A New York Minute
mostly what we ate and where we wandered
We were in Connecticut for a wedding in April and decided to make a quick pit stop in NYC on our way out. One of my best friends from college lives in the city and it’s always a treat to see her. I crashed in her apartment for a month many years ago where I did a lot of soul searching as a 26 year old. Running around with her many years later, we still have so much fun and a never ending list of things to do.
One of the things I love about NYC is how walkable it is. I’ve talked about this before, but my husband and I crave a walkable city. We flirted with the idea of moving to NYC since it’s one of the few options in the US that would fulfill our walkability craving. Before I continue on this tangent, I wanted to share what we were up to during our very short weekend getaway.
What I Wore
I thought I’d share what I wore to wander around the city. I wore my tried and true outfit: a button down, jeans, loafers and a belt. I knew we’d been walking a lot, so I picked my old, trusty loafers. I’ve had them for 12+ years and I knew there would be zero rubbing or discomfort on my feet. I packed one purse for the trip — my Francesca. I wore her to our friend’s wedding the night prior and wore it as a crossbody around the city. It's a city approved bag for me even though it doesn’t have a zipper.
For dinner, I wore the same outfit except I added my latest obsession — my DÔEN denim jacket. I removed the crossbody strap from my Francesca and wore it around my wrist. In a dream world where I have everything on my wishlist, I would have worn these satin pants and a black kitten heel to elevate the look for dinner.
Airport Outfit
I wore my comfiest jeans, a t-shirt and a sweater in case I got cold. I also wore my tennis shoes that I reach for constantly. I am the type of person who will wear jeans on planes because I’ve finally escaped buying jeans for the number instead of the fit. Some fit notes — I sized up one size in these, but could have done TTS. I don’t size down because I have wide hips, but they stretch quite a bit in my opinion. FWIW, I have another pair of the same silhouette that I went TTS and they’re just as comfy.
A Very New York Welcome
We arrived back in NYC bright and early and ready to hit the ground running. I wanted to go to Dominique Ansel Bakery for a cronut while my husband craved a bagel so we decided on sweet before savory and headed off to Dominique’s as our first stop. My friends go every few weeks and share the latest cronut flavor they’re enjoying on their Instagram stories. After years of living vicariously through them, I knew I had to have one. I was overwhelmed by the variety of pastries and delicacies they had in the refrigerated cases — I wanted one of everything. We decided on a cronut and a pain au chocolat to kick off the food tour.
After enjoying our pastry, we started making our way to a hot and freshly made bagel shop my friend suggested, Pop Up Bagels. We first stopped at a window cafe for a hot beverage to enjoy on the way. It was the perfect timing because a long line quickly formed after us. I enjoyed a matcha and my husband raved about the cappuccino.
We arrived at Pop Up Bagels and to my friend’s surprise, there was no wait. Apparently, the wait can be up to an hour long on the weekends. We got very lucky considering it was Sunday morning, so we counted our lucky stars and placed an order. You can only order in batches of 3, so we opted for 6 bagels for the 4 of us and a container of chive cream cheese. My husband also spotted salmon on the menu and decided ordering 8 ounces was a good idea. His brain is often bigger than his stomach because he completely missed the 4 oz option.
With our bagels in hand we walked over to a bench at Washington Square Park to rip apart our bagels as we passed around the cream cheese and took turns dipping them in. I have zero pictures of this exchange because eating these bagels required all my attention. Somehow we managed to eat all the salmon and our share of bagels before wandering off.
A friend had asked if I could stop by Sézane to see if they had a pair of trousers in stock so we made our way there next, wandering through Soho and Nolita and admiring the shops from outside. Since we just had one full day in the city, I didn’t want to spend it trying things on. I knew there would always be a next time!
We did however make a quick stop in Cuyana. They had lots of beautiful new purses and a bright red colorway on the shelf that caught my eye. I own several Cuyana pieces, a few you can see here, here and here. I guess you could say I’m a fan. What truly caught my eye was this magnetic hat holder that is currently sold out. I regret not buying it. Onto the wishlist it goes.
After Cuyana, we made our way up to Central Park to catch a glimpse of the flowers and enjoy a leisurely afternoon walk. This was my first time in NYC in the Spring and it might be my favorite time of the year there. Central Park was filled with people, food vendors, and so many flowers!
We grabbed a fruit cup after passing several vendors and continued walking down the windy paths. We stopped at all the beautiful flowers for me to take 10 more pictures than I actually needed — it was hard to resist, they’re one of my favorite things to photograph. It was also a popular day for wedding pictures because I saw about 5 groups of wedding parties getting their pictures taken. Once we made it out of the labyrinth of Central Park, we got a sudden craving for ice cream.
