Sisters' Diary: NYC Edition — Part 3: The High Line, Little Island & the Nap That Saved the Night

Day two of our NYC sisters’ trip took us along the High Line from Hudson Yards down to Chelsea Market, with a stop on Little Island along the way.

The Vessel at Hudson Yards

Surprisingly, even after the intensity of the prior day, we still woke up early Saturday raring to go. With a 12:30am Comedy Cellar reservation coming up that night we knew a nap would be non-negotiable, so we wanted to make the most of our daytime hours for exploration. Today, we were finally hitting a location that had been high on my must-see list for quite some time: The High Line.

The High Line is a former elevated freight railway along the west side of Manhattan, stretching from Hudson Yards in the north to Gansevoort St in the south. Its roughly 1.5 miles are filled with wild yet maintained greenery and sprinkled with modern art, offering a truly unique experience and serving as a shining example of what it means to breathe new life into a derelict space.

Before we set out for the short walk to Hudson Yards, we wanted to sample an authentic New York delicacy: the bagel. Luckily right around the corner on 7th Ave was Bagel Pub, an excellent find with a wide variety of the carb-filled delights and even wider variety of cream cheeses, artfully arranged in a display case as if it were a gelateria. We both opted for egg bagels, her with olive cream cheese (she's always loved olives since we were kids) and me with boring but still delicious plain cream cheese. I did experiment a bit though the next morning when we went back, this time for a cinnamon raisin bagel with cinnamon walnut cream cheese, plus a dozen bagels to bring home to our parents.

A little bagel shop humor

It did remind me of an authentic pub!

The unreal cream cheese selection at Bagel Pub

After finishing the largest bagels I've ever seen, we walked the few blocks to Hudson Yards, and I admit that I started to get a little giddy when it came into view. I'm not sure what was happening to me on this trip. I had always been so anti-NYC, with its noise and its smells and its dirty streets, but I was seeing new parts of it and experiencing it all in a whole new light.

Our first view of The High Line

Someone was having a fashion shoot on the steps to the High Line (NYC, amirite?) so we took the elevator up and immediately The Vessel came into view. It was another bright, sunny day, so the sun was gleaming off the copper spiral stair structure. It was closed that morning, and I had zero desire to climb the stairs anyway, so we took our pictures and began our journey south.

The Vessel

I'm sure the walk took us at least twice as long as it should have, because I was stopping every few feet for more pictures and video. I absolutely loved the way the wildflowers looked stretching up from between the cracks in the cement planks, with the original tracks following alongside us. We admired the apartments towering over us on either side, dreaming of what it must be like to basically have the High Line as your backyard.

Sculptures and wildflowers reaching up through the old train tracks

One of the several murals along The High Line

I loved that green building on the right

Empire State Building in the distance

“Give Us Mom” is by artist Nora Turato and is a collective plea for care, comfort, and tenderness in a fast-paced, anxious world. I can identify with that!

The old city architecture is stunning

We reached the Chelsea Market passage and stopped at the first stall which was a High Line gift shop. I picked up a fun magnet that says, "I was wild in the 90s." It was one of my favorite purchases of the trip. Normally this area is filled with food vendors, but since we were so anxious to get out the door and explore, we were a bit too early for most of the stalls.

Immediately after the passage is the sundeck, with a water feature built into the ground serving double duty as a calming presence and splashable sanctuary for kids. We took a moment to settle into a large lounge chair overlooking the Hudson. I could have easily stayed there for the next hour.

Lounging on the sundeck

We forced ourselves to keep going, seeing our next destination within a reasonable distance from where we lounged. Little Island was next on our list, and before we knew it, we were crossing the short bridge onto the man-made island that looks like a bouquet of tulips. That's my interpretation at least. What's yours? I feel like it could be the Rorschach test of landscape architecture.

Little Island

Little Island selfie

View from beneath the stilts

I loved this urban oasis just as much as I loved the High Line. We followed the winding trail that climbs up and down the various levels of the island, passing different apparatuses built into the landscape that somehow make music. There was an amphitheater overlooking the Hudson, and I made a mental note to return for a show with Steve and Sam one day. Even the bathroom was interesting, looking like it was built into a cave.

Eventually, though, we saw what we could see, took our photos, and decided to move on to nearby Chelsea Market. Steve, Sam, and I had visited it for the first time during a trip in March, and I knew it would be a place that Barbara would appreciate. She and my mom could shop together for hours, usually while I follow them around checking my watch.

Our first stop though was Posman Books, which is the one category of store that I could shop in for days. I ultimately controlled myself, picking up just one book although I could have easily purchased half a shelf. I still managed to walk away with multiple stories within the one book, going with The Three Novels of New York, which includes three of Edith Wharton's most famous stories of the city: The House of Mirth, The Custom of the Country, and The Age of Innocence. I've been wanting to read her novels since visiting her home, The Mount, in the Berkshires for my birthday a couple of years ago, and it seemed like an appropriate purchase in New York City.

Chelsea Market

We perused several other shops, picking up a Doodle NYC picture in honor of Charlie, a small vase that I now use as a penholder, and Barbara picked up a lightbulb shirt as a nod to her profession (and made a totally random connection when she and the salesperson learned they both lived on the same street in Hollywood at different times).

We reached the opposite end of the market, and we were ready for a pick me up. We hopped over to the Starbucks Reserve Roastery and picked up our caffeinated beverages of choice while marveling at the novelty store.

Our plan at this point had been to hit a bucket of balls at the Chelsea Piers driving range, but unfortunately, they didn't have any openings until later that day. We'll need to try again another time because the facility was really impressive.

We decided that it was time to turn in for the highly important nap that was intended to carry us through the latest night I've had in recent memory. Our itinerary for the evening included drag bingo in the East Village and a 12:30am show at the Comedy Cellar. Stay tuned for the 4th and final installment for those experiences and along with our unintentionally postponed trip home.