Manhattan Photo Diary | Part Two

{ View part one of my Manhattan photo diary here }

Once our wallets were significantly lighter from visiting Bendel's, we bundled back up and made our way towards Rockefeller Center. It was incredibly crowded in this area, but we did manage to see the big Christmas tree and lots of people ice skating. Next, we passed by Radio City and plenty more Christmas displays. My favourite was definitely the gigantic Christmas lights! On nearly every street corner there was a vendor selling huge pretzels and chestnuts! I really wish I had grabbed some chestnuts to warm me up!

We walked through Times Square, which was amazing! My head was turning from side to side just trying to take in all the bright lights and billboards. It was a little overwhelming! After stopping in a few stores (M&M world was my personal favourite) we decided it was time to stop for dinner. We planned to eat at the Shake Shack but unfortunately there were no available tables. We backtracked a bit and decided to try Guy's American Kitchen + Bar, owned by Guy Fieri from Diners, Drive-Ins and Drives. I was really impressed with my food, I ordered the crispy shrimp po'boy sandwich that came alongside french fries. Pulled pork sliders, bacon and chicken mac and cheese and salad with roasted chicken were also ordered. Everything looked incredibly delicious and the portions were all perfect.

Once dinner was done and dusted, we walked over to the Bryant Park Christmas market and looked around for a bit before stopping for coffee and dessert at a small bakery. Unfortunately, after we finished dinner my camera ran out of battery so I wasn't able to photograph the remainder of our night. After a long day of walking, shopping and eating we headed back to our hotel for an early night.

The next morning was incredible snowy and cold. We got into a cab and drove to the Upper East Side. The one place I most wanted to visit while we were in New York was Ladurée. It was such a beautiful little shop and smelled deliciously of almonds. We spent a considerable amount of time in here, looking at all the beautiful items for sale and of course drooling over the selection of macarons. I've had quite a few macarons but none were quite as tasty as the ones I bought from Ladurée. 

Next on the agenda was a trip to Bloomingdales. My mother wanted to buy some Christmas ornaments to replace her favourite Santa ornament from New York that broke a few years ago. We bought quite a few and they're now hanging on our tree. Bloomingdales was full of eager shoppers, so it was quite hard to move around. We made our way to a less crowded area and found the drum that Ringo Starr used during the Beatles' Shea Stadium show. I was also happy to find that there was a Magnolia bakery inside Bloomingdales, I grabbed a caramel latte and watched as the girls behind the counter iced their cupcakes. We sat and enjoyed our coffees for a while and braved the cold once more to run across the street to Dylan's Candy Bar.

Much like F.A.O Schwarz and M&M World, Dylan's Candy Bar was packed full of people and plenty of screaming children. We looked around for a while at all the candies and chocolates and I displayed very impressive self control and didn't buy myself anything. We left the store and popped into a few more shops to waste away some time before we headed to the Pierre for afternoon tea.

The Pierre Hotel was so beautiful it was such a treat to walk through the hallways and admire all the pretty Christmas decorations. We sat down and picked our teas from the menu. I chose Strawberry-Kiwi which was very delicious and perfect to warm me up after walking outside in the snow. We were next served a three-tiered serving tray of small sandwiches (my favourites were the smoked salmon on rye, caviar and buckwheat blinis and Boursin cheese and asparagus crostini), cranberry scones with devonshire cream, lemon curd and raspberry preserves and a selection of pastries including macarons, fruit tarts and madeleines. Everything tasted great and I felt satisfied after eating. It was such a nice experience and it all felt very luxurious.

We ended the evening with a blizzardy walk back to the hotel and a late dinner at the hotels diner. We had to leave for the airport at nine the next morning so we had another early night. I absolutely loved the city and I hope to go back one day soon. I had such an amazing time and was a bit sad to return back home so soon.