NYC

S and I took a trip to NYC back in February.  NYC!  Can you believe it?  And even more shockingly, it was S's idea (obviously because he knew it would make me happy, but still)!

We headed up there on Friday morning, located our hotel in Chelsea, and stopped in a the nearby Forager's for lunch.  That was one of the early weekends of the Six Nations tournament, so we then went on the hunt for a bar which (1) opened early, and (2) planned to show the games.  We found one, in the Jack Demsey on 33rd.  Since we were there, we figured we should probably have a beer or two.  (Why not, right?)

 A classic image.

From there we made our way to the Morgan, a museum that I love almost as much as the Frick for all its old books, but which I was especially excited about on this particular trip because of a Tolkien exhibit they had on.  No pictures were allowed, but S snapped one of a J.R.R. doodle over a very funny newspaper article.

We had our first (though not our best) round of pizza that evening, followed by a quiet (and glitter-filled -- that's another story!) evening at the hotel drinking wine and watching movies.

Saturday started off with what could be a disappointment; despite our prior day's search for a Six Nations bar, it was a bye week!  So we were out of luck there, but luckily we have previously popped into Brooklyn Bagels and Coffee, so we were set in that department.  We wandered up to Bryant Park and had a lovely hour or so watching the ice skaters before wandering through the 42nd Street NYPL building and enjoying some more beautiful architecture.

Then it was down to the Battery, where we began a "Haunted New York" tour, which was more interesting for the historical information it provided than the supernatural, but for that alone it was a worthwhile way to spend an couple of hours.  We visited some of the city's original wells, the remains of the first City Hall, also known as Lovelace Tavern, Fraunces Tavern, Bowling Green (whose crown-topped iron fence was de-crowned by angry mobs after independence was declared), Trinity Church and the nearby St. Paul's Chapel, City Hall Park, the Tweed Courthouse, the abandoned City Hall Station.  We ended the tour with lunch at Katz's Deli, which I had (despite all my previous trips to New York) never been to.  Having now been there, I don't feel the need to go back.

We had a few minutes before the start of our next tour, so popped into Taco Dumbo to have a very non-Prohibition-era cocktail, though it looked quite delightful:

Then, it was on to our second tour of Prohibition-era speakeasies and cocktails!  We opened our tour at the 21 Club (which we were not classy enough to enter), but did stop for drinks at Flute. We did our due diligence sampling the cocktail menu, including the Antoinette, Gabriel, Marko, and Intime.  I also very much enjoyed a PSA in the ladies' restroom.

We walked Restaurant Row (which, for those of you who are interested, is 46th St. between 8th and 9th Aves.) where our guide identified two "restaurants" (including the Swing 46 Jazz and Supper Club) and a speakeasy for future trips, had drinks and snacks at Lillie's Victorian Establishment (which we had been to before with E!), and ended our tour at the Landmark Tavern.  It was a really fun tour.

After a long walk back towards our hotel, we stopped in for some late-night pizza (and the best pizza of our trip), at Joe's on 8th Ave.

Everyone who knows me knows I love brunch, and we had our Sunday brunch at Le Grainne Cafe, followed by a sunny stroll through the Village before stopping once more for pizza, heading off to the airport, and home.

Many thanks to S for a great weekend!