West Village life-style (with a child) ):

Residing in the charming and quaint old neighborhood of West Village is not for the faint of heart, I should admit. We decided to try it out for a short while (I have never ever stayed here before though have always been fascinated by all these townhouses, trendy restaurants, cute little coffee-shops). This is the beauty of a short-term rental, you know if something goes wrong or you just find some irreconcilable factors that do not appeal to you from whichever angle you observe them. The first day was completely euphoric. We wondered along the 7th ave South, crossed to 8th ave, found a nice homey looking old time diner "Bonbonniere", which already had some mom with an infant strapped to her seated at the outdoor table. Being a mother, the ways I pick eateries nowadays changed - I always make sure the place is not overly crowded and preferably already has some little patrons on the premises. We sat, took the menus, first I just took one but my daughter loves to peruse it on her own, so I had to get the second one. We ordered a hearty beef stew and a cup of green pea soup. Having spent plenty of energy staring with curiosity around our new neighborhood, I swallowed the meal in big spoonfuls. Sonia was not bent on eating as much as I was. But overall our introduction to West Village scene went exhilaratingly fine. I mentioned loudly to another customer that it was our first time living in West Village and the gay couple sitting at the counter cringed sentimentally. I almost expected a cupcake or something on the house in the honor of our arrival to the hood but it did not happen ): Anyway, West Village is a grand neighborhood for adults seeking entertainment and bohemian flavor but it is a rather challenging escapade to reside here with children or even with one child, especially when you never use a stroller on your outings. There are many open basement cellars, of which I always has to be alert. My daughter loves to break away from me and run ahead, so I chase her. And I just look way far ahead of myself to see the gaping openings of cellars. Another danger lies in narrowness of the sidewalks, they are more narrow than those on UWS or UES and this is still worsened by the fact of how crowded they get, especially on week-ends. So this is definitely a hand-hold area. Another minus is the absence of that luscious wide spacious greenery zone situated Uptown, namely Central Park. Here, as one local mom friendlily shared with me, "we have tons of playgrounds - Bleecker Street, Jane Street etc." But nothing to compare with CP. But on the other hand, there is a Magnolia Bakery, many steep stoops with all sorts of ornaments and flower pots on them (climbing which to the very top has a magnetizing effect on Sonia for some reason). I don`t count as an attraction numerous quaint cozy coffee-shops and cafes, where one can people watch from the benches next to window, type away on one`s laptop sitting at the teeny-weeny table and just be your own Postmillennial self. With a child, these hot spots are off limits cause the child needs space to run around and you don`t want her knocking off hot cups of cappuccinos. So we just stroll around and do the people watching in reverse. ): But occasionally we find a nice secluded bakery or cafe with just a bunch of people inside like it happened today - we found an authentic French patisserie Claude, a long-term resident of West Village itself and asked a lonely patron to take a picture of us. The explorations go on... ):