Tourism, Tasty Foodz, & Toys

It was only down the street from our hotel but it took us six days in NYC before we finally got around to having breakfast at Dean & Deluca. This gourmet grocery store chain originated in NY's Soho and was created to be a "place that would offer customers a sumptuous celebration of food, a place to experience all of the pleasures that cooking and eating can bring". There are two major grocery stores and several smaller cafés scattered around NYC (as well as other locations in the U.S.). The photo I posted a few weeks ago is of the grocery store in Soho. We didn't have much time to look around because we had a show to go to, but it was HUGGEEE and I could tell by the tall, industrial-styled, strategically-organized shelves of artisan goodies that once I started looking around, I would never leave. The location nearest our hotel in Times Square is one of the cafés, and is infinitely smaller (yet equally impressive).



Is there a better way to start your day than with a chocolate pistachio croissant???? NO. NO THERE IS NOT.



After our pastries & coffee at Dean & Deluca, we tried to check out the public library --which is supposed to be beautiful-- but it was closed for New Year's Day! Duuuuhhh.. We took some pictures of the outside, though :)



We later walked over to Grand Central Station where we had a good view of the Chrysler Building. There were lots of tasty-lookin' eateries down there. We really wanted to try cupcakes from Magnolia bakery but we were too full of sweet things.. There's a Magnolia in LA, so we figured we could get it another time. We did make some room for Indian food, however! Yummy except for the naan, which was all crunchy >:(



We met up with the McAfees that night. The plan was to hang out in Central Park but then we realized that A) we didn't want to get raped, and B) ummm it was starting to rain, so we wanted to be indoors! Stumbling down fifth avenue, we randomly decided to walk into FAO Schwartz. Seriously, no matter how old you are, that place is so much fun.



Yes, that is a $25,000 Barbie foosball table.



And now: a series on the famous piano. So funny. There is a long line to "play" on the keyboard and the store only allows groups of 4-5 kids to play for exactly 60 seconds. We thought my sisters/cousins would give the audience a little more of a show than all of the previous three year-olds did, but they ended up doing the exact same thing: jumped up and down and laughed as they produced no music at all hahaha. I guess that is everyone's first instinct on a ginormous piano...



And that was the end of that day! Yikes, that was a lot of photos. Oh, do you like the changes I made to my blog? I made it a little simpler but, most of all, I was inspired to post larger images by my friend Han, who is an amazing photographer. Check out her blog!!

See more of my trip to New York here: Part I, II, III, IV, and V ♥