After a few days in DC with friends, I traveled up for a few more days in New York City. My six years of living there seemed like an eternity at the time, but now I’ve officially been in Germany a couple years longer than I ever was in New York — kind of a strange thought. Even so, NYC is still one of my very favorite places to be. Even just driving into the city felt like home to me. Every time I go back, it’s this bittersweet noticing of how much is exactly as it’s always been and how much is constantly changing.  Yeah, life. 

In any case, I didn’t have too much planned for my days there — I just wanted to visit some of my favorite haunts, hang out with good friends, go running, and get some shopping done (of course). I stayed with a friend on the Upper (upper) West Side (thanks, Sara!), which put me just steps away from an old favorite, Absolute Bagels — everything bagels toasted with butter, for life — and offered up two favorite running routes: Riverside Park and Central Park.

One afternoon I wandered through Park Slope, where I lived for four years — walking past my old apartment building, buying coffee beans at Gorilla Coffee, and picking up some goodies at the Chocolate Room. Ah, the nostalgia! Fittingly enough, I was on my way to have dinner with my good friend and old Park Slope roommate and her family, who now live not so far from our old place. 

Before meeting some friends in the Village for lunch one day (at Quantum Leap, of course), I had some extra time and coincidentally passed by NYU’s Deutsches Haus — which is where my learning of the German language all began! Wow, how life has changed since those days, right? On my way back uptown, I walked along Christopher Street and remembered that just days before, Obama had declared the Stonewall Inn a national monument — just a couple of weeks after the Orlando shooting. 

Another afternoon I spent at the Cooper Hewitt’s Design Triennial Exhibit: Beauty. I didn’t remember until I was in the building that I’ve  visited the museum before — the former Carnegie mansion definitely makes an impression! The exhibit features over 250 design objects organized into seven themes of beauty: extravagant, intricate, ethereal, transgressive, emergent, elemental, and transformative. It was all gorgeous and fascinating! I highly recommend making a visit — but hurry, because it’s only open until August 21st.

If you go back and read my post about my last trip to NYC in 2012, you’ll probably notice some similarities — especially where food is concerned! I didn’t go to Blue Ribbon Sushi this time around, but made up for it with lots of good Mexican food. All in all, it was a wonderful and relaxed visit and I’m already looking forward to next time!

New York City: yay or nay? What’s your favorite bagel combination?