Chelsea Market

I've read great things about Chelsea Market and decided to explore it a few Sundays ago. I quickly knew it would be, hands-down, one of my favorite spots in NYC. This renovated marketplace in the meatpacking district has great shopping, including a one-day French Connection sample sale and the most magical Anthropologie I've ever seen. The food was great, too - and free wifi everywhere. People were just sitting on the wood floors, eating their pastries and people-watching on the weekend. I spent way too many hours here but loved every minute of it. I wish I could take my mama!

Bakeries galore. And you can watch them baking. Carb me up.
Everything is old!

Little Marrakesh shop... such fun stores

I had a wonderful sandwich here with sprouts and hummus and other good things. I'm going to miss the veggies in this city!

The homemade display for monogrammed mugs...
Anthropologie, how clever are you??

(Additional tidbit: Chelsea Market happens to be the birthplace of the Oreo... can this place get any better?!)

in bloom

on Columbia's campus this week...

To the Falls: day two

6:30 am: Wake-up calls from dear Jacky, which were repetitively ignored. Linds finally picked up one of the calls while brushing her teeth. As I said, he loves us.

7:30 am: Everyone back on the bus to continue our Niagara excursion. Seeing falls in the early morning was breathtaking, and it was so refreshing just to be outside in open air.

Linds is ready to go...

at the park beside the falls

we could feel the mist!

10:00 am: Our group went to the Niagara Falls IMAX movie. (Jacky quote: "If you don't go to the Imax, you really did not go to Niagara Falls...") The three of us skipped out and headed for the Canadian border. None of us had passports, but when we said we were born in Texas, they somehow let us through. (That Texas blood can get you far in life!) Thrilled, we took off across the bridge, popped in a casino, scored some Canadian dollars, and took pictures with Mounties. Our Starbucks cups were in English AND French... what a nice country.

11:30 am: Back stateside, we met up with our group for the Maid of the Mist boat tour of the Falls. We were given these sweet panchos:

We were right at the bow of the boat, getting wet and taking in the magnitude and power of the falls - definitely one of the highlights of the trip. It was hard to get photos because of the water, but this one is from above:

1:00 pm: Lunch break...

bliss.

3:30pm: Corning Glass Museum. Once again, we chose not to partake in the tour, and instead wandered around the town of Corning. It was Sunday, and the little downtown was basically deserted. We had some great coal-fire pizza (for a steal - eating in NYC really is expensive!) and soaked in the small-town charm.

5:00 Back on the bus, our group watched Avatar (note: it's not been released) and some sweet early-90s Kenny G videos. We were in the city by 9:30, in time to shower for work the next day...

To the Falls: day one

Helena had the excellent idea to take a bus tour to Niagara Falls this weekend. She, Linds and I bought tickets for a steal, packed our backpacks, and left on our charter bus from Chinatown on Saturday morning.

Yep, Chinatown. So it should have come as little surprise to us that our tour guide, Jacky with-a-y Chan, said everything in English and Mandarin. Linds, Helena and I took over the back seat of the bus, and we could not help giggling at Jacky's creative use of English syntax. For example:

• Do you feel exciting?
  
• Who here wants upset?
• The Dutch people plant flowers. The other people come in, and they like to make the American dollar more than they like to plant flowers. This is why New Jersey look like this. (his Garden State explanation)
• How can you get safety?
• I cannot speak Spanish. Accept it, all right.
• My bracelet, it's tiger's eye. Very nice. Rawr.
  

We loved Jacky. And he acted like he loved us, but I'm 100% sure we worried him. For instance, our first stop was a boat tour at Thousand Islands. When we walked onto the boat, an older man named Charlie asked us where we were from. Once he heard we'd come all the way from Texas, he invited us into the captain's quarters on the third level. We spent the next hour with the captain, the boat guide, and Charlie, just talking and goofing off and getting the inside tour. The tour guide repeatedly turned off the mic and said, "That's not the real story. What actually happened is this..." The boat tour was gorgeous, and it was great to be on the water. When we loaded back onto the bus, Jacky asked us where we were for the whole tour...

"who is Uncle Sam?"
in the captain's quarters!

our friend Charlie

Helena and a castle

So. Jacky made a bus rule that if we were late coming back from breaks, we had to sing to the entire bus. Of course, the three of us were late coming back from dinner (we HAD to get chocolate). We gave a rendition of I'm A Little Teapot that went over surprisingly well - applause, cheering, video cameras, the whole bit. Our bus arrived at Niagara Falls after nightfall and we were able to stop by and see the falls all lit up:

We were then delivered to our not-so-shabby hotel and found ways to entertain ourselves before sleeping...

more to come!

sights around the city

courtesy of that quality iPhone camera...

we could look down.

but looking up is so much better.
(laying in the park in Brooklyn Heights)

i saw the NYT building for the first time this week!

get that dirt off your shoulder.

this kid was definitely posing. for my phone.

reminds me of Paris

as does this
out for a ride in this gorgeous weather!

chalk art in Union Square

waffles in Columbus Circle

I work just a couple of blocks away from Columbus Circle, so in this great weather, a few of the other interns and I have been going to sit in the circle after work or at lunch. We're in good company...
It's great to get some sun and people-watch for a bit. Last week after lunch, Adrienne and I couldn't resist grabbing dessert at the waffle truck outside of our building called Wafels & Dinges, a Belgian waffle truck that's kind of a big deal, I learned. As in, you can follow the truck on twitter. They put this incredible sauce on mine - it was peanut butter-like texture, but it tasted like graham crackers.

the truck outside of Hearst Tower

waffle maker man
my baby waffle! delightful

music underground. nothing compares

Violinist, shot waiting for the L train.
Thanks, iPhone. 

Yesterday someone was singing opera at the 42nd street station. And he was good.
My favorites are the Caribbean men who sing and play the drums and dance.

Would be a shame to miss New York in the spring.

There are flowers everywhere in this city!

In the trees

and the shops

and with Gandhi

and on the street

in the sills of windows

I love it!

Norton Critical Editions

Oddly enough, the closest branch of the New York Public Library that contains a copy of the Norton Critical Edition of Wuthering Heights happens to be in Chinatown. So this Wednesday, my little adventure to the library took me to parts of Chinatown I did not know existed.
A little nibble of the sights:

Confucius

and of course Confucius Florist

multiple fresh seafood shops

dragonfruit!

yes, those are pants for sale on the street. under umbrellas.

Success!

The librarian was incredibly helpful, and I am now a proud owner of an NYPL card.
Afterwards, I had to walk through another good six blocks to grab the train to Union Square. I bought a pastry from a little bakery on the street. In Chinatown, you can get these sweetbread rolls made with raisins for like 85 cents, and I just can't pass them up.

Afterward, I saw Ajami at the Quad Cinema. The film was written and directed by Israeli Scandar Copti and Palestinian Yaron Shandi. It wrestles with so many issues, yet is extremely well-executed - one of those films you walk away from but it doesn't leave you.