24 Jul Traveling to New York City? 7 Intriguing Vacation Activities to Enjoy!

Traveling to New York City in many ways reminds me of traveling to Italy. You can’t do it all in one trip. To fully appreciate NYC, you have to keep going back again and again, like Italy, and do different things each time. Our son lives in Brooklyn and, each time we visit, he sets up an awesome itinerary involving completely unique activities. He’s an excellent tour guide, but since you can’t have him, here’s seven intriguing vacation activities for you to enjoy when traveling to New York City.

1. Sailing the Hudson River
2. Meeting up with designer friends
3. Visiting The Met Cloisters museum
4. Dining at a French restaurant and seeing a play
5. Brunch, fashion, architecture, and a garden in West Village
6. Whitney Museum of American Art
7. Brooklyn dining

 

 

I like to feel the pulse of the city during the day and especially at night. It’s exciting and inspiring because there is literally so much going on at once. I absolutely love art, gardens, fashion, architecture, dining at great restaurants, and graffiti art.

Please enjoy my photos as I share details about the seven intriguing vacation activities I recommend for you to enjoy in New York City.

1. Sailing.

There’s nothing more fun than arriving in NYC and having your son surprise you with sailing on a schooner. I grew up in upstate New York and hold many memories of the Hudson River and I sailed a lot as a child in Massachusetts with my father.

However, what’s unique about sailing the Hudson, is you see the entire island of Manhattan from the river and you get the best view of the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island. Plus there’s no tourist line and wine is served by a cheerful crew. Also, it’s fun afterward to walk around the Chelsea District, discover new restaurants, or see the architecture and fashion window displays. To book a sailing tour contact Chelsea Piers.

2. Design meet-up.

Meeting up with friends or family is always a great idea. I have many designer friends in the NYC chapter of the IDS, Interior Design Society. My visit was perfect timing for their summer social “Gotham County Fair.” We enjoyed perusing Luna textiles and designer handbags at a showroom, the summer social, which was great fun, as well as an evening dinner a la “Sex in the City” style.

 

 

3. The Met Cloisters.

Boy, did we get lucky! We run an Airbnb in Austin, Texas and a guest mentioned that I must see The Cloisters. I mentioned it to our son and he had always wanted to go. It’s a trek, as it’s up on the tippy, tippy top of Manhattan. But it is so worth it!

The Met Cloisters is the only museum in the United States devoted to the art and architecture of the Middle Ages. Located in the northern tip of Manhattan, the museum and gardens are in Fort Tryon Park in Washington Heights overlooking the Hudson River. Its name comes from the portions of five Medieval cloisters that make up the museum structure. Read the fascinating history in The Met Cloisters: An Overview.

I absolutely love fashion and history. To our surprise, The Cloisters had a very special exhibit going on in 2018 during our visit – Heavenly Bodies – Fashion and the Catholic Imagination.

This specific exhibit, by the Costume Institute, featured a “dialogue between fashion and medieval art from The Met Collection to examine fashion’s ongoing engagement with the devotional practices and traditions of the Catholicism.”

It was INCREDIBLE! As the Wall Street Journal put it –

A gift from the Sartorial Gods….an idea so right, so inevitably majestic, that it’s amazing it never happened here before.

It was hard to capture the most amazing exhibit I’ve ever seen in my life. The gardens and the massive acreage were all so beautiful. But it was the fashion and the stories behind each gallery room that stole the show.

Below are several of my favorites. To say I was blown away by the “Heavenly Bodies” exhibition is an understatement. It was truly magnificent and inspiring! We spent hours there and I’d love to go back someday.

To learn more about each individual gallery in this magical exhibition, please read HERE.

The Dressed Madonna II

“The emphatic silhouette and extravagant decoration of this dress by Viktor & Rolf recall the popular Marian devotion of dressing sculptures of the Madonna and child. The practice dates….” Read more HERE.

To see current exhibitions at The Met Cloisters, please visit their website.

The Garden of Eden

Below, ‘The three gardens at The Met Cloisters (Cuxa, Bonnefont, and Trie)—all designed and planted based on medieval texts and images—inspired the selection of garments in the Glass Gallery. The dress by Maria Grazia Chiuri and Pierpaolo Piccioli for Valentino was directly influenced by German painter Lucas Cranach the Elder’s depiction of the Garden of Eden in Adam and Eve (1526).” Learn more HERE.

