“These boots are made for walking”. Days 3, 4 and 5 in Gotham City.

Forgive me, dear friends and family for compressing these three days into one, but we’re having too good - and too full - a time to sit down and chronicle our days one-by-one. Apologies for the ‘supersized’ approach…

Day Three was spent mostly on foot. And boy, did we work through the proverbial shoe leather. By my calculations, we covered about 8-10 kms in snowy, sub-zero temperatures, covering a good chunk of Greenwich Village, Union Square, East Village, Nolita, Little Italy and Chinatown with the tiniest and tingliest icicles forming on our nose hairs.

The day’s highlights include 1. walking through a snow-blanketed Washington Square Park to go book shopping at the Strand Bookstore in Union Square (“miles and miles of books” – indeed!), 2. the pastrami, mustard and sauerkraut bagel (with a side of German potato salad) from Russ and Daughters deli and 3. spotting actress Robin Wright Penn (Kevin Spacey’s Lady Macbeth wife in House of Cards) who is really really TINY, heading into a chi-chi clothing store in Nolita.

Yes, television adds height as well as weight.

Little Italy is as underwhelming as I remember, but Muddy K got to play at being a Big Man on Mulberry Street for a few minutes. Dinner was an awesome Mexican spread at Rosa Mexicano in Union Square. In a brief moment of panicked virtuousness, I ordered the ‘skinny’ Margarita. Yeah, I know.

Day Four was ‘Muddy Gets His “Geek-On” Day’, but not before I planned on an early morning civilized breakfast at the delightfully Parisian Buvette’s in West Village. We then caught the subway to 42^nd Street for a full-blown geekaganza aboard the USS Intrepid, a decommissioned WWII-era aircraft carrier – now air, sea and space museum.

There’s a space shuttle, a submarine, a couple of MiGs and a full-scale replica of one of the Mercury space capsules from the early 60s among a whole host of other stuff to whet the appetites of the hardiest aircraft geeks. Muddy’s enthusiasm was infectious, and I loved all the exhibits, but I still drew deep relieved breaths upon exiting the ‘Growler’ submarine. And I am NOT claustrophobic.

We then met up with Red K for a burger lunch, headed to Times Square for the full NY Tourist experience, watched the skaters brave the crowded rink in Bryant Park and then wandered into Grand Central Terminal. It is GORGEOUS. I had no idea quite how vast and beautiful the space is. It’s so much a part of our popular culture, and so familiar, but still so impressive when you’re walking through it.

We scored some amazing discounted books from Midtown Comics, gazed in wonder at the Chrysler Building, then headed home to get ready for dinner with Red K at Pylos Greek Restaurant. I highly recommend this place for ANYONE after good Greek food. Trust me, it’s worth the trip to NY. Red kindly shouted us post-dinner cocktails at a speakeasy, then we stumbled home full of foodly and boozely goodness.

Day Five was mostly about noodling around Midtown, admiring the Rockefeller Centre but unable to visit the Top of the Rock observation deck due to poor visibility (Tuesday was cold and overcast and there appeared to be a fresh layer of snow on the ground…). Lunch and NY cheesecake at Dean and Deluca’s hit the spot before Muddy and I went our separate ways. He, to the Museum of Modern Art (MOMA) which he admitted, pale-faced and exhausted four hours later, was ‘overwhelming’ and I to run some errands and do a spot of window-shopping.

The evening ended with caviar and vodka – tasting at the Russian Tea Room on West 57^th. We are now resting our feet (and stomachs) in our cosy pad and enjoying a much-needed cup of tea.