Upper West Side, NYC

The Upper West Side was our ‘hood’ for the 9 or so days that we were in New York City. When researching for where to stay, the main recommendations were to stay AWAY from Times Square area especially during holiday season because you’d get trapped in crowds. I’m glad we stuck to this because the UWS was a lot less chaotic and made us felt like we lived there (also helped that our hotel, The Nylo felt so homely!). The other reason we chose to stay in this area was, we would be reasonably close to Central Park and hoped that we would go for morning strolls a few times.. which didn’t really happen.

We arrived in UWS after sun down so we couldn’t see much of what its like until the next day.

First arrived at 72nd St station (after Penn. Station from Boston). One of our 2 local subway stops.

Magnolia Bakery

One of the top to-try’s on my list was Magnolia Bakery, that serves classic American baked treats. We found there was a branch pretty close to us on 200 Columbus Ave at 69th St. Walking in, I immediately loved how warm it felt inside and smelled of sweet things.

Their counters weren’t filled with cupcakes, I was almost disappointed that we didn’t spot any red velvet cupcakes (why we were there!) at first then we spotted a lady piping fresh ones to go. We only got one to share – I don’t know why we didn’t try more of the other flavours!

Felt like a child seeing what you can buy with 50c!

Something about the streets of New York <3

Real Christmas trees available for purchase on every few corners

A few of Daniel Boulud’s chain of restaurants were all under the same roof.

Time Warner Centre is one of the shopping centres in the area – you can find Sephora, H&M, bebe, Michael Kors and a few other international brands here. However our main reason for going here was…. brunch at WHOLE FOODS! We were pretty stoked to find one in the area because we missed the experience back in San Francisco!

Whole Foods, Time Warner Centre

Clam chowder and mixed salads

Finally trying the red velvet cupcake!

The frosting looks light and fluffy but unfortunately had a sugary texture and was a little too sweet for my liking. I like my frosting smooth and creamy. As for the base it was still nice and moist but somehow it made me feel like it was made out of pre made cake mix 🙁 I’m glad that I still love Little Cupcakes more… because at least they are closer to home!.. in Melbourne anyways. But anyway, maybe there were other flavours that we should’ve tried that they are also known for – next time perhaps?!