Garment District and 5th Ave (sort of)

Woke up bright and early for our first full day in NYC. Our plan for the day was to hit the Garment District - beads for me and fabrics and trim for W since she's starting her own fashion design firm.

We started with brunch at Yuca Bar on Avenue A - I had the Arepas Benedictos with Serrano ham (yummy!) and W the eggs and chorizo sausage. With our stomachs full, we headed back to the HoJo to check out and made our way uptown to drop off our bags at the Millenium Broadway where we'd be staying for the next 2 nights.

We spent 8 hours pounding the pavement. We hit a few bead shops and I managed not to buy everything in sight. W found trimming for her samples and we walked some more.

I don't remember what street we were walking down but we noticed these parking lots with the car elevators to maximize valuable real estate. I'm pretty sure there's a condo in Toronto being developed with these car elevators as a feature...and I know my Dutch cousin's condo in Amsterdam also makes use of these space saving lifts.

The parking lot attendant kindly posed for us. He was a funny, charming guy since he made a big show of checking to make sure that his tie was straight, his hair was in place and his moustache was just so.

I took this pic later on in the afternoon, after we'd decided to quit the Garment District for some serious shopping on 5th. I'm not sure what building this is and can't remember what corner, but I like the colours in the taller structure with the blues and purples. Oddly enough, the short orange-red cubic building reminds me of some of the movie theatres in the suburbs near to home...I think it's the colours. And how about that big, fake chocolate bar? I think it's a Snickers...most satisfying, indeed!

Our intention to make it up 5th got us as far as Rockefeller Centre. We killed a lot of time at J. Crew (one of W's favs) where I tried on lots of cashmere and ended up buying a lovely grey V-neck, and then at Anthropologie, my all-time favourite girly-girl store. I LOVE this dress but they didn't have it in-store . I tried on lots but in the end, bought this pretty pink sweater only. I figured I'd done enough damage to my poor finances for one day with the beads and the sweaters.

After a full day of shopping, we headed back to our hotel to change for dinner. Our room's on the 50th floor and it's so much better than the HoJo. Here's the view from our window of some random buildings and what may be the edge of Times Square, and the Chrysler Building further down. Not too shabby. :)