ALICE'S TEA CUP (www.alicesteacup.com 102 West 72nd Street (212) 788-3006 Mon-Thurs 8am-8pm Sat 10am-10pm Sun 10am-8pm) is the perfect place to EXplore the world through tea. You can choose from over 100 global varieties. Go by yourself and enjoy the whimsical paintings and décor or share some scones (huge) and cakes with a girlfriend or two. You can lunch here, but why not just skip right to dessert? East-siders are in luck – the owners have opened CHAPTER II (156 East 64th Street (212) 486-9200) on your side of the island. You can head down there after spending the afternoon sketching or writing in the Carroll & Milton Petrie European Sculpture Court at THE METROPOLITAN MUSEUM OF ART (www.metmuseum.org 1000 5th Avenue (212) 535-7710 Tues-Thurs & Sun 9:30am-5:30pm Fri-Sat 9:30am-9:30pm). Pencil, felt tip, ballpoint, crayon, pastel & charcoal sketching allowed in all permanent collection galleries and most special exhibitions. There are huge windows in here that will shed some light on you as you work.
A women-owned sex shop birthed 12 years ago in Seattle, BABELAND (www.babeland.com Soho store 43 Mercer Street (212) 966-2120 Mon-Sat noon-9pm Sun noon-7pm; Lower East Side store 94 Rivington Street (212) 375-1701 Mon-Sat noon-10pm Sun noon-7pm) offers a wide variety of sex toys, aides, books and lubricants to EXplore – just about everything you can think of for yourself (or with a partner when the time comes). If you aren't able to ask the helpful staff some questions, their website includes pages on how to buy an adult toy, sex tips, sex advice – even a page on traveling with your new toys to limit embarrassment in transit: www.babeland.com/sexinfo/features/travel-sex-toys .
Whether you have just started your EX journey or are getting back into the dating scene, a spa treatment in is order. JUVENEX SPA (www.juvenexspa.com 25 West 32nd Street, 5th Floor (646) 733-1330) is open to only women until 7pm. Treat yourself to a massage (not for the delicate – these ladies really use their strength) followed by the Jade Journey – a trip from a large jade igloo sauna to soaking tubs filled with different infusions (sake, ginseng, seaweed and tea tree oil are some choices) to the rainforest shower for a rinse. You may stay in the spa for the Jade Journey as long as you like. Bring a bathing suit if you are uncomfortable in the nude. Do not be stressed by the fact that there is a limited amount of English spoken here. Just EXhale.
Susan Shay is a freelance writer and performing artist living in Manhattan.
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