High Line and High Kicks

Wednesday 06/12/17

With very little planned today we headed out in to the city and made our way to the Chelsea Market where we looked round the quirky shops and grabbed some mid-morning eats – chicken tenders and the best tacos/quesadillas in New York is the only way to start the day!

From here we made our way to the High Line. This 1.45 mile long linear park was an abandoned railway that was redeveloped after two local residents formed the Friends of the High Line. They successfully stopped the demolition and championed the redevelopment of the railway into an urban park. We walked the length of the park and made our way towards Hells Kitchen, stopping for a slice of pizza. At $3 for two slices and a can of lemonade this was the cheapest thing we’ve eaten in New York and it surpassed the other pizza places and their five-star trip advisor reviews!

We stopped off for some cookies at Smackery’s and then we headed towards Times Square. While we hadn’t planned on it, we saw some half price tickets for the Rockettes Christmas Spectacular and we couldn’t refuse a chance to experience an iconic New York institution. When I saw “we” I obviously mean “me” because Rory has no interest in anything that might involve singing, dancing and general Christmas cheer. In fact, he even managed to fall asleep during the performance! Obviously, I gently woke him (punched him in the arm and reminded him that he didn’t pay $80 to fall asleep in the Radio City Music Hall) and he was back to enjoying the Christmassy magic of music and dance.

I really enjoyed the show, the music and dancing were exceptional and completely without fault, in fact, the entire performance was perfect, which is to be expected; it has been running since 19133 (one year after the Radio City Music Hall opened) and there are several performances each day. Feeling very Christmassy we made our way to China Town in search of the best Chinese food in New York. Unfortunately, the best Chinese restaurant in New York has now moved from China Town to the Flatiron District, so instead we explored the area and found ourselves in Little Italy. Both China Town and Little Italy are definitely worth the visit and while the streets were lined with what looked like delicious restaurants, we decided that the city wouldn’t beat us and so we headed towards the Flatiron district to sample the best Chinese that New York has to offer. (I hope this is conveying my excitement at trying the best Chinese food in New York.)

It didn’t take long to find and soon we were tucking in to Kung Pao chicken and beef and broccoli. While there were definite differences, it’s probably the closest we have come to having a proper Chinese since we left China! Dinner was followed by dessert; a frozen hot chocolate from Shake Shack and a leisurely walk back to the hotel.