Day 32: Shop, Shoplifting & Scones at The Plaza

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Yesterday morning I was updating my blog in Starbucks over breakfast before what was supposed to be a day at the Metropolitan of Art Museum near Central Park. That was until I was walking back from Starbucks & saw a sign in Gap for 50% of everything for one day only. Now, tomorrow was supposed to be my day for shopping but hey I couldn't walk past!

Now most people know I HATE clothes shopping with a passion. I never buy clothes unless absolutely necessary and probably the last big shop I did was back in New York a few years ago! Once I clarified with the sales assistant that it was definately 50% of everything, no strings attached, that was it, I was a on a role for the next 2 hours!! 2 pairs of jeans, 1 pair of trousers & & 7 tops (3 of which were the same but in different colours!) later I came out with a very big bag! All for a £110!! Bargain or what? By this time it was after 12 noon so the day changed from cultural museums to SHOPPING!! It's Labour Weekend here in the US so many stores will be having sales which is great for us!

My next stop was Lord & Taylor which is a department store on 5th Avenue which I fell upon during my last visit to NYC. When you think of NYC stores most people have heard of Macys, Bloomingdales or Saks but L&T is a lovely but expensive store. It's one of those when you buy something they wrap it in tissue paper, boxes & you come away with a lovely bag!! What I fell upon last time was the jewelrey which is a much cheaper version of Tiffanys! By luck again the one's I wanted were again 50% off!! While going through all the stands I met a lady who was deliberating which earrings to buy. I told her to buy both of them as it was a bargain & she might as well treat herself as she deserved it! This turned about to be a useful conversation as I bumped into her at the till & she was a Lord & Taylor card holder so gave me a 20% off voucher which was ANOTHER 20% on top of the 50% off!! Oh well if I was going to get 70% off I might as well fill my boots!! So after an hour's shopping came away with 2 rings & 4 pairs of ear rings - 70% off!!!

I was so chuffed & was leaving the store swinging my L&T bag! That was until the alarm security bells went off & I was called back by 2 burly security guards! Now in the UK they would normally just look in your bag & receipt and let you go, not in L&T they don't. They unwrapped all my boxes, cross checked the barcodes of each product with the receipt & then checked my GAP bags. I was mortified & must have been there for 5-6 minutes feeling quite nervous!! Most people in L&T are dressed in designer / expensive clothes & here's me in combats, scruffy t-shirts & trainers so probably looked like a shop lifter. Anyway I managed to get out of there so decided to head down 5th Avenue and as it was near on mid afternoon to go to The Plaza for afternoon tea.

The Plaza is the hotel used in Home Alone 3 and after seeing it, always wanted to stay there. The last time I was here, the hotel was shut for renovation so was gutted. The company was going to shut the hotel & convert it to expensive condos / flats. The employees union fought with the hotel company that The Plaza was a historic site & should remain a hotel so took it to the major of NYC. Luckily they won and part of the building still remains a hotel (only 299 rooms) while the rest are private residences. To stay here is a fortune - probably around £300 - £400 A NIGHT so I certainly I can't afford to stay here!! So the next best thing was going to be afternoon tea!

Compared to afternoon tea in Betty's this is most expensive afternoon tea I've had but have to keep reminding myself it's cheaper than staying here! I'll upload some photo's later on but it all looked very pretty but everything was very small!! Imagine a piece of bread the size of a 50p piece with a tiny bit of topping on! That was a sandwich NY style! Now considering I hadn't eaten since breakfast & decided I was going to have a glass of champagne I was starting to get a bit tipsy!

Coming from Middlesbrough, one thing I'm not is POSH and I'm not used to faffing around with lots of different knives, tea pots, cake stands etc!!! By the end of the tea, the table looked a right mess!!! I poured the teapot too fast so dribbled all over the table cloth. The jam for the scones was so runny & I used the wrong knife that this also dribbled all over the cloth. What a messy pup I am! I had to pile my plates over the mess so it didn't look too bad! It was lovely though & at the cost of £53 after tip I made it last a hour. I was actually quite horrified with the cost that I decided to take a Plaza tea spoon & the waiter's pen as a momentum! (You can never have enough tea spoons!)

By now it's gone 5.30pm so decide I'll walk back to the hotel (around 1 hour's walk) but stop off at the Rockefeller Centre & go to Top of the Rock where you are supposed to get great views of NYC. NYC is a bit like Vegas, it looks much better a night time so if I make it a slow walk I should hopefully see sunset over NYC and see the lights come on the Empire State Building.

The Rockefeller is one of land marks which doesn't get as much focus as the Empire State building but I would say is much MUCH better. Everyone goes to the top of Empire State building but if you go to Top of the Rock you actually get look back at the Empire State Building & you get to see the whole of central park. Obviously everyone wants to go for sunset so was very busy but the views at the top were amazing & would recommend this to people.

Overall it was a busy day yesterday! I got back to the hotel around 9.30pm after a lot of walking so headed straight to bed. Maybe tomorrow will be a museum day & give the purse a bit of a rest!!!

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