The best thing about living in a big city is that people are always passing through. Last week, my friend Sophie came to stay on her way back from a work trip Baltimore- from small town USA to the bright lights of the big apple! I was very excited to show her around and tried my best to cover a mixture of touristy stuff, as well as real New York activities.

We started off catching up over tapas at a great place called Sala One Nine in the Flatiron area- it was a bit too dark to photograph the food but hopefully this gives an idea of the atmosphere – very cute and rustic!

Of course, I had to take her to Penelope’s, my favourite local brunch spot (yes, I now have favourite haunts -the sign of a true New Yorker!) on Saturday morning, where we tackled scrambled eggs with feta and asparagus and the Nutella French toast with pomegranate bellinis… We had to wait a while for a table but passed the time with a quick manicure (hard life, I know) and it’s definitely worth the wait:

We walked off our lunch with some Christmas window shopping and Macy’s Christmas department which is definitely something to be seen if you aren’t overwhelmed by glitter and sparkles!

Next on the list was the Rockefeller Centre so we wrapped up warm and headed up just before sunset. (I hope you aren’t yet bored of pictures of the Empire State Building on here!)

Quite chilly up there as you can see by our red noses….

but pretty spectacular!

We went bar hopping on Saturday evening around the West Village and found some great places- one was a kind of underground mixology place where you gave them a rough idea of what you wanted and they created something for you, and another was decorated by hundreds of china pigs (think they are most famous for their pig ear sandwiches). We did have to spend a lot of time queuing though as people are definitely sticking around in one place once they are inside now it is getting colder, rather than moving on.

It was back to the Flatiron on Sunday for lunch at Eataly’s vegetarian section before a wander down the High Line to Chelsea. It was cold but sunny, which is the great thing about New York at this time of year.

Sunday evening was a rather unique experience where we ate dinner in a cheese cellar, right next to maturing cheese (behind glass luckily). I blogged about this place a while ago (Beecher’s) where they make their own cheese and had been wanting to try it out for dinner so we tucked into a feast of “world’s best” mac’n’cheese, with more cheese, and a token salad on the side. I explain all this eating as training for thanksgiving….

Monday was a beautiful sunny day so we headed up to Central Park, strolling around, and delayering as we went! We walked up literary walk which is the only straight path in the park – I bet it is even more beautiful in the summer when the trees have leaves…

And then found these beautiful arches where a group of musicians were playing acoustic Christmas carols so we hung around there for a while – I do love a good carol!

We couldn’t resist a quick drink at the boathouse either- did someone say peach bellini? While the rest of my team is at work? Well, ok then… try not to be too jealous…

We took advantage of the change in the weather to go down to the bottom of the island and take the Staten Island ferry. Turns out we could not have picked a better day and we got some spectacular views! (I give credit to Sophie for some of these pictures!)

Manhattan skyline:

And the Money Shot!

Dinner at Dovetail was next on the itinerary where we sampled a selection of largely vegetarian, Michelin Starred courses and then it was our last day together which came around all too soon. I decided it was time we saw somewhere more edgy so we walked the Williamsburg Bridge to Brooklyn (which it turns out is very long!) and strolled around the gift shops there, before retreating for hot chocolate at Max Brenner. We were slightly too restrained, only ordering hot chocolate, so when the chef was coming up with new creations in the kitchen and needed tasters, our waiter thought we were the best suited for the job! Of course we stepped up to the offer and ended up with these marvellous creations, completely free!

A great few days! Thanksgiving post coming soon!