Memorial Day

Today is Memorial Day in the United States, which is a federal holiday that commemorates US men and women who have died in military service to their country. So what better way to start off a public holiday in true New Yorker style, but with a walk through Central Park.

Central Park is a large public, urban park at the upper end of Manhattan, and is just under 3.5 km squared. It is one of the most famous city parks in the world, and the most visited city park in the United States with about 25 millions visitors annually. While much of the park lookds natural, it is in fact almost entirely landscaped and contains several artificial lakes, extensive walking tracks, two ice-skating rinks, a wildlife sanctuary, many grassy lawns and playgrounds. The 10 km road circling the park is popular with joggers, bicyclists and today was no exception being a federal holiday! We entered at the middle of the park on 59th St and walked passed the baseball fields, Sheep Meadow, Strawberry Fields, The Great Lawn and The Lake.

We walked Dad to the American Museum of Natural History on 82nd Street, and left him to explore museums for the afternoon. Mum and I then caught the subway to Soho and I took her for a walk down West Broadway & Spring Street. We then stopped off for a light lunch at Dos Caminos, a trendy Tex-Mex restaurant on the fringe of Soho. They are famous for their freshly made guacamole and the 105 different Tequila's they have on the beverage menu! We opted for a bowl of the guacamole and chips... as you can see it was enough for both of us!

We continued our walk through Greenwich down Bleecker Street. I took Mum to Magnolia Bakery to sample a cupcake... but the line was so long we decided to opt out. It was out the door and halfway down the street! They are good cupcakes... but not that good! Unfortunatley for me, Magnolia is located right opposite Marc Jacobs, so a last time visit was compulsory! It resulted in another pair of shoes... who can resisit when they are 40% off!! From here we walked up West 4th Street and caught the subway to Union Square before heading home to meet Dad.

Earlier in the week, a local had recommended a great BBQ restaurant near Times Square, and given Dad has been waiting to have spare ribs we decided to give it a go. Just around the corner on West 44th Street we found Virgil's BBQ. We had BBQ chicken wings and pork spare ribs true Southern BBQ style - smoked and marinated for hours, and it was awesome food. Dad couldn't even eat it all!! I think this has been his highlight of New York so far!