Snow

After an action packed first day in New York- Katia and I woke up bright and early on Wednesday morning (our second day in NYC) ready for another day filled with adventure and intrigue. As we crawled out of bed, both desperately craving our Starbucks we peeked out the window of our hotel to see Central Park covered in white. It had snowed in the city that night, and it was STILL snowing. From our window we could see little tiny people walking around in big warm coats, scarves, boots and umbrellas. The snow clearly didn’t faze anyone, which we thought was awesome.

Hanging out at Starbucks, keeping warm inside from the snow

We bundled up and braved the cold, we HAD to get our Starbucks of course! But boy let me tell you it was chilly outside. We were thankful that our hotel the Essex House provided umbrellas for guests, because literally it saved our lives. Katia and I made it to Starbucks and sat inside by a window and enjoyed watching all the people pass by, we got to admire all the pretty Hunter boots that went by, stylish jackets men were wearing and marvel in how pretty the Mandarin Oriental Hotel was (the Starbucks we were at was right across the street). After our Starbucks fix was had we hopped into a cab and headed toward Greenwich Village to meet our family who was also in NYC for some lunch. Not only was the cab driver clipping his nails while he was driving but he was swerving in and out of traffic, he was racing down the roads as if we were in a high speed chase. There was a moment where he was centimeters from hitting a pedestrian, by the end of the ride Katia and I were a bit queazy but I’m sure we made it in record time?

On the way to lunch at The Corner Shop Cafe

Lunch was at The Corner Shop Cafe on Broadway and Bleecker near NYU. It was probably the most delicious lunch we ate on our trip, the decor was beautiful yet simple and quaint, I ordered their tomato basil soup (perfect for a cold, wet and snowy day) and Katia ordered the truffle mac and cheese- both were mouthwatering.

Warmed up, re-energized and full it was time to explore the streets and shops in Soho. There were many! My favorite purchase of the day was a pair of black sparkle TOMS shoes, I had heard about them through KENTON Magazine. It was a great purchase because TOMS shoes donates a pair to a child in need for every pair purchased, so I got to treat myself to something fun and fashionable while still helping someone else in need, great huh?

Lunch time on Wall Street

We figured since we were downtown or close to downtown (I’m not sure if New Yorkers consider Soho downtown? I think?) that we would also check out the financial district. We were in New York of course we had to see Wall Street! We hopped on a subway downtown bound!

Getting down to Wall Street was really neat, the feel and vibe of everything seemed so much more serious than being uptown. Men were in nice tailored suits, women were very formal and everyone seemed to be in a hurry to get somewhere. Now part of this could have also been because it was STILL snowing but like I said the feel of the area seemed very serious. We got to see a beautiful church that was at the end of Wall Street, inside it was very quiet and calming, an organ was playing and there were many people inside.

Walking along Wall Street we saw the New York Stock Exchange, Trump buildings and many tourists. One stop we absolutely had to make was at Tiffany & Co. We browsed all the beautiful jewelry inside and enjoyed stopping by as the Audrey Hepburn film Breakfast at Tiffany’s is one of my and Katia’s favorite movies. Continuing our stroll we made a stop at Ground Zero, it was incredible seeing all the buildings downtown and then suddenly you see a huge opening in the sky that is full of absolutely nothing other than air. A large gap in buildings brings you to Ground Zero, being there was humbling and to be completely honest it gave me goosebumps, I can’t even imagine what being there on 9/11 would have been like. Nearby there is a temporary museum dedicated to 9/11 while the memorial is being built, it will be unveiled this year on 9/11.

After spending so much time outside it was time to go inside, we were ready for just about anywhere, a building, a Starbucks, and then we walked up to a large building with a large sign on it that read Century 21. We went inside and it was a shopper’s paradise, designer clothes, jewelry, make up, shoes galore. That’s all I have to say about that, other than I was lost in there for about an hour.

Our evening consisted of taking the subway back to our hotel, changing into basketball game outfits, and racing to Madison Square Garden to check out the Knicks, since Seattle doesn’t have an NBA team. As we were walking to MSG there was thunder, there was lightening, and even snow/hail coming from the sky, the thunder was so loud it resonated everywhere and made it seem as though there was some kind of war going on in the city. It was that loud.

We made it through day two, we stopped at a bakery for some quick dessert before bed and fell right asleep excited for another day in New York City.