October is the true beginning of autumn, or “fall” as they say here, in New York City. It’s been a bit of a crazy month for me, mostly to do with trying to arrange my visa interview for a working visa, so I can start my new job. It’s stressed me out a lot, and has been hugely expensive – I have to fly back to Australia, to Perth, at the start of November for my interview. If all goes well, I’ll start work the day after I fly to New York from Australia. One silver lining is that I’ve never been to Perth before, and I’ll have a chance to see my friends in Melbourne while I wait for my passport to be returned to me.

I will breathe the biggest sigh of relief if/when I get approved at immigration and have entered the country on my new visa. It’s been an unexpected turn of events, but it’s also really exciting.

Weather-wise, October is a great time to visit New York. The mornings and evenings are cool, but the afternoons are mostly warm. The leaves in Central Park have slowly started to turn, but I think “peak foliage” will be at the start of November. On October 3, we woke up to the cosy smell of the radiator, which automatically switches on when the temperature drops below 12 degrees (celsius). I’m always amazed at the transportive power of smell, how it can bring back memories – it took me back to when David first moved into this apartment in late April, when we had lots of spring showers and spent cosy evenings inside.

I’ve been hearing about Starbucks’ pumpkin spiced lattes for months, so on a rainy day this month we went and tried one. One word: gross. I had a hot PSL, like a latte with the additional flavours, and David had a pumpkin spice frappucino, which was even worse than mine. His was undrinkable, full of that chemical sweetener flavour – I also watched them pump eight pumps of what I assume was simple syrup into his. Ewwwww.

Am I doing it wrong? Are pumpkin spice lattes elsewhere better? I’ve noticed that Pret does them, and they’re generally pretty dependable for real-tasting fast food, but I don’t know whether I’d give the PSL another crack.

Since I moved from Melbourne to New York in April 2019, I’ve started writing a series of monthly blog posts, NYC Life, to capture the the big and little moments that have shaped this move. It’s easy in hindsight to forgot the everyday joys, struggles and frustrations of life in a new city, so I wanted a place to for it all to live on the blog. I round up the most fun things I did, saw and ate near the end. For more specific New York City tips, check out my New York City Travel Guide.

Highlights

Autumn foliage in Central Park

I really need to get to Central Park more often. We took a walk through the park one weekend in late October, and the weather was glorious – warm in the sunshine but not hot, and the autumn foliage was really starting to peak. It has been very rainy this October, so we lucked out with the weather. If you believe everything you see on Instagram, you’d think New York has been at peak foliage for weeks, but the rusty red and golden leaves in many influencer and travel photographers’ photos on Instagram have been edited to the extreme – which has made seeing real foliage in the flesh a waiting game!

Family visit!

My family came to visit, from the end of October to early November. I have been so excited for their trip and it was so much fun to show them around New York. More on this trip in my November post!

Apple picking in the hudson valley

This feels like so long ago now, but at the start of the month we went apple picking in upstate New York, in the Hudson Valley. We took a train from Grand Central to Peekskill, and then took an uber to the farm. I’ll share a post about the apple picking soon, overall it was so much fun and I’ve made two apple pies and one apple crumble with my haul. I thought it would be corny and lame, but it was actually so nice just wandering around a pretty orchard, and the apples taste great straight from the tree.

Baking weather!

Now that it’s finally cool enough to turn on the oven, I’ve been doing lots of baking this month. I’ve made two apple pies and an apple crumble, using our haul from the Hudson Valley, as well as brownies, olive & tomato tarts and choc chip cookies.

A guided tour of The Met

The Met offers more than a dozen guided tours, which are free (with the price of your admission to the museum). I took a guided tour this month, of the European paintings section. I learned lots that I never would have picked up from looking at the paintings alone, and I’m keen to go back and explore some other sections with one of their knowledgeable guides.

Lowlights

Major visa anxiety. I haven’t slept well in weeks and I can actually see dark circles under my eyes each morning. The process has taken several weeks longer than it should have, due to a few unexpected delays out of my control. This has been really frustrating, not to mention expensive. Ultimately, I won’t know whether the US accepts my visa until I re-enter the country at LA airport. The thought of flying across the world and then getting rejected makes me sick to my stomach! I have done everything correctly for my application and the whole process, but for some reason I can’t shake the nerves – until I’ve been given the green light at immigration, I don’t think I’ll be able to relax.

New posts

I’ve been on a blogging spree this month, mostly because it keeps my mind off my visa frustrations and worries. I’m going to try and post twice a week moving forward.

• Highlights from 3 Days in Paros
• Chicago: First Impressions of the Midwest
• Highlights from 3 Days in Sifnos
• A Day Trip to the Hudson Valley: Beacon & Cold Spring
• Melbourne Travel Guide
• Itinerary: 5 Days in NYC (First time visitors)
• Highlights from 5 Days in Milos
• NYC Life: September

Restaurants & Bars

My new job is still in the hospitality industry, so I’ve been making a real effort to continue getting to know New York’s hospitality scene this month. Looking for NYC bar suggestions? Check out my recent post The Best Bars in New York City.

