How To… Have the Perfect City Day With Your Besties
By: Declyn Keiser
Last Monday was one of my best friend’s birthdays, and ever since coming home from our semester abroad in Florence, we’ve been struggling to find fun things to do to celebrate our birthdays. Without having the clubs, fun nightlife scene, and cheap restaurants, we found ourselves hosting parties at home or planning expensive dinners in the area. Since it was my bestie Hailey’s 21st, we knew we wanted to do something exciting and different from the same old same old. This article is about how to have the perfect city day.
We planned a day when none of us had class or work and had decent weather. Luckily, Friday worked and we set out to go into the city at noon. We wanted to do some shopping, so we went to the Edikted Store and the new Princess Polly store. Directly across the street was also Brandy Melville, which was an absolute staple for us while we were studying abroad in Florence. Little tip- there’s a cool photo booth in the lower level of the Princess Polly store and you absolutely have to do it if you go there; the pictures were so cute, but definitely be ready because it takes the pictures QUICK.
A ton of picture-taking and some damage to the bank account later, we headed to this new restaurant that had recently opened up for happy hour. The drinks were less than $10 and we split small plates that were just enough to hold us over until dinner. A big thing for us in Florence was girls’ dinners and cheap drinks, so this place was the perfect spot.
After our little happy hour snack, we walked over to this restaurant called Rosemary’s, which was 30 minutes away. We were pretty hungry when we got there, but they were able to seat all 8 of us outside after only waiting 15 minutes. The outdoor seating is a perfect spot for when it's warm out to take pictures with friends and enjoy the nice weather. We shared some pasta and pizzas that were to die for and had some spritzes to feel like we were back in Florence together.
With full stomachs and 2 hours of girl talk later, we continued to walk around the city and popped in and out of bars. I took home a couple of cute postcards from the restaurants we went to, the photobooth strips from the Princess Polly store, and of course, I had to put them on my wall when I got home. We left the city around midnight and got back to Poughkeepsie around 2. It truly was the perfect city day & night, and such a fun way to celebrate my best friend’s special day
