It’s been a bit of a hedonistic weekend – a gluttonous picnic, gorging myself at the Vendys and a fair few beers last night – so this afternoon I decided to continue the theme with a trip to the Museum of Sex. I had expected the museum, which is at Madison Square Park, to cover …
Read MoreTag / Manhattan
September 6, 2013
…picnicked on the High Line
It’s getting cooler here in New York so I know summer’s on it’s way out. This means I probably only have a few weeks left to appreciate summer activities. So tonight I decided to have an early evening picnic on the lovely High Line – the former railway tracks that have been converted to a …
Read MoreSeptember 5, 2013
…went inside the Chrysler Building
It took me about a year to tell the Chrysler and the Empire State buildings apart. No joke. Now I’ve realized that – apart from the fact they actually look totally different – the Empire State can be set aside from the Chrysler in one very central way: it opens its doors to the public. …
Read MoreSeptember 4, 2013
…drank wine from a tap
Tonight I headed to City Winery in Tribeca to watch a country band called Yarn perform. And as an extra treat, the bar was serving something I’d never had before: Wine on tap. City Winery, which has a long sweeping bar and neat wooden tables, is a slick-looking place, which seems a little at odds …
Read MoreSeptember 3, 2013
…chilled out at the Elevated Acre
I’ve always loved how New Yorkers appreciate their parks – but it does mean they’re crammed full. Tonight, I visited a park that’s a little more secret and a lot less crowded: The Elevated Acre. After work, I wandered downtown to 55 Water Street, an office block right at the tip of Manhattan in the Financial District. There, you …
Read MoreAugust 29, 2013
…visited the Hare Krishna tree
Today I head to the UK for another weekend dash, so I somehow had to squeeze in a new experience between work and airports. Last night, I waited for the clock to chime 12 and headed a few blocks to Tompkins Square Park. There, beneath the low-lit lamps and beside a dance troupe of surprisingly …
Read MoreAugust 27, 2013
…made origami
For the past couple of months, the CourseHorse ‘Summer Sparks’ series has held free classes at Hudson River Park every Tuesday, but for some awful reason I’ve not known about them until now. Today I finally clocked on and headed to Pier 63 for their latest offering – an origami class. I had envisioned making …
Read MoreAugust 27, 2013
…played musical chairs in Bryant Park
I’ve played tag on Wall Street and taken part in a massive pillow fight at Washington Square Park, and today I headed to Bryant Park for another of New York’s bizarre free activities: Musical chairs on a very, very large scale. A team of meticulous organizers had placed 20 circles of chairs with around 25 …
Read MoreAugust 25, 2013
…met a marionette
If you don’t know the blog ‘Humans of New York’, which captures beautiful images of the city’s colourful characters, you need to check it out here. A few days ago on the site, I spied this teeny tiny character: Today I was wandering downtown and took a walk through Washington Square Park, and who did I spot, but …
Read MoreAugust 24, 2013
…wandered through Green-Wood Cemetery
The weather has been gorgeous today and, as I was in South Slope in Brooklyn, I decided to make the most of it by walking through Green-Wood Cemetery – a National Historic Landmark and the final resting place of many famous New Yorkers. The cemetery was built in 1838 and there is something so beautiful …
Read MoreAugust 22, 2013
…read the time from the sidewalk
I spent my first year in New York looking down at the pavement – either trying to figure out where I was going or avoiding making eye contact with the letches. Now I spend half my time looking up, marvelling at New York’s beautiful buildings. But down in the financial district, they don’t have this …
Read MoreAugust 21, 2013
…explored a Masonic Lodge
I’ve had a pretty horrible sick day, so I wanted to do something close to home. Bizarrely, just a few blocks north of my apartment is the Grand Lodge of the Freemasons, which is open to the public for tours. It seemed like a perfect, quiet activity to try. The tour is ongoing throughout the …
