'How you doin'?'

I arrived back in England on Friday after my week long New York trip and have taken so long to blog as I’m still adjusting to the time difference, have caught a horrid cold off some diseased person on the plane and took so many pictures while I was there that it’s taken me two days to attempt to get them into some sort of order. As my cousin said, ‘you have way too many pictures on your Facebook. I mean, once you’ve seen one Manhattan skyline you’ve seen them all’.

So, New York was amazing. We had a strict itinerary with as much as possible packed in and we did all the main touristy stuff; The Statue of Liberty, Ellis Island, Central Park, Top of The Rock (70th floor of The Rockefeller Building), The Empire State Building, Times Square etc. We also fitted in lots of routes on the open top bus tours, which I love, mainly because I can see everything from high up without having to walk miles in the heat. I bought a few bits and bobs from the Hell’s Kitchen Flea Market, which was disappointingly small, and also went to the famous Magnolia bakery credited with the ‘cupcake revival’. I left with two cupcakes, including the Sex in the City 'Carrie' cake and a ridiculously expensive 50s style apron. We also did an amazing food tour in Greenwich Village, which was an artsy kind of place back in the day, but is now an artsy ‘you can only live here if you have a few million lying around’ kind of place. It was much less touristy than any of the other places we’d been, and not only was the food delish, but I got to hear the phrases I’d been waiting for all week; ‘How you doin’?’, ‘Eh, ya tellin’ me’, ‘Eh, forget about it’. I was overjoyed!

Purchases from the Flea Market: Tooled leather bag, 70s scrapbook, Coca Cola Memorabilia, Camcraft book and a Jewellery box.

One of the strangest places we went to was The American Girl Place. It was a must after me seeing it on TV a few years ago and is the most surreal/scary place ever! Basically it’s a doll shop, but so much more. They sell a collection of dolls, all of which come with basic clothes and accessories, and the rest of the three/four storey building is taken up with extra clothes, shoes and accessories for EVERY occasion. I really do mean Every occasion, whether it be horse riding, cheerleading, camping, going to the salon, recovering after an injury or camping. You can even buy matching outfits for your little girl and their doll (Terrifying).

If all of that wasn’t strange enough we went to the next floor and found Mums and Daughters queuing for the Doll Salon, where about eight dolls at a time were sat in salon chairs having their nylon tresses pulled and poked into French plaits, bunches, buns etc for about $20 upwards. They could even have their ears pierced! As I turned away amazed, I accidentally stumbled into ‘The Doll Hospital’ where an extremely concerned Mum and Daughter were checking ‘Lanie’ in to have her head put back on. After a bit of research back at the hotel (The American Girl Place had had a profound effect on me by then) I found that the doll would leave the ‘hospital’ complete with hospital gown and wrist tag, and that the doll wheelchair was a popular purchase for the doll’s recuperation at home. We left after half an hour, confused, amazed, but also a little bit sold on this whole surreal world. I mean, how could you fail to be impressed by a place that has ‘doll stands’ in each restroom?

My cousin demonstrating the doll wheelchair.

 I got carried away with New York kitsch/tacky souvenirs.

I bought these before I even stepped on the plane. How could I resist Cath Kidston duty free?