Day #3- Friday

The first thing we did for Day 3 was to walk to the High Line, which is an old railway system that quit running trains in 1980. Last year, the abandoned train tracks were turned into an elevated public park. Scott and I visited it on its opening weekend last summer, but wanted to take Holly and Jon to see it. Here are some pictures:

It was neat to see how something that had been discarded as a rusty old rail road junkyard could be transformed into an artsy setting, brimming with life with natural grasses and flowers strategically planted and growing vibrantly throughout the 10 block span. It was like living art.

Next, we walked cross town to Madison Square Park, to indulge ourselves in our all time favorite burger joint in NYC- the Shake Shack.

If you haven't heard of this place, you are missing out! Danny Meyer, the famous NYC restraunteer with several upscale restaurants in his portfolio, opened this burger joint in the middle of the park a few years ago. It has since been an instant NYC classic, with it's simple but gourmet cheeseburgers (Shack Burgers), cheese fries, and concretes. The line to the Shake Shack at any time, on any day of the week, from open to close is always around an hour long wait.

We waited in line an hour and 40 minutes, and by the time we got our food, the line was twice as long as it had been when we arrived. And, we got there at 1:20, so it wasn't exactly the "lunchtime rush" crowd. But we knew, along with all those other hungry New Yorkers who waited in that exceedingly long line, that the payoff would be worth it:

Totally worth the wait. I'm sure we will do it at least a few more times during our 30 day stay :-)

After our highly enjoyable lunch, we walked to the Green Market, which is an outdoor farmers market set up in Union Square. We bought some heirloom cherry tomatoes, some fresh goat cheese (from Ardith Mae, a nearby goat farm in Pennsylvania), a couple of whole wheat sourdough rolls, and a loaf of freshly baked herb focaccia bread. We are going to go on a picnic in Central Park tomorrow, so we thought these would be perfect for our lunch. After that, we walked back home to put up the groceries and get changed for our evening out.

The Metropolitan Museum of Art (MOMA) is free on Friday nights from 4-8, so Scott, Holly, and Jon wanted to go. Scott and I have been once before last year, so I had my fill of it then. I'm just not that into art. But we went, and it wasn't that bad, mainly because we got there at 7:15 and they closed at 8. That was the perfect amount of time for me! We spent most of our time looking at works by Picasso, Van Gough, Cezanne, and Matisse. Here is Scott next to a painting of Salvador Dali:

Here are some other shots from the MOMA:

After the museum, we went to Cafe Boulud for dinner. The pictures didn't turn out well because I didn't want to turn the flash on my camera on in this fancy schmancy restaurant, but let me just sum it up in one word: Gourmet.

Oh, my, goodness, was it gourmet. For one thing, it is a Daniel Boulud restaurant, so that right there puts it in an elitist ranking on it's own. This is one of those restaurants that just made you feel like you belong in the Riff-Raff Section if they had one because it was so swanky.

I'll try to describe our meal, but without good pictures, it's not the same. For starters, we all split a delicious foie gras (yes, we really do love this stuff!), and Scott had a roasted tomato and eggplant soup. Then, Scott and Holly both ordered a lamb dish- it had 3 or 4 differently prepared lamb entrees- chops, shank, and some types of pinwheels. Jon had the ravioli, and I had a fish entree. Here is a picture of the lamb dish, but it looks dark because of no flash:

All our meals were absolutely phenomenal, so we definitely rated the meal and the whole experience a 10 out of 10.

After dinner, we wanted to hear some music and have a glass of wine, so we went to this little jazz bar a block from our apartment. I like jazz ok, like to go hear it, but overall wouldn't say it's my favorite. However, this jazz bar was awesome. There were 2 guys playing, and let's just say, they made me a big fan of jazz. It was really good! After a few songs, we called it a night. Just another fabulous night in NYC!