New York, New York

We arrived on the 16th January in the afternoon, and as soon as we walked into the landmark that was JFK, we exchanged our dollars and rolled on our cardigans. It was such a nice change to be adding layers, instead of sweating them. Popcorn and I headed outside into the cold that was like a bucket of ice water being thrown onto us, but we couldn’t have cared less – We were in New York City.

The heater in our room sounded like a rustic farm tractor that needed a good oil up, and we pressed our mitts up against the cold window and stared down on Madison Square Garden from our quaint little room. Bright lights, big city.

We took a hefty bite out of The Big Apple on the first day, as we started off our morning at Starbucks, Bircher Muesli and mocha’s, names on cups and all. We then wandered around the neighbourhood, taking photos with pigeons, amazed by the snow and lining up to rush into Macy’s. We then headed over to Madison Square Garden for a pretzel, popcorn, jug of coke and a Knicks game.

It snowed that night, resting on branches and crunching underneath our steps.

The first few days were the coldest I’ve ever experienced. My new hobo gloves from Urban Outfitters kept my fingers warm, and my brogues soaked up the freezing sludge that was the sidewalk. We had many hearty breakfasts - stopping in at a traditional diner, where coffee mugs were topped up, and home fries were served on bagels. Touring the Museum of Natural History, the Metropolitan Museum, Times Square and Rockefeller Centre. We shopped til’ we dropped in H&M, Anthropologie and Urban Outfitters and wandered the blocks like true locals.

Our dinner at Tao restaurant was so schmick that you needed to take money to the toilet to tip. Feeling like we were extras in a Sex and the City episode, we pointed out spots in the restaurant that were filmed in the hit show as we sipped Peach Cosmopolitans, munched on dumplings, salmon and a giant fortune cookie that was heaven whipped with white chocolate mousse and glazed fruit – book me a plane ticket just to have another one.

We read The New Yorker and Vogue at night, while eating soft baked cookies from vending machines. We washed our clothes in the bath tub, got caught in revolving doors, rushed to the window each day to look for snow and bought umbrellas that popped in 5 seconds. New York was everything and more.

Our days were filled with street vendors, trips to Soho, wandering around Chelsea, The Meat Packing District and Greenwich Village, toting Big Brown Bag’s on our arms and waiting on the sidewalk for buses.

My favourite day was yet to come, as we woke up on day 6 to a perfect sunshine through our window. We had breakfast on 5th Avenue and sat at Pulitzer Fountain waiting to board our bus for the Sex and The City Tour. We travelled the streets and laughed with our guide, yelled out obscenities and browsed through sex stores as we made our way through the near 50 locations for the f-abulous show. Our favourite was Magnolia Bakery, where we ate several cupcakes iced mint green with sprinkles. We browsed in Mulberry and Marc Jacobs and sipped on Cosmo’s in Steve and Aiden’s bar.

We went to Bloomingdales, Saks and Bergdorf Goodman’s, before having a bite to eat and then it was a hop, skip and a jump to Broadway where we were taken a flight on broomsticks for Wicked! The Musical.

The days only got better with, Central Station, the Statue of Liberty, movies with cookie dough and the Empire State. We bought I heart NY shirts, (which I’m wearing as I type), Hershey bars, the New York Times and much more.

As we caught our last shuttle and said goodbye to JFK, on board our next flight I had only one thing to say -

New York, I love you.