London to New York: January 2015

The One With Central Park In The Snow

16:42

The One With The Met

16:24

The Path through the Irises, Claude Monet

On a cold, snowy winters day where else do you go but The Met? The Metropolitan Museum of Art, located on Museum Mile/5th Av, is my favorite New York museum. Whilst many know it for its Gossip Girl steps, the artwork that the Met holds inside is much more impressive, making it easy to believe that it is the most visited museum in New York.

One of the greatest things about being a student in New York is that most museums or art galleries offer free entry. However, even if you're not a student the Met is a great cheap place to go to because the admissions fee is only a recommended prices. This means that whilst they 'recommend' you donate $20, you can actually put as little as you want in, be it $5 or $1. Whilst you do feel a bit guilty not supporting such a wonderful establishment by only paying a dollar, the mass amounts of people who visit the Met quickly reassures you.

Occupying over 2,000,000 square foot, the Met is a museum that cannot be easily done in one trip. When I go I normally pick a few galleries that I want to see and spend some quality time in them, rather than rushing around trying to fit them all in. If you're really not sure what you want to see then just pick one of the color coded sections on their map and go there.

This time, we started off in the Islamic Art section, taking in the sweeping tapestries, cobalt blue mosaics and folio Qurans. We then made our way through multiple galleries in our effort to find my favorite section; European Paintings, 1250-1800. Gallery 815 holds Degas pastel paintings and sculptures, invoking the wannabe ballerina in me. I've always loved Degas and whenever I go to an art museum, whether it be in London, Paris or New York I always search out his artwork.

What I love about The Met is not just the artwork it contains but the building itself. Sometimes I find myself standing in awe at the interior of the galleries rather than the artwork itself. Even better is the roof. Whilst it wasn't open this time of year, I managed to go up there on my previous visits, one in the middle of summer and one in the midst of autumn ('fall'). The view is arguably one of the best in Manhattan, and whilst the idea is to go to the roof to view the latest commission (this year's was Dan Graham with Günther Vogt), most people, myself very much included, just go to take a good panorama shot of the New York skyline. In the summer you can grab a drink from the bar and enjoy the scenery.

Soho: The One With A Cake Shop

22:30

Soho, standing for South of Houston (Street) is perhaps my favourite neighbourhood in NYC. Located downtown, and surrounded by Little Italy and Chinatown, Soho offers a different, and yet quintessentially, New York experience. Every other wall is covered in graffiti that rivals Banksy, the streets are filled with a mixture of hipsters and models (and increasingly more tourists) and the shops that line the thin brownbrick backroads all offer a unique purchase.

With the sun behind the clouds and the cold wind making any outdoor activity virtually impossible, the only thing to do in New York this time of year is eat. So, on my first day back in the city after going home for winter break, a friend and I decided to make the somewhat lengthy trip (35 mins by subway) to Soho for brunch. In order to pursue our New Year’s resolutions to explore the city more, we decided to eat at Jack’s Wife Freda, an infamous restaurant to New Yorkers and the more cultured tourist [see my review here].

Unfortunately we weren’t the only ones with brunch on our minds on the chilly Martin Luther King day (a public holiday in the States), and there was queue, or should I say ‘line’, of an hour and a half. Whilst the weather was off-putting, my friend and I decided that it was worth the wait and to kill time began walking around the local area.

Unlike some of the tourist traps of the city, Soho offers a cute café or a vintage shop on every corner. We took a very organic walk around the neighbourhood, with no destination in mind, and taking it in turns to chose a direction. As both art enthusiasts, but neither good artists, we were in awe of the plethora of artwork that lined the streets. With our cameras in hand, and instagram on the ready, we may have got a bit snap happy, but it’s so hard not to!

To avoid getting hypothermia, we would venture into whatever shop caught our eye. Whilst they give of the exterior of vintage thrift shop, and cheap earthy purchases, most are in fact quite upmarket, and quite expensive. The stores themselves offered an aesthetically pleasing experience, and we both took the air of woman who were actually interested in buying the products in order to stay in the heat for that little while longer.

Outside the Little Cupcake Bakeshop

Every street that we passed seem to hold a blogger famous spot (as my friend constantly pointed out what blogger had been where) and it’s not hard to see why. My favourite backdrop was near the Little Cupcake Bakeshop, where I pretended to be an artsy blogger and conducted a little photoshoot in front of. There were so many tempting cafes and restaurants that would have succeeded in enticing us in if we hadn’t already booked in somewhere for brunch. I think Soho is one of those few areas where you can go with no plan in mind and just wander till you find something, and it will very easily be something great.

Soho vs Soho

Soho, NYC Soho, London

One thing I’d like to address about Soho is its comparison to it's London counterpart. I have to say out of all the boroughs of New York that share their name with London, Soho is probably the most similar to the current London Soho. Aside from Soho (London’s) longheld status as the red light district, they are both similar in their proximity to the centre of the city, the cutesy places that align their streets and the hip and young population that occupy the area.