10 favorite things to do / new york

i have been lucky enough to visit new york three time in the past year and a half. while i'm no expert on the city, i have found some great things to do and see. my friend aubrey is visiting the city for the first time next week and asked me to make her a list, so here it is!

1. the one thing that i have done and loved every time i go to new york is make a trip to grimaldi's (go to the one underneath the brooklyn bridge). they literally have the best pizza ever. they use fresh mozzarella and have the best roasted red peppers ever. we usually order the antipasti plate and one pizza and have more than enough for the two of us. oh, and it's cash only- they have an atm, but it's generally better to just bring it. supposedly the lines can get really long, so we have always tried to get there super early (they open at noon) and have always gotten right in. near here is an awesome view of the city, just walk down the street to the docks and you can get some great pictures. 

2. after we eat at grimaldi's we walk across the brooklyn bridge. on clear days you can see the statue of liberty (which is the closest we have been to it). the bridge is amazing and you can get one of the typical pictures of all of the steel wires that hold the bridge up. 

3. walk (or eat) through soho. i have decided next time i go to new york i want to stay in soho. there are so many shops and food places, you will leave penniless and fat. and oh so happy. last time i went i was introduced to rice and riches, which is a rice pudding shop. now i have never eaten rice pudding in my life, because it sounds absolutely disgusting, but this rice pudding is to die for. it has actually been on my mind a lot lately, and i have been contemplating spending a lot of money to have it shipped to my house. 

4. walk through the high line park. it is an old railroad turned in to a park. it is literally raised off the streets, so you can get really interesting views of the city. there is great architecture to be seen and some interesting sculptures along the way. last time i went it rained the whole time, but was still totally worth it.

5. towards the end of the highline is chelsea market. i know half of the things i have told you to do have to do with food, but you really won't regret this one. there are tons of little food shops and cute little boutiques (and anthro:). our favorite thing to get is the crepes. they are kind of hidden, but find them and eat one. our favorite is the brescaola- italian meats, arugula, goat cheese, lemon dressing... need i say more?

6. the museum of modern art. this may be the greatest museum i have ever been to. it makes me so happy to see so many amazing artists in one place. the work that is probably the most famous is starry night, but take time to look at all of the art. you can also see jackson pollock, marc rothko, kandinsky, matisse's dance, picasso's les demoiselles d'avignon. these are the artists that make up modern art books/classes. 

7. see a show in times square. it's totally worth it. even if you choose something totally random that you wouldn't normally choose- last time i saw macbeth and it was amazing! if you haven't bought tickets beforehand, you can download the tkts app and see which shows will be available that day. at 3 o'clock they open the windows for the evening shows. there can be really long lines, so be prepared to wait.

 8. walk through central park. parks in the middles of cities make me so happy. i love that although new york is crammed and crowded, they still have space for a massive park. next time i go i'm hoping to see the bethesda terrace, for one embarrassing reason. 

9.  the met. you just have to go. my favorite spaces were the 18th and 19th century rooms where there are tons of impressionist works. they have had the greatest exhibits the last times i have been too, so be sure to check out what is currently being shown. 

10. eataly. it is a large italian market that is divided the way that stores are divided in italy. there is a gelateria, pizzera, pesceria, etc. my favorite is to order cheese and meats at the bar tables, it feel so italian. the gelato is legit too. also, close to this is a shake shack, another new york must. 

my last bit of advice pretty much goes for any new city that you vist: walk as much as you can. you will see so much more and get such a better feel for the city. your legs will hurt, your feet will be tired, your ankles may swell, but keep walking! 

i know that these things are pretty common/typical, but for your first time in new york i think that you have to do all of them. i pretty much want to do each of these things every time i go, but i try to branch out as much as i can. 

travel video / new york girls trip

this may i went to new york with my mother-in-law and sister-in-law. we had the best time! we pretty much walked the entire island of manhattan every day, or so it felt. luckily it hadn't gotten too hot yet so we weren't dying. we went to some awesome exhibits at the met (which will be covered in another post), ate amazing food non-stop, and saw some awesome shows.

