New York

New York New York. So good they named it... after Yorkshire.

I, like most other sane people in the world, have always dreamed of going to New York. And after almost 20 years of waiting, last week I was lucky enough to go. And it didn't disappoint. 

I was a living tourist cliché, hiking around the streets of the best city on earth with my camera in hand, and buying all the I love NY merchandise they had to offer. But as well as the obligatory trip to the Statue of Liberty, photos from the top of the Empire State Building and trying to cheer at the right times during a basketball game, I did manage to get out and see more of New York than what lies on 5th Avenue. 

Actual real life unfiltered picture from my morning run round New York.
Which is probably the coolest thing I ever thought I'd say.
(Don't worry, I had two muffins after)

After seeing the Highline in 'What Maisie Knew' (which is a really good film, if you haven't seen it!) and reading about it in Garage magazine, I knew that was somewhere I definitely wanted to go, and the abandoned rail tracks, decorated with graffiti art led me down to the Chelsea neighbourhood. Chelsea Market was amazing, and I returned to the hotel that day with the completely necessary purchases of a bag featuring Michelle Obama on a swing, and the best gelato I have ever eaten. Ever. Seriously just thinking about that gelato is making me a bit emotional right now. 

Another place that I loved was SoHo, filled with great shops and cafés, it made me wish I had as much money as all the arty celebrities that call this borough their regular haunt. 
Instead, I stared longingly into the Burberry store and the infamous Jack's Wife Freda café and dragged myself back to reality, and to the tat shops filled with New York merchandise where I belong.

I mean, I feel like I'm bragging now, but another amazing thing was my trip to the Museum of Modern Art. I didn't want to leave the installation of the infamous zine shop Newsstand which has been taken from its original location in the Lorimer-Metropolitan subway station in Williamsburg and recreated for your viewing pleasure within the museum. It was an exact recreation of the shop from the time that it closed down, even down to the 2014 calendar hanging inside, and allowed visitors to interact with all aspects of the installation exactly as they would have been able to do in its original form. This is probably why I loved it so much, it was basically a shopping experience. Magazine shopping at that, which is probably one of my favourite hobbies of all time. (My refusal to leave this particular piece may also have had something to do with the not unattractive males manning the store.)

The Newsstand store

I could talk for days about how completely amazing my time in New York was but I've already bored my flatmates, family, pets and the strangers I pass on the street with that already. New York doesn't just live up to its expectations set from its countless appearances in television and film, it surpasses them. It's so easy to see why one place has generated such amazing art, music and fashion throughout history. Plus they have really nice food there. New York, I love you. Please, let me come back.