{NYC day I}

On our first day in NYC together, we woke up to a fine sunny day following one of the best sleeps on plush, super silky, super soft (yet still firm enough) beds. We had stayed up past 1 chatting & catching up as sisters do & since Julie was on a different time zone we started the morning off a little bit later than normal.
First things first, I had to get my shoes repaired. My beautiful powder blue shoes that look like something out of the 1940s, purchased in Leeds with my dear friend Sylvie, had lost their heel & I had not found a place to repair them. So we ventured to a nearby cobbler, and we were lucky to find a bagel stand nearby, that had some of the biggest, and most delicious bagels ever.
It was warm enough to eat outside, & whilst we bit into the bagels, we bit into plans for the day.

{Julia planning out the day's adventures}

We headed back to Soho to peruse the many shops we were unable to get into the night previously.
The area around Prince & Spring Streets is great--plenty of beautiful buildings housing beautiful shops, beautiful people, restaurants & cafes.


{beautiful facades on Brook Street}

 In Soho, we ventured into the delectable Dean & Deluca...It brought back memories of watching Felicity, since Keri Russel worked here in the show ...but it also reminded me of Meinhardt's, a store in South Granville in Vancouver, that I worked at during undergrad to pay tuition & bills. It's one of those stores that's highly over-priced but somehow you get suckered into paying 3 times the price for something just because the environment is so lovely & everything looks delicious.

{me, outside Dean & Deluca}



{yummy meats, yummy cheese, & love the animal head on the wall!}

We stopped for lunch at a great little pub, Brinkley's pub & kitchen--not a pub in the loud, football-tv-blaring, american sense--but a pub that brought back memories of London. A funky place where you can settle down for a yummy bite to eat, with nice ambiance, cool, chill & friendly staff, and have yourself a yummy beer.



{Brinkley's has a great selection of beers--I had a yummy apricot beer}

 They've also got a pretty funky decor--our table looked like something picked up at the Brooklyn Flea (more on that later), and there were funky mismatched chairs to boot. 


{my sister Julia--check out the cool framed images of dogs on the wall behind & the funky mis-matched furniture}

 I also love their logo:

{that's one dapper bear}

{sister #1}

{sister #5}

Details: Brinkley's Pub & Kitchen

406 Broome Street
New York NY 10003
212.680.5600

We shopped around a bit more...and stumbled upon one of the eeriest yet most fantastic art displays at ISE Cultural Foundation. We were struck with Julie Ann Mann's window display, part of the show 'ANOTHER ROADSIDE ATTRACTION: An Exploration into the Contemporary Art Genre of the Neo-Grotesque' curated by Samantha Levin and Danielle Ezzo. Having recently taught my undergrads on the macabre in Medieval culture, this darling little dollhouse that causes horror when one realises the little 'inhabitants' are bird skeletons, spoke to medieval preoccupations with death--sometimes fantastical, sometimes laughable, sometimes horrible.



{skeleton birdie taking a bath}




{skeleton birdie at home rocking in grandeur}

 We were invited to the opening, which would've been cool, but the day was getting on & the guy who was inviting was getting on my nerves with his constant repetition of "it's really amazing that a girl could do this. can you believe that a female artist did this?" I rebuffed him & we headed back home on the tube to get ready for the night. (check out my sister's excellent photos (& her blog on NYC) here)
We decided to do dinner in the Greenwich Village area. First stop was The Waverly Inn on 16 Bank Street. Surprise, surprise, we showed up with no reservations and couldn't get a seat. But I was happy to have had entered into this quaint little restaurant, (also something right out of London or anywhere in the UK really) and the temps were so warm, people were eating outside. You can read a review from ny mag of this fantastic little gem here.

{diners eating outside in the rather 'spring'-like autumn air at the Waverly Inn}

So we stumbled upon Corsino Cantina a great Italian restaurant. The wait was going to be longish so we sat at the bar whilst waiting for our table. We munched on some great crostini & sipped lovely vino...We found it hard to select one out of the great selection of crostini, but in the end we both chose brussell sprout & a lovely Italian cheese (I can't quite remember if it was a pecorino, an asiago, or a parmeggiano) but delicious nonetheless.

{me, at the bar, enjoying some vino}

{fresh meat is cut right at the bar, which reminded me of salt in Gastown, Vancouver}

Our table was called & we moved into the second course with eagerness--yummy pasta! We headed back home to our hotel and rested our weary heads & weary feet, chatting, once again past midnight and anticipating another day in NYC.