Serendipity and Sephora

I have beginning to enjoy New York more, now that it isn't 95 degrees and the middle of summer.  I'm beginning to feel my way around the city...slowly but surely, and as I get to know it, I am more inclined to venture out of the fine borough of Queens on my days off.  Paige and I have had the same days off lately, which makes it more fun to wander around and have someone to lunch with.  

Saturday was one of those days.  My friend Olga (from North Carolina) was coming into town, with her mother (who was visiting from the Ukraine), but we weren't meeting up until 5:30.  So after I got back from Toronto at 9am (on my day off...that's another story in itself), Paige and I ventured into the city for a little Serendipity and Sephora.  Tenee and I have been telling Paige about Serendipity for awhile now, and how quintessential it is....not to mention forcing her to watch the movie to make that "connection."  Mom and I went to Serendipity on our visit to New York City in 2008, and it was such a special treat! Just across the street from Bloomingdale's, you can't miss the ever-growing line out of the door!  

And I've looked at the new Marc Jacobs eyeshadow palette now 3 times trying to justify spending $60 on 6 eyeshadow colors.  I figured if I had looked at it 3 times, pulled it out of a magazine to remind myself, and tried it on every time I passed a Sephora....maybe I should probably just buy it.  So-that's just what I did.  And I LOVE it.  

Tiffany lamps inside Serendipity.

The MORE than giant menu.

Chocolate Blackout Cake-we split it and we still couldn't finish it. 

The "young" chicken sandwich. Roasted chicken sautéed with almonds and butter on a raisin bread served with house made russian dressing?  Why, hello delicious.  

I left Paige at the Sephora counter while she was getting her skin "matched" for some new foundation.  It was already 4:45 and I was meeting Olga and her mother near the entrance to the 9/11 memorial site at 5:30.  Thinking it would be a quick ride down, I hopped down into the metro at Lexington and 53rd planning to take the E train straight to the World Trade Center.  Well, it had other plans for me as the E was down for the weekend (per usual) so I had to take the 6 train to Canal, then switch to the R train to Cortlandt Street.  Turns out, for the rest of the year, the R isn't stopping between Canal and Court Street.  Well ......*choice words*......perfect. Already 5:25 I hop out of the metro onto Canal Street -HUGE mistake on a Saturday and am immediately bombarded with asians wanting me to buy Louis Vuitton, Chanel, and Coach bags...ahhhhhh I hate that street on ANY other day, much less a Saturday!!! If you can't afford to have the real thing-don't buy it!  You are not fooling anyone.  I had no choice but to take a cab if I wanted to make it on time.  I had until 5:50 to get there, so I spent 10 minutes trying to get an empty cab on crazy Canal Street, saw some people getting out of one...ran over and told the guy to step on it.  10 minutes and $10 later....I made it just in time.  I was what New Yorkers called:  fashionably late.  

We passed through security at the memorial, walked down a long winding path and entered into a quiet garden in the middle of Manhattan.  When I was here in 2008, I remember my mom and I peeking through construction fences down near Wall Street and peering into a giant hole in the ground.  They were still clearing out wreckage, and now.....it seems like none of that ever happened.  

In the distance you can hear water falling and the occasional sway of the Oak trees lining the pathway.  Visitors are hushed, remembering the tragic events of the day.  Nearly 3,000 names line the edges of the waterfall, each representing a person or a family lost that fateful day.  The 30 foot falls circulates water into what was the foundation of the twin towers, into what is seemingly a rather small space, considering the height of the buildings.  Did you know that the World Trade Center complex had its own zip code?  10048.  

The new World Trade Center will be the tallest building in the United States at a stout 1,776 feet tall.  It reminds me of The Shard in London...and doesn't seem very original, but-the mirrored sides reflect off the skyline and at certain times of the day, you can see the reflecting pools bouncing off the building.    

The "survivor tree" is this Callery pear tree that was planted in the 1970s  in the World Trade Center plaza.  The tree was reduced to an 8 foot tall stump in the wreckage at Ground Zero.  It was taken to another New York City park and nursed back to health and grew to be 30 feet tall and was returned to the WTC site in 2010.  

After our visit to the memorial site, we took a walk down Wall Street and hopped on the Subway to Times Square which was a bit overwhelming for her mom.  Small town Ukraine doesn't even compare to busy, bustling, loud, bright Times Square.  People were swarming the area, taking photos from every corner.  Since I have quit taking pictures in Times Square, I just see how many people's photos I can photo bomb.  It's quite fun actually.  I did ask some really sweet French girls if they would snap a photo of the three of us.....asking me if I was French and after telling them that I was american receiving the all so welcome comment, "You speak French very well."  Why, "merci...merci beaucoup."