New York City – Shopping, Wandering & Sipping Wine

Well after my last post – when I was feeling quite smug after our long haul flight and night out when we got here – I went downhill rapidly.

Why did we think cocktails out on Thursday night after about 28 hours of travelling was a good idea?  It was definitely the biggest case of FIRST NIGHT FEVER we have ever had.  And boy did we pay for it the next morning.  I was feeling pretty good at breakfast on Friday but Bec was so tired.  So we went back to the room so she could have a couple more hours sleep.  I should have done this too but I thought a blog post would be the go.  That blog post took me 2 hours and I felt like hell afterwards.  So this post may not have very many pictures in it.  I will have to put them in when I get home because it took too long last time.

Anyway, even though I felt like shit I decided to man up and off we went.  In search for this hop on hop off bus you all talk about.  We found in and on we jumped.  Well let me tell you – it is an experience we will NEVER FORGET.  Oh we are still laughing about it – at least we can laugh.  It was so bad.  There was this really weird guide on there who had the creepiest voice, and his fly was down.  Add and hangover to the equation and it wasn’t pretty my friends.  We had to get off.  I think we got off somewhere near Greenwich Village and had a stroll around and got back on a different bus.  We thought – surely we can’t be so unlucky that we would get 2 creepy guides in the one day.

We were wrong.  The guy on the second bus was even stranger.  I had gone downhill even further by this time and all I wanted to do was get back to our part of town and to our lovely hotel.  I just wanted it to end.  Bec thought our fastest option to get back Uptown would be to get back on the bus.  But it took forever.  It was so painful.  2 hours later we finally arrived back, closer to our accommodation.  The whole time I was saying “make it end, please make it end” …. he was just so creepy and kept braking out into song.   But like I said, at least we can laugh about it now, ha ha ha.

So on Friday we had an alcohol free day in NYC – who’d have thought I would have to come to the other side of the world for an AFD!  That night we trotted ourselves down the street, found a pizza shop, had something to eat and we were in bed by 9:30pm on Friday.

Our sleep has been so out of whack since we arrived.  I think we woke up half way through the night on Friday thinking it must be time to get up, we had the deepest sleep.  But no – it was all of about 3am!  Bugger.  We managed to go back to sleep after a while.

Saturday was rainy and cold – like 13 degrees cold.  So we decided to go shopping.  We had a pretty good day acutually.  We tried to find the cafe above Ralph Lauren on 5th Avenue that Joanne suggested but I think it must have closed.  There wasn’t a store there.  And everyone is so right – the coffee here is bad.  How can it be so hard to find a good cup of coffee?  We are determined to find one though.

We then did some browsing in the high end designer stores but certainly didn’t buy anything.  Then we headed to Tiffany & Co.  I browsed, Bec shopped.

Then it was off to Bloomingdales.  It was pouring by this stage so we were glad to be in there.  Along with every other bastard, ha ha ha.  We headed up to the cafe to have some lunch.  Bec is totally Gluten Free so finding decent food for her has been a challenge.  At the cafe in Bloomingdales she was able to have a bowl of soup  – the poor thing.  Luckily she isn’t allergic to Bubbles.  Then it was off to have a look around.  First stop – the shoe department.  Hello nice people walking around with complimentary cups of Moet… so lovely to see you.  I had found my people!!!  So off I trotted, browsing while sipping bubbles.  Then the Clarins ladies trapped us.  Oh they were good.  Their marketing was second to none and they totally had us.  I was absolutely sucked in, hook line and sinker.  I knew what was happening and I just couldn’t stop it.  I was in.

Why yes, thank you lovely Clarins ladies, we would like you to give us a free (ha ha ha ha ha ha ha) facial and do our make up.  Thank you so much!  In the end this “free” facial cost me quite a lot of money.  But lets face it, my face was in a state of disrepair and those ladies worked wonders on it with their magic creams.  Book it – I took it.  I must say my skin has been glowing somewhat after that little episode in Bloomindales.  Their marketing worked and I am not sorry either.  After our cold day in the rain it was back to the hotel to shower and get ready for our first show on Broadway – Wicked.  The fabulous guys at reception booked us a table at a Mexican restaurant near the theatre and we headed to the club lounge at our hotel for the wine and cheese affair that happens each afternoon.

