It's sad how drastically my mood and feelings toward the city change once it's 1) the weekend & 2)sunny. Every weekend I re-fall in love with this place I'm calling home for a summer. It's because during the week my routine is redundant: go to work, come home, sleep (I sound like I'm way too old for my age). So the weekend finally gives me those moments to discover things, explore, soak in beautiful and exciting things. Not to mention that when it's not raining you can see more than when your umbrella is hovering over your view.

Today I explored Chelsea. Last night I mapped out some galleries to visit after brunch with Deborah. We ate at Empire Diner, an authentic diner that was converted from an old Pullman car (aka train car). Delicious French toast. And great company:)

From there we visited the waterfront of the Hudson River which was beautiful with sunshine and warmth.

I read an article in the New York Times this week about an apartment that faces the new High Line park that has occasional live performances on its fire escape. I was intrigued. And once I looked up the High Line, I was even more intrigued. It was a railway constructed in the '30s to lift freight trains off the streets. Now, it's a mile & a half long elevate urban park. It's amazing how people dream up alternative uses for rundown spaces. It was a really unique experience-I can't say I've ever been on an elevated park. 

so you have a sense of where it is in reference to the street.

i call this 'growth among the rundown.' to me it kind of symbolizes the entire park: reclaiming natural beauty from something that hasn't been in use or appreciated in decades.

this is the fire escape from the New York Times article.

Then we visited countless art galleries along 10th & 11th avenues and from 22nd Street to 27th. When I say countless, I'm serious. Galleries pretty much exist back to back, door after door. It's amazing. Here are just some of the favorite things I saw in a few of them:

what are people waiting in line for inside of an art gallery?

this. lights hanging from the ceiling in a small room surrounded by mirrors and an inch of water around a standing platform. it was a bizarre feeling seeing these lights going on forever every which way around you.

yes, i like tree paintings.

and glass bottle collections.

and dogs in galleries! :)

and wings with a cool light effect.

and giant pumpkin sculptures on the side of the street. 

We concluded the afternoon with gelato at Grom Gelato farther uptown. (And then I had gelato again after dinner with Ashley's parents tonight. I might as well be in Italy).

p.s. I've said this before, but the random interesting architecture I stumble upon in this city is breathtaking.