New York City Birthday Weekend

My birthday (the last one beginning with 2..eek) was on a Monday this year so we headed down to NYC for the weekend. We took the train on Saturday morning which was quick and easy and nice and comfortable. The day started by dropping our bag at the hotel and heading out for a walk around Murray Hill and a lunch stop at a delicious burger place.

My real birthday present was a trip to Broadway to watch Mary Poppins (my favourite film ever)! The theatre was beautiful and the show was excellent. Very cleverly done - elements of the movie but not an exact copy.

Inside the New Amsterdam Theatre

After the show (it was a matinee) we wondered southwards to China town and little Italy for a walk and to see all the different neighborhoods. Anyone a fan of food network?

Are you a sweet genius??

Dinner was in the East Village at a tiny little Mexican/Latin food place. The food was okay, I was expecting better, and we were squashed in so close to the other tables it was hard to have a conversation as you could hear every word everyone around you was saying. Dinner was followed by a walk around the village and a beer at a cool (and cheap) bar!

Oddities anyone?

We stopped by Times Square on the way back from the Subway to the hotel - I guess it had to be done. Perhaps it's more surprising that I'm wearing wedges and a dress!

Yep, we did some touristy things!

On Sunday we started the day with a walk to the West side of Manhattan, stopping for a bagel for me and a breakfast hot dog outside the Empire State building for Matt!

Morning hot dog!

 We spent most of the morning and early afternoon walking along the High Line Park - an old raised train track that has been converted into a park. It was a nice morning so there was quite a lot of people but it was a great place to get a good view of a few different neighborhoods and various city sights. I really enjoyed it.

Taking it easy at High Line

Cool building art

View from the High Line Park (which you can see on the left)

The park ends around Chelsea so we took a walk through Chelsea market, enjoying all the little food shops and getting some truffle salt. Lunch was at a small Italian restaurant where we shared a delicious pizza outside and watched the world go by.

Chelsea Market

After negotiating all the weekend closures with the subway, we finally made it up to Central Park for the afternoon. We walked all around the southern part and generally enjoyed the great weather. Dinner was in Korean town where we had what was probably my favourite meal of the whole weekend. Matt had grilled eel (which was really good) and I had seafood bibimbab which was equally good. Not to mention all the great side dishes. Really delicious and highly recommended. We got back to Albany pretty late but it was a great weekend and we will be back soon I am sure!

Me and Matt in Central Park

I'm catching up the blog as fast as I can... only a few weeks behind the times now!!