New York

I am clearly not really back in the swing of the blogging thing, because I am not being very diligent about taking many pictures. The city is magical as always (though way too hot this week) and I've had such fun getting bubble tea from a Korean place down the street from the apartment in Chelsea where I'm staying with friends, revisiting the Highline and Chelsea market, seeing Cabaret on Broadway, checking out Fort Tryon park and The Cloisters, and taking the Staten Island ferry for a good view of this lovely lady:

Also, it was my first time stepping foot on Staten Island, and the view back to Manhattan was really nice.

I also visited Washington Heights for the first time and had a fantastic Dominican lunch of mofongo (thanks for the rec, L & D!).

One of the most eye-popping activities of the week was visiting the fabric store Mood in the garment district. What you see here is maybe 1/100th of what this store has in stock. I can't imagine there's anything else like it anywhere. And though I am not allowed to amass any more stuff to try to fit into my suitcase on this trip, happily my friend B was in the market for some material to have a few work shirts and dresses made during an upcoming trip to Cambodia, so I even got to do some vicarious actual shopping.

With a first-time trip to Staten Island under my belt, I decided to also make a first trip to the other borough I'd never been to: The Bronx:

My main destination there was the "real" Little Italy of NYC: Arthur Ave. I was a little shocked to get there and discover there was a huge Italian festival in full swing, complete with entire wheels of parmiggiano for sale on the street.

The festival going on also meant that there was more gelato and Italian ice for sale street side than you could throw a stick at. I highly recommend the cappuccino chip ice.