Oh New York!

Do you know this feeling of feeling so at home at a foreign city? Well, NY had this effect on me.
One week there and it felt like we've been there forever.
What an amazing city it is.

We stayed right in the heart of Manhattan and just two blocks away from our favorite spot: The Central Park.

The weather was very pleasant, with crisp cold days and blue sky. We mainly walked. Everywhere, up and down. On our tour to the top of the empire States we met Tony, the audio guide. And Tony told us something very wise: if you want to have a truly New York experience you just walk.
That's what we did. First day already started with us falling in love with the tracks of the Central Park. The kids were ice skating but I thought it was safer to stay with my feet on the ground.

Chinatown totally made my day. I absolutely love that atmosphere. There we went to Vanessa's Dumpling House, a tiny, steamy restaurant with the best dim-sum I've ever had. wow. If you ever go there here's the tip: Try to avoid busy lunch time cause the place gets packed and you'll not find a table to seat and maybe like us you'll feel obligated to enjoy your lovely warm chicken soup at a nasty little park on the back of the restaurant. Watch out! Don't expect anything fancy from Vanessa's but be ready to eat extremely well.

Another great neighborhood is Williamsburg, on the north part of Brooklyn. So lively and fresh, full of cool shops and nice bars. Made me feel so much at Hackney, the neighborhood I live in London. There, after a bar crawl, we stopped at the Patés et Traditions, a little french place with delicious crêpes and cheap wine.

Museums, we visit the MoMa, the Guggenheim - and saw a amaaaaazing exhibition of a Italian artist called Maurizio Cattelan - and the Natural History Museum. We also went to the MoMa PS1 on the Queens but that was extremely disappointing.

My favorite restaurant was a Japanese called Robaya . The place is amazing, we got a sit on the bar and you can see the guys preparing the food with so much care and respect, it was just fabulous. We ate so much, and everything was so tasty. I truly recommend it.
Talking about food, if you are a burger fan like us, don't miss the Shake Shak. It's a little kiosk restaurant on the park with the BEST burger and milk shake I've ever tried. So good that we went there twice! If you are more like a hot dog person, the place to go is Gray's Papaya - a not very fancy shop famous for their papaya juice that might not sound good with hot dog but it is!!!

We did all the touristic stuff, Statue of Liberty, Empire States, Times Square, crossed the Brooklyn bridge and did some shopping. My highlight point is the High lane, a old train tracks that became a suspend park in the middle of the city. So cool. In summer might be 10 times prettier.

On Christmas day we went to Harlem and were lucky to attend to a church full of good energy, soul music and dance. It was one of the most inspiring experiences I've ever been trough.

Other amazing day was the day when we travelled all the way down to the south brooklyn just to try the best pizza in town, Di Fara Pizza, where for the past 40 years the same old man still prepares, bake and cut with bare hands the pizza. The whole place has an amazing smell of cheese and basil, be patient, the pizza is totally worth it.

And we waked and walked. Only in one day we did around 40 blocks or something like that, crazy stuff. And specially we had a great time. It was just perfect. New York wait for me because I'll be back!