Location: New York City, NY, USA

Well my alarm didn’t go off today, so we had a slow start. Nevertheless we bounded out the door ready for todays plans!

Which were promptly delayed.

We got on the wrong train and went north.

Then we got on the right train.

And then got off too early.

We got on a THIRD train.

And finally made it to Little Italy and Chinatown, which we walked through to get to Manhattan Bridge. Chinatown was as different from other Chinatowns I’ve been to. Sights, sounds and languages immediately changed in a very distinct line, as if I was weaving across the Chinese border, depending on which street we took. Usually I find it’s a gradual build up but this was a very distinct boundary. We eventually got to the Manhattan bridge, which was really odd from a pedestrian point of view… because you don’t actually see the bridge at all since you’re underneath it. And it was super loud, to the point where I could not hear Kat when a train went by. The only upside to walking it is that you get a stellar view of the Brooklyn Bridge across from it, which I suppose might be the point.

We reached the other side, grabbed a coffee and walked back over the Brooklyn Bridge. I would love to explore Brooklyn more but alas I think that will have to wait for a future trip. The bridge was totally spectacular and I’m so glad we walked it. It was hard to believe it was built in 1875, as its size and stylistic components would have been an insane undertaking today, let alone 150 years ago.

Once the loop was finished we hopped on the Staten Island Ferry to pass by…

The Statue of Liberty!!

The relatively-tiny-not-sky-scraper-sized Statue of Liberty!

I just love how American it is that people think it’s SO MASSIVE because that’s always how it’s portrayed in the media. Also it was sculpted by a French artist in France and given as a gift to the US (teehee). Jokes aside it was a stunning statue, and worth the ferry ride for sure.

By the time we finished the Two Bridges loop and the Staten Island ferry loop we were parched and starving. All the sight-seeing and excitement often means I forget to eat and I’m left totally desperate for whatever we can find RIGHT NOW. Patience, I’ve been told, is a virtue. We had decided earlier when we weren’t starving and desperate that we wanted to eat in Tribeca, so my tummy stayed grumbly for awhile longer until we entered into the Taylor Swift Zone.

We happened across an Italian place just a few blocks into Tribeca called Benvenuto which turned out to be the best pasta I’ve had since actually visiting Italy. Everyone working there was Italian and they had the largest selection of fresh homemade pastas I’ve ever seen! We ate so. much. food. If we had more time I would return there to try something else, it was that good.

We explored Tribeca and spotted on a map where Taylor Swift’s apartment would be and decided to just not be some of those horrible people that wait for like 9 hours outside her apartment to watch her get into a vehicle. We did explore some areas she’s been spotted in, revelling in the fact we were looking at views she fell in love with. It’s not hard to see why she moved to Tribeca and wrote songs about New York. This part of the city was so far the most idyllic. Intricate fire escapes set onto earth and jewel toned buildings with carefully moulded façades were around every corner. Awesome graffiti lined a lot of the side streets. There were cute (albeit expensive) shops, hipster restaurants (also costly) and literal famous people walking around. We saw the actress Diane Wiest walking out of her apartment. Yes, we did. 

Since Tribeca is right next to SoHo we joined in the throngs of people to do a bit of shopping. I mean you can’t come to New York and not shop around a little. I decided I didn’t want to bother going into stores we had in Canada so we only went into a few local/American stores. Which turned out to be awesome because I fell in love with ‘Madewell’ and ended up spending almost an hour trying on the coolest clothing. It will be a problem for me if they ship to Canada.

After last nights ‘Wicked’ adventure on Broadway, Katisse deemed it 120% necessary to buy the book so we went on a book hunt. All the bookstores in New York seem to be second hand (cool, but hard to actually find anything if you’re looking for something specific) so we ended up on quite the roundabout wild goose chase. Thankfully it ended in a well loved 8$ paperback copy of Wicked tucked under Katisse’s arm.

We spent the rest of the evening at an open air vintage/industrially decorated restaurant, eating fries with basil dip and chatting about everything from feminist champions to pipes in the ceiling. It couldn’t have been more splendid.

S