Last weekend, I flew down to NYC and left (unannounced) an Unrest MP3 on the site, that I hope everyone managed to find. This week arriving back, I decided to put up a song about our main transportation mode, by NYC's very own Versus.

I was hoping to post a few pictures that were taken during the trip and outline a few of the events, but the photos have yet to be developed. Keep checking back if you're interested.

We had a nice time, Claire and I, arriving at the very tiny La Guardia Airport at 7AM and busing into the city. We were staying at the Hotel Newton, at 95th and Broadway, which had a shared bathroom (suprisingly clean) and terribly thin walls (though I did learn what Spanish moaning sounded like).

It was a nice place to sleep (though not as nice as the photos on their website), but not quite the environment if you are planning to spend all your evening hours there. We didn't, so it was perfect for us.

New York for us was all about food, with only 3 days, all tourist attractions were ditched in place of food, books and records (in that order). A quick rundown:

— Candle Cafe (Third Ave at 75th, Upper East Side). In the middle of nowhere, but worth the trip for the Chocolate Peanut Butter Terrine alone. They give you a 101 reasons to be vegetarian booklet when you are seated that you're better off reading at home, but the food is amazing and well-priced. I bought the cookbook, and I NEVER buy cookbooks.

— Columbia Hot Bagel(Broadway and 108th St): About 10 blocks north is a place called which was opn 24h and had vegan cream cheese in two flavours, so we always had a nice late night snack option.

— Gobo Restaurant (401 Avenue of the America's and 8th St). Definitely the priciest meal we had, but well presented, the atmosphere was nice and the food was worth the price. We felt a bit underdressed, though. Try the pan seared spinach dumplings, they were great.

— Kate's Joint (Avenue B and 4th): This is where I met up with Emily K Larned, of the Brooklyn Artist Alliance / Red Charming and enjoyed a nice tofo scramble w/ pseudo sausage. She also convinced us to go to Brooklyn where we scoured a very good thrift store and zine store.

— Teany (Rivington and Ludlow). Claire challenged Moby to a game of Scrabble that never happened and we met Long Island's Kristen and Susan all the while having the best tea and scones ever! Note: the shape of a tea cup and pot is essential to it's flavour enjoyment, Teany knows this. Earl Grey Crème mmm.

— Whole Earth Bakery (130 Saint Marks Place). Claire liked this a lot, and though I'll admit they did some impressive things using no sugar or wheat, and the soup was pretty delicious; it was a bit too healthy tasting to crave again and again.

— Mondo Kim's (6 St. Marks Place at 2nd Ave) / Kim's Underground (144 Bleeker at LaGuardia). These are the two locations to hit. Picked up a few things, used and new. Nothing exceptionaly rare or interesting, but more than I can find here (Toronto).

— Moo Shoes (152 Allen St, East Village). A huge assortment of quality vegan footwear, a couple of cats and a very friendly staff. Claire bought some fancy shoes and a cute t-shirt and I ordered me some sneakers. Good stuff.

There were other things, but these were definitely the highlights.

Note: Photo collage adapted from photos of 96th St Station, right near the hotel, by David Greenberger and Wayne Whitehorne from NYCsubway.org and from an unknown photographer from versus-ny.co.uk