The NYC Experience: Chelsea

“In wisdom gathered over time I have found that every experience is a form of exploration.”
― Ansel Adams

Inside Chelsea Market

I love to explore.
I start with google searches. Then I go out and see what happens.
Sometimes I see the things I researched. Sometimes it's not there.
Either way - I come upon that which I never knew existed.

Inspired by my new friends, the Lusks, I decided to explore the Chelsea neighborhood. Mom and I had been to the Chelsea Market, but that had been my sum total experience of this eclectic & charming neighborhood.

Imagine this in the spring!

Another friend from Intel, Croteau, recommended Highline Park - so I started there. I walked through Chelsea Market quickly to see what had changed - so many neat little stores, but I didn't want to carry stuff yet - so I decided to hit it again on my way out. I found the elevator on 16th St to the park and walked all of Highline.

It is a converted elevated train track. There is an unbelievable array of plants, trees, flowers, and bushes. I can't imagine what it looks like in spring and summer - most everything was dying off now, but I'm sure it is spectacular when everything is flowering. There are wonderful views of the city and I've decided that should I ever live in NYC - this is where I'd start looking for apartments first!

I went to the end and then came back to 23rd St. On 20th St between 9th and 10th Avenues is Cushman Row which has the most/best examples of Greek Revival Architecture in the city. One whole side of the street was under construction, but there were still some good views.

Example of Greek Revival

Headed back up to 21st St to go to this shop called Printed Matter. They have this huge collection of books done by artists from all over the world. The coolest thing was this collection of ginormous pop-up books! They were wicked expensive, but really fun to look at.

I headed back up to 23rd to walk down to 7th Ave. I was starting to get hungry, but wanted to be selective. I came across Patsy's which the Lusks had recommended for Italian - ta-da! I got paradelle pasta with sun dried tomatoes, mushrooms in a light garlic cream sauce. WOWIE! So yum. The rolls were crusty on the outside, soft on the inside... So good, but loads of food....needless to say I hauled those leftovers the rest of the afternoon!

Down to see the Chelsea Hotel - which is a historic landmark in NYC, mostly because of all these famous people that have lived there. Dylan Thomas, Bob Dylan, Janis Joplin.

Cappuccino Love

Next I went to the anti-Starbucks coffee house - Cafe Grumpy! I loved it!! It is tucked away on 20th St. It is totally local. I got weird looks when I, an obvious tourist, came in. They do latte art and the coffees are 1/2 the price of Starbucks. My cappuccino was super strong and so good. For non-espresso drinks, they grind your choice of coffee fresh, put it in these filters and pour the hot water in - and you can see it being made. I hung around there for a bit, because the variety of human that walked in and out of there was fabulous!

I wandered back down to 15th St to do my Chelsea Market shopping and I found a neat stationery store that had NY-themed Christmas cards, a theater that just does dance performances - The Joyce Theater. Once I got to Chelsea Market - I got bread at Amy's Bread, cheese at the Italian Deli and a couple of books at a bookstore had an awesome collection of books and journals.

Chelsea definitely has the feel of a real neighborhood. It would take you a year to really try out all the coffee shops and little places to eat. There were loads of art galleries & boutiques. Of all the neighborhoods I've been to so far, this one had the most friendly feel to it. Definitely a highlight of the NYC experience.

Bonus Photos of Chelsea