Downtown Bound

Tuesday 12 May 2009:

It's been more than 24 hours since our last shopping experience, so this morning we headed over Upper East Side for Bloomingdale's flagship store at Lexington and 59th Street. Not being used to the later opening time of 10am, we arrived early (also thanks to the convenience and regularity of the great underground subway system). Wandering the streets we came across a cute little "organic only" cafe and enjoyed coffee, hot chocolate (both served in bowls) and morning tea.

Our NY Explorer Pass entitled us to 15% off if we visited the Visitor Center on arrival (21000 sq ft designed to make you feel at home.... apparently...), which we dutifully did. Disappointingly it was hardly needed as apart from the ridiculously priced merchandise, the selection of menswear was limited as there was ongoing renovation (we seem to encounter that a lot on our travels). We did however both find a new pair of Ray Ban sunglasses each. Diesel store would be next for a second perusal of this great store in this location (seemed to stock a different range to the Fifth Avenue store). More successful purchases were made.

Time for something we didn't do last time - Staten Island Ferry. This is a Ferry Service linking Staten Island with Manhattan Island since 1817. Previously pricing from 5c to 50c per passenger and up to $3 for a vehicle, it is now a FREE service running at least every half hour, more frequently in peak hour, only for walking passengers. We found mostly tourists on our trip as the ferry gives a great view of Statue of Liberty and Downtown New York (Lower Manhattan). One hour for a round trip (ensuring you disembark and re-board at Staten Island).

Following this we explored the South Street Seaport district. Here we hound somewhere for lunch (choice being difficult as there are many great looking cafes and restaurants in this area). We settled on the Heartland Brewery and BBQ - tried some of the locally brewed lagers... not that great... Oh, there's an Abercrombie & Fitch Store here so we both swiped the plastic again.

Pounding the pavement some more we walked down the famous Wall Street and passed the New York Stock Exchange (can I ring the bell please??). Then past the World Trade Center site - further construction noted since our last visit - but not a great deal considering it's been 18 months. They still haven't decided on the final design for whatever it is they are building!

Across the road is Century 21... think of a whole lot of really really expensive s#it crammed into several levels of shopping all reduced by 25-75% making it still really expensive s#it!! There are a few decent clothes among it all, if you take the time to trawl through all the schizophrenic disorganisation! Apparently good for handbags, hey Mel!!

Time to retire to our room for a quick freshen up before heading out for Broadway Musical one for this trip - 9 to 5. Based on the 1980s movie starring Dolly Parton, Lily Tomlin and Jan Fonda, the music and lyrics were written by Dolly herself. Brad and I had the fortune of seeing the pre-broadway production in LA last year and this performance was more polished and refined.