Solo adventure: Wandering New York City

It's not often I get a chance to travel solo since having kids. (And by "not often," I mean never.) Needless to say, last week's trip to New York City by myself was monumental.

I went to visit my best friend of 20 years (eek!), Rachel. We grew up in the same neighborhood, attended the same school, studied abroad in Switzerland together, shared an apartment in New York for a few years, and on and on. Oh, and everyone thinks we're twins. People literally stop their cars on the street to ask if we're twins, which we never understand because 1) we're not twins and 2) who would stop a car to ask if two people were twins?

Anyway, we have a lot of history and getting together means serious business, namely: walking, talking, eating and drinking (alternating between coffee and wine, obviously). It's what we do, and New York makes those tasks easy, especially since being friends with Rachel is like having a personal concierge. She organized a fantastic itinerary for our weekend.

On Friday we wandered the MoMA and Met before grabbing lunch at Alice's Teacup. We may have then stopped for macaroons at Laduree...Dinner was pizza at John's.

(Photos from this trip are iPhone only.)

Above: Manhattan off the wing.

Below clockwise from top left: My favorite room in the city: The Temple of Dendur at the Met. A bit of Picasso at MoMA. Mocha from Blue Bottle Coffee. Un peu de Monet chez MoMa. Macaroons and pastries from Laduree.

On Saturday we stopped for pretzel croissants at City Bakery and coffee at Blue Bottle before walking the High Line, a former freight line elevated above the West Side that has been converted into a public park. Naturally we were famished after walking the 20 blocks of the High Line, so we headed to Monmarte for brunch with a lovely friend from high school.

Below clockwise from top left: Images of the city, Hudson River (and Rachel) from the High Line.

We spent Saturday afternoon wandering Chelsea Market and the West Village, hitting up the Antiques Garage and Sokerbit and relaxing on the back patio of Buvette with a glass of wine. Eventually we made our way to Village Taverna for Greek salad.

On Sunday we brunched at ABC Kitchen.

Below clockwise from top left: Central Park from the plane. Adorable wine list at Buvette. Bling from the Antiques Garage. No, we're not twins. Manhattan skyline at take-off. Sweet illustration at Blue Bottle.

One of the best parts of my weekend away was the surprise I came across at the airport when I landed in Raleigh. People probably thought I had been gone for a month instead of 48 hours by my reaction. But sometimes a few days away is all you need.

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