Out and About In New York. At Home in Sydney.

We’ve been making the most of the great indoors at SSG Manor this weekend.

Bed socks are serving double duty as running around the house socks.

And the kitchen’s been the place to hang.

Breakfast at home…

There was a bit of a crisis at our local Italian cafe on Saturday. With a burst water main affecting our suburb, the espresso machine was out of action. Fortunately, order was restored later in the morning and the cafe was pumping out espresso shots for its adoring fans but for us earlybirds, it was a walk home for a mug of Moccona to go with our morning pastry.

and breakfast in New York. Featuring a matching combo of a blueberry scone and yoghurt.

Not the smoothest segue into another session of sharing my NYC photos but it’ll do.

Time was running away from us on our second last day in New York. Which meant a power walk through and cursory glance at ‘the sights’ of the Manhattan beyond our Midtown base. So I’m afraid I don’t have much to share beyond my photos and thoughts. But they’re rather pretty pictures for a grey Sunday in Sydney.

The thing about visiting New York from the position of being an honorary Sydneysider is that you’re already spoilt rotten with regards to the cuisines and cultures of the world. Not only do we have our own Little Italy and Chinatown (and Koreatown and Little Lebanon, the list is endless…), we also have satellite cities of these dotted all over our sprawling, dynamic and diverse city.

So, I’m a bit embarrassed to say that Little Italy was a place that I was happy to have merely walked through rather than lingered. To have seen the colour and charm of its neat blocks accented in red and green and its nod to its roots through ‘typically’ Italian store fronts and displays.

As I walked, I searched desperately for what Little Italy meant to me (a Chinese Australian who loves food, coffee, chocolate and people watching). The lyrical chatter of the community’s elders as they went about their daily business, the bustle of visitors ‘borrowing’ cafes and eateries from the locals and the sense of family that envelops the communities of Sydney.

Perhaps I was a little too hangry and touristed out for my own good by the time I visited Little Italy because I found it lacked the human charm I had hoped to find.

From what I’ve read, Little Italy is getting smaller as neighbouring Chinatown spreads and sprawls beyond its dragon and lantern festooned boundaries.

There are bursts of the colours we Chinese love – reds, golds and yellows.

As well as the businesses we seem to create in Chinatowns world wide – stores crammed with nick nacks

and bakeries offering comforting wedges of sponge cake held together with mock cream.

My friend and I cooled our heels at this Chinese bakery and stocked up on our favourite baked goods.

We then hit the avenue again, Fifth to be exact and caught the Flatiron building under the blueish glow of the Manhattan setting sun.

The ground floor currently showcases an art installation.

The thing about sightseeing evening walks is that once you start, you can’t seem to stop.

Despite having been on our feet all day, we crossed over to Union Square. It was a hive of hip youthfulness and with a dress code that seemed to be relatively more relaxed than Midtown, you couldn’t help but feel recharged by association. Even if the hiking shoes and backpack that look all laid back chic on your fellow pedestrian look decidedly more ‘suburban mom let loose on her own in the big city’ on you….

It’s only as I look back on these more random photos from my trip that I realise just much of Manhattan I didn’t have time to fully absorb and experience.

With time rapidly getting the better of us, we suddenly realised that we hadn’t eaten properly for 8 hours. Those Chinese sponge cakes? They don’t even count when you’re burning kilojoules walking everywhere.

Being in university territory, it didn’t take long to find a healthy well priced place to eat.

Fresh & Co serve a wide array of ready to go meals as well as these power bowls that are cooked in front of you and feature everyone’s favourite superfood of last year – quinoa. Those spindrift soft drinks are also delicious – managing to be full of fruity flavour without being sugary.