New York was overwhelming. Four and a half days and I still feel I barely scratched the surface. It’s not my favourite city, even in the States (San Francisco wins hands down for me). But I did have an interesting time and enjoyed my visit.

You can never hope to get to more than a handful of places in one trip. A friend from the US recommended a few places to eat and I didn’t get to a single one.

Once again a positive review for the Time Out guide. I really like their city guides and the ones for the US seems pretty up to date.

Museum of the American Indian, Financial District

Confession time: this was the only museum I had chance to see. Travelling with someone who hates museums will do that!
This is an offshoot of the Smithsonian and really interesting to take a look around. There’s no entry fee, but I’m sure they welcome donations. When we visited there was a holiday craft fair taking place, with crafts people from all over the country.

Filicori Zecchini, East 46th St and Madison

We just stumbled on this place when we were looking for a quick bite to eat and a cup of tea, and it’s perfect for that. I had two bite sized spinach empanadas which were delicious and unusual. Loved their tea glasses too- wish they had been available to buy. They are part of a small Italian chain so I imagine their coffee is not bad either.

The Holiday Shops at Bryant Park

Not really a hidden gem, but an excellent range of local jewellery, gift and clothes designers in pop-up glasshouses around the skating pond at Bryant Park.

Leaving it late for the High Line

Originally I planned to walk the High Line at the weekend, but Saturday was bitterly cold and Sunday was foggy. So I figured I could do this on Monday morning, before we had to leave for the airport early afternoon. As it turned out, we only had time to walk half of it, so it was a fascinating but frustrating experience. This is my favourite detail – quirky and amusing. Looks a little like Andy Warhol!