Highlights have been Best Bar in America 2019 winner Katana Kitten in West Village, return visits to The Terrace & Outdoor Garden which is both style and substance, New York’s only Michelin-starred vegetarian restaurant, Nix, which was fantastic, the seriously impressive cocktails at 701West and the spectacular view, cocktails & snacks I had at Manhatta. I also loved the veggie-heavy small plates and gorgeous fit out at newly-opened Il Fiorista in Flatiron, more veggie-led small plates at ABC Cocina, by Jean Georges-Vongrichten, and the cocktails at The Clocktower at the New York Edition Hotel, on Madison Square Park. I also had a lot of fun with David and our friend Lachlan one night at Don’t Tell Mama, a raucous piano bar in Hell’s Kitchen where every waiter has the voice of a Broadway star.

Very high on my list for the next few months are Dante, Ruffian, Wildair, Bar Goto, Apotheke, Pasquale Jones and Uncle Boons.

Reading

I’ve done a lot of reading this month, and have finished my 30th book this year (and a few more since). This year, I’ve kept a numbered list in my phone of books I’ve read, to help my keep track and encourage me to read more than I used to. I think at one point I set a target of 30 books, but since then decided to not worry about a target but just keep an eye on the number. The other day, I decided the number wasn’t important and opened Evernote to turn the numbered list into a bullet list, and realised I was on my 29th book – and being nearly finished two books, I realised I was about to hit my old milestone.

Long story short – I love keeping a list of what I’ve read in the year, and make a note of anything I particularly love, but I won’t be counting moving forward. I think the list has helped me re-prioritise reading in my life, but now it’s been re-established as such a strong habit that I don’t think I need to worry about not reading enough anymore. If I was just going for numbers I could blast through a 250 page book in a few hours, but the quantity doesn’t account for the quality of books, or the time spent reading. This year I’ve read the whoppers Middlemarch (around 800 pages) and War & Peace (around 1300 pages), which is about as much as 10 books between them!

• War & Peace – Leo Tolstoy – While I’m not working, I wanted to make a real effort to get around to reading books that have been sitting on my “To Read” list for ever. War & Peace was one of them, and I was mostly curious as to how this epic book has remained such a classic. The book is split into four volumes, and most of the time I was torn between not wanting to put it down, but also not wanting it to end. There are quite a few chapters in the second half dedicated to military strategy, history and battle descriptions, which I did want to quickly end, but most of the book is dedicated to the endlessly-readable characters from the Bolkonsky, Rostov and Bezukhov families.
• The Corrections – Jonathan Franzen – Another longstanding title on my “To Read” list, I thought I’d give this one a crack because everyone’s always banging on about Jonathan Franzen and this book in particular. It was weird – I was quite gripped while reading it, or at least the first 2/3 of the book, but found myself increasingly disgusted by the characters and repulsed by their miserable, selfish and cold lives. On the last page, I realised I kind of hated it. Franzen is obviously a very gifted writer, with a talent for creating very real characters and worlds, but as entertainment, I did not enjoy this book.
• The Colossus of Maroussi – Henry Miller – This is the first book I’ve read by Henry Miller, one of America’s most controversial novelists in the early 20th century. Unlike a few of this other books, The Colossus of Maroussi was never banned, and is regarded as some of his best non-fiction. It’s a travelogue and memoir of Miller’s time in Greece in the late 1930s, as he travelled around with various friends and acquaintances. He paints a vivid picture of Greece, and I loved reading it on the beaches in Greece, and being transported back there as I finished the book at home.
• The Secrets We Kept – Lara Prescott – AKA the straw that broke the camel’s back, and I unfollowed Reese Witherspoon’s book club. I was starting to lose a bit of faith in the titles that were being picked, but this was the decider. The book follows secretaries in the 1950s CIA, some of whom double as agents, as they try and smuggle Dr Zhivago (a book, not a person) out of Russia and into the hands of Russian nationals, with the aim of changing hearts and minds through literature. I am now interested in reading Dr Zhivago and watching the film, but this particular book really fell flat despite the spectacularly fascinating history it’s based on. I feel like this book was selected because it’s probably being optioned for a movie or TV show, and it’s a sure way to make sure the book gets buzz, and so the movie gets more buzz when it comes out. There is a film adaption in the works, but it’s unclear if Reese Witherspoon is involved. The writing hasn’t got a scratch on other historical fiction that has been chosen by the book club before, such as The Alice Network.
• Persuasion – Jane Austen – Another classic on my to-read list, Persuasion is short, sharp and sweet.
• Medieval Europe – Christopher Wickham – I’m a huge history nerd, so when I spotted this book at The Met I couldn’t resist scooping it up. I find that history books can either be totally illuminating and entertaining or deathly boring, and I’ve got better at recognising the difference before buying a book. This one is interesting!

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