Ensemble by House of Dior and John Galliano.

Below, “This dress features a portrait of the controversial Italian political philosopher and statesman Niccolo Machiavelli from the title page of his influential treatise The Prince (1532). The book was part of the personal library of King Francis I, who was once believed to have lived in the house from which the doorway and stair enclosure here originate.”

Romanesque Architecture

“The Met Cloisters evokes a sense of medieval monastic life through its architecture….”

Ethereal to witness the fashion in this gallery high above, “The two ensembles featured here echo these classical influences. Designed by Maria Grazia Chiuri and Pierpaolo Piccioli, they formed part of Valentino’s autumn/winter 2015–16 haute couture collection, which was an homage to Rome, where the house was founded. The arches of the Colosseum served as the reference for the ensemble composed of a dress and cape. They appear as black silk velvet pieced into double-faced cashmere, creating a tour de force of the techniques of haute couture. In its arched splendor, the cape establishes a formal connection with the rounded arches of the Saint-Guilhem Cloister.” Read more HERE.

The Crusades I

This Gothic Chapel is noteworthy for its seven tombs. Read the more in-depth stories about John Galliano’s ensemble and the connection to the architecture HERE.

Cult of the Virgin

The most remarkable examples of medieval stained glass were in the Early Gothic Hall below. Read more HERE.

Holy Sacraments I

This last photo “Holy Sacraments” below in The Fuentiduena Chapel, with the spotlight beaming on the figure in white, was absolutely mesmerizing!!

The garment by Karl Lagerfeld for Chanel was “derived from a style of dress worn by girls in France for their First Holy Communion.” Read more HERE.

4. West Village – fashion, architecture & gardens.

Brunch is big in NYC, and their burgers are too. I wanted to window shop and see some of the historic architecture. Our son’s girlfriend suggested we stroll the shops in West Village.

We had a fantastic brunch at The Loyal and enjoyed a relaxing, leisurely walk seeing many wonderful designer shops and classic neighborhood architecture.

The “piece de resistance” was discovering the small church garden tucked in the middle of West Village.

There are so many beautiful gardens and museums to see in NYC, but we lucked out in seeing the small private garden, now open to the public, of The Church of St. Luke in the Fields. The garden was lovely to sit on the benches and take in all the beauty. I’m not sure anyone was there but us. It was so peaceful amidst the hustle and bustle of NYC, like an “oasis in the middle of West Village.”

5. Dinner and Theatre.

What better combination for an evening out than an early dinner and an intimate play in Theatre Row, The Theatre Row Building is a complex of five Off-Broadway theatres at 410 W 42nd Street. Was another wonderful surprise our son had up his sleeve for his father for Father’s Day. We enjoyed a decadent dinner at the bustling French restaurant Marseilles and an off-broadway play by the Mint Theatre Company at a small, theatre, The Beckett. It was raining that evening which somehow made it even more fun and intimate.

You know me, I love to take photos of restaurant decor, lighting, and even bathroom tile. This delicious restaurant did not disappoint!

Graffiti art in NYC – so cool!

6. American Art.

I had never been to the Whitney Museum of American Art and we spent an entire afternoon enjoying four floors of art and a rooftop restaurant. The design of the building itself is incredible. Designed by architect Renzo Piano, it is situated between the High Line and the Hudson River with sweeping views.

One fun feature for us was seeing the original Edward Hopper painting that I gave my husband a print of when we were first dating; we’ve been married now 37 years. (A side note: I actually stood on a street corner, while a student at the University of Texas in Austin, handing out fliers to get the poster for free. Ha! What we do for love!)

Such incredible American art and sculpture, The Whitney is a must-see in NYC for sure!

Please PIN for easy reference

7. Brooklyn.

Our son lives in Brooklyn, and while we spent most of our time in Manhattan, we finished off our vacation with fabulous pizza at a super cozy spot in what used to be an old tire shop, the award-winning “Speedy Romeo”. And, at the end of our vacation to NYC, I happened to capture this cool shot of the iconic Brooklyn Bridge.

Hope you’ve enjoyed my perspective on traveling to New York City and doing different activities. Stay tuned for more travel after our vacation this summer to New England. Follow me on Instagram for updates along the way @thepillowgoddess. Wishing you a fantastic summer and hope you’re doing some “safe” traveling too. Till next time, XO PG

Note: This trip was in 2018, pre-pandemic. Photography and opinions my own, except posters and quotes.