New York gave me just what I needed...

I recently took a much needed solo trip to NYC.

Aside from my strong disdain for the subway system (I'm sorry, but it just ISN'T Logical! Ended up in Queens at 11:30pm one night...not ok.) I loved everything that that city had to offer. There was also an empowering kind of freedom in having been there by myself. I'm a small town girl at heart (despite my love for the big city), so needless to say, I was overwhelmed at times which was exciting.

 I spent 5 hours in Central Park on my first day. 3 of which were spent sitting/people watching at the Imagine Memorial in Strawberry Fields. Met some awesome people here: had a conversation with the gentleman who maintains the memorial. He saw me in deep though, asked me to smile, and from there we discussed our mutual love for John Lennon, and also his daily routine of decorating and looking after the memorial. No one asked him to do it, he just does.

 

The Riff Raff, a band from the UK came and played a lengthy acoustic set at the memorial for anyone who wanted to stop in listen. Great guys, super talented very humble. I bought their CD, and have been listening to it non-stop. I told them that they better still be going strong when I move to the UK in 2011.

That evening I got my highly anticipated John Lennon Tattoo. I found a random small shop called Addiction Tattoos in Grenich Village. Here, I met Austin; my artist for the evening and possibly the nicest man in New York. As I got the ink, we talked about how he'd lived in New York all his life, and about the neighbourhood. He pointed out some random spots (restaurant used in Godfather II, bar where Bob Dylan punched Andy Warhol in the face), and told me about how Sean Lennon lives in the area. Ironically, Austin admitted that he does not like hurting people and apologized for hurting me during the tattoo process!

Hit a Jazz Bar near my hotel before crashing for the evening. The band was tight despite the fact that it was their first show playing together. The Bar was called Smoke and had a killer atmosphere, and well, strong drinks. Got pretty hammered on a Bourbon and Ginger Martinee as I enjoyed a set called "Hip Hop meets Jazz".

Needless to say, after getting in at 6am that morning, and walking around non stop, I crashed hard that evening (though, I did power nap in Central Park earlier lol).

Next day I ventured down to Battery Park to get a shot of The Statue of Liberty. I decided that that day I was going to get a few pics of myself and not just the sights (mostly for my mom's benefit). From Battery Park I took the train up to East Village do to a little shopping. On the train I encountered a group of homeless men who were going from car to car singing barber shop style tunes. They had great voices and were very thankful for the few bucks I threw their way (hated that I didn't get them on camera).

Found a great Rockabilly Shop called Enz's where the owner told me she had been there all her life, and pointed me in the direction of the old site of CBGB's. She said, "If you're a punk at heart, you have to stop there to pay your respects."

Tried to do the NBC studio tour, but they were sold out by the time I got up there. As sad as I am that I missed it, I was pretty thankful that I had a little more time to do other things. Went to FAO Schwarz and then I grabbed a genuine slice of NYC pizza. Delicious! I think I freaked the dude out though when I asked him for an autograph (Chris knows what this is about) haha.

Before I knew it, I was on my bus home.

Here's a short vid of some of the highlights of the trip. I'm going to post more pics and vids eventually!