Stupid Mistake Turned Tour de Soho

I tend to forget my university id about once every three months--and always on the worst day possible. Without it, you basically don't exist. I can usually get into my office, if the nice security guard is on duty. But I can't take the stairs (grr) or enter any other building without serious explaining, pleading or flirting, depending on the particular case.

I realized I left my card in my jacket when I was heading to the gym at 7:30am. Damn. I knew there was no way I could convince the gym staff to let me in sans ID, so I had to come up with an alternative plan. The A.P. turned out to be power walking.

I dropped my stuff off at the office and cranked up my ipod. I tried to walk as briskly as possible, swinging my arms, abs engaged. I aimed to look like a busy New Yorker on a mission rather than a power walking granny.

It was the first nice day in a long time, so that was fabulous.

When I first moved to the city I lived way way downtown, so it was nice to be back on the Soho streets I used to know so well. Plus, there are far fewer stop lights to hold you up!

I wound my way back and forth from West 4th to Canal, weaving up and down Mercer, Greene West Broadway and Wooster, avoiding the bastardization/commercialization of Broadway. Old Navy and H&M have their places...in the mall.

It was pretty soothing on the eyes not to have to see a Starbucks every two blocks. Instead I roamed the quiet cobblestone streets, almost all to myself so early in the morning. I said almost, I happened to see Whoopi Goldberg on Grand and Wooster!

I love the industrial, cast iron buildings and the "don't fuck with me" individuality this neighborhood of the city lends. It's how I imagined New York would feel: proud, cool, and detached, but accepting and charming. I find Soho to be especially this way with its little hidden gems studding the streets, waiting to be discovered.

The fabulous designer boutiques were much better eye candy than I could get at the dungeon gym. Since all the stores were closed it was easy to keep trucking past the tempting windows of Te Casan, D & G, Besty Johnson, Marc Jacobs, Anna Sui, Catherine Malandrino, and Kate Spade. Maybe someday.

Since my niece was born, I now pay close attention to the amazing baby stories that I used to ignore. I was delighted to see Oilily, Scoop Kids (OMG), and La Perla. Okay La Perla isn't really a baby store, but my niece has a ridiculous la perla onesie collection.

So while I didn't really work up a sweat, I got fresh air, cleared my head, and (if you couldn't tell) fell head-over-heels back in love with lower New York.

If you want to take a virtual walk through SoHo, as it is this very minute, you can use google street view!