In a New York State of Mind

Those of you who have older teenagers know how difficult it can be to spend time together as a family. Lately, I'd been feeling as though we had all been going in different directions and it was time to find a way to reconnect. The solution: a quick four day trip to one of my favourite cities in the world, New York City!  

We drove from Ottawa to Poughkeepsie, in New York state, and then boarded a commuter train all the way in to Grand Central Station. It was a comfortable and interesting 1 hour and 45 minute ride along the Hudson River. I highly recommend this manner of travel...much more civilized than driving into the city yourself. 

We arrived in the late afternoon with plans to settle in and then go to the pizza place which I had found earlier on Trip Advisor. 

We arrived at our hotel in Murray Hill and went up to our room, opened the door and found this:

We joked that rock stars had been there before us and had trashed the room. No, it was simply that the room was scheduled for a complete cleaning and the front desk had not been informed. It all worked out because we were then re-assigned to a gigantic suite up on the 36th floor. The views from the two large windows were simply stunning and we spent a fair bit of time looking out those windows at the magnificent city all around us.

View out to the East River.

After all the excitement we were all very hungry and headed out to find our restaurant. We walked for a long, long, long time as apparently I had underestimated the number of blocks to San Matteo Pizzeria. Luckily when we finally got there, there was one table for four available. Very lucky because as soon as we sat down people started coming in looking for a place to sit and they were turned away. I'm so sorry that I forgot to take pictures of the place. Everyone around us spoke Italian and the owners seemed to know all the patrons. There was soccer memorabilia hanging on the walls and the tv was turned to the soccer channel, of course. We felt like we were back in Italy! And the pizza, ah the pizza, was absolutely delizioso. We all had different pizzas and no one was disappointed.

The next morning we headed to the Metropolitan Museum of Art. We visit this museum every time we're in New York. In fact, Amélie always says that she wishes she could live inside the museum! The collections are stunning and there is always a cool new exhibit. This time it was Matisse.  Too bad we weren't allowed to take pictures. 

We also saw a few new things this time such as the Highline. Have you heard of this? The High Line is a public park built on a freight rail line above the streets of Manhattan. 

Walking down the Highline

Located on Manhattan's West Side, it runs from Gansevoort Street in the Meatpacking District to West 34th Street, between 10th & 11th Avenues. Even in February it was an interesting walk but I'd love to go back and explore in the spring and summer.

That same day we also visited the Chelsea Market. This is an enclosed urban food court and shopping mall. An interesting fact about this place is that Chelsea Market was built in the former National Biscuit Company factory complex where the Oreo cookie was invented and produced. It was a cool place to visit for lunch but the only problem was that we weren't the only tourists who had decided to visit at lunchtime. The place was packed!

Walking through Chelsea Market...desperately looking for a place to sit and eat.

On our last day we did a bit of shopping, walked some more, took the subway and just soaked in all the special New York City energy. But the best part of the trip was spending time with my (almost) grown-up kids and reconnecting with them. Mission accomplished.