DAY ONE IN THE CONCRETE JUNGLE.
HOW I GOT THERE…
As we all know, NYC is 3 hours ahead of LA. This makes for an interesting predicament when traveling there because, if you leave LA at 8am (5 hour flight)…you wont arrive in NY until 4pm. Almost a whole day wasted!! So I took a hint from my good friend Taryn and flew on a red eye…leaving LA at 11pm and arriving in NY at 7 IN THE MORNING. Call me crazy, but I did it. And I survived. And after meeting up with Emi (flew in from Dallas) we had the entire day to explore the city which made sleeping on a plane 100% WORTH IT.
Here’s our day one…
FIRST STOP. FOOD. We stumbled upon the UNDERGROUND MARKET which is connected to COLUMBUS CIRCLE STATION and grabbed this incredible Venezuelan taco from AREPA FACTORY. The heavenly ingredients : Corn tortilla, avocado, black beans. tomato, and sweet PLANTAINS….PERFECTION!!!!!!
Next stop : CENTRAL PARK. By the way…it was around 30degrees every day we were in the city. COLD COLD COLD. But that crisp kinda cold that feels fresh on your skin. I actually love this kind of weather.
So my good friend Mina happened to be in NYC at the same time as well! She flew in from Japan with her mom and daughter to visit relatives…and we were able to meet up to walk central park. What a dream!
Central park was even better than I had imagined. It’s so spacious, full of activity, beautiful trees, plenty of benches to chill, and well kept. Loved it!
After central park, we cruised down towards TIME SQUARE! Saw a bunch of pretty buildings along the way.
When we finally arrived at TIME SQUARE my first reaction was…” OH, THIS IS IT?”
haha…and what I realized was, after living in Japan for three years…NYC aint no thang!!! I was expecting SHIBUYA aka..the busiest intersection in the world. So when I got to time square it felt smaller, not as busy…and weirdest of all…QUIET!!! It was so quiet!! And maybe it’s because there are a thousand flashing lights on the biggest screens you will ever see…but none of them make sound. It so strange!
Anyway…after I stopped by Old navy to buy $4 gloves (necessity) Emi and I grabbed Coffee at CULTURE and waited to meet up with my friend Camryn, who we were staying with.
CULTURE has bomb cookies btw!
first NY metro ride to the Lower East side…
For dinner we met up with Emi’s high school friend at FIASCHETTERIA PISTOIA (try saying that 5x fast) and had the best wine and handmade pasta. INCREDIBLE.
And that folks…is why a red eye is worth it.
here are some more snaps from my iphone…
DAY I LESSONS LEARNED:
-take the red eye.
-gloves are a necessity.
-dont waste too much time in TIME SQUARE. just see it, and go.
-insulated boots were worth it (I’m wearing DOCS)
-venezuelans know how to cook