know, we are very charming haha. Of course I had to stop by American Apparel and Topshop (9 and 10). We had coffee at Starbucks (11) and a few hours later, after we had explored Soho a bit more (12), we had lunch at Fanelli's. I ordered french toast, a sunny side up and bacon and, oh my god, it was so good! (13) I know the dish might look quite gross in the photo, but it certainly wasn't, take it from me! In the afternoon we went to West Village, which is famous for its brownstone houses and fire escape stairs (14). I certainly sensed the bohemian lifestyle which is centered in West Village; the neighbourhood isn't called Little Bohemia for nothing! Of course I had to walk by Carrie Bradshaw's 'house' on 66 Perry Street (15) and buy a cupcake at Magnolia Bakery (16). In the evening we went to Times Square (17, 18 and 19), which was quite an experience! It was freezing cold! It felt like I was walking around in Siberia, I even get goosebumps now thinking of how cold it was! I totally understand that New Yorkers avoid Times Square, because nothing in New York is more touristy than that, but it was fun to see it anyway. After a hot bath at the hotel, I went to bed exhausted, but satisfied :)

I hope you enjoyed this post! Many more New York posts will be following including a haul and two outfit posts, so stay tuned! Love Aimee