Is it possible to go to NYC without doing any shopping?  I don’t think so!  Even the pouring rain couldn’t stop my mom and I from hitting the city right up until the hour before we had to catch our flight back to Chicago.  The only thing that almost derailed our plans.  I woke up to this view…

 

 

However it looked completely blurry!  In my attempt to leave New Jersey quickly and take as little as possible to the city for the night, I forgot to bring my glasses AND my contacts.  Yikes!  I didn’t have a lot of options and knew that I couldn’t explore the city searching for cupcakes with blurry vision.  I called my aunt and my dad, begging them to take a detour across the George Washington bridge to bring me some eyes.  Although I had shopping on the brain, my mom and I were also interested in checking out the 9/11 Memorial, and I thought that sounded more legit than searching the city for cupcakes and sales.  Because my family is fantastic, after rush hour they brought my contacts to the city and dropped us off at the subway with plenty of time play before our flight home.  I owe them a HUGE thank you for saving my last day in New York!  They even lent us an umbrella!

 

 

 

We took the train all the way down town, and then joined the ranks of tourists in sneakers toting umbrellas on the streets.

 

 

We walked a few blocks over to the Memorial, which is still a work in progress.

 

 

 

The pouring rain didn’t stop people from coming by to check it out.  We didn’t do the full inside tour but walked along the roads, looking at the buildings and admiring their grace towering above the city.  We are planning to come back with the rest of the family when the Memorial is finished, and I am looking forward to it!

 

 

 

 

The buildings are so impressive that my mom was actually able to spot them from our airplane when we landed at Newark!

 

 

 

The last time my mom and I were down near Ground Zero, it was shortly after 9/11.  As we walked we remembered how unbelievable it was to see a beautiful church unscathed in the middle of the ruin.  We were both silent as we walked past the same church during this visit.

 

 

On a funnier note, when we were last here I was interviewed by a Japanese TV station.  We have pictures somewhere, but I don’t think they are digital.  We stopped under an overhang to take some pictures of the memorial and I couldn’t help but be impressed with the sea of umbrellas floating down the street.

 

  

 

My cousin had mentioned a store to us called Century 21.  Have you been there???  He said that it is very popular and we happened to pass by it after the Memorial.

 

 

It was definitely an impressive store….tons of selection and the kind of place where you could spend an entire day shopping. However, the line for the fitting room was a little to intense for my liking!

 

 

 

We walked out of the store, and I plugged our lunch destination, BabyCakes, into the navigation.  It was only a mile and a half away and despite the rain, my mom and I decided to walk it.  My cousin called as were walking and just happened to be right in front of the federal building where he worked.  He came down to meet us for a midday stroll through town.  I was excited to take a slight detour around his building to where the court houses are.  Why, you ask?  Do these buildings look familiar?

 

 

 

These are the steps where my all-time favorite show, Law&Order are filmed!  Insert theme song here!

 

 

The three of us made our way through some unfamiliar and adorable neighborhoods on a mission to find cupcakes.

 

 

 

 

We arrived at BabyCakes NYC.  This tiny storefront is located on quiet Broome Street surrounded by old buildings and cafes.

 

 

 

I started to share my pictures and pastries and then decided that BabyCakes will need it’s own post.  There are just WAY TOO MANY mouth watering pictures to include here (and my NYC post could go on for days…ha ha!).  After cupcakes for lunch, we headed west towards 5th Ave for our next stop, Fishs Eddy.  We said farewell to my cousin who had to head back to work before heading farther north.  By this point, the rain had stopped and the sun was starting to come out from behind the clouds.

 

 

We had so much fun walking, talking, people watching, and taking in the sites.

 

 

 

And of course, we had to stop for a street pretzel!!!

 

  

 

We arrived at Fishs Eddy, which is a unique housewares store, with only 45 minutes before we needed to catch the train to the airport.

 

 

 

Challenge accepted!  We had just enough time to browse, pick, and pay…

 

 

You know me…I wanted one of EVERYTHING from this store.

 

  

 

 

But I limited myself to one small package.  We headed north to catch the Path to Newark.  I used my walk and snap photography method to grab some last minute city shots now that the sun was finally shining.

 

  

 

We met my Dad at Newark airport, reorganized our bags, found room for our new purchases before boarding our flight home.  Shortly after take off, my mom pulled our our package from BabyCakes.  Best ToGo box EVER!!!  Even my dad was impressed with these gluten-free, vegan, sweets!

 

 

What a fantastic day in the ‘city that doesn’t sleep’!  I can’t wait to do it again soon!

 

 

What is your favorite thing to do in NYC?