New York State of Mind

We've just come back from a long weekend in New York City, and it's basically taken me an entire day to recover.  I'm always so amazed by everything the city has to offer, but the flip side is it's really exhausting to try to take it all in!

We started our trip by visiting the new Ladurée which recently opened on the Upper East Side.  If you have not yet sunk your teeth into one of their fragrant pillowy clouds (also known as macarons), get thee to New York, or Paris, or London tout de suite...  

Actually New York seems to be a rather late addition to many international outposts (why or why?), but better late than never.  One taste of those macarons this weekend was all it took to bring me back Paris (I was, ashamed to admit it, a regular of the the Place de la Madeleine location), and of course intensify that nagging feeling that I must return to Paris asap.  But back to New York for now...  

After Ladurée, we did a little window shopping, stopping in at Hermes to drop off a wallet in need of repair (success) and look for a sauce ladle (no luck).  We popped into a bunch of other stores including one of my favorites, Bergdorf Goodman.  There, I tried to stuff my stubby little sausage fingers into lovely diamond rings at the Van Cleef and Arpels boutique downstairs, but with all their recent price increases I feel I've missed the boat on any more VCA.  Still, I must appreciate the sales lady's determination in trying to convince me that the ring around which my finger puffed was just "perfect!", noting Liz Taylor had very stubby fingers too but that never stopped her from wearing big jewels.  Well, I suppose Liz Taylor did a lot of things I'm probably not going to do, and while I cannot deny her eye for beautiful jewels, I'm afraid at least in that regard she cannot be my role model.


Leaving rather bare-fingered, we found lunch at the Plaza Food Hall.  It reminded me of Harrod's Food Hall, but smaller and more relaxed.  And the added convenience of being shown to an empty seat and brought your food via a waiter made it a much more pleasant experience than Harrod's, where it's more like survival of the fittest to get a seat.  


Anyway, I have no photos to show of the meal, because I was well into my smoked Kobe Pastrami pile of delight before I remembered.  I highly recommend the whole place - also much less frenzied than Eataly and there really is something for everyone (sushi, dumplings, carvery, cheese, etc.).  After, we headed upstairs to the Plaza Champagne Bar where we drank champagne and quietly liberated the occasional macaron out of the Laudree bag (shhhh!).  Yes, we live on the edge.

The Champagne Bar at the Plaza has these beautiful velvet green chairs that are perfect for spending an hour or more in cozy decadence...

Plaza Lobby flowers were all in a purple hued theme, my favorite color.

After this, my plan was to head to the Santa Maria Novella store to stock up on candles and do some more shopping around SoHo.  Santa Maria Novella was out of my favorite candles (the "Relax" which smells like lavender and sunshine), and the main shopping streets were so crowded I could barely wedge my way inside of Muji, or out of it again.  Not fun.


Fun was coming back to our comfy hotel room at the Ritz Battery Park, kicking off our shoes, and peeping at a lady through a telescope...

Before you worry, here is the lady in question:

As seen through this telescope, which the hotel kindly places in each room for better viewing:

A better shot of the room, which was comfortable, modern and clean:

After dressing for dinner, we headed to Wolfgang's in Tribeca for amazing ribeyes.  Highly recommend!!!

The day after we rose early to visit the Statue of Liberty up close.  We'd booked about four months in advance to get tickets to access the Crown.  It's a very small space up at the top, so they only let a limited number of people go up per day, which explains the wait-time a bit.  After going through security several times, you are stripped of your bag, coat, everything but a camera, and you climb 27 floors up to the very top.  Yeah, 27.

While it starts out like a normal staircase, it quickly changes to a spirally, narrow metal chamber of horror as you reach the top.  Okay, maybe not chamber of horror for most, but as someone with a fear of heights and enclosed spaces, I probably should have done a bit more research before signing up for this one.  Still, I made it to the top, a sweaty shaky mess, in about 8 minutes flat - it's amazing how motivating "get me the heck out of here" is when it comes to climbing stairs - and the view was pretty awesome.  Just don't talk to me about how I got down...

The neck of the statue is the narrowest and darkest, but at least by then you know you have nearly made it.

From the top you can look down on the raised arm.

And also read what it says on the tablet she holds.

A better view from the ground.

On the Ferry to Ellis Island.

From there, you can take the Ferry to Ellis Island, and tour the Main Hall and some very interesting exhibits.  You don't have to have had a family member come through here not to appreciate the risk, hope and effort that drove people here.  Of course the introductory video made me cry.

Main Building, Immigration Museum

Great Hall - beautiful tiled ceiling!

Back in Battery Park, a bronze statue called "The Immigrants"

As the child of immigrants myself (they came in the 70s, long after Ellis Island stopped operations), I can understand why the desire for the American Dream is still strong for so many all over the world, even today.  And it's definitely made me want to learn more about this part of our history.  So next of my reading list is Not Fit for Our Society: Immigration and Nativism in America by Peter Schrag:

Now I'm off to pack for my next trip, and this will come with me, but more on that one later!