New York is one of my favorite cities. It is such an amazing city for lots of reasons. I love that you can find literally anything you could ever want there. I love getting to experience different cultures. The public transportation is phenomenal. The energy of the city is palpable. There are so many fantastic restaurants. One of the things I love the most, though, are the unexpected sights of New York that you find simply by walking down the street.

Last week, I was in NYC for my first Fashion Week. It was cool because I was able to see a lot of the city during my five day trip. I’ve been to New York at least a dozen times. Some of my besties from high school and college have lived there over the years, so I always had excuses to go visit.

The thing about New York though, it doesn’t matter how many times you’ve visited, there’s always something new to see and do. It’s one of those places that you could live for many years and still find new things. There’s always a new restaurant, a new gallery opening, and new boutique.

From reading the headline, you probably assumed I’d share a list of the places you must go. Well, that list is so dependent on your personality, what you like to do, whether you’ve been to New York before, etc. Instead, I wanted to talk about the experience of being in the city. My recent trip reminded me of all the little nuggets of inspiration that I can find, while enjoying the sights in New York, simply by looking a little closer.

I’ve visited a lot of big cities (London, Paris, Rome, Dublin). When I travel, I definitely have a check-list of the things I must see while I’m there. I totally get it. You want to make the most of your trip and experience as much as possible. But here’s the thing, when we get too wrapped up in our lists, we miss the realness of the city. We miss the beauty in the city and we miss all the unexpected things you can find when you’re not rushing to your next destination.

So in order to truly see the unexpected sights of New York, you need to stop yourself. When we travel, we all need to slow down, look around, take in the energy, the people, the culture. When I walked from show to event to show, I took the time to gaze into store windows, stop and enjoy the beautiful street art I saw, and look up and appreciate the fantastic architecture around the city. Although the NYFW shows I saw were great, the real art, beauty, (and even fashion) I found while walking around.

New York really is unlike anywhere else. If you haven’t been, you need to add it to your bucket list immediately. I had such a great trip but I’m even more excited that I get to go back again in April for work. I can’t wait to see what the city has in store for me next time.

P.S. if you’re in midtown, you MUST go to this pizza restaurant. It seriously brought me back to Italy – it tasted so authentic.

Want more NY stories? This one is all about the best NY cupcakes. Here’s one about the most amazing sample sale. This one is about one of my favorite restaurants and how we recreated their pizza recipe.