New York New York – so good she blogged about it (at least) twice!

It is impossible to be bored here.  Whether it’s sitting in fountains in near 100 degree heat or watching the tourists waiting for their turn in front of the Alice statue in Central park.  Maybe you’ll be taking in the view at the top of the rock (a personal preference over the Empire States building) or sailing past the Statue of Liberty, New York is a city for all your senses.

Now in order to keep a little balance and in true British style I feel I should at least make mention of the negatives.

Restrooms
I’m not sure who first decided the toilets should be so low and the water content so high.  Whoever it was is a proper joker as for women at the end of their time there is a real chance you could end up with wet fingers (not like that you dirty lot!).   Think about it and be careful on your trip.

Feckin’ scaffolding
I get that a city this big and busy needs a little upkeep now and then but seriously! The Plaza, St Patricks (inside and out!) The Brooklyn Bridge! even Bloomingdale's and Barneys had plaster boards on the inside.  Thank God Grand Central was still in its miraculously romantic splendor as I might have thrown myself off the top of the Chrysler had that too been surrounded by the ugly metal piping that covered a multitude of my favourite buildings.  No matter, as we all know New York is more than its architecture.

You know those shopping trips when you go out and nothing catches your eye and you head home dejected and feeling a little empty inside?  Well New York is the exact opposite of that.  Every corner of every area has something, some have many somethings, you will want take away with you.  Plus the air con is killer, which when you’re outside in New York Summertime is a basic human right.  While there are of course the seriously well-known brands, a couple of the cooler high street names I felt were well worth a mention. 

Anthropologie
The minimalist silver type on white bags and pleasing layout of the store delicately whispers for you to come in a while away a happy hour browsing their goods.  Everything from clothes and gifts to staircases (a necessity for your New York loft apartment right?) and sofas are available.  Weary shoppers are allowed to perch on them but underneath are also neat little price tags for each item.  Now available in London and Edinburgh in the UK, the majority of their shops are still stateside, but no matter, it’s a great excuse to book another trip back (just don’t tell your other half about the online service).

Sephora
Now I KNOW this used to be in the UK as I remember friends of mine, ahem ‘borrowing’ the odd item in my school days.  Now they are all across the pond however if you throw a quarter in any direction there’s a good chance you’ll hit a Sephora shop.  

Either that or an angry New Yorker.  Beware they’ll take you down which will really be your own fault for chucking coins around, but I digress…

Sephora has a serious range of beauty products as well as their own line of make up and perfumes.  My favourite is Urban Decay as their eye-shadows are silky smooth and glide on to give a flawless finish on all eyelid ages.  Their tools and brushes are among some of the best I have seen and enable even the clumsiest of us to apply precision eye makeup like a pro (that’s a professional not a prostitute, I really can’t speak for their make-up rituals).  

Returning to a sleepy village outside of Cambridge my trip seemed a universe, let alone a world away, but so much have I seen, that it’s left me with the inspiration to write again.  There will at least be a New York Food and a Philadelphia blog to come, fingers and toes crossed I can keep up with this New York’s Resolution.