These Vagabond Shoes

They are longing to stray
Right through the very heart of it
New York, New York


For starters, I flew into LaGuardia (which everyone says don't do!), hopped on the M60 bus, bounced around, leaned on people and tried to keep an eye on my luggage until I was able to get on the subway (the 2) and finally arrived at my friend's dorm at NYU.  The dorm in itself was an experience because I never lived on campus during college.  They're soooooo small! I genuinely felt in the way no matter where I was in that room.  In the future, I'll stay at a hotel.


Upon my arrival, I was starving and luckily Kati Roll was only a block away!  Awesome!  I loooooove Indian food and grabbing a fast food roll (for $5) and taking it with me was perfect - since I was kicked out so my friend could study.  I headed down to SOHO and realized that I don't really like shopping; so, I literally just walked around for few hours.  OMG -- the walking!


Thank goodness, my friend only needed a few hours cause I was already tired of walking and hungry again.  Thus began the epic adventure of getting our name on the list at 4 different places and then returning to those 4 different places.  First, we headed over to Angel Share for "super awesome, I'm a mixologist, not a bartender" drinks.  This place was hidden through a door of a Japanese restaurant and, of course, was super tiny.  If we had any more than the two of us, we would not had been accommodated.  However, we were lucky and slid right up to the bar.  The ceiling has a beautiful mural of cherubs that, by itself, makes the place worth visiting. As for the drinks...I'm not really a speakeasy type girl because in my opinion the drinks never are something I'd usually drink. 


Moving on, Anna thought it would be a nice change of pace from the bar scene to have tea.  So, we trekked over to Cha An to discover there was an hour and a half wait for Tea!!!  No problem, we put our name on the list and schlepped over to Death and Co - turns out they had a two and a half hour wait.  Again...no problem.  Slap our name on that list and we'll get some noodles.  We hopped on over to Momofuku Noodle House, and guess what?  Yep, there was a wait of two hours.  However, the hostess seemed to like us and we were seated immediately.  Now this was yummy!  We ordered pork buns and ramen.  The ramen was off the chain!!!  After our meal, we trekked back to Cha An and finished our night at Death and Co. 


Day two was probably my favorite day because it snowed, I went to the Central Park Zoo and the Met.  The snow was light flurries that didn't stick, but set the mood for  quintessential New York day.  The Central Park Zoo is very small with only 10-15 exhibits, but so well funded!  Every habitat was gorgeous and the animals were out playing.  I've never seen sea lions so happy before.  Additionally, they had penguins and a polar bear!!!  AND.....SNOW MONKEYS!  I love monkeys!  After I had my fill of animals, I walked the 20 blocks to the Met.  This place is awesome; so much so that I wanted to track down the curator and compliment them on the arrangement.  By this time, my feet were throbbing from all the walking; so I really only hit up the Egyptian exhibit, but it was phenomenal. There were actual mummies!!!  When I left the Met, I was soooo hungry (I actually hadn't eaten at all and it was 4 PM) so I decided Shake Shack would be a good touristy thing to eat.  Lucky me, there was a bus headed that way:)  After "linner", Anna and I hit up a college party....and that's pretty much it.


Day three, my friend and her husband took the subway in from Jersey City to hang with me.  Thank goodness as I was getting really tired of wandering around alone.  We hit up this Italian market, Eataly, for cheese and wine.  Finally, a big kid meal (for those of you that don't know me - I really believe that wine and cheese constitutes a meal).  After delicious food and some shopping in the market (they have amazing cuts of meat and phenomenal cheese and olive oil selections), we headed over to Grand Central Station for more drinks.  This place was great as I discovered it would be a good place to spend time with a book when my feet give up:)  It's amazing how quiet it is with all the people moving around.  If ever at Grand Central, don't forget to look at the ceiling; it's gorgeous.  We then hit up Rockefeller, Times Square and Bryant Park before headed to Jersey City for the night.  It was nice to sit on a couch and watch some TV.


Day four was a bunch of touristy wandering for me.  I took the subway from Jersey City back to lower Manhattan and started my day at the 9/11 Memorial.  It took quite a bit of time to get through the lines and security, but once inside the memorial area, it was beautiful.  They were able to take an area of tragedy and create this serene garden.   From there, I moved over to Trinity Church (which I think is the oldest church in NY) - absolutely gorgeous.  I realize it's a bit creepy, but the cemetery was probably the best part.  There's something very calming about it.  The awesome thing is that Trinity Church is at Broadway and Wall; so...where did I go next?  Yep...Wall Street!  This isn't really all that exciting, but I was there and there are a couple landmarks.  There's a huge statue of George Washington (I think he took the oath of office there).  After Wall Street, I walked down to Pier 17, which is extremely touristy - lots of shops.  Luckily, the Bodies exhibit was down there; so, I popped in.  Pretty cool, but I don't think I was excited as most people would be by preserved bodies since my degree is in biology (I've seen so many different bodies over the years; I guess I'm desensitized).  Moving on, I walked even more to the Staten Island Ferry.  This is cool because it gives you a pretty good view of Lady Liberty for free.  However, the ferry windows are dirty and you're not that close.  I would recommend just paying the $12 to go to the Statue of Liberty.  My last stop for the day was Chinatown for souveniers - this place was crazy!  I'm not a fan of people pushing product at me; so, this was overwhelming and stressful.  However,I think I picked up some pretty neat pieces that my family will enjoy.  We decided to go to bed pretty early, but I had to eat dinner, of course.  So, I hit up Artichoke Basille's -OMG, the best pizza of my life.  I ordered the artichoke pizza; which is basically artichoke and spinach dip on pizza crust.  There was a party in my mouth and I highly recommend this place ($4.50 a slice)!


Day five, the final day was pretty calm.  I woke up early and took the subway to Grand Central for breakfast and some quality book reading.  Around 12, I met my friend from Jersey City at Cafe Habana.  The corn is off the hook!  If you order nothing else, get the corn!  If you're not hungry, get the corn!  Basically, no matter what you may do there, make sure you order the corn!  The shrimp tacos weren't bad either:)  From there we headed over to "the oldest pub in America", McSorley's for $5 pints.  McSorley's has only two beers available - dark ale and light ale, and was a mens only pub until the mid 1900's.  It was a nice experience because the bartender sat down and told us all about his life, family and his love for NYC.  We finished the day at a pub near campus and then I hopped on my plane and returned to my life.


I've wanted to go to NYC since I was about 9 years old and I always thought I would fall in love with the city.  I'm definitely a little bit heartbroken that we didn't bond the way I hoped; perhaps it simply wasn't our time. 


Stay tuned for pics!