I was wondering why the sky was so freaking blue before I figured the sun rises at 5.30am here. What a wonderful time to start the day. I wish Singapore's weather would be less lazy.
All my flat mates were still asleep and the dawn's sun rays were so glowingly soft that I had to take photos. I mounted my 1.3m tripod selfie stick (you are the love of my life) and went nuts.
Oh yes one of the things that helped me most here was Yelp. It would eventually become one of the apps I religiously use everyday to find food recommendations at all ungodly hours of the day/ night.
At 6am, no one was opening with good food except for Jessie's, so I headed over!
It was my first official meal in NYC and I didn't want to overspend so I got myself a little iced chocolate (I need my milo fix) and their breakfast platter. At $8, it was pretty steep for me. LOL I was about to be in for a rude awakening.
I was super thankful for Charlotte. I found out she was in NYC and left a comment on her Instagram but in the midst of all my preparation, forgot to contact her further. But she managed to get me on Facebook and we made a date!
Anyway so I was out way early and made my way over to our brunch place.
I was at Greenwich Village and our brunch place was all the way at Elizabeth Street. I couldn't figure out the subway (still new to it) so I decided to walk the whole way through.
New York wasn't what I expected honestly. The streets smelled quite terrible. The air was quite chilly. And the friendliest people were the garbage disposal men. Or were they hitting on me? Who knows.
Passed by my first mini attraction, the Washington Square Park, and asked this nicest black chick to help me with photos! She held onto it for a long time and I was wondering what's up until she handed it back to me and casually went, 'I took like 16, you can choose.'
:') the best kind of people.
I'm writing this 4 days down but I realized I've nailed the art of asking people for photos.
I'd put on my sincerest face and apologize mad profusely that I'm taking their time and tell them lightly to hold the shutter and pose wildly then run back and thank them profusely again LOL. Works every single time. And I'm thankful each time too.
I reached The Egg Place early and got a drink. Charlotte came a little after my orange juice did and we headed to Chelsea! Or at least I think it was Chelsea. The general Chelsea/ Soho difference confuses me.
Started the day with Dominique Ansel Bakery!
Apparently they're really famous for their cronuts but I settled for this picture perfect chocolate slice. She managed to score the last pair of cronuts and we shared it.
While waiting for Charlotte!
The cronuts were ridiculously sweet. Her caramel goodness was incredibly sweet too. New Yorkers overdose on sugar in all things. liked my little chocolate art the best. The chocolate was decadent but the biscuit base balanced out the sugary. I also ate the flowers by accident.
It didn't take long to figure out Charlotte liked her days slow and with a lot of wine hahah. We stayed here for a while talking about everything from her family to Sgag. She is quite possibly the classiest 22 yet old I've ever met.
We hopped over to Chelsea Market after. It was a wonderfully local place. They had an exhibit, a flea market, and tons of quirky stalls in between. I think this was the best part of my day!
Wedding fever on.
New York has bookstores at every corner. I love it.
Most overpriced flea market ever!
We had a lot of food stops. Perhaps more than food stops was wine stops. Every other place with wine was every other place we stopped at hahah.
We were discussing where to go after and I remarked I'd love to see a sunset here. She initially suggested the Brookly Bridge but remembered the High-line and immediately got excited for me to see it, even though she already went.
We set off for that!
Stumbled on yet another bookstore on our way to Gallow Green! She was naturally attracted in like a moth to light and I naturally had to take photos, like an addict with crack.
By then I was quite embarrassed by asking her so repeatedly for photos so I self-timered the lot.
I told her I hadn't had much to eat since I landed, nothing that was authentically New York at least. We started to brainstorm on what constitutes as New York food and then a pizza place loomed into view lol.
The $5 pizza was bigger than my face hahah I LOVE IT.
We stuck around a little bit then continued into Gallow Green, which insisted on checking our passports for age before buzzing us through. Two short girls does not a convincing legal age picture make.
A drink wasn't obligatory but they didn't any pussy drinks (mainly iced milo because I have the food tastes of a child) so I got their $15 whiskey concoction, 'a rose by any other name'
It reminded me of a shirt I used to wear, a photo Gabriel used to have for his background wallpaper. But none of that beauty went into the drink - it was too strong for me and I ended up just basically licking 3 drops. I am a waste of drinks.
Charlotte was off getting another drink when this lovely lady beside my table suddenly spoke to me. She said she recognized my Singapore accent and then reminiscenced aloud what she missed about this place. Her love for my country was so real. I was so touched.
We ended up chatting till 9.30pm. I initially wanted to be home by 8.30pm no matter what since I was still unfamiliar with the area but it started to rain so we were trapped. But eventually we decided the rain wasn't going to let up so we took our leave.
I was so damned bad with the lines at the station near us that I tried to walk a 30 minute path to a smoother subway. But I was so frightened of the night (first time solo tripping) then I caved and hopped into a cab lol.
I was so pissed off at this point. I was wet, far from home, and poorer for the $8 cab ride. But the pay-off was having Charlotte's enchanting company for the whole day, breaking New York City so gently to me. And for that, I truly am grateful.
Passed out once I got home lol.
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