Subways, sidewalks, Sidecar, skyscrapers and sightseeing

New York. Where to begin? It was different from what I expected.

The first day we were worthless. So sleepy. We arrived at JFK and headed right for our hotel, The Affinia Dumont, which was big and comfortable; our room looked just like the picture. We got settled, then headed out for dinner. We intended to go to P.J. Clarke's, a fairly casual old hamburger joint, but it had a wait so we headed upstairs to its sister restaurant, Sidecar. We were a bit underdressed, but the food was excellent. No longer starving, we stopped by nearby grocery store D'Agostino (they're all so tiny and market-like! It's like being in Europe!) for some breakfast necessities. We headed to bed early and tried to conserve our energy for the extreme sightseeing that awaited us.

Thursday we woke up not quite so early as we'd hoped. We hopped on one of those double decker buses that does tours of the city, and rode it around downtown to get the lay of the land. Check us out! It was windy up there, but not too cold, and a good vantage point for seeing some of the great architecture.


We hopped off near the UN, where we went in, but didn't end up taking the tour. Instead, we headed in the direction of Grand Central Station, where we took in the high ceilings and expansive spaces for a bit before ducking into The Oyster Bar and Restaurant, a hip noir-y NY institution. Josh got some tasty seafood fare, but neither of us ordered anything from the extensive oyster menu. Here we are, blurry, but enjoying ourselves.


Next up was the NYC Public Library. I love the library. Love it. If I ever lived in New York, I imagine I'd spend quite a bit of time in the gorgeous reading room. I imagine people who frequent the public library learn more, because the atmosphere there is positively conducive to study and erudition. Josh also pointed me to some of the private reading rooms, these gorgeous oak-paneled leather-chair-furnished rooms with bookshelves laden with old tomes. They look like the kind of rooms that would swallow you and spit you out smarter. Even the outside is pretty!


After roaming around Bryant Park for a few moments (they play outdoor classic movies in the summer, but during the holidays it was set up with shopping booths and a skating rink), went back to the hotel where we prepped before heading out to Radio City Music Hall for their yearly Christmas Spectacular with the Rockettes. It was a good festive show, weighed down a bit by the nativity scene at the end, however. Post-show we wandered around Fifth Avenue for a while, popping into FAO Schwarz and the swanky Apple store, before eventually having dinner at Saigon Taste just a couple blocks from our hotel. Delicious!

Friday was another unseasonably warm day, much to my satisfaction. We woke up early and joined the NYC pedestrian workers, out in full force, as we made our way to the NBC Studio Tour. On the tour we saw sets for the nightly news, Saturday Night Live, and Late Night with Conan O'Brien. They were all surprisingly small and cold. The tour was fun, but short, and it was still early when we finished and exited into Rockefeller Center, its huge tree still stunning even in daylight, with skaters and spectators all around. We didn't linger long, despite the lure of the skating; it was a pretty small rink and we figured we'd head somewhere less populated.

We then tried to go to the Gotham Book Mart, but it was closed! So Phil cannot be angry at me for not going. I feel that on most trips there is at least one picture of me with this face or similar.


Thwarted, we decided to take the Staten Island Ferry -- not out of an actual desire to go to Staten Island (folks, what's there to do there? My books were surprisingly uninformative), but because we'd heard it had good views. It did. Unfortunately, my camera failed to capture them well.

To continue our day of all possible modes of transportation (foot, car, and sea so far), we then got on the subway headed for Brooklyn in an attempt to walk across the Brooklyn Bridge for still more views. Though we got a bit lost due to poor subway instructions from a ferry employee, with the help of a cellphone, Josh's parents, and Google Maps, we eventually found Grimaldi's Pizza. And it was good, even if the employees were a bit brusque. We then walked back across the bridge to Manhattan, and, as planned, it was pretty. The view, that is. I look quite disheveled due to high winds.


After lots of walking, Josh napped and I busted out some yoga (as much as yoga can technically be "busted out". We ate dinner that night at The Barking Dog, a fun little American restaurant right next to our hotel, where I had some dog-theme-titled drink and got tired and goofy.

Saturday we slept in for certain. If I'd known how cold it would be, I might've slept in even longer. But despite the very chilly weather, and the crowds (god, the crowds!), we took the opportunity to head to Central Park . In the midst of all the skyscrapers, Central Park is an oasis, a haven, a retreat. Even on a bracingly cold day, it was populated with all sorts of families and couples and sportsmen. If my fingers hadn't gone numb, I could've happily wandered around there for much longer than the couple hours we did. Tranquil and lovely, it was the second on my list of places I'd see myself spending time if I were ever to live in NYC.

After Central Park, we went by Times Square, its complete opposite: drenched in tourists and advertisements and shops. Suffice it to say I did not like Times Square. We left it in favor of Greenwich Village, where we made a quick jaunt to Screaming Mimi's vintage fashion shop. We headed in the wrong direction of Magnolia Bakery, which I kept promising myself we'd go to but never ended up reaching. Instead, we had lunch at Ghenet, a nearby Ethiopian restaurant. Ghuuuh. Really good. I love Ethiopian food (eating with your hands, if socially endorsed in a public locale, can be very fun) and the owners' toddler was wandering around the mostly-empty restaurant in cute precocious fashion.

Back at the ranch, we watched the UCLA-USC football game (a real nail-biter between bitter rivals), which I surprisingly enjoyed. We headed out for dinner at Tavern on the Green, but the combination of our late ethnic lunch and an early evening Peppermint Mocha proved to be rather stomach-churning for Josh, so we left right upon arrival. Hoping to settle his stomach, we walked all over creation, which wasn't a hardship at all on such a gorgeous night.

Another late start on Sunday. First we went by The Strand Bookstore, which to no surprise I absolutely dug. We then browsed for a few moments in comic nerd heaven before trying to have lunch at Serendipity 3. Unfortunately, there was a fairly long wait, and we needed to get going if we were going to make it to the Metropolitan Museum of Art with enough time to enjoy it before its early-ish closing. The Met is enormous and full of great things -- arms and armor, American furniture, Tiffany windows, sculpture, and more. Unfortunately, the Costume Institute section was closed. Blast! At least Josh made some friends. My snuggle bear fits right in with the sculpted bears.


We left the museum just before closing, and walked a long time, in the cold, before arriving at Carnegie Deli, another New York institution. We were quickly ushered into seats surrounded by photos of famous previous patrons. Though service was fast, it wasn't particularly friendly, and though the food was massive, it wasn't particularly memorable. (Susan, your matzoh ball soup puts theirs to shame!) If nothing else, it reminded me I actually like pastrami (the photo is of me swiping a piece of Josh's enormous sandwich). Despite appearances, I was not under the influence of anything or tearful for any reason. I blame the lighting.


Taking some cheesecake for the road, we ate it while thawing from our cold walk back to the hotel and watching Talladega Nights. From it, we learned that "there's nothing more frightening then driving with a live goddamn cougar next to you." Wise words indeed.

We got up early the next morning, and hopped on our flight back home to California. (Thank goodness for JetBlue and their lovely TV service!) So it was a short trip, and we packed a lot in, but there's still a lot I feel that there's left to do. I'd like to see a Broadway show, try Dinosaur Bar-B-Que, actually eat at Serendipity 3, have drinks at some swanky bar with a lovely view (perhaps Hotel Gansevoort, as suggested by Carmen?), eat pastrami (or whatever Sally had) at Katz's Deli, and oodles more.

Maybe next time I'll go in the fall so I can properly picnic in the Park, or maybe I'll recruit Sar for the Sex and the City tour...what do you think, sissy?