Engine engine number nine

On the New York Transit Line...
That's what got stuck in my head after I saw this sucker at the 14th Street subway exit. There were all these little subway trolls all over the place!

Today was a crazy full day of food and walking! We started off with a large breakfast spread at the house and hopped on a train into NYC. Our plan was to explore the shops at Chelsea Market, meet up w/a friend for lunch and High Line Park and brave the crowds at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Of course, an adventure isn't complete without straying from the plan!

We got into the city a little before noon and walked over to Chelsea Market. How fun does this building look? I like how it has this basket weavy looking thing going on.
For those who don't know, Chelsea Market is an enclosed food court/shopping mall that is also home to the Food Network and other fun broadcasting companies. There are a ton of cafes, groceries with tons of fresh produce and a seafood place with insanely fresh fish. I really wish I had a reason to shop for food while we were there!
Looks like we managed to beat the crowds this morning too! I envisioned a huge mess of people like when we went to the Ferry Building, but not the case. It was a lot quieter than I thought it would be, but it was nice being able to do a leisurely stroll through the market.

First place we stopped in was the Fat Witch Bakery - I definitely wanted to introduce Jamie to the Blonde Baby! I grabbed one of these the last time I was in town for work and was immediately hooked. It was the perfect size, texture and flavor! They had a small bowl full of these babies and I decided to grab one of each:
Next, we stopped by The Lobster Place to stare at all the seafood. Is it weird that I liked the way it smelled? It smelled like really fresh seafood - not fishy - and it made me happy :) There were these GORGEOUS Blue Shrimp (it was called blue-something or other) that I wanted to take home so badly. I usually freak out about things with heads, but these shrimp were SO fresh and SO large they were just screaming to be skewered and grilled with just some olive oil and salt. If only we had a place to grill them on the spot :(

After getting all sad about not buying fish, we wandered around and ended up at my new favorite place EVER...the Manhattan Fruit Exchange. Oh my goodness...there were so many fun ingredients at this place - BEAUTIFUL produce. Best looking stuff I've seen in AGES. I wanted to pick this place up and plop it in the middle of DC. That good.

The pretty produce and treats ended up being fairly expensive so I only walked out with a bag of this:
I decided to finally try some goji berries! I broke into this pack after dinner and I think they're pretty good. The texture is a little weird...I'm thinking they would be better not by themselves?

After sensory overload at that store, we mosied over to Chelsea Market Baskets to see what fun stuff they had to offer. They had a ton of cute foodie gifts - seasoned salts, sauces, dips, baskets, housewares, weird roasted lamb flavored potato chips? I refrained from purchasing anything large or heavy since I really don't have a reason to and chose to buy these two small bags of salty treats:
These were NOT good, btw. The nuts tasted like someone took spices straight from the spice rack and dumped them on some peanuts...like eating a spoonful of powdered spice. Weird. The Sweet and Spicy mix was SUPER SPICY. Plus it had raisins in it, which made me like it even less. Ah well. At least they were less than $2 each.

Jamie ended his market experience at L'Arte Del Gelato where he got a small cup of Passion Fruit Gelato with a free taste test of Green Apple:
Both the Passion Fruit and Green Apple were really tart - almost like eating a sorbet. I was kinda hoping he'd go with a creamy flavor instead. Btw, I really liked the lighting in this one spot at Chelsea Market...it was where I took this shot of the melty gelato.

Chelsea Market...CHECK! Next up, High Line Park.
High Line Park is a new public park located on 10th Avenue between Gansevoort Street and 20th Street (at least that's the section that just opened in June). It makes use of the elevated rail that hasn't been in use for years and creates an oasis for city dwellers above the street. It's a great change from your standard street level parks ;)
We only accessed the park starting at 14th Street, but we had great views of the city and water!
The original tracks remain in tact and the overgrown greens totally look like the overgrown weeds you see on the side of an unused train track.
One thing I thought was really cool (but failed to get a picture of) was the movable bench. While most of the seating was stationary, there were a few benches that were on wheels that could be moved along the train track. AWESOME!

They also had this fun stadium seating sort of thing where you could watch the cars go by on the street below. You can check out more on the design here.
I also snapped a picture of this b/c I'm a weird photo nerd sometimes. Yes, I missed the 'A' ;p
Ok, I'm going to leave you guys with that for now. I'm EXHAUSTED from today's events and I've got a long run tomorrow morning! Yeesh, I've only posted half of our day! I'll be back tomorrow with details on our yummy lunch and the dinner feast my mom made. Nite :)