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Good Morning Upper East Siders… Breakfast at Tiffany’s anyone??

A trip to the Big Apple wouldn’t be the same without a trip down Fifth avenue and Park Avenue. 5th Avenue is a shoppers dream… a fashionista’s paradise…and a backpackers shameful nightmare. I threw on what decent clothes I could find in my ruck, thankfully I had been shopping already, and went on my outing down the famous avenue. Actually I did this on two separate occasions, once on my own, and once with Sarah, as it’s much more fun with company! One day I found myself in the cosmetic heaven Sephora, where I think I spent nearly 2 hours. This place is make-up paradise. They have every brand known to man and little stations everywhere where you can try on whatever you like. They have professional make-up artists all through the store, and I jumped at the chance to get made up as we were going out clubbing that night. I watched a very passionate gay male make-up artist use some fancy electrical airbrush make-up on a girl… it was so intriguing I think the poor girl got a little freaked by me staring at her with a stupid look on my face for 20mins. I left he place a little poorer but a little better looking, hehe. Also on 5th Avenue is Abercrombie & Fitch, the most pretentious preppy American casual clothing outfitter. But Sarah and I walked by here and were met on entrance by a shirtless guy with quite an impressive 6-pack, who we could have a Polaroid with for kicks. Of course we both walked out of there empty handed as far as clothes were concerned, but with a very nice looking photographic souvenir. I swear that every sales assistant in that place is a model, both girls and guys, all of them were hot hot hot. Sarah and I played Who Would You Rather with many of the male models in posters in the big stores like GAP, but honestly, in this one, neither of us could choose. We both left feeling a little flustered, haha. I have to admit, I found even many of the male mannequins in the shop windows throughout the city strangely sexy… yes I know that is strange, but that is the desired result of the work of some very very clever visual merchandising artists… who have clearly succeeded in doing what they aim to do when it comes to me! I have to say, the visual merchandising on 5th Avenue is fantastic.

What else on 5th Ave? Well, Saks, Prada, Louis Vuitton, Tiffany’s, Jimmy Choo… In Tiffany’s I spent a couple of hours checking out the bling, which in all honesty I didn’t get that excited about. I do think the Blue Box has a lot to do with the excitement over Tiffany’s. Sarah and I spent ages looking at the engagement rings picking out which ones we liked, and it took me quite a while to find one I really liked. Don’t get me wrong, it’s Tiffany’s, the diamonds are big and sparkly and impressive, but not my taste in most cases…too common… I prefer Cartier…

Hehehe

We did have a chat to a security guard there who pointed out a massive diamond to us, which he mentioned cost $6million… honestly, it was ridiculously massive, and kinda ugly for a ring in my opinion, but there’s no denying that that was one impressive diamond. And despite my lack of interest in owning a Tiffany’s Diamond Ring…there was something kinda special about being inside Tiffany’s on 5th Ave in New York… I could almost here Moon River playing in the background too…

We went into Prada also and I nearly had an orgasm over the shoes in there, not to mention the handbags, And on the day I was there on my own I was strolling past Bergdorf’s and was met by a film crew parked outside the front. Then I realised they were filming he Sex and the City Movie Sequel… I hung about with a few others for a while hoping to see some action but eventually got bored and figured it wasn’t gonna happen any time soon and left. Ah well, no star spotting for me this time. Not far up from Bergdorf and Goodman’s is F.A.O. Schwartz, the toy store of the Upper East Side spoilt brats. It was pretty cool though, I was met with shelves full of cuddly Spot the Dog, Elma the Elephant, and Peter Rabbit. There were beautiful dolls houses with all the cute accessories to go with it, the most delightful baby clothing, a fantastic lolly section which I went crazy over like a little kid, and a massive piano that you step on the keys and it plays the notes. A cool present for your kid… if you have a spare $200,000 to burn. Certainly for the Children of Park Avenue. I also took a walk down this famous promenade one day… I’m not sure I really had any expectations but this avenue is one very wide street just lined with flat fronted apartment buildings. Practically no shops, just miles of brick apartments, all the same height, and perfectly manicured garden beds on the pavement outside and in the middle of the road. Looking up the street from one end it actually looks quite impressive. And it is straight out of the movies, with a doorman at each entrance and drivers’ cars parked outside the front. The men walking up and down this part of town are well dressed businessmen and the women immaculately groomed with clothes to die for. Their dogs too, actually. The children in strollers are all down the road in Central Park with their nannies. I’m not joking, it is exactly the way we imagine from the TV. I’d love to know if their private lives are just as messy and if their wardrobes are really as impressive….

