officially back

Oh how I miss the city lights and Manhattan's skyline. Where do I even start? Such an amazing trip it was.

Day 1
I left for Seattle and stayed a night there. Nothing too too exciting. Finished packing in the early morning and drove down there. Stayed in a hotel that claimed to have wifi, but didn't! Oh well, only a night right? Oh yes, and for all you Canadians who haven't touched an iPod, I did! It was great!
Day 2
Woke up and was jittery in my stomach! We got a ride to the airport and looked at all the gift shops and did the little things you usually do when you wait two hours for your flight. We left to Denver from Seattle and had to quickly transfer to our flight to New York! The flight from Denver was 2.5 hours. The sky in Denver is so weird! It snowed that night, and the clouds were so heavy and flat. It reminded me of the Wizard of Oz. They even had tornado zones to go to when a tornado hits! Anyhow, we were off! Which was really a 3-4 hour flight. Ohh the whole day of traveling, especially when you lose time due to the time difference! The flight to New York was way better than the flight to Denver because Deborah Norville from Inside Edition was doing a little segment on a day in the life of a flight attendant. She served us, and we we treated amazingly! So I may be on TV. Not sure when it's airing yet though!


Anyhow, I got into New York at LaGuardia Airport around 9 pm and caught a cab to the apartment we were staying at in East Village. Super central to everything, it was great. We were jet lagged from the time difference and ended up sleeping at 3 in the morning. We settled in and went around East Village to check out our surroundings. Full of life and lots of young people.

Day 3
We woke up at around 10.30 am and headed out. Not exactly sure what we should do. We ended up going to Times Square which is seriously PACKED with bright lights and advertisements. I loved how there is seating in the middle of the road and you can have your lunch there or do whatever. We ended up wandering to the Fashion District along with the Upper East Side and the Empire State Building, just the bottom level. We ended up going to the Guggenheim Museum as well. It was nice and sunny. Something I haven't felt in a while! I was so surprised to see how dirty the city was though. Especially how run down the subway line was. Not too impressed. I wish the city of NY would invest a little in it especially because it is so well used. Plus the fair is so cheap anyone could use it! Also, the tracks were so confusing! There were so many different lines and learning where to go was such a challenge.

Day 4
Headed to SoHo for an amazing time of something I do best, shopping. It was so incredibly fun on Broadway. So many things to do and see from window displays to the cute things you would never find in Vancouver. But it was raining, something I'm very used to in Vancouver. Broadway had so many of the same shops that we have except so much better, filled with unique inventory. Uniqlo was such a cool shop from Japan too. I loved their simple unique look and concept. We also headed to Chinatown and went around Little Italy. I definitely fell in love with the little area of SoHo. I didn't even finish the entire street! At Bloomingdale's they had a Go Green campaign and had manequins dressed in recycled products which looked amazing!!
Day 5
Headed back to SoHo to finish of the rest! Didn't buy anything unfortunately though! Went to Union Square as well as NYU. Again it was another rainy day! Ugh, this time a down pour. Still made the best of it and had fun. We went to Parsons School of Design and the later that day headed to the Financial District. The New York Stock Exchange was completely blocked off due to 9/11. Sad.


I also saw the sight where the twin towers once were and visited the memorial. It was so sad. The plans for the site were also in the memorial (above). They are going to have 2 large square waterfalls where the twin towers once were, and around them are going to be the names of all the people that passed. After that, we went to Century 21. It was a full day in the rain.

Day 6
Went to the Met Museum and spent at least a good 5 hours there. A Picasso exhibition had just been released on that very day which was a coincidence. The place was packed! We then headed to 5th ave. Saw the Trump Tower, Apple and FAO. We drank coffee at Starbucks in the Trump tower, and they write your name on the cup! Which was different from what we do back home.


We also went to Grand Central Station. The rain had let up which was nice! But it was oh so windy. We also went to this little Japanese place it Little Tokyo for dinner. The best part was free cotton candy. When they give you your bill, they give you this sugar thing which allows you to make your own cotton candy! Cute concept!

Day 7
We woke up and went to Staten Island and saw the Statue of Liberty! We went back to Wall Street, during the day and it was so busy with young good looking business men just filling the street. After that, we headed to Fashion Institute of Technology and saw their museum which had amazing vintage pieces from Dior to YSL. We went to Saks which had amazing styling on the manequins, and also went to IchiUmi which was an amazing Japanese buffet! We also went to Dylan's Candy Shop. We then headed to the Empire State Building to watch the sunset and the moon rise. It was an amazing, gorgeous view from the top, except it was SO cold and windy! Thank God it wasn't raining too! Such a good way to end our day.

Day 8
The day I could get my license back, but I wasn't in Vancouver. We went to the Brooklyn Bridge and walked on it. It was amazing. The sun was super hot and just beaming on us! We later headed out for lunch and went to the Trump tower to get Starbucks coffee! Mm. Anyhow, there was a private event at the bottom level of the Trump tower, and Trump was down there shaking hands with everyone etc. We were peering from the next level up. Anyhow, he ended up coming up the escalator, and I ran and met him! It was amazing! I was in shock and was so surprised.

Anyhow, we then went to Carnegie Hall, Bloomingdale's and went for a Pedicab ride in Central Park which was absolutely gorgeous!!

Day 9
Ah the last day in the big apple. We headed to all the sights which we hadn't seen, including TriBeCa (the were hosting the TriBeCa film festival there), along with Chelsea and the Meat Packing District. I absolutely loved it!! We went to Battery Park in TriBeCa where you could look across to New Jersey. It was gorgeous to be so close to the Hudson River. The Meat Packing District had amazing boutiques and super gorgeous, stylish people which I loved. Chelsea was the Gay area, and we went to the market filled with yummy bakeries that looked pretty and delicious! After that, we headed to the Fashion Institute of Technology to check out the students' work inspired by Valentino. It was alright. Only one piece I really liked, but the drawings and sketches were AMAZING! After that we got Tim Horton's (yep, only found in NY in the States, otherwise only in Canada). I have to say, they were so delicious, better than Canada almost? We then headed to the Museum of Modern Art. It was interesting but some pieces are just stupid and anyone could do!

There was this one artist who sat there and let people enter in on a chair across from her one at a time. She did not move, drink or talk. She just sat and blinked as long as the museum was open. She was quite a sick lady, by her art where she would do crazy experiments with people. Her name is Marina Abramovic. To finish off the night, we headed to Little Italy for a splendid meal.

Day 10
The very last day. Sad that the trip had to come to an end, but believe me New York. I'll be back! Headed to SoHo for the last time of the trip. I bought so much that I hadn't seen before! Then sadly finished packing, caught a cab and headed back to good old Vancouver. Ended up coming home at 5 am yesterday morning. What a vacation. A vacation to definitely remember. Oh yes and one more thing. I saw Tim Gunn at the Seattle airport! In suit and all! He was coming back from Hawaii!

So now I'm home, starting my summer semester, going back to work and adjusting back to the time difference. There was my trip in one single blogpost!<3