“These vagabond shoes…” actually, gum boots, are already getting a workout. Dusty and Muddy go large in New York City. Day 2 in NYC.

Yo friends, family and thrill-seekers. Greetings from Greenwich Village, NYC, the coolest, most sweetly-gentrified-yet-still-the-funkiest of Manhattan’s downtown enclaves.

This is officially Day Two of our 14-day trip. What can I say? It’s been wonderful so far. Despite a long and arduous flight (flying United Airlines is truly a brutal experience), we managed to get to our cosy 5^th floor walkup apartment in the West Village from Newark, NJ at a decent hour on Valentine’s night. We had a chatty cabby for company - the man took an inordinate interest in Australia’s export economy and Dr Muddy was happy to fill him in on Australia’s economic mosaic. Nice work, Dr K.

Red Karpitz and Tiffany Lamp were kind enough to meet me and my good man Muddy and help us settle in.  Thanks, guys!

Our apartment is adorable. Essentially a tiny, pre-war one/two bedder with bendy, slopey floors and a parallelogram doorway, a miniscule bathroom (we brush our teeth in the kitchen sink) and 1930s ceilings, it’s also delightfully decked out with assorted original artworks, curios, built-in bookshelves groaning under the weight of a lifetime’s collection of favourite authors - and really really really QUIET. I mean, we, hear, NOTHING. Surprised? So were we. No sirens, no street noise, no apartment sounds. Incredible. The occasional burst of noise – hissing and burping - from the ancient heating system is an odd bit of aural punctuation but that’s about it.

And the apartment is close to EVERYTHING.

Day One was spent walking the High Line – the raised railway line now transformed into a park-cum-walkway from which people enjoy the best views of Chelsea and the Meatpacking District– and getting snowed on! Thankfully, Muddy and I were prepared, with hoods, hats, waterproof jackets and sturdy boots.

We hung a right, headed towards Pennsylvania Station for a much needed warming coffee and pastry at Zaro’s Bakery, a pit-stop to buy gloves for me, and a squizz around – watching the passing parade of Penn Station ‘street life’ is interesting. We then emerged back onto the windy, snowy street and headed past Madison Square Garden towards the Empire State Building for our Art Deco architecture fix (but not before stopping at JC Penney’s for Muddy to pick up a couple of nice discounted neckties).

The lobby of the ESB is full of exquisite and ornate detailing – the product of recent restoration work – but we passed on the observation deck as we’re saving our sky-high viewing for Top of the Rock at the Rockefeller Centre.

We then headed South on Fifth Avenue towards the Flatiron District, Muddy almost giving himself whiplash with all the head-turning and neck-craning. It’s his first day in NYC and he’s feeling right at home (“It’s like Melbourne on crack! And everything is so close.”). We spotted the Flatiron Building, that peculiar pie-wedge shaped building opposite a snow-drenched and slushy Madison Square Park, took some happy snaps, then did a u-turn back North along Madison Avenue towards Jim Hanley’s Universe, a comic book emporium where Muddy K could get his first of what will no doubt be many pop-culture fixes in Gotham City.

Doubling back towards the Flatiron District along Madison Avenue, we stumbled into an antique and reclaimed furniture store. Spread over two levels, this place puts all those secondhand “industrial” furniture stores in Melbourne’s inner North to shame. This place has EVERYTHING, and at rather good prices, given where it is located. The young Frenchman who worked there, took great pains to show us some of their more outré pieces. Noice.

Back in the Flatiron District, we did a food and wine pit-stop at Eataly, the destination Italian food emporium Guy Grossi would give his left testicle (or indeed both testicles) to own/run. Red K and Tiffany L and joined us for a stand-up express antipasto, wine, beer and cheese experience. Again: Noice.

Now an Awesome Foursome, we strode down snowy and windy streets to Doughnut Plant in Chelsea, picking up an assortment of doughy goodness for ‘afters’ and then wended our way to Chelsea Market.

An early Sangria-lubricated tapas dinner at Tia Pol in Chelsea (slow-cooked pork, lamb skewers and crispy Squid – yummers), followed by doughnuts, Port and conversation back at the temporary Venetian-Karpitz Manor capped off a marvelous first day in the snow-dusted Apple.

Day 3, we brave the slushy East Village streets for some Jewish, Italian, Chinese and Bohemian vibes. Should be delightful.