We put on some miles trotting around the island of Manhattan the other day. We had a agenda and did divert from it upon occasion-due to weather and/or time.  We were focusing this trip on being vintage, thrifty and we had one artistic goal to see the Holiday windows and visit Lady GaGa’s Workshop at Barney’s.  Bottom line was, we only had 10.5 hours.

Beginning in Times Square, we traveled south, by subway, to the Chelsea Market.  Breakfast at The  Chelsea Market is summed up in coffee and bakery goods.  We indulged in the latter, twice.  Yum.  This old building is a destination onto itself and for future reference, remember the grocery store inside, quite inclusive.  There was also a nice vintage pop-up shop inside, a collection of vintage clothing booths which fit right into our theme.  Due to the strong winds,  we decided to table our High Line visit until the next trip to NYC and headed towards 17th Street.

In search of the Angel Street Thrift Shop, we did indeed find it and it too was quite a fun find. Then, we walked around Union Square, stopped to split a Bento box at a local Japanese restaurant on 17th Street and then headed to Shareen Vintage.  Last Spring, we got hooked on Shareen’s Planet Green Dresscue Me show, which lead to this and this.  What we didn’t expect, as we were buzzed into Shareen’s shop on 17th Street was to actually ‘see’ Shareen!  It was great, just like in the Dresscue Me show.

We were invited to pick out some dresses, so Shareen could get a sense of what Xernay was looking for.  From there, dresses slipped on and off, as Shareen worked with several customers at one time. During our chatting, we learned Shareen is a Smith alumi and said she really enjoyed her time in Northampton, MA.

Xernay ended up not getting a dress. Not for lack of dresses, Shareen has a wonderful, every-changing selection of stock [at really, really reasonable prices]. No, the colors were a bit too ‘wintery’ for the spring prom dress Xernay was searching for.  I’m sure we will be back and we’ll be sure to check Shareen’s Facebook to be sure, when we next go to NYC, it’s a time Shareen is at the store.

We then headed down towards the West Village. First stop, Jo Malone’s newest shop. It was in a charming little neighborhood and a nice little rest stop as we had walked from 17th Street south.  Then, we found Joe’s Pizza, which was your typical NYC pizza joint, quite tasty and a handy electrical outlet allowed me to recharge my mobile.  Evening  was starting to set in and we walked east through Greenwich Village and up to the subway.  A quick zip north and we departed into a whole other NYC-Uptown.

Then, it was a couple blocks walk over to Barney’s. We had gotten a block off track and popped into a wine shop to double check directions.  We got our answer from the cashier and were able to glance at the bottles of wine.  The lowest priced bottle I noticed was $350 and one of the highest priced was $3,500.  Wild.

And wild was one way to describe the 5th Floor of Barney’s and Lady GaGa’s Workshop.  Obviously, a lot of work and planning had gone into this.

However, I have to say I was slightly disappointed in Lady GaGa’s Workshop.  Not in the design of the display’s, but in the prices of the merchandise…I fear Barney’s will have a bit of ‘bargain bin goodies’ from GaGa.  It was fun, none-the-less to wander a bit in Barney’s.

Then, we were off again, south on 5th Avenue, pushing our way to the throngs of holiday walkers.  A taxi was out of the question as I knew we could get back to Times Square and the Port Authority Bus Terminal faster on foot.  We were moving pretty quickly and did make a last stop into Chipotle’s for some dinner to eat on the bus.

We got to the terminal and as we had left the terminal, in the morning, via subway-we didn’t know where our gate was.  The information booth was closed and we didn’t have time to go clear to the other side of the terminal to find guidance.  Then, from nowhere a non-uniformed man appeared and asked if we needed help. I was immediately skeptical yet did tell him where we were headed.  He said, “go down 2 floors and look for gate 82 or 83 to Hartford.” We thanked him and headed downstairs.  Sure enough, there was the gate for Hartford.  We caught our breath and as it turned out, the bus was late, so all our rushing was for not.

This was the first time we tried the PeterPan Bus line departing from Hartford, CT to NYC and I have to say the accommodations were nice: comfy seats and Wifi [slow, but workable].  However, the  scheduling was a horror. I purposely booked ‘express bus’ tickets online, for a decent price-when compared to the North Metro or Amtrak…but there is no control over the highway traffic and late buses are no fun. Our return bus was not the express I paid for and we stopped a 3 or 4 cities before getting into Hartford near midnight.

I think next time, we’ll stick to our drive to New Haven and train into Grand Central OR try the Amtrak from Hartford into NYC.  In any case, plans are afoot for the next trip to NYC.  We have yet to visit Candle Cafe, Bemelman’s Bar located in The Carlyle Hotel, we’d like to also do some looking and shopping at the Bowery Restaurant Supply Company, and we would also like to get over to Queens to Arzu Uygur Cafe. Getting to all those places might require a weekend in NYC.

P.S. I always look for something that inspires me and ‘speaks’ to me, when I visit NYC [and anywhere I’m exploring]  and usually it is color, clothing, events, food or something like that.  This time it really was the kind people we met all day. From bus drivers, to wait staff, special ladies in the shops, the woman who gave us subway directions, to the man at the Port Authority Bus Terminal.  I was so moved, I actually wrote to Mayor Bloomberg to let him know of our experience.  I thought it nice to share some good news. I know the mayor’s system received my email, as this was the confirmation that popped into my email inbox.

And, I did get a reply from Mayor Bloomberg’s Office.