After years of waiting and hoping and pleading, I finally made it. It was absolutely incredible.
Since the trip was rather lengthy, I won't go into terribly great detail, however, I will give you an overview of the week...
Thursday 11/12: Stuck in coach next to a computer nerd and an obese red-head. Oy.
Arrival to Newark, approx. 7:30 pm. Suprise from Sandy = black car and driver waiting for us at the airport... Awww...
We drove into the city, to the Tudor Hotel, located in Midtown, just 3 blocks from Grand Central Station.
We met Jason (my step-brother, who is currently residing in NYC's lovely "East Village."
Cab to OTTO, a wonderful Italian restaurant in the Lower East Side, wher
e Mario Batali is the executive chef. This was a wonderful kick-off meal for my visit to the Big Apple.
We had several small plates, pizza, pasta, wine, and a fabulous cheese platter that I definitely ate to my face.
Walked through my dad's "old stomping grounds," including Washington Square Park,
the NYU campus, the site of the Seminary (where something completely different now stands) and his ex-fiance's apartment building.
Jason's walking tour through the East Village. Cab back to the hotel, pass out hardcore.
Friday 11/13: Coffee, immediately.
We woke up early, coffee, walked through Grand Central Station, to Rockafeller Center, Radio City, St. Patrick's Cathedral, Bloomingdale's (more amazing than I could have imagined,) FAO
Schwartz (and the build-a-Muppet station,) and from there we headed uptown...
Guggenheim (since it was raining, this was a very agreeable activity, however, the current Kandinski exhibit was not exactly what I would have wanted to see had I been given a choice.)
After the museum, we were lucky enough to have the weather clear up a bit, and walked along the park. Then, we met a good family friend, Aylam, at a sweet little French cafe where we enjoyed some treats and coffee.)
Back to the hotel to clean up and rest.
Times Square. WOW. Never in my life have I ever seen so much visual stimuli in one place. It's insane! There is advertising on serious
ly every flat surface, and some round ones.
"Chicago: The Musical." I love the songs, I love the dances, and I love the drama. This was a fantastic production, however, the actress who played Velma was really unattractive, and had some serious "Madonna Arms" and too many muscles in her back that moved when she danced. It was a bit distracting.
After the show, which my dad and I enjoyed immensely, we ate a wonderful dinner at a Sushi place just off of Times Square.
I hopped in a cab down to the East Village to see my friend Melody at her bar, Cosmic Cantina. This place is fantastic! I loved hanging with he
r while she poured tequila shots and popping open beer bottles for the underage patrons. We had a great time catching up, and I got wasted off several shots of tequila, and met a guy from Wisconsin who's name now escapes me. He totally wanted to take me home, but I was like, "No, bitch."
I got back to the hotel at about 4, only to wake up early to get started at the ungodly hour of 10ish.
Saturday 11/14: Can I get something involving eggs and bacon, please?
Out the door around 10:30, down to the Lower East Side to meet Jason for Brunch at Freemans, which was delicious and a generally lovely place.
After brunch, Jason, Sandy, my hangover and I walked around in the Lower East Side, through the mist, to see the Tenement museum and the open food market. We also stopped for knishes at a couple of my dad's favorite Jew spots. Let me tell you, Yonah Schimmel's Knishes not only has the most delicious, fluffy pastries of all time, but the characters who bake these magical puffs of love are total characters. I love this place!
Following our snack, we headed to the trendy SoHo neighborhood, so I could see the fabulous Prada flagship store and all the other wonderful boutiques as well. The Prada store, however, is way better in person than I could have imagined. It is like a museum, for real. The displays are lege
ndary, and the shoes are so beautiful, I could have spent the day there, just to touch each shoe.
After SoHo, we hopped into a cab to go to the site of the World Trade Center, and to see the museum, where the plans for the site's renovations are on display. It was really different to see the photos and hear thestories, to relive the experience after actually seeing the city for myself. I really got the feeling of how seriously the city was affected by the tragedy compared to the reactions across the country. New York was literally under a cloud of smoke, and covered in ash for days. I can really understand why it's taken almost a decade to clear out the debris and get to work on the new building and memorial plaza.
In major need of a pick-me-up, we walked over to Century 21, The most incredible place on earth. This is not just any discount store. It's an enormous department store, full of designer duds at HUGE discount
s. It really was amazing. I found a bunch of things, including pink Ray-Ban Wayfarers, but due to my lingering hangover, I wasn't able to give it my all.
Sandy and I headed back to the hotel, leaving Jason there, where he apparently stayed until after 8 pm. (That would be a total of about 5 hours.)
We headed back over to Times Square to walk around a bit before seeing the second show, "39 Steps." This was a great success! I heard about the show because it's coming to San Francisco very soon, and I love Alfred Hitchcock, so I was interested in a satire loosely based on his films. The 4-person cast was hilarious and wildly talented. It was the best comedy I've seen, possibly ever.
After the show, we waited for Jason and Melody to meet us for a late dinner. Melody showed up blonde. For real, though. Ha.
We ate at Hell's Kitchen, which was delicious! We all had wonderful meals and drinks. After dinner, Melody and I grabbed a cab to her place on the Upper West Side, so that she could change before we headed out to some bars. Her place is totally cute, by the way, as is she.
