It seemed like everyone we knew was in New York City this past weekend. The girls discovered that one of their good friends and her mom happened to be in the hotel right next to ours. We met up for breakfast at one of their favorite spots – Daniela Trattoria:

We joked about how this breakfast had not been factored into the 12 page master plan and that a certain amount of processing had to be done to mentally adjust to this unexpected twist. We laughed about how the Careening Pinball and the Master Planner were negotiating our different styles, especially when it came to the question of whether or not we should try to wait in the Hamilton cancellation line.

“I’m a planner too,” our friend said, “But I’ve learned to plan for spontaneity. I always like to leave space in my schedule for things that come up unexpectedly.”

“Plan for spontaneity” may be my new motto in life…although I suppose it would only work if I ever had a plan to begin with.

We headed off to the glorious High Line, the urban park built around a defunct elevated railway line:

The last time I was there a few years ago, the plantings looked new and a bit sparse…Now it’s a lush oasis complete with full-grown trees.

There’s a lot of new construction going up around the High Line…

My daughter picked out the apartment building where she wants to live when she grows up:

 The building at 520 West 28th Street was Zaha Hadid’s last New York project. Later we did a little internet research and discovered that there are currently five condo units for sale ranging from $5,095,000 for a 1,691 sq. foot unit to $13,500,000 for a 4,220 sq. foot unit. There are two $50,000,000 penthouses. Steep? Yes! But the building has its own 12 seat IMAX theater, spa, pool, etc. etc. Still too much? Maybe my daughter could just rent instead…the cheapest rental goes for a mere snip at $15,000 a month; the more expensive ones for $22,500. Dream big, kid.

We got off the High Line to go shopping in Chelsea Market. We had so much fun, we lost track of time and realized we didn’t even have time for lunch.

We had to hustle to get to the Tenement Museum at 103 Orchard Street, where we were fortunately booked for a Food Tour that took us to lots of different locations around the Lower East Side. Some of the many stops included Vanessa’s Dumplings, where we tried a Beijing style dumpling, Russ & Daughters Café, where we tried a bagel and schmeer, and El Castillo de Jagua, where we tried some fried plantain. My daughter’s favorite just may have been the pickled pineapple we had here:

We had a short break before the next “Under One Roof” tour we were scheduled for, where we walked around apartments recreated to the specifications of tenants who had lived there, and heard their stories.

If I had to do it over again, I would probably only schedule one tour – two back to back tours were pretty exhausting.

We made our way to David Chang’s Momofuku Noodle Bar in the East Village for dinner. My daughter has been pining to try any of David Chang’s restaurants, and was thrilled to finally go to his original Momofuku restaurant.

She loved her Braised Oxtail with chili, buttered rice, and a poached egg…

We took a subway to our next destination…

This is why I love New York…

No matter how weird you are, there’s always someone or something weirder, just around the corner.

No trip to New York with the younger set is complete without a stop at Dylan’s Candy Bar:

We decided to forgo the tasty selection at Dylan’s, because we were saving ourselves for…

Well…maybe when we’re living in one of those $50,000,000 penthouse apartments we’ll come back and try one of those items on Serendipity’s menu. This time, we settled for something slightly more modest:

We staggered back to our hotel, exhausted, happy, and stuffed.

Tomorrow: Hamilton…to be or not to be?