Monday, March 25th, 2019
Grace and I went on a spring break trip to NYC. I haven’t been to NYC in 15 or so years and Grace has never been so we were excited for an adventure. I woke up at 4:00AM for our 6:30 AM flight, showered, got ready and then saw message that our flight was delayed an hour and a half. We went back to sleep for an hour and then Courtney drove us to the airport and had no troubles on our quick flight to Laguardia. We bought our subway cards at the airport and then took a shuttle bus to the nearest subway stop and then took the subway into Manhattan. It only took about a half hour and only cost $2.75. We were staying at Pod51 on East 51st and 2nd Ave in midtown – just a block and a half from subway stop. We were able to check in early to our tiny little room, dropped our stuff off and hit the pavement by 11:00AM. Our first stop was Essa bagel, just down the street where we waited in line for about 1/2 hour. I had an everything bagel with sun-dried tomato cream cheese bacon and onions. Best bagel ever. We walked downtown on Lexington happy to be exploring. We went into Grand Central, explored, gawked and then caught the train to Hudson Yards. Hudson Yards is a new development that just opened up a few weeks ago. We climbed the Vessel – an M.C. Escher-ist sculpture? photo op? stair master?… whatever it is its pretty cool and has amazing views. The new buildings surrounding the plaza are all impressive and the soon to open shed looks amazing. Billions and billions of dollars. We walked through the mall with lots of glitzy stores, bought a few things at the Japanese store MUJI and then hit the high line which started next door. Walked the high line enjoying the architecture, art and people; walked through the Chelsea Market half way through; bopped into the Diane Von Furstenberg boutique where there was an exhibit by Ashley Longshore that Grace was excited to see. Walked the rest of high line and checked out the Whitney museum, walked around the meatpacking district for a bit and hopped back on the train back to the hotel for a much needed rest. After sleeping for an hour an a half we hit the happy hour trail – took the subway down to the East Village and went to Upstate that was on our list of $1 happy hour oyster spots. I had a half dozen oysters and a glass of champagne, Grace had a beer and then had clam linguine and I had some crab cakes. The food and atmosphere were great. We walked around the neighborhood for a bit and then stopped at a little place called Maiden Lane and had another drink and people watched and then went to Rue B which was our original destination as they were advertising jazz with no cover. We had one drink but weren’t feeling it – especially when they told us we had to pay a cover – so took off on the subway to walk through Times Square and then walked back to our hotel. Total miles walked: 12.2
Tuesday, March 26th, 2019
Our little hotel offered free walking tours every morning so we decided to go on the one this morning that was going to the lower East side and Chinatown. After a quick breakfast at a coffee shop around the corner it was a long subway ride downtown as there were traffic problems in the city. The tour was good – we went to places we never would have gone to, learned a lot about graffiti and the history of Chinatown. On our tour guides suggestion we went to Xi’An Famous Foods in Chinatown for lunch. We had bowls of noodles that were fresh, spicy and delicious. We hit the pavement again and walked south walking back through Chinatown, exploring the area around City Hall and then doing what was #1 on my NYC list: walk across the Brooklyn Bridge. The bridge was of course beautiful, full of people and the views were great on a bright sunny day. We walked all the way across into Brooklyn and took the subway back to Manhattan to the World Trade Center area. We walked through the Oculus – amazingly huge and modern – like you are in a Star Wars movie. We got lost in there trying to find the way out but eventually made it out to ground zero to check out the memorial fountains and the plaza. Serene and powerful. The sky was bright blue just like that fateful day. Hard to imagine. We walked further down to Wall Street, checking out the famous buildings and banks, found the graveyard where Alexander Hamilton and Eliza were buried and wandered over to the 1/2 price ticket booth that was down there and bought some show tickets for that evening. Took the train back to our hotel for a quick rest and then walked to Broadway. We saw The Band’s Visit. Never heard of it before but it sounded interesting and we got pretty good seats for a good price (NYC prices that is). It was great. Very different kind of musical. Relaxed, cerebral, great music and great story. It’s coming to CLE next year and I for sure would go see it again. After the show we walked through Times Square a little bit and then went back to our midtown neighborhood and had a late night dinner at Cornerstone tavern – a sports bar on 2nd Ave around the corner from our hotel. We stopped for cookies at Insomnia Cookies and then crashed. Total miles walked: 10.8
Wednesday, March 27th, 2019
We woke up early and took a quick subway ride to the ABC studios on W66th as we had tickets to be in the audience for The View. We got there around 9:30AM, stood in line for awhile and after going through security they herded us into the cafeteria where they had a Starbucks so we had breakfast. We sat with a couple of NYC women who were hilarious. They were secretaries for HBO and one was a comedian and they were ripping on everyone. We made it into the studio and was part of the live broadcast which was fun. Stacey Abrams was the guest which was cool and we got a copy of her book too. After the show we walked to Central Park right next door. We met one of Grace’s friends from school who lives right there and we walked all around Central park with her on another beautiful early spring day. We walked through the Plaza, ate lunch in the bougie food hall underneath the plaza and then went to Grace’s friends family apartment which they just moved into and was very nice. We said goodbye and walked around the area some more, went into MOMA but decided to just walk around the grounds instead of going in the galleries and then walked back to our hotel for a rest. After our siesta I went to Crave Fish Bar, a bar a few blocks away and had some oysters and a beer. Grace met me there and then we went down to the East Village as we had tix to a comedy club later in the evening. We stopped and had dinner at a bar down there somewhere that I don’t remember the name of. The comedy club was fun. There were all different comedians each doing their schtick for about 20 minutes or so and then it kept going. We were right in the front row but just got picked on a little bit. We stayed for about an hour and a half enjoyed our minimum of two beverages. We wandered around the village for awhile, stopped at Momofuku milk bar and had the cereal milk ice cream and cake truffles. OMG. Hopped on the train back after a fun night.
Total miles walker: 9.5
Thursday, March 28th, 2019
We packed our stuff up and checked our bags with the hotel and hit the streets for one last morning. We went to a place called Remi Flower and Coffee that Grace wanted to go to a few blocks away. It was a combined coffee shop and florist. It was pretty cool. Grace had a lavender latte that was beautiful. We walked and walked all morning. Walked to the NY Public library that unfortunately wasn’t open yet, walked through Bryant park that was very spring like, and then walked through the fashion district looking for Mood – which we couldn’t find. We walked through Macy’s which had a flower show going on and then down to Union Square and did a bit of shopping at a couple of places. We had an early lunch at Shake Shack in Madison Park and then walked all the way back to our hotel – another 20 blocks. Grace wasn’t too happy with me that I made her walk. We collected our bags, hopped on the subway and made it to LaGuardia in plenty of time and back to CLE with no troubles. Fun trip.
Total miles walked: 8.2
Eat On Edgecliff 