day four - ahhh the cobblestone streets of little italy…

today has been pretty manic. we woke to blaring sirens and billows of smoke coming from uptown and upon turning on the news, found out the two buildings had exploded on park avenue and that all train lines heading north were suspended until further notice. the scary thing for new yorkers is that the first thing that comes to mind is a terrorism attack and that was exactly the first thing off the tip of most peoples tongues this morning. we now know that there was a major gas leak and there were some fatalities.

our day today consisted of meandering the old worldly streets of soho and little italy before heading into china town for a peak around and in search of some dumplings. little italy really is everything you would imagine and more. tables and chairs line the streets and sleek italians greet you as you walk by, ciao bella are you ready for lunch. its idyllic and i hope that one september we may be in town to attend the san gennaro feast - where restaurants take to the streets in a three day festival with authentic italian foods, wine and entertainment all the while, soaking up the last of the summer sun. divine.

china town was pretty similar to any other china town you may find around the globe. stores, restaurants and markets all flow from one another with various herbal medicine stores and some fake bag stores thrown into the mix, make for a crazy and smell-ified experience. smells come from every direction, good, putrid and interesting. unfortunately we were unable to find any dumplings so headed on back to soho to nosh on some pizza and beer for lunch.

although our feet were screaming at us to stop, we headed uptown to see times square before the weather takes a turn for the worst in the coming days. it was just as hectic was one would imagine with people, billboards and cars thickly lining every street. tonight we are heading to a comedy club. greenwich village is famous for its comedy clubs as well as jazz and blues clubs, so thats on the agenda for tomorrow night.

we are thoroughly enjoying exploring the restaurants around soho and the west village, as well as the shopping spots that pop up when you are on your way from one place to another. this morning we stubbled upon a great little store called oatmeals. a restaurant where all food on the menu (apart from the coffee) is based around oats, and its amazing. i had a four fruit oatmeal bowl with almond milk and organic honey and kurt treated himself of a mama-bear bowl of banana, peanut butter and honey oats with full fat milk. delicious.