*DISCLAIMER: This was meant to be posted months ago. It was written on January 30 – a few weeks after I had left New York City.*
A moment of sadness hit me as I was walking down the streets of the Upper West Side.
There I was on West 69th and Central Park West when I realised it was my last day in Manhattan for a while.
As I stopped and stood still to take in the sights around me…
I couldn’t help but feel unmistakable joy. I’d just had the most incredible three weeks of my life and I was leaving New York with no regrets. Just regretting I hadn’t spent more time appreciating the city I love so much. There was so much more to see and so much more to do. I was yet to have my ultimate New York moment – one that was fit for the movies.
On my last few days there, I stayed in a West Village apartment, overlooking a church, and immersed myself in living in an apartment that had no elevators (but a billion flights of stairs), central heating I had no control over (but was always so warm to the point of stuffiness sometimes), and a shower that had next to no water pressure (but the apartments in the far distance probably had a good view of me starkers thanks to the lack of blinds on the windows). The place had its charms obviously, but the pros far outweighed the cons. It was located near a pizza place, a bagels bakery, a cupcake bakery, a taqueria, a gelato shop and a bar. And this was all on the same street – I kid you not.
Being a folk of the younger persuasion, I had the bars on Bleecker Street near NYU literally a solid jump from my door step. The idea of getting crunk in a bar with a bunch of nice random people and then walking (read: stumbling) back home in my very sensible heels, but stopping for the traditional drunk food on the way back, appealed to me. Unfortunately, sometimes the cold, cold nights would get to me, and I would opt to curl up at home and watch the Golden Globes. For those out there who are telling me to suck it up, I am currently sitting in 26 degrees Celsius, 83 per cent humidity heat. It’s like being back in that apartment again – uncomfortably stuffy – and it is what I am used to going out in.
But I am here to wrap up my US trip. In the final countdown, we took a day trip to Washington D.C., which was eerily quiet in some places because it was a really rainy day. It was so wet in fact that on the drive back we had difficulty seeing the road markings because it was dark and they are not massive fans of cat’s eyes in those quieter parts of the highway…or lights come to think of it.
We crossed three state lines to arrive at our destination, where we were pleasantly surprised. Much like my capital at home, nobody really expects Washington D.C. to have anything of incredible interest other than those tourism sites, and they’re only of interest to tourists.
Strangely, Washington is a lot like home for me. It’s a mix of old architecture with some new thrown in because the infrastructure was needed. But lining the residential streets of the home of the White House and Capitol Hill are these lovely houses (some of these photos were taken from a moving vehicle)…
But I wasn’t in Washington to see the architecture, I was here to see a former president:
Mr President: The Lincoln Memorial
And hopeful for a glance of another…
The White House…obviously.
Capitol Hill
But unfortunately, it wasn’t to be. So we packed ourselves back into our rental Crown Victoria and returned to the Big Apple.
Over the next few days after this day trip, I did all the things I wanted to do but W didn’t. He had left me for Detroit and I was left to my own devices. This is a sample of what I did…
Tea & Sympathy: There’s this charming little tea room on Greenwich Avenue (between Jane Street and Horatio Street). It serves tea in mismatched teapots and teacups, which is incredibly adorable. And the scones are served up with jam and clotted cream. YUM!
Mexican Radio: We stumbled across this restaurant (Cleveland Street between Kenmare Street & Spring Street), which resides a few doors down from Eileen’s Special Cheesecake (THE BEST CHEESECAKE I HAVE EVER HAD). It had some very delicious food and the decor had a very Mexican-esque feel to it. Tip: salsa and corn chips are a must here!
The Globe Trotter Occasionally 