Friday 12th January 2017
Day four was another day of a lot of walking! The first stop on our agenda was the MET Museum. We didn’t quite realise before we set off just how far the walk was; it took just over 50 minutes in the end, down Fifth Avenue and past Central Park. This walk wouldn’t have been too bad; in fact it would have been really quite pretty, if it wasn’t for all of the rain and wind being thrown at us.
On the way, we passed the Plaza Hotel so we took a small detour to the other side of the walkway to have a closer look. The building is stunning and the architecture has so much history to it. We wanted to have a look inside to see just how fancy it is, however we weren’t sure whether this would be allowed so we took some photos from the outside and continued our walk.
We had initially wanted to get some photos of the three of us on the steps in front of the famous museum, however because it was raining, we just took a quick selfie before heading straight inside. Like the MoMA Museum, we knew that we didn’t have time to look round much of the massive building. This meant we selected one exhibition that we were all the most interested in. One of the girls that I shared a room with had studied the artist at GCSE so we decided on this one. The exhibition was on the second floor and was larger than I expected; I will be posting a whole other blog post on this if you are interested in some of my favourite pieces in the viewing space. Walking through the building was beautiful, the architecture is just stunning. We even walked past The Thinker by Auguste Rodin.
When we left the building it was unfortunately still raining so we decided to head to Starbucks for lunch and then spent the rest of the day shopping. I popped into Uniqlo to have a look as I had never been in before. I was amazed by the innovative displays and visual merchandising; the whole thing was almost futuristic. I then went to meet the others in Zara, a couple of stores down Fifth Avenue. I was very surprised by how many sale rails and stands there were; I would say that over 75% of the whole massive multi-floor store contained reduced items. The sales were so much better than ones in the UK. I tried on two dresses, a shirt and a t-shirt, but none of them fitted quite right. The others tried on pieces too; however they wanted to save their money for the next two shops.
Next was Victoria’s Secret. The store is massive, spread over four floors, with Pink on the bottom level. We spent over an hour in there, all trying on different items. I was drawn to an offer of a pair of gym leggings and a sports bra for $40. I spent a while matching different pieces together, selecting the colour of leggings I liked best and picking the styles of sports bra that I liked best.
We then went to try on our baskets of clothing. The lady in the changing room was super helpful and asked us to press a button so she could come and double check our sizing was correct. Once I had on the leggings and bra, I called her to look. I had the right size of sports bra; it was just the straps that were too tight which was making it feel awkward. I didn’t end up buying anything as I felt that the leggings were too long for my petite legs; there was a lot of buildup of material at my ankles.
We also had a little look on the top floor where the Balmain x Victoria’s Secret collaboration exhibition was held. The runway garments were displayed and we were able to go right up got them. The wings were the most impressive piece in my opinion! One of my friends purchased five bras and five matching pairs of pants and the other one bought a similar sport set to that I tried on, as well as a lacy bra. As a result of the large purchases, we had to run back to the hotel for them to pick up some more money. This was the first time that we headed back to the hotel before we stayed there for the evening so it felt a little weird.
The last shop of the day was Sephora. Again, we almost spent an hour in here! My friends had a long list of items that they wanted to pick up and so spent a lot of time deciding which to get and swatching all different things until they selected their desired ones. Whilst they were doing this, I had a chance to swatch and test some of the products for myself. I have been after a subtle highlighter for a while now but have struggled to find a natural looking one with little amounts of shimmer. I was recommended Shimmering Skin Perfector Poured Crème Highlighter by Becca by my friends. I was excited when I found the colour I was after, Champagne Pop, however they were out of stock. This is because the item was on sale and so was popular. I will keep a look out for it in the UK and get a full-priced one at some point.
After an expensive day for my friends, they each spent over $100 on makeup, we headed to Hu Kitchen for food. This was quite a walk away down to the bottom of Fifth Avenue, however it was very worth the trek, the food was delicious! I have done a whole post of the restaurant if you want to hear more about it.
Rachel
rachelfoxweb.wordpress.com 