When I first moved to New York, enamoured by its parks and museums and design firms and restaurants and bars, I never imagined that there could be much more to its geography than that. How wrong I was. My first drive across the George Washington Bridge was jaw-dropping - the cliffs of New Jersey are astonishingly tall, covered in a dense thicket of trees. But that was just the tip of the iceberg. Drive up 87 to the Catskills or the Adirondacks and you'll witness the Hudson River winding its way through spectacular scenery and unforgiving seasons. Now I can't get enough; just two hours up the road, it's like the city never existed. Perfect recuperation after a long week.

It's a bar with live Jazz music, random furnitures, and bunch of games like pool, ping-pong, chess, and etc. The place is filthy, disorganized, and fun.

The Chelsea Market is filled with great restaurants and speciality food stores and pop up shops. I love stopping in and getting a gourmet grilled cheese from Lucy's Whey or a healthy juice from raw food restaurant One Lucky Duck, while shopping for dinner ingredients at the Italian market Buon Italia. For a great sit down restaurant, I love The Green Table, which serves great farm to table food.

Best cupcakes ever (aside from my wife's)

It feels like you wake up in a fairy tale house or another may name it as an alternative for marry poppins' place. If you want to escape from city and rest for a couple of days and re-charge, this village and house might be your secret spot. If you are a photographer! , this is a beautiful place for a possible photo shoot - for a project with a good budget