NYC Part Deux

Soooo...day two of my brief sojourn in Manhattan began at around 10:00 in the morning. Luckily, Abby didn't have to go into work for the rest of the weekend which guaranteed that Lis and I could at least be spared countless wasted hours on the subway. Since we weren't able to get tickets to Mary Poppins on Broadway, and we'd already toured one art museum, today was dubbed "wander-around-and-shop" day. We grabbed some pastries for breakfast and our first stop was the CO Bigelow's Apothecary, which was full of fun things like jasmin mint toothpaste and this perfume that I will probably always regret not buying because it had the most heavenly fragrance. I've already tried to look for it - argh!

We then headed over to Union Square, meandering through a Farmer's Market on the way. I bought Adam a t-shirt, we enjoyed sampling apple cider, and slowly made our way to the Strand Bookstore, which is the home of 18 miles of new, used, rare and out-of-print books. Needless to say we enjoyed our time there. My sister would probably disappear in this store never to be found again. For the sake of her children, I won't ever encourage her to go.


As we were walking, I saw this building that had a hole in the middle of it with smoke coming out. I asked Abby what it was and her answer was, "I think it's art, actually." She couldn't remember what the concept was for it so I did some research later and apparently it is called, Metronome. It's a public artwall, and it's supposed to symbolize the intangibility of time. It does seem rather intangible.....

The next stop was another one of Abby's favorite stores - I can't remember the name, but it was chalk full of old-school candy such as atomic fireballs and these "gourmet" lollypops that I remember classmate of mine selling in high school for fundraisers. If I hadn't already indulged in pastries and an order of sweet potato french fries, I probably would have loaded up in the name of nostalgia. I settled for taking a photo.


We eventually ended up eating panini's at a fun restaurant on the lower east side and heading to Soho where some more serious shopping ensued. I've come to a realization that my pictures aren't all that exciting - mainly street scenes in the neighborhoods we went to, but I love all of the different building facades and just the feel of the city as you walk around.


At this point of the day, Lis and I were beat. Our feet weren't as tough as Abby's NY feet, who by the way, walked around in heels while Lis and I wore the most comfortable walking shoes we had. We discussed walking to see the Brooklyn Bridge, which probably would have been really cool to see and in the end called it quits for a siesta back at the apartment to rest up before going to dinner. Abby suggested this Japanese restaurant, Ippudo, where you can get ramen. All this time, I've been thinking that ramen is the cheap food you buy when you're in college! My bowl was (insert Japanese word for delicious, here)!


We capped off our evening by going to a piano bar to meet some of Abby's friends from grad school. Picture, a super crowded bar, with a piano in the middle and tables all around. There were two men and one sassy lady who would alternate serving drinks and singing numbers like, Son of a Preacher Man and Love Will Keep Us Together while the drunken patrons (except us) sang along with them. We sang ourselves hoarse, and I'm quasi-serious about pursuing a career in piano bar singing - I'm pretty sure that my Son of a Preacher Man was better than Natalie's. Just sayin'...