Read MoreAugust 20, 2013
…tasted Ethiopian food
Today I headed a few blocks south of my apartment and ended up in Ethiopia – for dinner at Meskel. I’d never had Ethiopian food before and had zero idea what to expect, but Ryan had nabbed a very generous Groupon, so we decided to give it a go. Meskel is a simple little place …
Read MoreAugust 16, 2013
…ate boozy cupcakes from the Prohibition Bakery
Tonight Ryan and I went to a friend’s rooftop for some drinks and decided to stop for a bevvy beforehand. But rather than going for the usual beer, we pre-gamed in a new way: Boozy cupcakes. The cupcake fad in New York City has spun a little out of control. There seems to be a …
Read MoreAugust 14, 2013
…rode Macy’s wooden escalators
Tonight I headed to Herald Square to visit Macy’s – not only my first time in this mammoth store, but also my first ever spin on its historic wooden escalators. Macy’s at 34th Street is the largest department store in the city, taking up an entire block and stretching across ten floors. In 1902, it also …
Read MoreAugust 13, 2013
…saw sculptures made from Lego
After work, I headed to the Discovery museum at Times Square with Dave – the biggest Lego geek I’ve ever met – for an art exhibit of works made entirely from the teeny plastic bricks. The Art of the Brick is showcasing the handiwork of Nathan Sawaya until next year. Sawaya is a New York-based artist and famed …
Read MoreAugust 9, 2013
…went punk at the Met
I’ve got a couple of days off and have nothing planned apart from making the most of New York activities. Today I finally fulfilled my months-long aim of going to the Met; it’s somewhere I’d avoid completely at weekends. And even first thing on a Friday morning, the place was heaving. I made the trip …
Read MoreAugust 7, 2013
…touched the Berlin Wall
New York is packed so tightly with art and history that sometimes it’s easy to overlook a real winner. Tonight I popped up to Midtown to see one of these giant gems: A section of the Berlin Wall. The fall of the Wall is actually one of my earliest memories. I was only three at …
Read MoreAugust 5, 2013
…visited New York’s narrowest house
On the way to dinner tonight, I took a mini detour to Greenwich Village for a peek at the city’s narrowest house – a house so small that it’s only half an address: 75 1/2 Bedford Street. At only 9.5 feet wide, the puny pad is very New York. When I went to Colorado earlier this …
Read MoreAugust 1, 2013
…toured a tenement house
I’ve always said it’s a shame that German is the only foreign language I speak (badly, it needs to be noted) because every single person from Germany will speak better English than I do German. Well, it turns out that I’m just in the wrong part of the city – and in the wrong generation. …
Read MoreJuly 30, 2013
…ate a pretzel
Every day when I leave work, I’m greeted by this: Usually I walk right past without even noticing the food carts, but a few days ago I took another look and realised that I’ve never had a pretzel. Even though it’s originally a European food, for some reason I connect it with New York; perhaps …
Read MoreJuly 29, 2013
…invented a cocktail
Now I don’t know if you’ve realised over the course of this blog, but I do like the occasional bevvy. So why not learn how to make them for myself? Tonight I went to Sanctuary T in Soho for a mixology class. The bar/restaurant is known for its lengthy tea menu and now they’ve branched …
Read MoreJuly 28, 2013
…watched a pogo stick competition (and witnessed a proposal)
When I went to the air guitar competition a couple of months ago, most of the intrigue was learning that it was an actual thing. And today as I went to the annual world championship of extreme pogo, I had exactly the same feeling. I’m sure I wasn’t alone in learning that there are actual …
Read MoreJuly 25, 2013
…went to a Russian speakeasy
Speakeasies may be hard to find, but secrecy is exactly what they thrive on. Thankfully tonight I tracked down one of SoHo’s hidden gems – a Russian vodka bar. I’ve been to a few speakeasies since I’ve been here, but none have given me quite the same surprise as when Helen and I walked into …
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