New York: Day 2

Today’s another day in the Big Apple and we were just as excited to get back out and explore.

We went for the more sustainable (if we don’t want to waddle everywhere) pastry and fruit option for breakfast and forewent the pancakes. The Whole Foods Market on the corner of our block is a treat for options after visiting various supermarkets across the US and discovered, with horror, that some Walmarts don’t even carry fresh fruit and veg! It seems space is at a premium with multiple aisles of crisps and candy to put out.

So with fresh and tasty breakfast on the go, we were ready to explore for another day. After covering so much ground yesterday we were keen to try and match it, there’s so much to do and see!

To begin we spent some time wandering round the Lower East Side and Nolita neighbourhoods, perusing the little streets filled with independent shops, boutiques and cafes. We stopped to gaze at some of the curiosities, and as always, people watch.

James was keen to try some New York pickles and where better to go than the famous Pickle Guys?

The Guys were friendly and helpful in a typical NYC way and James left happy with a full sour, hot pepper pickle. I could only look on in amazement.

Pickle in hand we continued our journey with a few key stops in mind.

The Empire State, among others is an obvious classic and must see while in NYC, it’s amazing how these buildings slip in and out of view as we walked through the city, sometimes disguised behind closer buildings, other times dominating the skyline.

Our favourite however, is the Chrysler building. A beautiful monument to Art Deco we were able to explore inside the lobby too.

Tearing ourselves away from the building we discovered that Grand Central Station was just over the street.

We decided to stop here for some lunch and to watch the hustle and bustle before continuing on.

We were heading north once again, weaving nonchalantly towards Central Park and the Met when we came across a vintage poster gallery.

It was excellent to see all of the work and craftmanship that went into the originals of well known posters, which by nature, are often mass produced and quickly discarded.

Waving the helpful gallery invigilator farewell we continued on and once again found ourselves in Central Park. This time at Bethesda Terrace and Fountain.

It often takes a moment to truly sink in that we are stood in the midst of something we’ve grown up seeing only in movies or general media. And yet, once again we’re stood in a real place that really exists.

The local wildlife even stopped by to say hello.

The squirrel soon realised there wasn’t any food going and so after a quick photoshoot it hopped off, and we hopped to the Met.

The Met is an enormous maze of a building that we could have easily spent an entire day exploring and still not see everything.

Before our brains got overloaded with art and we became too over stimulated we made our way out via a very impressive set of rooms.

These rooms were perfect reconstructions, using the original panelling, fabrics and furnitures from French hotels and homes of the 1700s. The attention to detail was excellent and the logistics that must have gone into painstakingly documenting then removing everything from its original space, shipping it across the atlantic ocean, and then painstakingly reconstructing it in a purpose built room was mind boggling.

All of this walking about and taking in art had really built up an appetite and so we went in search for dinner.

Blockheads Mexican Restaurant was near the met and provided an entire vegan section of the menu for us to delight in choosing from.

The food (and the frozen Margarita) was scrummy and the vegan cheese was indistinguishable to a normal melty cheddar.

The portions had been ginormous and so we decided to walk off dinner…by walking the 70+ blocks home…

As soon as we got back and our heads hit the pillow we were out for the count at the end of another wonderful day.

Hatti x