tour guiding no.1

though i am not a native new yorker, and in fact lived there only one year before departing to the midwest before making my triumphal return this past summer, somehow i get saddled playing the role of tour guide every time i meet up with someone in the city. i shouldn't say saddled, i like showing people my favorite spots, but as i am not from new york, nor do i know new york very very well, coupled with the fact that i am not a great navigator (and often remember places as being "around the corner from that one place"), i am not a natural choice for tour guide. but it is a role i have found myself playing a few times in the past few months, and one i will play again and again as time goes by and i get to know my city better.

so i am starting a series of posts, tour guiding posts, about the different areas i know and love in nyc. first in the series is union square/the village (i admit it, i went to nyu. but it wasn't like that! i was the poor one!), the area i once knew best and still like to walk around in.

if you want to shop: first we will go to the strand for 18 miles of books. i love books, i love bookstores, and i think the strand is just a sight to see. plus last time i was tour guiding i couldn't remember how to get to the china town ice cream factory, and the strand has a whole section of new york tour books. perfect. then i will take you to my favorite paper store, kate's paperie. i live for birthdays, just so i can come to this store to pick out something unique and gorgeous and special. i'm a total nerd when it comes to cool paper products (i did grow up the child of designers) so i can spend hours in this store. but i wont make you stay that long with me. i'm big on wandering so we'll probably bum around the village, wandering into new places. i still want to find that poster store i used to love and now can't remember the location of. for unique boutiques (is that too cutesy?) we'll walk down bleecker street. i don't have any favorites yet (i'm too broke), but we were headed down bleecker anyway. because . . .

if you want a sweet treat: i will take you to magnolia bakery. i am not a sweets person for the most part (ok, i'll eat ice cream any day, but that's kind of it), and i am really not a cupcake person, but even i will walk a million blocks out of my way for these buttercream dreams. i take everyone here and they always love it. it's my goal to make everyone i know fat, one delicious, ridiculous cupcake at a time.

if you want some culture or history: you're out of luck. ha ha, just kidding! we'll start with union square, which was named for being the intersection, or union, of broadway and fourth. it opened in 1839 and was originally modeled on london squares, but unfortunately that was demolished in 1929 in order to build the subway, so the park we see today is totally different. like most manhattan parks, union square had to be reclaimed from drug dealers and deterioration, and now hosts a farmers market and playgrounds. i like to walk down 5th ave to washington square park, for the best view of the washington arch, modeled on l'arc de triomphe in paris. it was named for president washington and was a place for military celebrations, and is now where nyu celebrates its commencement. the park is a great place for people watching and performances, although it is also home to a lot of persistent pigeons, and there is very little on wings that i hate more than pigeons. there are a lot of sights to see, a lot of famous houses and squares and triangles and circles, so it might take us awhile.

so who wants to come visit me? i'll do more neighborhoods in the future.