Wicked was fantastic, although after the broken sleep we have had I did start to fall asleep a couple of times.  It was great though, we loved it.  Afterwards we strolled around Times Square – at 11pm.  It felt like day time.  It is so bright there and so many people.  You would not have thought it was 11pm.  We then ended up walking home, which wasn’t actually that far.  We didn’t feel unsafe once.  Too easy!

That night we had the best sleep ever and woke up at 10 the next morning.  Gosh it was good.  Thankfully this hotel serves breakfast until 11 on Sundays!  Perfect.

One of our favourite parts about staying here at Hotel Elysee is the Club Room.  This is where we have breakfast and canapés/wine each evening.  Oh it is just so nice.  So relaxing and everyone is so friendly.  It isn’t your average hotel affair, it is a cosy combo of tables and lounges.  So you might end up sitting on a lounge eating your breakfast opposite strangers, which is lovely, because you get to talk to people from all over.  Yesterday we met a lovely couple from Minnesota, they were here to visit her brother who lives just up the road.  Then last night we met 2 ladies from Sydney.  We are taking them with us to the World Trade Centre today.

After a busy day walking around and feeling very tired by the end, it is just so lovely to come back here to the hotel and relax in a comfy lounge while sipping on wine and eating cheese.  It is just so comforting.  Turns out everyone else loves it just as much as we do because it is alway full.

On Sunday we thought we would brave the Subway and do a bit of sight seeing (and a bit of shopping of course).  So we headed to Madam Tussauds.  We were in and out in about half an hour which was good because then it was off to find the Designer Shoe Warehouse which wasn’t far away.  I managed to snag myself 3 pairs of shoes thank you very much.

Back on the Subway we headed down to the Village.  Found a cute little Italian Restaurant and had some lunch then it was off to 66 Perry Street to find Carries Apartment from Sex and the City.  It was really lovely wandering around the village, felt like we were on the set of Sex and the City.

By this time it was getting late and we did have a reservation for 6:15pm at Bar Sixty Five.  We still wanted to make Kate Spade so we jumped back on the Subway and headed back uptown.  By the time we got to Kate Spade it was nearly 5:30 so we basically had to do some serious speed shopping.  And that we did.  We walked out of there with 2 giant orange shopping bags and we were not sorry.  Oh hold me.  I am so so so happy.  It there is one thing I have always wanted it is a hot pink Kate Spade handbag.  We I got that and more.  There was a bag called “Make it Mine”…. well I sure as hell did make it mine.  You can change the cover on her and dress her in different colours.  She is like the daughter I never had.  I like to call her Kate, even though her real name is Candice.  I got 3 different “jackets” for her – they are reversible too.  So basically I got about 6 bags in one – red, pink, black and white stripe, black with white polka dots and …. nude with a big black bow.  SEE – SO HAPPY!!!!  I will put up photos for this blog post when I get home, but until then you can follow along on Facebook.

After Kate Spade we literally had to run back to the hotel, get changed and race back to the Rockefella Plaza as we were heading to The Rainbow Room – Bar Sixty Five.  To the reader who suggested this – THANK YOU!!!!  We absolutely loved it.  And what a view.  We were told to book in here rather than do the Empire State Building or the viewing deck at Rockefella.  We are so pleased we did – turns out I don’t do crowds and tourists all that well, ha ha ha.  So we found our happy place on the 65th floor, overlooking the city while sipping wine and eating fabulous canapés.  We watched the sun set over the city and Central Park.  It was just so relaxing.  I definitely found my happy place again.

Yesterday we did the Upper East Side, Central Park, Grand Central Station, The NY Public Library and Kate Spade – again!!!  But that is another post.  For now I am going to have a wash, pop some face on and head down to have breakfast.  Today we will go to Ground Zero and the Financial District.  Then it is off to another show tonight – The Phantom of the Opera.  I can’t wait, I have seen it twice before and can’t wait to see it again.

Over and out from us. xxx