Shopping on 5th Ave. and mini nachos

Sunday was my last full day in NYC. I wasn't quite sure what I wanted to do so I just went for a walk and ended up here:

I am not a big fan of shopping - sure, I love new clothes but actually having to wander around in stores and trying things on? I am not a big fan - but since it was my last day I figured I should do some shopping on 5th ave.


Saks 5th Avenue was not a fun experience. Sure, the store is gorgeous and the clothes are beautiful but there are sales people every five feet and they are all aggressively friendly. 


I know some people believe that the 'I will pretend to be your best friend while I get a commission' sales style = great service but I, for one, would rather be left alone until I have a question. 


Yeah, I only lasted about 5 minutes in Saks.


Then I ended up here:

H&M was way too crowded for the sales people to be pushy - ahh, this shopping experience was much more enjoyable. And they were having a big sale!

On the way back to the hotel (with my many shopping bags) I finally managed to find (stumble upon) this iconic NYC landmark:

Rockefeller Center

The ice rink looked a lot smaller than I remember.

And for those of you that love oatmeal - I found a restaurant (it was closed on Sundays) that specializes in organic steel cut oatmeal - amazing but true.

When I got back to the hotel I got a text from my sister asking if I had gone to the Uniqlo store in Soho.

Using my handy dandy smart phone I looked up the store and discovered they were having a grand opening for their new flagship store on 5th avenue that weekend!

You can guess my next stop:

The line of people waiting to get in went around the block!

The crowd inside the store was unbelievable and the store was huge.

They were having a store wide sale for the grand opening. I picked up a cashmere sweater, a wool turtleneck sweater, some long sleeve t's to layer and some black skinny pants. 

All of the tops were navy blue which I was pretty excited about. I look great in navy and I have had a hard time finding it in stores this season - Uniqlo had tons of navy blue items.

The check out line was really long but since they had lots of extra cashiers hired in for the opening weekend the line moved fast.

I wandered around later that evening to hunt up some dinner. 

I will admit that I didn't manage to hit any really amazing restaurants while I was in Manhattan. It seems around the touristy areas (where my hotel was located) there aren't any stellar food places.

I found out later that I should have headed over to the West side of Manhattan where I would have had a lot of great restaurants to choose from.

But I was determined to make this trip as much of a walking one that I could. And this is why I ended up at a not-so-great Mexican restaurant.

Tortilla salad.

Ugh, the tortilla salad was awash in some bland, greasy dressing and the chicken had a gross rubber-like texture. I quickly put the salad aside and made nachos with the side dishes.

Guacamole

Beans and rice

Mini Nachos!

The no-plan plan

It is probably really clear by now that I did not have any kind of plan when I arrived in NYC. 

Sure, I had the general plan of going to a bunch of museums and running in Central Park but other than that I left everything up in the air.

This morning I am going to give you a recap of the last day or so.

The Met.

 

 

 

My favorite Jackson Pollock.

I kept trying to make plans to go to certain restaurants but, of course, I would get lost and end up going to a completely different place. Yesterday I was trying to find a place that is known for its salads - but after 2 hours of walking around that was not happening.

I ended up going here:

Joe's Shanghai restaurant.

Won ton soup with really big dumplings.

Sauteed green beans.

Seasoned tofu which wasn't very good((

Then I went to my last museum visit of the trip.

They don't allow photos in the Frick but just imagine going to someone's palatial mansion and getting a chance to look at their amazing art collection.

I swung by the zoo.

One of the seals was doing laps in the pool.

The other seal was sun bathing.

I decided to ditch the idea of taking the subway to Soho. With my ability to get lost - taking the subway is probably a really, really bad idea. 

Instead I think I will take a 3 hour walk to Sacks Fifth Avenue. Yes, it is really only about 4 blocks from my hotel but it will probably take me that long to find it:-)