macbeth was probably my favorite, alan cumming did a solo act. as in he played every single character on stage. as in he acted for 2 hours straight and had all of the shakespeare lines memorized. the play was set in a mental hospital and shows macbeth as a madman. it was absolutely brilliant. we also went to a comedy show that was a bit racy, but ended up being hilarious. 

anyways... for this trip i decided i wanted to try my hand at videography. getting used to video-ing with my dslr is taking time, especially trying to figure out how to change the focus as i video. i was inspired by designlovefest's paris video, which is probably the cutest thing i have ever seen. hopefully some day i will get to that level. 

this video shows just how much fun our trip was, i'm so glad that i got invited! and it's true, a little party never killed nobody! (oh! we got to go to the gatsby opening night while were there, that was really something else!) 

Uploaded by Brittany Carpenter on 2013-08-10.

a perfect day in... / london pt. 1

my cousin is going to paris for a semester on a study abroad, and i couldn't be more jealous. she asked me what she should do in london if she were to spend a weekend there. this is a hard task, but i'm going to try it. i'm going to split london up in to 3 days, a friday, saturday and sunday (the specific day is important because of the markets which are only open on certain days). mind you, my favorite things are not typical first-time-in-london suggestions, they are what i found to be my favorite things while i lived there. (also, i did not take any of these pictures, click on them to see where they came from)

on a friday...

i will first take you to my very favorite museum in london. the art historian in me could send you to galleries all day long, but i won't. because i know you might get sick of it after a while just as jarman does (he is great for the first hour a day of museums, but then it hits the fan). the courtauld gallery is a small museum located on the banks of the thames. it is an enchanting place that has amazing impressionist and post-impressionist works. i am a major fan of small museums because they are so do-able. the museum opens at 10, so leave your hotel at 9, get some breakfast, and make your way over (i'm not an early morning person, so i won't force anything crazy on you. if you would like to get up early, this would be a good time to do the london eye, make sure you get reservations). be sure to see the bar at the folies bergere, it is the main attraction of the museum and arguably the most important work of art, ever. 

from the courtauld, talk a walk along the thames and cross the london bridge (preferably singing fergie, you just have to). from the london bridge check out the more glamorous tower bridge, and see the tower of london (which is not worth your time nor money, unless you sneak a seat in queen elizabeth 1's chair, which the guards will yell at you for).  

from the london bridge head to heaven, namely, the borough market. you guys, you don't even know how happy you can be until to go there. it is an outdoor food market that has the most delicious food in the whole world. i recommend the chorizo+rocket sandwich, the ostrich burger, and the caprese+fruit salad, but take your time walking around and finding what's best for you. please eat as much as you can. once you have your food head to the church nearby, southwark cathedral and eat it on the grass, hopefully the bells will be playing. 

at this point, you should probably do some touristy stuff. which is the greatest touristy stuff ever, so you'll survive the hoards of people who are doing these things with you. take the tube to the westminster abbey stop (you can walk if you're brave). head to the houses of parliament, get a good pic of big ben, visit westminster abbey, etc. these are all great things that you really do have to see

from here, head down whitehall st. towards trafalgar square. if you need a break, there is a great little bookstore on one of the corners- london bookstores are the greatest. take in trafalgar square and then head in to the national gallery. the national gallery is massive and overwhelming. it took me probably 7 days to get through the whole thing, and i forced myself to do it. some of the highlights are: jan van eyck's the arnolfini portrait, van gogh's sunflowers, and hans holbein's the ambassadors (be sure to look from the right hand side). luckily for you, the gallery is open until 9 pm on friday nights. you can spend as long or as little as you'd like there.

you have a few options for your friday night. plan ahead if you want to see a show because getting tickets the day of may be a bit risky. it's usually worth a try though. if you have an international student card you can get last minute tickets for super cheap, just go to the box office about an hour early to see if there are any left. piccadilly circus is always fun to walk around at night, but it always seemed to me that the shops closed too early. you could also visit kings cross and get a picture at platform 9 3/4, i know some of you are harry potter nerds and this is a good time to get that out of the way. the one thing you must do is find a nandos and eat there. you just have to.

from this list you should have a fairly full day, but i think i have given you enough time to enjoy everything rather than rushing from event to event. make sure you take lots of pictures! enjoy your first day in london! part two will be posted next week!