NYC: Diary of Mine

Week 2
Our First NYC Laundromat Experience

Our friends were returning from their Europe getaway, so we took their sheets to the laundromat.When we were making the bed with the fresh sheets – a few odd socks flew out here and there – that didn’t belong to us. It seems a bit bizarre that this is the norm. Everyone’s okay to drop off their laundry and maybe get it all back? It also felt a little odd carrying our washing down the street and around the corner. One load cost us $10 USD for a wash, dry and fold “service”. I can already picture my future of lunchless days for clean nickers.

From Brooklyn to the Upper West Side

As we had brought a million +1 bags we thought it be best to head to a hotel so our friends could have their apartment back. We hailed a cab and loaded all our bags up to travel from Brooklyn to the UWS. During the trip, the driver had asked us which way we had flown from Australia to get to the US. Remi explained that we’d travelled from Syd > LA and then LA > NY. The driver couldn’t understand how we had travelled from Syd to LA and insisted that we travelled the other way – across land. Confused, we showed the driver on the map our flight path. He was in total disbelief – “You’ve wiped my mind! You travelled over the whole ocean! Because the world is round! Oh my goodness.”  We had a good giggle as he dropped us off.

Weekend #1 Visitor #1

The first weekend in New York and our first visitor; cousin Garrick dropped us a line on Facebook and that night we were sitting in Hummus Place catching up over falafel and Shakshuka. Remi and Garrick are the same breed – I couldn’t get a word in! We caught the subway back to Times Square and went our separate ways. About 10 minutes later we crossed paths again at the other side of the intersection, as we had both gone the wrong way! It was such a fun night and I was so happy that we were able to catchup in NYC <3

Day 1 Solo

Remi’s first day of work was on Monday, so it was my first day in NYC riding solo. I mixed up a few life admin tasks with a few tourist things – you can see the photos below 🙂

Week 2 Visitor #2

Tuesday I was lucky to have a visit from a free spirited, impulse traveller, Traci – who is documenting her amazing adventures on the blog Yes No Just Go. We checked out The High Line, Times Square and Rockefeller Center. We hit 5th Avenue and didn’t even get past the front doors of Saks on Fifth Avenue before we were having our makeup redone by Gucci. After both handing over our credit cards, we decided it was a good idea to leave, so we snuck out through the back doors and headed for a bar.

Searching for an open bar at 4pm coupled with my atrocious sense of direction was harder than I expected. At 5pm we found Hudson Malone and loved the NYC feel it had – great service, drinks and people. Some people get angry when drunk, some get sleepy, I get giggly. When i’m really sloshed, I get into laughing fits. Pretty sure Traci was happy to see the back of me after we’d laughed Manhattan down. Between drinks with Traci and furniture shopping at Ikea in Brooklyn at 9pm it’s all a bit of blur…safe to say we had a good time.

Friday Eve Wine

Thursday night we caught up with Chris and Cat who had let us stay in their apartment the week before. We also met Earl, their gorgeous rescue puppy who was going through a confusing teenage evening. We headed to a place in Brooklyn for an asian fusion meal, but we really got stuck into the wine. We had the best time with these guys, laughing about Giftacado and talking about anything from gun laws to different interview experiences.

Friday Night Wine

Some friends in Melbourne had connected us with other Aussies who had recently moved to NYC. After a few days of texting back and forth we realised that we’re actually neighbours! We went to check out Vanguard Wine Bar on Amsterdam Av which was had a really great feel, great wine and was totally packed out. After a few wines and nibbling on a cheese and meats platter we decided to “go for a slice”. The slice actually ended up being right next to Hummus Palace, so we popped in there for some more Hummus and falafel again. It was great catching up with our new Aussie neighbours Hannah and Jeremy and hearing about their initial (war stories) of their first six months here.

SATURDAY 6th May:

IKEA. 2pm – 10pm. Enough said.

Sunday 7th May:

Return to IKEA.