Flower District & West 25th Street

Flower District occupies a small block of West 28th St between 7th Ave and Avenue of Americas. The area might be small, but once you’re there you feel like you’ve entered a colorful, lush garden – palm trees and exotic plants together with  roses, tulips and lillies are lined up along the pavement; and there are even more beautiful plants to be admired once you walk into any of the floral stores.  Whenever I’m in the area, I love walking through the Flower District, it’s just so lovely and relaxing (and it smells nice too!) :

Palm trees in the concrete jungle 🙂

Walking just three streets down from the Flower District, towards 23rd Street will take you to West 25th Street – which is one of my favourite, random NYC finds. As you can probably tell from my previous posts, I love antique and vintage stores – and W 25th street is full of them! In fact, this is where the Antiques Garage – a big vintage street market, takes place every weekend (I was told the place will be relocated as of next month but I don’t know where to). One of my favourite shops is Flea Market on 120 West 25th Street – it’s really is fun for browsing – I like the mix of old books, crystal decanters, 1960s hats and vintage jewellery, but don’t expect actual antiques  😉

This is what I bought there today..a cute pocket watch necklece from the 50s/60s…it was only $19! This is how it looks from the back:

Another nice shop is This’n’That Jewelry and Collectables, right next to Flea Market  on 124 West 25th. Walking around the store feels a bit like entering your grandmas closet..most of the vintage items are on the back – try not to be freaked out by some of them, like this mink scarf, with little furry legs dangling off it!

Recipe for a Perfect Saturday

Any plans for Saturday? No? Well, how about this – mix shopping for vintage treasures with a pinch of all-food bonanza, add a spoonful of sunshine and the smell of fresh-cut grass; stir with the Manhattan skyline and the Central Park lake – serve with a smile 🙂

Ingredients:                                                                                                    1. Artists & Fleas Market, Williamsburgh (or any other flea market for this matter – there’s plenty to choose from in NYC!):

Artists & Fleas  is just a few block away from the the Hudson River bank, Williamsburg/Smorgasburg Market and East River State Park. They sell so many beautiful things that  you just don’t know where to start!

Check out the glitter shoes!!

Earrings with real moss! Apparently,  moss will grow if you water it and you can even trim it to give it a nice shape! I lost the vendors’ business card but I will look for it again and put a link to their site.

2. Smorgasburg Food Market (can be substitued for Hell’s Kitchen Market) – located between N6th and N7th Street, the market is full of delicious food:

$2 cupcake..a bit of a rip off considering the size!

The best thing about the market is that it’s right next to the river bank where you can sit on the grass, relax and enjoy your food as you’re admiring the Manhattan Skyline…which brings us to:

3. East River State Park – when I got there last Saturday, the perfectly blue sky and the clear-blue water contrasting against the vibrant green  grass  perfectly encapsulated what summer is about – and with the Manhattan skyscrapers towering over the river, it almsot felt like I was looking at a painting:

What a better way to finish  a lovely, sunny day than taking a stroll in Central Park and renting a boat to row around the lake? 🙂 This has always been on my “things to do in NYC” list and I can’t believe it took me nearly 3 months to finally do  it!

4. Central Park Lake – renting a boat was so much fun! The only downside was that the lake is packed on weekends so rowing around was more of a rush-hour traffic type of experience than a peaceful day at a lake…but I still loved it! 

Hope you all have a great Saturday!