And a few of my favourites…

Having just mentioned Central Park, can I just say, this was everything plus much much more than I had expected,. This beautiful park is massive in size,far more than I htough, and you don’t really quite realise from the map, you realise as you are walking from one end to the other. It’s far nicer than Hyde Park in London in my opinion. It’s filled with special places… quiet greens to lay in the sun (great for a hangover…) or to have a picnic. Several ponds and lakes to enjoy, to jog around (which I had every good intention to do every day on my visit but…well, didn’t) or to paddle a boat in (would have loved to, but couldn’t do it on my own as I had visions of me going around in circles helplessly, and had no-one to take a romantic trip for two with). One of the lakes is particularly lovely as on nice day when the water is smooth the Manhattan skyline is reflected almost perfectly in the glass water. There are brilliant fountains, cute stone bridges everywhere, street performers doing their arty thing everywhere, massive fields to play sports, such as volleyball, although it wasn’t quite the same watching white guys in sports shirts and sweaty t-shirts as in Rio watching tanned men in Speedos on the beach. Along the roads that wind through the leafy trees ride horses and carts (Where is Mr. Big when you need him?) and bicycle taxis and yellow cabs… oh so NYC. The only regret I have about my visit to this great city is that it wasn’t a month or so later… the trees of Central Park in fall would be nothing less than spectacular. I will make sure my next visit is timed to see this. I think that this was very nearly my favourite part of the Big Apple.

A close second would have to be Greenwich Village. Again, an unexpected delight. Many visitors to the city probably know this to be so, but I had no idea about anyting really, and this was a wonderful day. Terrace apartments lining the leafy streets, and Bleecker St, the cheekiest place for indulgence whether it be for your taste buds or your wardrobe. We visited the Magnolia Bakery and queued up outside to get inside to purchase a cupcake, and window shopped along the street, home to Ralph Lauren, Marc Jacobs and many boutique fashion houses. By the end of our ‘walking tour’ we ended up in a park at the end of 5th Ave, and realised as we were taking photos of it that the fountain in the park was the same fountain used in the opening credits of Friends… so that was also quite cool to see. The day even started off well as we visited the Chelsea Food Market by accident. Expecting a flea market, I was more than happy to find this awesome food market in its place. I could have spent hours and much money in here although my waistline in probably thanking me for not. But if I were living in NYC, this would be, in addition to WholeFoods, a supermarket recommended to me by my cousin who shares my obsession of good food, the place I would shop at.

Actually I feel I owe WholeFoods a paragraph to itself. On entering this place I thought I had died and gone to food heaven. The Salad Bar- delicious fresh salads of pastas, grains, Quinoa which I never knew existed until I went to Peru, Thai Beef Salad, green salads, rice salads… Antipasti bars with olives, dolmades everything I love to steal from the platters at home before I go out on a Saturday night, when the folks are having guests over for dinner. The hot food bar full of curries and other fabulous looking stews. The soup bar with soups I could eat all day every day… Sushi that I could also eat all day every day if I could afford it (loved the abundance of sushi bars in NYC). There are so many bagels to choose from it’s impossible, a dessert bar with Tiramisu that you can help yourself to (I was in heaven). There were punnets and punnets if delicious sweet berries that I thoroughly enjoyed munching on in Central Park. Not to mention the bar full of different lasagnes and other specialty meals to take home. You could almost buy an entire roast dinner for 6 and pack it up and take it home. People often complain about the food in America, but NYC is another story all together. There are sandwich delis everywhere to get a great Panini from, and Sushi on every corner. There might be a lot of crap, but there is a lot of good to in the Big Apple, when it comes to cuisine. You just have to look! I regret not making it to Little Italy or Chinatown, but there is always next time. The only complaint I have is the abundance of Starbucks (very ordinary coffee) and lack of smaller privately operated coffee shops… but that is something I will always love Melbourne for particularly I think. But Melbourne, bless its wonderful coffee, is definitely missing out when it comes to WholeFoods.

I Heart NY

Well, I have nearly mentioned everything I wanted to now on this fabulous city. I’m not sure how many times I called it fabulous so far but that is exactly what it is… I loved every minute of it. I didn’t really have many expectations, people either love the Big Apple or they hate it. Since I loved London and Paris, loving NYC comes as no surprise. It is not just a big bustling city to me, it has character, excitement, and it’s magical. I know much of it is over the top and tacky and just screams “I have too much money”… like the Upper East Side. And some of it is just plain ridiculous, like the m&m store. But it still remains one of my favourite cities so far. I loved strolling through the busy streets, finding a small little deli to eat lunch in. I loved the stunning cathedrals which I didn’t expect to find in a city outside of Europe… I loved the excitement of Times Square and Broadway, and the style on 5th Avenue. I loved the food. I loved the great big classic art deco skyscrapers that tower over the city. Most of all I loved strolling through central park and seeing something different each time. I heart NY!!

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