ouiād, art museum, shake shack in the park, bookstore visit, italian food for dinner with friends ā£ļø (i also accidentally came upon a protest at one point so i joined for a little?)
I had last Friday off work, and I decided to really treat myself. First, I spent my early afternoon in Greenpoint where I got a mani-pedi (something I havenāt done in years), and a yummy brunch across the street; walked to our favorite stationery store (Yoseka!) and got some little things; took the train to 8th Ave in Manhattan and walked south to the West Village; sat at the Stonewall Memorial for a bit listening to music; went to use the restroom at Stonewall where I stayed for a beer (and made a friend from out of town!); walked to the IFC Center to watch āArmandā (great Norwegian film); finishing off my day with an easy dinner at home. Best day ever in a long timeā¤ļø
i do think anyone visiting NYC for the first time should go to times square and a musical, empire state building etc just for the novelty of it, and here are some other things that may be fun! (also search ānew yorkā/ānycā on pi.fyi, i did it for ālondonā and found a lot of cool stuff!)
- definitely go to moma or the met! also the guggenheim has an amazing jenny holzer exhibit on until sept 29. skip amnh!
- NYPL Polonsky Exhibition - everything from the original winnie the pooh to a beautiful mini leaf-shaped Quran! (you could get coffee, go to the whitney then walk the high line and take the subway to the NYPL main branch for the exhibit!)
- staten island ferry in the afternoon - to see the statue of liberty! however, do NOT go during rush hour (6-9:30AM and 3-8PM) it sucks for locals when tourists add to the crowd during that time and the boats will be crowded enough with commuters that the experience sucks for you also lol
- picnic in central park! you could do lunch, or broad nosh bagels is like a block away from the 59th st station, sometimes if iām around in the morning, i get breakfast from there and eat it in the park. at least have a bagel at some point
- cool bookstores: the strand, p&t knitwear, housing works (soho)
enjoy your visit!! :)
So of course if youāve never been, do the touristy things too like Times Square and the monuments and be unapologetic about it, donāt let anyone judge you for having fun just because youāre a tourist. Also if you do the Empire State Building it tends to be cheaper after sunset, there are no lines, and itās nice to be up with way fewer people. Oh my gosh and I love the Brooklyn bridge actually, walk the Brooklyn bridge. For pizza, I posted about it recently but LāIndustrie has some great pizza by the slice, they have two locations now. My favorite slice is the fig jam and bacon𤤠For the swifties the newer location is not too far from Cornelia stš In the fidi area thereās a small coffee shop, Simpl, on Nassau. Itās originally a Ukrainian brand so they have a Ukrainian drink called a raf, or they have these amazing strawberry lattes and matchas. The most important part though? GET A CARDAMOM BUN. I became obsessed with them the first time I had one. Go to the Met. Literally one of my favorite museums, itās so big and thereās so much to see, there are new exhibits throughout the year. The Brooklyn botanical garden is pretty and there are plenty of free days throughout the year. Chinatown!!! I am a huge fan of Chinatown in NYC, so many good food options (Iām very food motivated when I travel if you havenāt noticed lol). There are dim sum places, ice cream, boba, so many things all next door to each other. Honestly, you could also find plenty of cheap souvenirs for people lol.
being traditionally cool is really quite boring and iterative, and itās actually very cool and sexy to geek out about something you like or share bits of knowledge on a topic youāre passionate about
HAPPY INTERNATIONAL WORKERāS DAY!!!! i love having a union, i love being a union steward and getting to support my unit. when my union won its contract, i got a pay bump, better benefits, and increased protection as a worker. š„³
unions help address racial and gender pay gaps, issues workplaces impose on families and those having kids, addressing unsafe conditions, plus things like better health insurance, wages and overtime, weingarten rights to representation, and more!!!
if you donāt have a union but are thinking about forming one, check out AFL-CIOās page (linked) or Emergency Workplace Organizing Committee. thereās always more power in a union!! āš„š¹
they have FREE SHIPPING through Friday (7/8-7/11)
if you are thinking about buying a book online this week, please buy a book there instead of evil amazon dot com. bookshop benefits local indie bookstores! you also can pick which specific bookstore to support and they have many lgbt-, women-, and bipoc-owned shops listed :)
also they now have ebooks and many are on sale, such as Octavia Butlerās Parable of the Sower + Talents, Margaret Atwoodās The Testaments, or Talia Lavinās Wild Faith for under $3 (!) each