One of the highlights of our Summer Holiday Trip this year, was revisiting New York. Last time I visited the place was in 2013, just before moving back to Singapore. It’s been four years since then, and my feelings toward the place hadn’t changed a bit! I still super loved it! I fell in-love with New York in the fake spring of March 2013, and I loved it even more in the unbelievably hot and humid summer of July 2017!

Coming from a one-hour plane trip from Montréal, we headed straight to have a late lunch at Katz’s Deli. For those who are 80’s fanatic freaks like myself, you would know about this place as the setting for the famous movie, “When Harry Met Sally”, where Meg Ryan had that famous fake orgasm scene. I got seated at the exact same spot (or it looked like it) where she was seated, I think. But it was not on purpose. I only realized it after the trip, upon watching again the scene on Youtube.

On our very first day, we headed out for some shopping around SoHo. Luckily for us, a lot of our favorite brands were on sale. At one point while crossing the street, there was this double-decker, open-top tourist bus with people dancing and screaming and waving at everybody. New York feels a lot more festive and lively in the summer. I have also never seen so many pretty women in very pretty clothes. And so many, many interesting places, and shops and restaurants to visit.

Our hotel, called Sixty LES, is situated close to all the trendy hipster bars and restaurants. The hotel itself has two restaurants, which seemed quite nice, but we never really visited. We only went to the bar once, which has a lovely terasse with a nice view of the city. Speaking of the view of the city, we took a room with a very nice panoramic view of the Manhattan skyline — we could see the Empire State Building, Chrysler Building and One World Observatory, which was still being built, I think, during the first time we were in New York.

A visit to New York is not complete without a visit to one of its famous museums. Last time we were there, we visited The Guggenheim and the Museum of Natural History. This time around, hubby and I went to the MOMA. I’m not really so much into modern and contemporary art. But I am quite fond of the earlier ones like Picasso, Seurat, Dali, et al. I do not really care so much about Rothko (which hubby loves) and Pollock (which I absolutely detest). And I most especially abhor those weird (verging on the absurd) installations whose artistic values are always very subjective.

I was so happy and so lucky to have come to the MOMA on one of its less busy days and least busy times, the exact details of which, I will not share here to preserve this quiet time that I could hopefully be able to return to someday. For this, I seek your forgiveness and kind understanding to bestow upon a lover-of-the-quiet-and-peaceful introvert like myself.

One of the things that I was so happy about to be back in New York was the fact that Miss Saigon is back again on Broadway. I missed seeing it a decade or so ago back when they were showing it in Manila with Lea Salonga in the cast! But this time, I didn’t let this opportunity pass. You can read the full experience here, if you wish to know more about it.

The last time I was in New York, it was bleak and cold and snowy. This time around, it was all bright and sunny and smiley and even more photogenic! One of the very few regrets I have in life is not having lived in this vivacious city while I was still single. Sadly, it’s not really a very practical place for married people with kids. But still, it’s one of the places I’d always look forward to seeing again and again in my life.

I ♥ NYC. 🙂

Thanks for reading and have a good weekend!