Somehow it seemed appropriate that our visit to the city that never sleeps began at 3 am Tuesday. The bedside alarms rang and six hours later, viola our plane landed at Laguardia. So begins our three-day New York City Travelogue. We stayed at the NYC Hilton in Midtown Manhattan, and as it turns out it was a very good location, just a short walk to most of the major sites on our itinerary, including Tuesday night at 30 Rock, the night of Dale’s office Christmas party held annually at 30 Rockerfeller Center. We checked into our rooms and had a little breakfast, ready for our adventure to began.
Kate’s Paperie on West 57th (one of five locations) was located a mere three blocks from our hotel, so we decided to begin there. Kate’s carries Character Constructions and will soon also be offering my line of papers. There is such a mystique about Kate’s that I was really excited to finally visit. You may recall that Victoria magazine did a feature on them years back, that pretty much says it all. The West 57th store is large, brimming with all things paper and all things rare and beautiful, including unique greeting card lines such as my favorite (green) card company Driscoll Designs.
Next stop, Tinsel Trading. If you are reading this, most likely you are a mixed media or paper artist and work with stamps, papers and embellishments. If so, this is the go to place for icing the cake (or should I say gilding the lily?), for trims and ribbons, that final layer of embellishment. There is an extensive wall of exquisite ribbons and a substantial wall of millinery flowers and assorted vintage passamenterie, and drawers and drawers of antique buttons, and some Victorian paper items too. This is the sort of establishment where you can spend a lot of time exploring and dreaming. But, a couple hours was all I could spare on this day, so we stepped out onto the curb, hailed a cab, and were whisked off to Greenwich Village.
At long last, I had the pleasure of meeting Anna Chiang proprietor and the creative impetus that is The Ink Pad, New York City’s only stamp shop, and what a stamp shop it is! The store is small, but filled to the absolute brim with any stamp your heart could possibly desire, along with all the necessities (inks, papers, punches, etc.). Classes and demos are offered and, with her 20-year stamping background, Anna has the expertise to help you complete any project. No trip to NYC would be complete with a stop here! Okay, believe it or not, that is it for the shopping!
I could not possibly visit NYC without a visit with my friend and paper doll artist extraordinaire, Elisa Giammarino, who just opened a delightful little coffee shop in SoHo, Petal Belle (158 Sullivan Street between Prince & W. Houston). Dale and I stopped in for a much needed café latte and something sweet to eat. This quaint little coffee bar would be right at home in Piazza San Marco in Venice. It is located in an older building that was restored with an eye to preserving its antiquity, from the beautiful mosaic marble floor, to the exposed brick walls, and cast iron café tables, and of course little paper dolls adorn the pastry cases and displays. Che bella! Thank you so much for your hospitality Elisa.
One of the things I love about NYC is its cultural diversity. I grew up in S. Florida, Little Havana specifically, and my father and grandparents, first generation Italians, spoke Italian in our home. While in NY, I heard many languages spoken, but the rhythmic sounds of Italian were rolling most particularly off many tongues. It was music to my ears.
After a stop at Petal Belle, it was siesta time, about an hour and a half respite was all that our schedule would allow, then we dressed for the Christmas party! My husband’s employer holds a Christmas party each year at Rockerfeller Center for their NY employees and clients. There were 500+ in attendance and everyone seemed to be in a celebratory mood, and why not the food was excellent and the energy under 30 Rock was festive (and did I mention and open bar serving champagne, wine and cocktails). At around 9ish the ice rink was closed to the public and young and old slipped into ice skates and glided onto the ice, enjoying the luxury of having the Rockerfeller rink all to themselves! It was magical. The rink is below ground level, as was the party. Directly above our heads, a spectacular lighted tree and thousands of people basking in the glow of the season. Lights adorn every building and the shop windows are dressed to the nines. NYC trimmed out for the Christmas season is a magnificent sight to behold!
The following morning we slept in, treated ourselves to room service and then dressed for another day in NYC. We had three perfect weather days, it was cold but not bitterly so, a little rain and a bit of wind. We stepped out the door of our hotel to find an umbrella merchant selling thoughtfully small umbrellas. If you’ve ever traversed the busy streets of NYC with an umbrella, you will understand why I say “thoughtfully small.” Being a lover of parasols, the umbrella added to my sense of merriment. Umbrellas in hand, we were off to visit Bergdorf Goodman’s window displays. This year’s Christmas windows brought forth through the creative vision of Marc Gagnon, artist and illustrator. I had already done a little online googling beforehand so I knew that if I visited no other store windows, I would not miss Bergdorf’s.
It was nearly impossible to get a few clear shots of them, there were so many people stopping to enjoy them. The concept, a winter white natural history museum, replete with faux taxidermy, an elegant bird woman, bejeweled and attired in feathered haute couture, along with a Marie Antoinette-inspired scene and lush cakes, and far too many details to recount. What a wonderful way to discover a visionary artist who I can say without hesitation energized me as much or more than our subsequent visit to MOMA. That night we dined at Il Gattopardo’s ristorante Italiano. Il GattoPardo is a quaint little restaurant, so definitely make reservations as they are very popular with every table reserved this Wednesday evening. The service was friendly and we were very well looked after, prices were moderately expensive. The food was excellent and I found one of my favorite Sicilian red wines on the menu, Nero D'avola. Afterward, a short walk to Broadway to the Gershwin Theatre to see Wicked, and it was wicked good!
Thursday, our final day in NYC, was a bit colder, a bit windier, and a bit rainier, but that said we began our day outdoors with another pass by Bergdorf’s windows before a visit to MOMA and later caught our flight back to Atlanta. It was a spellbinding visit, and we can well understand why so many fall in love with NYC! Thank you New Yorkers for your gracious hospitality.
