Coffee and Museums

Coffee and Museums

“There’s an inherent energy in New York City that it’s famous for. It makes you want to get up and do a million things all day and stay up all night.” -?

Oh the sadness. Oh the despair. My final day in NYC was bittersweet. On one hand, I couldn’t wait to get home and have a good nights sleep- uninterrupted by the sounds of traffic- but on the other hand, I couldn’t bear to part with the city that I fell in love with. I was surfing the web and I came across a quote: “New York has romanced me unlike anything else.” -Blake Lively. I whole-heartedly agree with her. Like it says in the quote at the top, NYC just makes me feel a specific way, with it’s artisan coffee shops and lively atmosphere, it truly is the city that never sleeps and I love the atmosphere that is created.

But enough about my feelings on New York. I woke up early on my last day in NYC. My first thought was coffee, and lots of it. Staying in the city has its perks- you don’t really need to deal with traffic and public transportation, you can just walk everywhere! However, the major downside is that you don’t really ever get a moment of peace. In the 2 nights that I stayed in the Upper East Side, I was constantly being woken up by the sounds of traffic outside my window. The honking of cars and trucks at 3 in the morning make it so I didn’t really sleep well. I can see why New Yorkers are constantly drinking coffee, and why there are so many coffee shops on each block.

I used the New York Times app on New York City to find a coffee shop that morning and it was slim pickings. I think there were only 2 or 3 shops that were close to my location. I thought long and hard and in the end, I opted for the one that was closest to me- Birch Coffee. Let me just say, finding the place was not easy. It’s kind of stuck between two larger building and I walked past the place like three times before I found it. (It was not my proudest moment and also kind of embarrassing.) For those of you interested, the location I visited was at 62nd and Lexington. Birch Coffee was such a cute little shop, very hipster (do people still use those words??). In the time it took for me to get a coffee, I saw a whole crowd of people pass through. There were joggers and bikers and business people dressed up in their suits. It made me realize just how fast pace New York really is. The hustle and bustle of NYC is just another reason why so many people (including me) love it so much. Anyways, back to the coffee. I got an iced coffee and I feel like I could really taste the freshness of the beans. There was just something different about this coffee when compared to nation wide chains like Starbucks or Tim Hortons. Another reason to love NYC, the coffee shops serving amazing, delicious coffee.

So, after coffee and a croissant, I went for a stroll in Central Park on my way to The Met. The location I visited was located at 82nd and 5th. I can honestly say that just walking up to the building gave me feels. Knowing that I was going to be in a room with beautiful paintings was just…indescribable. I generally have a feeling of wanderlust- a strong, innate desire to travel- but once I got to NYC, I didn’t really have that feeling anymore. I felt a sense of…home? It was so strange, but I digress. Wow I am getting off topic here.

Onwards to the Met. The cool thing about this museum is that you get to choose how much you want to pay for admission. Pro tip, if you book online, I believe it’s a set price, but if you go in person, you get to choose. The lines aren’t usually that long- well it was short the day I went- so it’s pretty bearable.

For me, walking up the steps to the Met was just surreal. This was a moment  that I had been dreaming about for years. The columns outside seemed so regal and intimidating and I just couldn’t wait to see the beautiful artwork inside.

I think I’m going to end this post here. If you guys would like to see posts on the artwork inside, I can do a post on each piece (well the pieces that I saw, I didn’t really have much time). It’s been a while, 4 months to be exact, since my last post. I had writers block, I couldn’t bring myself to write a post, partly because I’m not in NYC anymore and writing about it makes me wish I was back.

Enough of my ramblings, I wish you all safe travels and I’ll talk to you soon.