Dreaming of New York City - Day 3 and 4

I really can't believed that I woke up in New York City. It has always been a fantasy to be there.

Day 3:

Hakimbo needed to do his shopping errand nearby. As we have been waking up and getting out late, we’ve decided to go out earlier around 0900hrs. We realised that it was way too early as most shops opened after 1000hrs.

He brought me to SOHO to get breakfast at Dean & Deluca. It was definitely better than the one in Singapore and the toasted bagel with cream cheese was such a delight as he proclaimed. Again, he mentioned that we should share as he did not finished before and again I would eat it whole. There were so many bagels to choose from and I do not know what compelled me to choose garlic. All I know is that garlic would complement the cream cheese and I was correct. It was delicious.

We were along Broadway and there were tons of favourable shops and the first was H&M. I finally managed to get me the bomber jacket I have been hoping for. It ended being my only jacket I used from the day after as it was extremely comfortable and kept me warm. Screw fashion, I need to be comfortable and warm. We went in a couple of shops such as Urban Outfitters, Best Buys and Victoria’s Secret among others before heading to Bleecker St.

Bleecker St consists of many eateries and vintage looking stuffs. He brought me for a quick tea break at David’s Tea. To Hakimbo, it’s a cheaper equivalent to TWG with the various types of tea. I had to agree on that. The tea choices was tremendous.

His errand was basically to check out Book Marc and the other Marc Jacobs store. Just across Book Marc was Magnolia Bakery where it was stated to have the best cup cake ever. I’m not really crazy about cupcakes but love the red velvet ones from Marmalade Pantry. I bought the daily offering which was red velvet and vanilla with coconut frosting. Boy was it magnificent. The two would add up as great as Marmalade Pantry, if not better. If only I could bring it back to share with some of my friends. Oh well.

Another place that Hakimbo wanting me to try was Chipotle, a Mexican fast food that serves tacos and burritos. Since he knows what my palette is like, I trusted him to order me my lunch. He got me a chicken burrito. To be honest, it wasn’t that bad but I would have excluded the rice and baked beans to reduce the carbohydrate intake and not make me full easily.

Hakimbo had this obsession with Urban Outfitter especially for the additional 40% discount on the discounted items that he wanted to visit every store in Manhattan. We had to drop off our purchased earlier at the apartment and set out for his UO hunt. There was a UO store just a few blocks away and I ended getting books. We then took the subway over to Times Square for the next UO store.

Since we were at Times Square again, I decided to go into Toys R Us since they were closing down on 30^th Dec. It was quite a chaotic experience. The place was densely packed with people but with no stuffs on shelf. Since the store was closing down, they did not stock up ever since Christmas. I was fairly disappointed, as I didn’t get to feel the hype of shopping my stuffs there. However, I managed to get my niece’s items as a consolation.

Since I was upset with Toys R Us, we made our way to the Disney Store, a block away. Again, the place was packed and I didn’t managed to find any other items that I don’t already have.

After getting all that was needed, we made our way back by subway from Grand Central Terminal. During my NYC trip, I managed to chat with some visitors and shared our experiences. When asked where was their favourite NYC spot, some mentioned Grand Central Terminal and I finally understood why. No matter how busy the place was, you will experience some sort of serenity and tranquility being there. It brings out the romance that was hard to describe. We managed to take some jump shot and the surrounding actually brings out the picture. Too bad my jump shots were blurry but the background is still marvellous.

Before heading back to the apartment, we had the much talked about $1 Pizza. We had a store just across the street and it was quite tasty and feeling. The place however was a bad omen for Hakimbo as he had couple of bad lucks; major one was breaking his camera lens while getting chili flakes. Lucky he got over it.

Day 4

It was bright sunshiny day and Hakimbo decided to visit Top of the Rock. Since we were up earlier than normal, I decided to do a quick survey at K-Mart for my nephews and my toys but found none. I soon realised that the toy department was at the basement, which I only saw when I board the subway.

The queue to Rockefella Center was long that the entry time to Top of the Rock was only at 1800hrs. We were there at 1100hrs. We bought the ticket for the next forecasted clear day on Thursday to catch the sunset.  The ticket cost us 32 USD per person.

Even getting into some shops requires crowd control. I had to queue around Lego store, in search of my nephew's stuffs. Lucky the queue was fast as I was disappointed of unable to get what my nephew wants.

Since we didn’t get to go up and not having breakfast, we decided to get the next food hunt, lobster at Chelsea Market. We took the subway downtown and queue for our lobster. A 20lb lobster cost us 32 USD but the amount of flesh was sufficient for 2 pax, and the lobster was fresh and delightful. 

Since we were at Greenwich Village where the High Line was at, we decided to venture the numerous mile walk. I wasn't sure what attracted me to the High Line but I knew I like to walk, a lot. The High Line features mural paintings and elevated walkway on an abandoned railway track. For me, it was just a walk in the park but for Hakimbo was looking for some murals. He had targeted to catch a glimpse of specific mural but we didn't found it. We've retraced our steps back to the start on the streets and ventured the little amount of distance that we skipped. Sadly, we did not locate the sought after mural only to realise that the murals are seasonally changed.

The new One World Trade Center

As we were downtown, I decide to visit the 9/11 memorial site. We took the E-train down to World Trade Centre. For that moment, there was a huge traffic at the station, only to be explained by Hakimbo that the people are transiting to the station to get to the islands nearby. Apparently, not everyone was heading to the memorial centre. 

The whole area was quite solemn yet crowded. The 9/11 museum was definitely crowded with a snaking line. I'm not into the museum so I just wanted to see the 2 large pools where both towers once stood. 

Just across the street is the new One World Trade Center. Hakimbo asked whether I wanted to view the Charging Bull a few blocks away. I did not really fancy it as I saw similar bull statue in Singapore and Shanghai, so I gave it a miss.

By then, we were famished and I felt like something Italian. We took the same E-train up to Canal Street station and went to search for an authentic Italian restaurant in Little Italy. We had to walk past Chinatown which did not really look like any Chinatown that I've been too. It was not too Chinese enough. 

We had our meal at Paesano's and it was quite good and affordable. The place seems quite famous as there was a lot of guest on reservation. It was lucky that we managed to get a table for walk in.

On our way back, it started to rain however I noticed that the rain dropped was not being absorbed into the ground but bounced off when it hits. I then realised that the raindrop was frozen. It was hail and soon heard a curse from Hakim as it hits his face like someone throwing sand to his face. Even after taking the subway back, we exited the station into the hailstorm again. That was my second experience of hail, uncertain when I experienced it first.

We ended the day with grocery shopping at the K-Mart where I took a quick look at the toy section. I almost gotten me an exclusive figure but chose not to get it due to the box condition. Instead of the toy, I got myself tons of chocolates at discounted prices. That actually became a problem for me as I exceeded my baggage allowance on the return flight.