The High Line: A New York City Treasure

Ahh the High Line, converted old train tacks that are now a highlight to any NYC guidebook. For those of you who haven’t visited to the High Line the best way to describe it is like a secret, elevated park that doubles as a walkway and sightseeing spot. There are entrances and exits all along the railway from 14^th to 34^th Street, so you can come and go as you please.

I remember the first time I visited the High Line was right when it opened in 2009. I was in high school at the time and was spending the day with my parents and cousins just walking around and people watching (one of the best pass times). Since it was summertime there were tons of people out and multiple local food carts filed with artisan flavor ice pops amongst other food groups.

I remember being amazed by all the green trees, the grass, the view, and just the general architecture design of it all. For starters, the fact that these abandoned train tacks got turned into a park is pretty remarkable. With the various areas filled with benches the High Line is a great place to meet friends or take a late afternoon walk to admire the art/graffiti/murals that adorn the sides of passing buildings.

One thing I love about the High Line is how when you’re up there walking you are still in the city but you also feel very removed from it at the same time, not unlike the feeling you get when walking through Central Park. In all honesty I could probably spend a good couple of hours there just looking out at the water (YES, you heard that right, the water! You can see the river from the High Line! Raise your hand if you’re sold already cause I know I am) and just watch life go one down below me. Evidently the designers of the High Line knew how people like you and me think and they created a whole little section where you can actually sit over the street and watch the traffic below you through a plexiglass window!

Another bonus is that if you visit multiple times a year you can watch the season’s change in the flowers that are planted and bloom between the tracks! I love doing this

However, what you will see on the High Line is not limited to nature. Sometimes you’ll be luck enough to see performances, such as the one time my mom and I passed a solo dance performance that was being videoed and photographed in one of the little bench alcove area.

You really never know what you may find!

Have any of you ever been to the High Line or want to go? If so, let me know and what you liked most about it!

Ps. Don’t forget to subscribe so you never miss a post, I’d really appreciate it! J

~ Monique ~

Montréal Highlights Guide

O Canada! Montreal will always partially be my home because I have so much family there. I love to visit and recently got the chance. This trip we got around the city and had the change to got to amazing museums, eat some spectacular food, shop until we drop, and walk through some beautiful parts of town, including Old Montreal! Since I had a great time I thought I would put together a little guide of the highlights of the trip for anyone interested of planning to go there themselves.

Museums

Museums are always first on my list, and in my time in Montreal we had the opportunity to go to two of the best!

First up was the McCord Museum to see the “Horst: Photographer of Style” exhibition which runs from May 14^th-August 23^rd, 2015 and was organized by the Victoria & Albert Museum in London. Unfortunately there was no photography allowed in the exhibit, otherwise I would have bored you with an endless amount of pictures to scroll through. As I’ve mentioned before I am a huge fan of fashion photography, and that’s exactly what this show was about. Horst was one of the most well known German-American fashion photographers for Vogue’s Paris office throughout most of his life. Horst captured photographs in black & white and color photographs, with particular emphasis on the element of shadows. Some of my favorite photos included Jean Patchett, Coco Chanel, and Gloria Vanderbilt. In addition, I was blown away at the room full of covers of Vogue, it was truly fascinating to walk the timeline and see how fashion and photography changed over the years.  

Next was the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts to see the “Metamorphoses: In Rodin’s Studio” exhibition. This was a treat because the had the room set up with so many of Rodin’s sculptures and plaster studies that it felt as if you walked into his work studio. Here we were allowed to take pictures! My favorite sculptures were “The Kiss,” 1889 and “Eternal Spring,” 1884.

Eats

Who doesn’t love a good meal?! Well I had more than my fair share in Montreal, I almost felt as if all I did was eat the whole trip. There were my top three favorite places!

Aux Vivres (located on 4631 Boul St-Laurent) is a vegan restaurant that I went to with my grandmama on a granddaughter-grandmother date. Everything on the menu looked amazing which made it hard to choose a single dish. We settled on both getting the Buddha bowl, which consisted of a rice base and tons of broccoli, shredded carrots, cucumber, toasted sesame seeds and pumpkin seeds and grilled tofu piled on top. For an after dinner snack we shared a mango lassi (made with mangos, coconut milk, apple juice, agave, lime). On top of the fact that I LOVE magno lassis, this smoothis was certified heavenly and I’m sure any of the other smoothies on the menu would have been equally as good. Since by this time we both were so full our food babies were bursting we decided to take dessert to-go and eat it later (because you can’t just go to a vegan restaurant and not order dessert). We got the chocolate banana pie (which, bonus, was gluten free) to take home and I’m still dreaming about this creamy pie it was so good.

Jardin Nelson (located on 407 Place Jacques-Cartier) in Old Montreal was another one of my favorites! Walking through Old Montreal itself feels as if you’ve traveled back in time to some little town in Europe, but when you walk into Jardin Nelson it feels as if you really could be sitting in a café in Europe. The openness of the restaurant with umbrellas at each table, twinkle lights on all the tree trunks, surrounded by flowers and live music makes you so happy, it’s a must try for a good day out.

Lastly, Kosher Sushi Yakimono (located on 4210 Boulevard Décarie) was another treat! Although the restaurant it small the food is delicious. I am a big fan of sushi, even though I only really eat the vegetarian ones. I went with my family and shared a seaweed salad, “crab” salad and then each got our own roll (I got avocado and cucumber—delish!)

  

Shopping

Since there was a little bit of a heat wave when we were in Montreal we headed to Rockland Centre Mall to cool off and walk around in some air-conditioning. Here there are stores galore, just like in the U.S. 

Walking

Every morning we took a little walk around the neighborhood, my two favorite routes were through the McGill campus and down Rue Sherbrooke. McGill Campus is beautiful to walk through and marvel at the architecture. Since classes hadn’t started yet it was quiet and peaceful to walk through and just observe. Then Rue Sherbrooke is a long long street that is a good walk for window-shopping and people watching!

Have any of you been to Montreal or any of these places? What’s your favorite thing to do when you visit an new city?

~ Monique ~