NEW YORK CITY : May 2016 : ATTRACTIONS

We only spent three nights in New York City, so this certainly doesn't cover all of the things to do, just the things that we did.

High Line : One of the things we were most interested in seeing was the High Line, the  1.45-mile-long linear urban park built in Manhattan on an elevated section of the New York Central Railroad that is no longer used for trains. We walked the whole thing from south to north then back south.

Last year I made an art quilt based on a photo that a friend had taken at the High Line and we wanted to see that location in person. Above is the photo I took from the same location. The building that has the billboard on top of it is part of the Chelsea Market, which is an interesting place to do some shopping and get food. One of the outdoor food vendors that day was People's Pops which had homemade popsicles. We enjoyed both the blueberry-black tea-cardamon and also the peach-balsamic-blueberry.

Central Park : I remember the first time we went to Central Park. We were amazed at how big it was, and also how there were areas that you could go to where it didn't feel (or sound) like you were in a large city.

There are many wonderful places to see in the park including the Bethesda Terrace (above), the Conservatory Garden, the Belvedere Castle, the Mall, and the Central Park Zoo, just to name a few.

There are also several bodies of water including the pool, the pond, the lake, the Harlem Meer, and the reservoir. Above is a photo I took of the Bow Bridge from the row boat that we rented to go out on to the lake.

Empire State Building : I like to go up tall buildings and look down on the city. On a Monday in May at lunchtime turned out to be a good time to go to the top of the Empire State Building. Other times it looks like it might be a longer wait. The photo above is looking north and you can see part of Central Park in the background.

Museum of Art & Design : I had really wanted to go to the American Folk Art museum, which was in the process of moving the last time we were in the city, and this time they were closed because they were between exhibitions. So instead we went to the Museum of Art & Design. It is located near the south west corner of Central Park. Above is a photo by the group known as "Studio Job."

We really enjoyed the "Sonambient" sound scupltures created by Harry Bertoia. They will be on display through Sept. 25, 2016 but here's a video of how they work and what they sound like.
.

NEW YORK CITY : MAY 2016 : LODGING & DINING

New York Accommodations : 

We stayed at the Hotel Newton, located on the Upper West side at 2528 Broadway at 95th Street. It was a good price and a good location. That glass dome building to the left of their awning is the subway stop, which made it very convenient to get around the city. There is also a reasonably priced parking garage right around the corner from the hotel.

I'm not going to lie, our room was small. But it was clean and newly renovated and we were mostly going to just sleep in it, so it was fine for us.

When we were here in 2008 we stayed at the Morningside Inn, which is also on the Upper West Side but a little farther north at 235 West 107 Street. One thing to make sure of when booking a hotel room in New York City (and other large cities) is to make sure the room has a private bathroom, if that's important to you.

New York Dining :

One of the things we like about the Upper West Side is that you can walk out of the hotel and there are many inexpensive dining options right there. We didn't go to many upscale restaurants, but we did go the Lido in Harlem which was very nice and we are also fans of New York style pizza, so we also enjoyed Giovanni's Pizza at Columbus and 110th Ave, across from Morningside Park.