an empire state of mind

The final part of my vacation series takes me to New York.

After a week in San Francisco and a few days in Chicago, flying to New York was a little sad as we knew our holiday was drawing to a close. Of the 3 cities we stayed in, New York was the only one I had previously visited and I had a few things I knew I had to do this time around!

We flew into JFK and spent our first night in Brooklyn. Why, you might ask? We had a date with a very special lady - CHER! We were so excited to see the goddess of pop herself and her show was phenomenal. At 68 years of age, she put many young artists to shame! A set change for every song and one amazing costume after another ensured this was the perfect comeback/farewell tour.

Cher's opening quip (when speaking about her age) What are your grannies doing tonight?

Hitting Manhattan the following day, we checked into our hotel on 81st street and took a long walk through Central Park in search of some lunch. It's so easier to forget that in the middle of all the concrete and skyscrapers, there is a MASSIVE park!

cameraman caelan venturing into central park

One of my must-see places was Mood Fabrics. I have been a fan of Project Runway since it began and as a closet fabric hoarder and faux sewer, I knew I had to visit. We finally found it (it's hidden within another building, I was expected a huge warehouse thing) and I was like a kid in a candy store. 3 floors of amazing fabrics, cloth and haberdashery - overwhelming!
I spent around an hour here choosing 2 pieces of wool to make new cushions for our sofa at home.
I actually went back on my last day for one final visit and chose cloth to have a go at making bow tie. (I'll get round to making these - I swear.) Watch out for a wobbly tutorial.

In the words of Tim Gunn... Thank You Mood!

During our time in New York we hit all the famous landmark stores, from Macy's to Bloomingdales, Barney's to Saks (We also wasted a day visiting an out-of-town outlet village. I've come to the conclusion I am not a big label kinda guy). We had postponed all our planned shopping until we reached New York but we found we were almost exhausted at the prospect. So we window shopped our asses off and I treated myself to another pair New Balance!

I chose the navy pair top right

One of the most memorable and interesting sights we visited was the High Line. This park was created on a disused railway line, running over the roads and stretching from the trendy Meatpacking District to 11th Avenue. As I've previously said, I have a love of abandoned things and this is a thoughtful, creative and frankly gorgeous piece of sensitive repurposing. To find some nature in any city is magical and the High Line fuses both natural and mechanical and creates something beautiful from something forgotten. I urge you to take a walk along it if you ever visit Manhattan!

smiles