NYC- Day 2

Sunday, April 4, 2010 (Easter)

Day 2 got off to somewhat of a late start. We had hoped to be out and about by 9am, but we overslept and didn't manage to make it out of our room until 10:00 am. We grabbed breakfast at Starbucks on the corner of 58th and 8th, and then walked a few blocks to the train station at 57th & 7th. The station was next to Carnegie Hall, which was cool to see.

Carnegie Hall

From there, we caught the N train to Union Square. It was another beautiful day and there were lots of people out, enjoying the weather. Union Square had a small art festival set up, with a variety of artists selling their work. We browsed around the booths, then decided to continue on towards Gramercy Park. We stopped to take a picture of the famous George Washington statue in Union Square, and we were approached by a reporter from a website called "Winkball.com". The women asked us if she could interview us on what makes us happy. We said sure, so she filmed a short video of us explaining the things that make us happy. It was random! After she left, Jerome and I laughed because this was the second time we were stopped and interviewed for something. Obviously we look too friendly! Here are our interviews:

Jen

**note my seriously squinty eyes, due to the fact that she had me staring directly into the sunlight, but wouldn't allow me to wear my sunglasses. Booo!**

Click here to see the video wall

Jerome

**note his use of "Central Park", which was an obvious mistake, since we were in Union Square! Oops!**

Click here to see the video wall

The George Washington statue in Union Square

From Union Square, we walked several blocks to Gramercy Park. This park is one of only two private parks in New York City. It is completely gated, and only residents who live nearby and pay a yearly fee are given a key. We couldn't get inside the park, but we managed to peek through the gates and snap a photo. Inside the park, there were families partaking in an Easter egg hunt, and there was even a cute little table set up with treats. It looked like the perfect place to spend your Easter morning!

Gramercy Park

The placard on the gates around Gramercy Park

A sneak peek inside the gates

The neighborhood surrounding Gramercy was very manicured, quiet and serene. Jerome and I both agreed this would be the kind of neighborhood we would want to live in if we ever moved to Manhattan. Given it was Easter Sunday, there were a lot of well dressed people strolling the streets, heading to church or brunch. We walked around the neighborhood, admiring the beautiful buildings and cherry blossom trees. We decided to continue trekking towards Washington Square. Along the way, we passed a beautiful church. I didn't catch the name of it, but I had to get a picture of it. Something I grew to love about NYC was the plethora of beautiful churches. Tucked between the skyscrapers were these ornate churches, most of which were hundreds of years old. The history is just astounding. You definitely don't see that in California!

Our next stop was Greenwich Village. We stumbled upon a cute little vintage shop and I managed to score a vintage YSL scarf for $15. The low price was totally an accident on the stores behalf (all of the others were marked for $150), but they honored the tag price, and I walked away happy about my deal!

After perusing the cute village streets, we finally made it to Washington Square Park. By this time it was noon, and the weather was blazing hot for NY standards. The park was full of people, laying out on the grass, playing instruments, eating lunch and enjoying the sun. Jerome and I stopped to take some pictures of the famous arch and I made a few phone calls (I had gotten news that a close friend's father was very ill and would probably be passing away within the next 24 hours). We walked around the square, taking in the incredible weather and checking out all of the interesting people. We decided to continue walking down Mercer Street towards SoHo so we could do a little shopping. We passed by NYU, and both of us agreed that we would have loved to have gone to school there (perhaps one of our future children will do so?).

In Washington Square Park

Once in SoHo, we went in and out of tons of boutiques and stores. Jerome got a few things at the Ben Sherman Store (Spring sale in progress!), but I, however, did not have such luck anywhere. I did manage to get a few pashmina's from a street vendor and some books for my classroom about NYC from the Scholastic Store (how sad that I am on vacation and still shopping for work...), but the heat of the day, mixed with the fact that I was dressed in a linen blouse, jeans, boots and a trench coat made me the least bit excited to try on clothes. I have to say that I was not too impressed with SoHo. Countless friends (even my Principal) had told me that SoHo was the place to get my shop on, but sadly, I just wasn't feeling it. Yes, there were tons of stores (designer and low end), but Jerome and I both agreed it just wasn't that great. Perhaps the crazy crowds of people and uncomfortable heat were to blame, but whatever the case, we were not impressed.

