I'm addicted to NYC. Despite its dirty streets, brash people and polluted skies, NYC is seductive in an inexplicable way. I spent my last couple of days exploring the less crowded neighbourhood of Greenwich (corrected by Cui's bro and pronounced as "Gran-nich"). It's a beautiful bohemian neighbourhood with leafy courtyards, old fashioned row houses and Italianate townhouses (owned by the filthy rich). Less crowded than Times Square and downtown Manhattan, Greenwich is populated with NYU students so you can expect alot of cafes, quirky shops and bars (Holland Villagey but more vibrant). Cui spotted some rainbow flags so yeah, there's a gay community there too.
We got lost there on the first day as we wandered around Bleecker St and Grove St trying to find Magnolia Bakery. We ended up having a very late lunch - tunch - at an Italian restaurant. I had bacon Fettuccine Alfredo (pasta tossed with Parmesan cheese, butter and heavy cream) and Cui had mushroom pesto ravioli (pillows of pasta stuffed with mushrooms). The food was fine initially until we got sicker and sicker (when the cream sank in and clogged our arteries) and was too puckish to eat anymore (it was the start of a series of stomach upsets).
Cui found my Pink Tea Cup (recommended by Ms Tan) nestled in a shady picturesque corner of Grove St. It's a charming little Southern cafe (all pink!) with coloured glass lamps and pictures of famous black people adorning the walls. We saw a poster voting this place as the "best soul food restaurant". They serve pretty decent comfort food, read: lots of carbs and fat. I ordered the super cheap humongous lunch set which was yummy. The pork chops is not like the pork chops back home; it comes with the bone and is thick, battered and fried till crisp on the outside but still juicy inside. It comes with 2 large bowls of side dishes - I chose potato salad and french beans - and fluffy albeit salty biscuits (what we would call buns) with butter. Utterly stuffed and unmovable after that. I've been visiting alot of universities this trip.
We headed uptown to Columbia University one day where Cui will be doing her masters next term. Columbia is a dream! Exactly like how I picture an Ivy League uni to be. Sprawling manicured lawns and well restored historical buildings which look like castles and posh interiors, I feel like doing a masters in their renowned law school too. Cui is paying an arm to study there but it's the sort of uni which makes you actually think you'll enjoy going to school everyday.
I am resigned to not visiting every attraction I initially planned to visit like checking out the vintage shops in Lower East Side. We ended up shopping in mass produced stores like H&M, Macy's, Old Navy, American Eagle Outfitters, Guess etc. These stores are concentrated in the Soho and Herald Square region so I'm pretty familiar with the places now. NYC has many gorgeous buildings representing different architectural styles. Soho is famous for its cast-iron buildings while I spotted other Art Deco (Empire State Building), Beaux Art (Macy's), Gothic (churches) styles around the city. Old juxtaposes with new, that's what makes NYC so enticing.
The last touristy place we visited was South Sea Port - almost at the tip of Manhattan - which has lots of cafes (Cui bought a Godiva choc ice blend which probably induced her current diarrhoetic state) and shops. It smells a little fishy though.
Anyway we just found out that this apartment was once a hospital. This is so not comforting to know. I had the creeps when we went down to the basement to do our laundry just now. Cui insisted that it was the surgery room. Shiver my timbers. We're gorging ourselves on pizza-flavoured goldfish now.
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