We walked over to Big Gay Ice Cream — my friend and I had gone there 7 years prior while I was on my eat love pray journey in NYC crashing at her apartment. It was still as yummy as I remember. But also what ice cream doesn’t taste delicious after 18k steps?! At this point, it’s 4pm and we’re not quite ready to add another 4k to the counter. It was 40 blocks to her house from there so we saved our energy and took a ride share back.
My friends have a beautiful rooftop in their building, so we enjoyed sparkling water while we continued to catch up and act like it was just a casual hangout and we lived a few blocks away in the lower east side (where I imagine we’d live).
We couldn’t decide between dumplings or Italian for dinner, so we did both! We went to Nan Xiang Express, a dumpling restaurant, that had just opened up down the street from our friend’s apartment and ordered some pan fried and soup dumplings to satisfy the cravings — a dumpling appetizer if you will.
After the dumplings, we hopped on the subway down to Greenwich Village to try an Italian place that had been on my friend’s list for a while, Rosemary’s. We ordered meatballs for the table and enjoyed refreshingly delicious lemonade that I then proceeded to spill 30 minutes later. Thankfully no harm or stains were caused. The ambiance, pasta and lemonade were amazing and we’d definitely go back next time we’re in town.
A Few Hours To Spare
The next morning, we had a few hours to enjoy before heading off to the airport. I craved a croissant and my husband once again craved a bagel, so we decided to get both. Can I just say how much easier it is to cater to several types of cravings when you’re in a dense and walkable city?! We headed up to Sullivan’s Street Bakery to pop in for a quick croissant. I’m not typically hungry first thing in the morning, but I’ll never turn down a croissant. They also had fresh squeezed juice, which was hard to pass up. We enjoyed our baked goods and made our way down to the financial district to Russ & Daughters closest location. My husband ordered a classic Lox bagel and once more fulfilled his NYC bagel craving.
We opted to walk the Highline afterwards and enjoyed a brisk walk before our four hour flight back home. It was full of people walking to work, tourists stopping to take pictures of the beautiful flowers and volunteers making the area even more beautiful for everyone to enjoy. I don’t recall how far we walked, but we ended up taking one of the stairs down to a Citibike station. We decided we would ride them back up to my friend’s apartment. We made a few stops along the way to enjoy the scenery — the weather that was just perfect for it.
We ended up leaving with a few hours to spare because we wanted to see if we could find my husband’s suit. To catch you up, upon landing in NYC, we had an initial mission: get from JFK to Midtown to our ring appointment. My husband’s wedding band had been flying off his finger with a little too much ease so we booked an appointment to get his finger remeasured and resized. If you’re wondering why we would go all the way to NYC to do this, it’s because my engagement ring and our wedding bands are from a jeweler based in NYC. We trust them very much and figured it’d be a quick stop since we were already in town.
If you’ve flown into JFK with your final destination being Manhattan, you probably recall how long the train ride is. I find it a little annoying there isn’t just one train that can get you into the city center, but alas. We had 2.5 hours between the plane landing and our appointment, plenty of time, but with the pressure of needing to go from the airport to the appointment and then take another 2 hour train out to Connecticut to arrive in time for the Welcome Party, we were sprinting, so much so that my husband left his suit in the coat compartment of the airplane. We didn’t notice until we’d left security and were on our way to Jamaica Station, there was no turning back then.
Unfortunately, the suit was no longer in the baggage claim area a few days later, they told us it had probably made its way to the Delta sorting center. It’s been a little over a month since that trip and we unfortunately haven’t recovered the suit yet. We typically brush off stuff like this, but this was the suit jacket my husband wore to our welcome party. We’re holding hope that Delta can find it and send it back to us.
That concludes the quickest trip to NYC I’ve ever had. I wish we could have stayed an extra few days wandering around the city. I used to think I could never live in a city that big, but the more I visit the more I realize how much I’d love living in a big city.
I hope the next time we make it to NYC, we’ll have a bit more time to explore more places to eat, pop into stores I’ve been wanting to visit and spend time with our dear friends who call the city their home. Do you have any upcoming travel plans or places you love visiting during the summer?! Let me know below!
xx Ofelia
My husband and I love walkable cities too but with two kids now, we are enjoying the quiet suburbs. My sister-in-law lives there, so we are hoping to visit soon. I'm a bagel girl, so I highly look forward to that part of the trip.
My husband and I love doing quick trips to NYC, too. Saving some of these recos for our next getaway!