Jerome and I decided to grab lunch at the original Dean and Deluca location, on Broadway and Prince Street. We had both been huge fans of the show "Felicity" back in the day, and knew we had to eat at the place where Felicity had worked. We shared a "lunchbox trio" of Italian tuna salad and caesar salad. It was delicious and perfectly refreshing on this unusually hot day. After lunch, we continued walking the streets of SoHo, admiring all of the little shops and restaurants. We saw the cutest little cupcake bakery called "Baked By Melissa". It was the size of a tiny doorway on the side of a building and there was a counter with cupcakes for sale. It totally reminded me of my dear friend Melissa and her passion for baking. Unfortunately Jerome and I were too full from lunch, so we didn't grab any cakes. Maybe next time?

In the late afternoon, Jerome and I decided we would head towards Canal Street. We had mixed feelings about shopping on this street, but figured we should go check it out and see what all the hype was about. We made it about one block in and got totally creeped out. There were all kinds of sketchy people on the street and in the alleys selling their wares. This was totally not our scene, so we immediately turned around and decided to scratch any plans of returning there. No bueno!

Next stop was Little Italy. By this time, it was nearing dinner. Jerome and I had gotten tons of suggestions from friends about where to eat. We decided we would go to the first place we could find, which was La Mela on Mulberry street, as recommended by our friend Amanda. We got seated quickly and had a tasty and authentic dinner of pasta and wine, but I must say we were overall disappointed in Le Mela. The restaurant did not have the ambiance we had hoped for our romantic Italian meal. Plus it was as blazing hot inside the restaurant as it was outside on the streets. We did however, have a few good laughs over the crazy Italian family dining next to us, complete with the nagging mother and Guido looking Grandfather. They made our meal very entertaining!

My thoughts on the neighborhood of Little Italy were equally disappointing. I thought the little red, white and green flags that hung on the street were cute, and the dozens of sidewalk cafes looked delicious, but the area in general left something to be desired. The streets were very dingy and totally uninviting. Most of the area is being overrun by the growth of Chinatown, which is somewhat sad. I'm glad we had a chance to check it out, and I'm sure there are much better restaurants to dine at, but I will most likely skip this area on my next visit.

After dinner we caught the N train back to 57th street (thank goodness for a/c on the subway!). We arrived back at the Hudson, and decided to take advantage of the incredibly beautiful evening, and have a few drinks at the rooftop park bar. This bar was amazing, and I hate myself for not taking any pictures of it. There were tons of cushy couches, tables and ottomans, with large hanging lanterns, candles and potted plants. The "park" was full of people and you would never have known it was Easter Sunday! We managed to score a table and ordered a few rounds of cocktails. As we were relaxing and enjoying the cool, summer-esque evening, we got a call from my sister that there had been a huge, 7.2 earthquake in Baja. Thankfully, everyone at home was okay, but Jerome and I (especially Jerome) were so thankful we were out of town for that! We all know how much Jerome loves earthquakes. Thank you God for letting us dodge that one!

Later on we took a walk to Pinkberry, a few doors down from our hotel on 58th, for a little frozen yogurt. I know it isn't anything uniquely New York and I've never been a major Pinkberry fan, but it was a hot night and the yogurt hit the spot! We capped off the night by watching the news on New York 1, which became my favorite channel during our stay. I am addicted to news, and I loved the fact that NY had a 24 hour local news channel! I watched it every night before drifting off to bed. It made me miss my days of watching OCN! haha.

On deck for Day 3: Rockefeller Center, Bryant Park and the David Letterman Show.