Day 3 - A day in the Garden State

Completely wiped out by an overdose of crazy the previous day, we decided to spend the beginning of our day shopping in Jersey City. Sure Manhattan is eclectic and filled with enough thrift stores, luxury boutiques and department stores to make any girl's heart soar, but New Jersey has one pretty big advantage… NO TAX. You know usually when you pick up a top or something and it costs 15 GBP, that's what you pay at the counter. Not in New York darling. The price tag may say $15 but then a 8.871% tax is added to the total when you buy it. Strange indeed. Fortunately New Jersey hasn't adopted this odd tradition so I stuffed my bag with my wallet, my cards and set off to Marshalls for some serious retail therapy.

My jaw dropped at the unbelievably cheap prices. A Calvin Klein dress for $50, Ralph Lauren shoes for $25, Michael Kors pumps for $50… What?! How?! We were like women possessed. We got so carried away with our shopping, it wasn't until 4pm when we realised we needed to eat something before we passed out. In spite of hunger, dehydration, exhaustion and terrible weather, we were in high spirits and managed to drag ourselves and our shopping to the Popeye's nearby. My Aunt Mona and Marsha have praised about Popeye's chicken to me before and having had to endure KFC meals every Sunday because my Dad and my dog will it, I was definitely capable of making a comparison between 'good' and 'bad' deep-fried, nutrient-stripped, junk food chicken. And the result? Popeye's is pretty damn good and tastes a lot less unhealthy that its counterpart KFC. It was so good we stuffed ourselves in about 10 minutes flat.

After having scoffed down enough chicken to make any meat-eater want to be a vegetarian, we braved through the rain back home and had a long-deserved power nap before making it back to the Big Apple to drop Marsha off at her bus stop. Thank goodness our exposure to the rain was minimal because Tito Ago, my Aunt Mona's dear friend, offered to drive us into the city. We then made a quick stop at New York's 'Shake Shack' on 86th and Lexington, supposedly where the best burgers in New York are made. And oh my they were right. Even thinking of the taste now makes me salivate like one of Pavlov's dogs. Sadly after my first culinary experiences in NYC, Marsha and I had to part our ways. It left me feeling quite sad but I hope we get to hang around again in New York and perhaps try some of their mouth-watering steaks.