A Downtown Weekend: The Highline, The Lot On Tap, Chelsea Market, and more…

There are two wonderful things about entertaining an out-of-town guest.

1.  You get to have them do whatever you really want to do.  They’re not too busy or too tired or too far away to come out.  They are right there and READY TO GO.

2.  You get to unselfconsciously be a tourist wherever you go, taking fun photos and being really loud on the subway for no reason.

Oh…and there’s a third reason of course…if you really like the person and you haven’t seen them in a while–you have a FREAKING AWESOME TIME catching up with them!

As was the case when my friend Kelly visited over 4th of July weekend.  (Seems like a while ago?  When we all got Monday off?)

So, here’s what I suggest for a great weekend visitor itinerary.

1.  Chelsea Market.

So much food…and it looks so cool inside!  I didn’t buy anything, but I enjoyed exploring the different offerings.  I walked into an Italian import store, where a man mistook me for a Venetian.

Man: Di dove sei?  Sei Veneta?

Me: No, sono americana!

Man: Ma dai, sembri un’italiana.  Mi sembravi veneta!

Man’s wife (holding a tray of free chocolate samples): Non sembra mica Veneta!  Si vede che e` americana!  (Looks at me)  Scusa, eh, parli abbastanza bene, ma non sei italiana.

Me: Walking away, distracted by the ENORMOUS jar of nutella!

2.  This park, for sun-bathing:

3.  The High Line!  Including the new section:

(more to come soon…uploading photos takes soo long on my internet connection!)