NY Adventures

Got it? Good.

What you really want to know is where can you hit a ball with a big stick too? The answer is Chelsea Piers, a sprawling sports and entertainment complex stretching into the Hudson River on Manhattan's west side. The baseball cages are tucked away, so don't be afraid to ask for directions. You can hire a cage for a half or full hour, or buy tokens for 10 pitches at a time.

If you liked softball or rounders as a kid, you'll love this. Just remember it's not school and Helen Wilson isn't throwing underarm at the other end of the cage. Instead it's a colossal machine spitting out balls like bullets.

The Field House @ Chelsea Piers
Pier 62, 23rd Street and the Hudson River, Manhattan

ROOM WITH A BREW

Moby, lest we forget, can knock out a decent tune or two. He also makes a decent brew. Not that the locals visit TeaNY solely to enjoy afternoon tea. More than anything else, they want to be seen to be enjoying it.

Tucked away amongst the fashionable but all too shabby streets of the Lower East Side, TeaNY is a compact cafe no larger than your living room, with seating for just a handful of customers. Middle-class mums catch up for a midweek gossip, students and their piercings contemplate Tolstoy and the Mac brigade plug themselves away in a carner.

Now don't get me wrong, tea is great. Brilliant stuff, tea. However, quite what anybody is going to do with 98 types of the stuff is anyone's guess. You shouldn't need a menu for tea, it's just plain wrong. From the exotic to the unpronounceable, you can nibble on a light spot of vegetarian lunch while slurping on a brew of your choosing, with new flavours being added all the time. Or you can invoke the fury of the tea gods by ordering an orange juice. Mwah ha ha ha ha.

There are cheaper and cheerier alternatives to TeaNY (the background electronica is a little disturbing at times), but they're not owned by a globally successful music icon, now are they? If you're a tea aficionado then it's a must, but stop by anyway so you can say you popped round Moby's for a cuppa.