Before the parage of photos begins, let me put things in context. L and live in Toronto, the largest city in Canada. The population of Toronto (and area) is about 5 million. To put that in context, that is more than five times the population of Nova Scotia, my home province. So yeah, for me, moving to Toronto was a pretty big adjustment for me. So, it would stand to reason that going to New York City, population 8 million-ish, should be overwhelming. Oddly, though, it isn’t. It might be because we’ve both been there and know what to expect, or that we’ve travelled quite a bit, but I suspect it’s because New York is so ubiquitous. I mean, you can walk into a neighbourhood you’ve never been to, on streets you can’t name, and recognize something from a TV show or a movie, and that makes New York not at all intimidating.
All of which is to say that we had a great time. We had pretty crappy weather for the first couple of days (cold and raining/sleeting), but our third day was crisp and clear, so it all balanced out – I always figure it’s good to get at least one rainy day when you’re in a big city since you’re probably going to go to a bunch of museums and things anyway.
So, without further ado, here’s a selection of things we did in New York:
1. Walk around Central Park: We were staying on the Upper East Side, so it was close by, and who can resist, really?
This is, as best as I can figure, the bridge in Home Alone 2.
2. Eat Ramen: This was near our friends’ place and is their favourite ramen place. It did not disappoint.
This is L’s bowl, since the veggie ramen, while delicious, was less photogenic.
3. Visit the Museum of Natural History. I’m pretty sure this is where the Night at the Museum movies were filmed, and with good reason – it is awesome. We spent an entire (rainy) day here, and didn’t even make it through half.
The Hall of Biodiversity wasn’t even an exhibit we were intending to go to, but it was so full of lovely things we stopped in anyway.
More biodiversity. There was just so much to look at.
Dinosaurs! I had never seen dinosaur skeletons before, so this was pretty cool. (We also saw the big sea life and North American mammals exhibits.)
4. The Empire State Building. Neither of us had been, and since we had free tickets (our friends had leftover City Passes) we figured we should go. It turns out that if you go before 11 on a Thursday, there’s no line!
The Chrysler Building is pretty magnificent.
I love all the water towers on top of the downtown buildings. I’d never noticed them before, but I’m smitten.
5. Walk the High Line. We started at 28th Street and walked all the way to the end, stopping for lunch at Chelsea Market. I cannot recommend this highly enough – what an awesome way to experience New York.
Yes, it was cold (I have a shawl on under that scarf), but it was sunny and beautiful. I wish we had something like this in Toronto.
6. See the city at night. You basically can’t avoid this (especially at this time of year), but still. Walking around downtown at night is immensely satisfying and lovely (and cold!)
The arch in Washington Square Park plus the Empire State Building, all lit up.
My mum always says that you can’t do everything in one trip or you have no excuse to go back, so true to that we didn’t make it nearly everywhere we wanted to, and we’re okay with that. We did, however, make it to some yarn shops, but that will be its own post later this week.
Pans & Needles 
There is so much great stuff to see in NYC! I’ve been twice, and neither time was nearly long enough. I hadn’t heard of the High Line before your post. That looks pretty cool. I can’t wait to hear about the yarn part of your adventures…
Too bad you had to leave before VK live! This post has me caving ramen; what was the place you went to called?
Agreed! That would have been so much fun. The Ramen Place was called Naruto Ramen and I think it was around 3rdd and 90th, if that makes sense. I would definitely recommend it.