New York City, February 2011

New York City, February 2011.

Look away now if*:

a) you don't want to see an indulgently long post of NYC travel photos (I'm sneaking this post in on a Sunday to give me more of an excuse-weekends are for self-indulgence;);

b) you are sweltering in NYC and don't want to be reminded of the slightly cooler weather in Feb.

If not, read on!

I was over in NYC for fashion week in February and snuck in a little bit of time for some sightseeing. Highlights from this trip?

Crunching through the snow in central park on a very cold afternoon followed by drinks at the beautiful Oak Bar in the Plaza Hotel. (Weirdest, most "I don't want to look but I can't look away" moment was when we were in Central Park and a red-tailed hawk nabbed a squirrel for supper.eep!);

Watching the Super Bowl at Oliver's Bar&Grill in the West Village (boo to jet-lag);

Awesome coffee at Stumptown Coffee Roasters in the Ace hotel. Thanks to the guy (who will probably never see this!) who let me take his photo with the coffee cup. I first came across Stumptown roasters when they had a pop-up coffee bar in Amsterdam last year so it was nice to experience the full Stumptown experience in NYC.

Wandering through Mario Batali's Eataly and picking up provisions for dinner;

Lunch at Momofuku Ssam Bar in the East Village. The steamed pork buns and bbq rib sandwich were incredible;

Brooklyn Farmacy&Soda Fountain (see the retro photos above) in Carroll Gardens, Brooklyn. Wish we had something like this in London. Followed by a brisk stroll along the Brooklyn Heights Promenade to take in the view of lower Manhattan;

Coffee at Tom's Restaurant (had to do the Seinfeld experience at least once ;)

Watching the ice-skating at The Rockefeller Centre;

Chocolate chip cookies from Levain bakery on the Upper West Side; Warm, gooey goodness;

Breakfast at Bubby's in Tribeca followed by a wander around Tribeca (is Robert De Niro in Tribeca the equivalent of Rick Stein in Padstow?!);

Walking from the East Village to Columbus circle- best way to experience a city is to walk it

*I realised when I was typing this that if you have got this far, you will have seen the whole post anyway ;)