This is our 7th day in NYC, the bags are finally unpacked and Stack and I are ready to settle in for a couple of months.
We’re getting a feel for our local neighbourhood. A few steps out the door and we’re surrounded by opportunities for consumption. Obligingly, we’ve started munching our way through coffee shops, Vietnamese food, pizza and a bursting-at-the-seams San Fran style burrito from Dos Toros Taqueria (yum!). I’m keeping my eyes peeled for the gym!
As soon as you arrive in NYC you get a sense for its dynamism, the old jostling with the new, the indescribable buzz of millions of people going about their lives. You don’t experience the same kind of unexpected beauty as you do walking down a random street in Paris, but the 19th century brownstone buildings have their own kind of gritty charm.
Bizarrely the first thing I noticed on arriving was that, all around, there are grubby white boxes poking out of the buildings. These turn out to be the backsides of air conditioners and I wonder how often one just falls out of the sky, squashing an unsuspecting New Yorker. In one quick Google search, my paranoia is confirmed.
Stack is more interested in the water towers, nestled in the highest reaches of the buildings. Asking around, the only answer we seem to get is “they’re good for climbing on when drunk”. Yikes.
Cinco de mayo
When Cinco de Mayo rolls around our friend DeWolfe comes around to takes us to El Cantinero, a Mexican joint around the corner from us. The margaritas start flowing and soon Stack forgets we are celebrating a crushing French military defeat. Periodically a guy comes around handing out Cinco de Mayo paraphanalia to people and with DeWolfe constantly heckling him we end up leaving sombrero-capped and bedecked with beads and flowers.
Sies de mayo is a little less productive than hoped and it was all I could do to drag myself out for pizza at Arturos with JewishJerseyGirl, a friend we met in Paris more than 6 years ago, and her new fiance. It really hits home how fast time flies.
Right now I’m killing time before going for brunch with DeWolfe and her wife JenNouvelle who is swiftly becoming our NYC social planner. Knowing people here has really helped us settle in quickly… so a big thanks to y’all for generously making time in your busy lives to take us out and give us plenty of hints and tips!
A Fleeting Footprint 
Whole Foods is undeniably the best place to shop in NYC – try the bran and blueberry muffins – they’re awesome! Also head over to Brooklyn Heights and they have a massive massive Whole Foods and loads of quaint coffee shops also for seafood the Red Hook area in Brooklyn is brilliant.
OK nuff tourist talk – have you and Emm (Stack – don’t get why you call him Stack?) sung New York New York whilst walking down 5th Avenue?
Thanks for the tips!
You’ve heard me sing.. I don’t think we need to inflict that on these guys..!
Stack is his nickname with his SF friends.. and ‘coz he’s stacked (where it counts 😉 )