We took the SUBWAY back down to the East Village to meet my friend, a guy Precious used to date, Brandon at a bar called Niagra. It was a great place, good music, stiff drinks, and a lot of fun. We took a bunch of shots with B
randon and his buddies, and I got to humiliate him in fron
t of his friends, which is always fun. Melody and I picked up a couple of Israelis who we brought to another bar, Arrow, to dance and take photos in the photo booth.
This was a real New York night, as in I got back to the hotel at around 5 am. It's insane that the bars stay open 'til 4 am. Like, Jesus.
Sunday 11/15: This city doesn't sleep, but I need to!
Rise and shine around 11 am, and head to breakfast with Jason in the Lower East Side. The weather turned, and it was gorgeous outside, thank god! We decided to walk through downtown and the financial district on our way to Battery Park and the ferry to Ellis Island, which was #1 on my dad's list of things to do.
It was totally a great day to ride the ferry. We got to see the Statue of Liberty up close and personal, and walk through the place where our ancestors first arrived in America. It was rad.
After the ferry ride back to Battery Park, we headed to Chelsea to see the oh-so-hip "Meatpacking" district, and the legendary DVF store and headquarters. We walked the Hi Line, which is a new park built on a raised railroad track that has been out of use for ages. It is really cool, and a great use of tax dollars, if you ask me. It also ends at the new Standard hotel, which is gorgeous, of course. From there, we walked to the Maritime hotel, which is a famous NYC hotel, mostly because of the architecture. We had sushi at Matsuri, which is inside the hotel, and then walked the lobby to scope out the scene.
After dinner, we walked for what felt like 3 years to get to the store where dreams are made: Magnolia Bakery. We got several cakes and things, and were lucky enough to have beautiful weather, and sat outside and munched for a while. It was truly wonderful. One of my favorite New York memories.
We were all exhausted, so we called it a relatively early night.
Monday 11/16: Egg salad and some nova lox to go, please.
Upper West Side. My dad attended both Columbia and NYU, so he wanted to show me his "other old stomping grounds" near Columbia. We went to H&H Bagel, his fave, and also hit Zabar's to grab some snacks to go. We walked through the park to the Met, which is just as lovely in person as it is on Gossip Girl. I sat on the steps for the requisite photo on site, obviously. We walked down Madison Ave, window-shopping all the huge designer names one after another. It was truly magnificent. After seeing all the merchandise on display, which was like being a diabetic in a candy store, we went down to Union Square and walked around the Village a bit. Another notable sighting was the Flat Iron building, which is really cool, and something way out of the ordinary. It was really nice to have some one-on-one time with my dad, and to walk and talk all day. We had a really great time.
Since it was his last night in the city, we went out to dinner with Aylam, Jeremy Abelson, and his new wife Mia. It was great to see Jer and meet Mia, and we had a really nice dinner and sat talking for quite a bit. My dad and I walked around after dinner, and talked about what I could do for my last day and a half in the city.
Tuesday 11/17: Up, down, all around.
I headed out solo into the abyss, only to find myself quite comfortable. I went to Macy's to see the legend in real life, and it was really something to see. I also saw where Jason is currently working, and hit up Canal Street to get some super cheap trendy things. After Canal, I went back up to Times Square, in hopes of scoring some t-shirts for the puppies, but I had very little luck, and found myself setting off store alarms due to the fact that the imbecile who sold me this sweater totally left the security tag on it, and I had to go all the way back down to Canal to get it removed. Everything in life, however, happens for a reason. If I hadn't needed to go back down to Canal, I never would have found the hot pink stilettos that stole my heart. I had been looking for months for shoes just like these, and now I have them! Yesss!!
I went back to the hotel to pick up my luggage, and headed over to Jason's apartment in the East Village. After he got home from Yoga, we went to eat at this AMAZING restaurant S'Mac, that serves only Mac-N-Cheese. It's like heaven. Seriously. It's a build-your-own type of situation, and it's delish!
Then, with full bellies, we headed out to get nice and drunk. We went to B Bar, which is on Bowery, and super trendy. On Tuesdays, there is a huge gay party there, so I got to see Jason work it and got called "Gorgeous" by several extremely attractive men who had no interest in me except for where I got my fabulous boots. It was really fun, and a great chance to see another side of the city.
After we were nice and drunk, we went to the Box, which is a really cool burlesque club with live music and many beautiful people.
Drunk and tired, I dragged Jason out of the bar to get some food in me. He took me for incredible pizza slices, and then back to his place where I promptly passed out.
Wednesday 11/18: New York, I barely knew you...
I woke up at about 11, totally hungover and ready to die. I had til 12:30 til the SuperShuttle was picking me up, so I packed up quickly and ran back over to S'Mac to get a to go mac and cheese for the plane. Duh.
On my way back to Jason's apartment, I grabbed a Dunkin Donut, because clearly I needed to and totally deserved it.
The SuperShuttle was my worst nightmare, and my place was delayed an hour, but I still made it back on time. I love how when the flight is delayed, magically the plane can go faster to make up the time in the air, so why can't the flight always be an hour shorter? WTF?
Want to see the rest of the photos? OK, fine... Here they are.
I arrived home to a happy reunion with the puppies and Precious, and went on to have an epic weekend that just ended, but I'm gonna save all that for tomorrow...
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