We arrived in New York on Thursday and have had four full on days, loving every minute of it! We have being staying with a friend of my sisters, Catherine, on the Lower East Side. This was a great area to stay with loads of great food places around. It was lunchtime when we arrived so we head to Katz's Delicatessen, a New York institution a block away. It's the setting for the famous scene from Harry met Sally and the walls are full of celebrity pictures. We had Reuben sandwiches, which were delicious, but massive and the only food we needed that day! Next we walked up Broadway to Mid-Town where we took in a lot of sites including Times Square, the NYC Public Library, Grand Central Station and the Chrysler Building. We headed up the Empire State Building at sunset for stunning views of this massive city.

We woke up to fresh snow and headed to Clinton Street Bakery, reportedly the best pancakes in New York, they were incredible! Ready for a full on day, we headed to the Met, fantastic! So much to see so we just saw the Egyptian display, which houses an intact Egyptian Temple, and the American Wing. We especially liked the Frank Lloyd Wright room and the beautiful Tiffany glass. We then had a good explore of Central Park, lovely in the fresh snow and checked out the Guggenheim from outside. For lunch we stopped at a kebab stall with a big line despite the cold, best kebab ever!

That afternoon was spent looking at the Fifth Avenue shops, including the famous toyshop FAO Schwartz that we spent way too long in for adults and Tiffany's where I had to drag Mikaela away from! We did make some purchases at M & M land on Time Square though, yum! That evening we headed to the Museum of Modern Art, which is free Friday nights. The collection is incredible, perhaps the most impressive we have seen and we spent a long time taking in just two floors. Highlights were Van Gogh's Starry Night and Monet's Waterlilies among many others. We then headed home and had the much hyped Vietnamese Sandwich or dinner, they're pretty good!

After classic New York bagels on Saturday we hit the streets, walking through SoHo to Downtown where we saw Ground Zero and the harrowing exhibit nearby. Construction is well under way for the tower and fantastic looking memorial. We then headed down Wall Street and to the Statue of Liberty on the ferry, impressive with beautiful views of the city. Next was Chinatown for some delicious dumplings and an exploration of the area. That evening we headed to Vselka a very popular Ukrainian restaurant, we were lucky to get a table at. Full of delicious food we headed to Wicked on Broadway, my Xmas present from Mik. The show was incredible!! Times square was buzzing afterwards and we went out for some apple and blueberry pie!

Our last day was on Sunday and we managed to get out of bed early to head to Harlem, where we attended the Abyssinian Baptist Church. The service was something else. The lady who wrote Man in the Mirror for Michael Jackson, performed it with the choir! We then headed by subway to Brooklyn for brunch and crossed the Brooklyn Bridge back to Manhattan. It was a beautiful day, but absolutely freezing! We had a good wander around Greenwich Village and got ready to train to our next stop, Philly, exhausted and with expanded waistlines after our great stay in NYC!