I hope you are all staying as warm and dry as I currently am. This morning was a completely different story. Just a testament to how much I love you all... but seriously, it was so FREAKIN COLD today and y'all should be grateful.... just saying... ;)
Due to popular demand, my adventuring today took me to Yorkville. As I hate to go exploring (or do anything, for that matter) by myself, I took my friend Mary, a.k.a. The 45 Queen along with me all the way up to 86th street. BTdubbs, if any of you ever feel like joining me as I explore, hit me up! I'm always looking for new adventuring buddies... :)
Sidenote: I'm currently listening to Ed Sheeran's new album and having a hard time waiting until Christmas to get it (because I'm one broke college student at the moment...). I've decided that Ed Sheeran is one of my newest favorite artists. He's basically a singing Ron Weasley... so what's not to love?Specifically, this song is a nice soundtrack to my post about today's adventure. You're welcome.
Anyways... We basically had no plan for today. I had not done any research about the area and neither had Mary. At first I was hating myself for not having a game plan in this miserable cold, but as you will soon read, we stumbled across things that we could never have planned. I love my city for that very reason. Here's the basic trajectory of our walk. We wandered just a little bit...
GAH. SO beautiful...
From here we walked down 88th street, towards the water. Walking through this neighborhood, we came to the conclusion that it is best fit for established families (i.e. with no small children), and retirees. There were quite a few sports parks, but other than that, the only things we found in abundance were medical clinics and hair salons. We did, however, find a plethora of stunning views of the East River:
And then what do you think we stumble upon next, but the mayor of New York's mansion. It is quite a sight, let me tell you... Mary and I thought at first that it was a cool random historical house right in the middle of the park (#2). But upon further inspection, we found a plaque clearly identifying the resident of the house. I walked around several times before I realized the level of security was not going to allow for a decent picture of the mansion. Basically, it's a gorgeous yellow colonial, and from what we could see from the one ground-level window we could access, deBlasio has an extensive library and a grand piano.
The park itself, in my opinion, prettier than central. It has a river-side walkway right over FDR drive, and it's a lot less crowded. The wind was worse near the water, hence, why I look like a babushka in the second picture (I should have brought a hat and gloves, but seeing as the only hat I own makes me look the the Swedish chef, I preferred to deal with the cold...).
At this point we were both pretty hungry. I had run out the door without so much as coffee that morning, and feeling a headache coming on as a result, I had to act quickly. This is where a quick Yelp search led us to the best bagel shop I have ever been to in my entire life in the city. Yes, it was that good. H&H Midtown Bagels East (#3). I had raisin-walnut cream cheese on an egg bagel, and Mary had vegi spread on an everything, but really, there are no bad choices here... And the line is out the door well into the afternoon for a good reason. (Budget: $10, est. expense: $6.50)
Mary, being a graffiti blogger wanted to check out a couple murals roughly 20 blocks uptown, and as I never pass up the opportunity to see one of the few forms of art I appreciate, grabbed a cab with her (ain't no way we were walking 20 more blocks at that point), and boy were we in for a treat (#4). Here are just a few of the many murals we found... also, isn't she pretty? :)
Oh also, we found a really cool bridge/tunnel on our way back to the subway station, and inside, found some really neat/potentially dangerous icicles. There you go: solid proof of how cold it was.
And now I am safely back home drinking hot chocolate and eating more than a healthy amount of cheese on flat bread (when you haven't gone grocery shopping in 3 weeks, crazy food combos start to not be so crazy...). I am already looking forward to my next neighborhood review, and I have quite a few coffeehouse reviews that should have been posted a long time ago. Next up: Hell's Kitchen!
~Keep it classy~
-H
P.S. for those of you with a burning desire to know what we both look like, here is a par-frozen pic:
Great pictures and great story! I felt like I was there with you!
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