My New York Holiday : Chapter Three

I cant believe I'm up to Chapter Three and I haven't even got to the end of day four!  Lets see, when I last left you I'd had another fabulous day at The Met and had found The Naked Cowboy on my way to meet Joy...

Joy is the owner and designer of a great Aussie fashion label Hot Couture.  She had been staying with her daughter in LA and flew in to New York the day before the tour arrived so we could have some fun.  This is the outfit I chose to wear that night.

I know this looks like a dress, but its actually a jumpsuit!  AND its vintage from the 1950s!!

Joy wanted to check out my hotel, so we started the night there.

With shots!

Its ok, we only had one

From there, we went to the most amazing mexican restaurant I have EVER been to!  It is called Toloache, and I would describe it by saying that it was fine dining mexican.  It was DELICIOUS!

This is the view of the restaurant from the balcony

Joy and I ate way too much quacamole and then shared two mains and were thoroughly stuffed by the time we left!

I dropped Joy back to her hotel and finally saw Times Square at night - I can't quite decide if I prefer it at night or during the day.  It is equally hypnotic either way...

After a good nights sleep, Joy and I were ready for another adventure!  We caught a taxi to Soho and let Joy's rule guide us to breakfast.  Joy is a firm believer in things happening for a reason, and with this in mind, every time we got to an intersection, we would follow the green light (the walking man).  And in this way we found ourselves at a french bakery for breakfast!

I had a divine cup of tea, a soft boiled egg and some salmon.  Joy got some freshly baked bread with her breakfast, but due to my coeliacs disease, I got some cardboard flavoured biscuits that I took one bite of and didn't bother with.

On our wanderings we had seen a couple of shops we wanted to return to.  One was Kate Spade, and the other was Miz Mooz.  Lets start with Kate Spade.

Joy and I both knew that stepping across the threshold would mean we would be parting with cash.  Kate Spade makes the most wonderful high quality novelty handbags, and lovely jewellery and accessories too.  And clothes - though they are a bit modern for my tastes.  Here are two things Joy and I desperately wanted but couldn't quite bring ourselves to buy.

A noodle box and a bird cage!!!

We did buy a bag each though - we bought these ones!

We like to call this photo the Red Head Fan Club

If you want to see a clearer image of the bag, follow this link.

From Kate Spade we headed to Miz Mooz.  What girl doesn't like shoes!

Lots of shoes!!

We both tried on lots of pairs of shoes.  I bought *cough* three pairs *cough*, which isn't that bad really when you consider I tried on ten pairs...  Everyone in the shop was so lovely, and the girl at the counter told us our next stop - Onieals Grant Street Bar.

So off we wandered!

 Apparently, they used to film bits of Sex In The City here...

Not that I would know - I never really got into that show.

Regardless it was the perfect next stop.  The whole front of the restaurant that faced the street opened up with french windows, and a gorgeous cool breeze was wafting in.  We ordered our cocktails and set about relaxing and enjoying ourselves.

After a silly photo, of course!

After a good time off our feet, we wandered on, heading in the direction of Hannah's shop Dusty Buttons once more.  You see I had left a dress there and I was pretty sure I wanted it, and I knew Joy would give me good advice.

So we wandered again... through Chinatown

No, I didn't buy any vegetables.  I didn't buy any of the seafood either - It was sitting on the pavement in the heat!  Ugh!!  On we wandered to Dusty Buttons...

Where I showed Joy the dress I hasn't been able to stop thinking about - and she told me that if I didn't buy it, she wouldn't talk to me again.  Here it is.

Sadly, I don't have a clear photo of me wearing it on the trip because I wore it at night... this photo on my dress form will have to do.  It is a heavy novelty print covered in sequins, still with its original belt.  I also purchased the shoes and the necklace.

From there, we caught a taxi back to our hotels, got our things, and caught a taxi back to our new hotel - The Roosevelt.  I don't have wonderful things to say about The Roosevelt.  The trouble really started when I arrived and there was not a soul there to help with my two suitcases and 10 shopping bags.  Luckily the taxi driver helped me get my cases out of the boot and into the gutter, but then he drove off.  Luckily there was a gold trolley not too far away so I grabbed it and I loaded it with my shopping bags, and a lovely passer by lifted my suitcases on, and I pushed it inside, up the lift and into the lobby.

The bellhops were horrified!  I wish I could have taken a photo of his face when I pushed my trolley out of the lift!  Hahaha!!

Anyway - I checked into the room I would be sharing with Kim (the lovely lady who runs the tour I was on) and went to find Joy to work out our next move.  Kim and the other girls were landing at around 9pm, so we decided to go to dinner and be back at The Roosevelt by about 10.30pm.

We maaaaaay have gone back to Toloache and ordered the exact same thing as the previous night....  But to change it up a bit we then went to Lillie's Victorian Bar for a drink.

Oh god, this place was perfect for me - a victorian themed bar furnished with actual victorian bits and pieces shipped from Ireland.  And its called Lillie's because its in homage to Lillie Langtry, who was a renowned beauty, a notorious socialite, and a woman far ahead of her time by all accounts.  Anyway, the most impressive bit of the fit-out was the air-conditioning system.  Only I would notice something like this - I'm a details person, what can I say!  The pipes which hang below the ceiling had been wrapped in pressed metal so that they weren't jarring against the beautiful ceiling.

After a drink we realised what the time was and hightailed it back to The Roosevelt.  Where we waited, and waited, and waited.  And just before midnight, we gave up and went to bed.

But before I got to sleep, Kim arrived and filled me in.  The airline took an hour to get their bags onto the carousels, then the bus that was booked was at the wrong terminal, so it took him a while to get to where they were.  Then they got stuck in roadworks.  And finally when they arrived at the hotel, the hotel had sold their rooms.  Rooms that had been booked for 6 months.

To say Kim was angry was an understatement.  But she was also exhausted.  She got everyone a room and then crashed asleep.

And thats where I will leave it for now.  Chapter Four will be the start of the tour!

So, do you love mexican food?  Do you have a weakness for Kate Spade?  Have you bought fish on the side of the road?  Do you notice small details?  Have you ever turned up to a hotel only to find you have no room?

Beccie
xxx