September Travels Part II - The Family in NYC
One of the big reasons for taking the boat in the first place was so that when we were arrived there was no leftover tension or stress from our day to day lives, because, though I love my family to bits, travelling with them can be a little frustrating. I knew it would be important to arrive in the right frame of mind, so that all the little random bits could just roll off our backs. And to a greater or lesser degree we succeeded.
I think the biggest failure was trying to give The Boyfriend a second chance - which he totally blew. I’m not going to get into the ins and outs of the idiot he made of himself, since I prefer to focus on the positive (and I've already ranted enough on that), but at least now no one can say I haven't given him a fair opportunity to prove himself. . .
This post I will take day by day because it's shorter and this part of the trip doesn't fall into any nice neat categories like the last one. . .so off we go!
Friday
The family all arrived around 4:30 to the hotel where everyone got settled in and congratulated Mom on picking such a fantastic place over looking central park. I'd already made dinner reservations for a "family style" Italian place in Little Italy, (check). The food wasn't anything to blow one's mind, but it was hearty and well-made and more than plentiful providing a nice backdrop to conversation as everyone got caught up. From there we all rather needed a walk (being over stuffed) and so walked north up to Union Square, doing a little window shopping along the way and letting everyone decompress and take in the city or chat in smaller groups as took people's fancy.
Saturday
We found a pretty good little cafe not too far from the hotel right across the road from FAO Schwartz for breakfast and then took our time wandering up 5th avenue (check), stopping to people watch at the Rockefeller Centre (check), lingering for a while in Bryant Park (check - not going into the library, grumble), finding a little local pub-type place, and then eventually cutting across to the Empire State Building (check). Yes, ladies and gents, we all went up to the top, which I'm not sure I would ever do again), but it was a big priority for mom who was still rather sad about not getting to go do the whole Statue of Liberty/Ellis Island experience (and after the ESB, I'm not sure that's something I could ever be up for - tourist nightmare).
And at this stage, I botched my conscientious tour guide roll. The original plan was to walk over to Grand Central Station (check) and then head off into the East Village for some vintage shopping. Unfortunately, everyone by this stage was exhausted and I didn't read through the lines of what they were telling me so thought that because they said they were ok they really were. So we got to the East Village and ended up crashing in a little local Italian cafe after walking through Alphabet City, which really freaked Mom and BF out *le sigh*. So after bundling the other four into a taxi, R and I decided to walk about and explore a little before meeting back up with them.
Fortunately, the evening didn't continue the downward trend. Bud managed to find a little jazz club not too far from the hotel. So we got all dressed up and headed over to a French place that Mom and BF had found the night before (they decided they wanted a nightcap after us kids went to bed) and then over to the Carnegie Club. Talk about classy! I was glad that we'd taken the trouble to get all dressed up (wearing my favourite brown silk dress no less). It reminded me of something out of the early 1920s - all overstuffed leather sofas, an 11 piece jazz ensemble, book lined walls, and lots of nooks and crannies where no doubt deals are made. The drinks were super tasty (mojito plus champagne, kids) and my brother surprisingly even splurged for a cigar (that shocked mom a little). The music was a tribute to Frank Sinatra and the singer was surprisingly good. A fantastic, very chilled and yet stylish. Perfect!
Sunday
We took pretty easy, starting off with morning mass at St. Patrck's on 5th Street (check). From there, we went back to the hotel to change and then decided to hit the Brazillian festival (check) that was taking up most of 6th. Can I just say that I love street food? Best Sunday lunch ever. It was also good fun wandering about the various stalls and people watching in general. We split up for a couple of hours before heading into Chinatown for dim sum (check), which was a big thing on my brother's list. Apparently his one taste of it here in London a few years ago have given him something of a craving. So we picked a place out of the many recommended ones in our guide books. Unfortunately, I just assumed that dim sum hours would be the same as here in London (ie go until 5). Unfortunately, they stopped at 3, which was right when we arrived. Fortuntely, they had a few standard dumplings on their regular menu, which seemed to sate everyone who wanted to eat.
We then decided to take it a little bit easy and split up our separate ways before meeting back at the hotel. I had already arranged for tickets (check) to Screwtape Letters for the evening's entertainment, which turned out to be a fantastic show. I wasn't really completely convinced of how they imagined Toadpipe (at times it was just so over the top as to be silly), but the guy who played Screwtape himself (MAX McLEAN) was fantastic. I thought they also did an excellent job of creating a consistant narrative flow out of what could have been a very disconnected piece. It really shook up Mom, BF, Bud & SIL who had never read the book before. Just as it should do, I think.
From there, we stopped at a random little Italian joint for a late dinner and then headed back to the hotel our separate ways.
Monday AM
After finding breakfast at the same little cafe as on Saturday, we headed into Central Park for an extended stroll. We stopped to play checkers at the Chess House (and I got stomped royally by my brother), and otherwise just enjoyed wandering around and enjoying one of the many beautiful days we had. Naturally, we didn't get to see everything, but it was a good way to wrap up the trip and decompress a bit before all heading off our separate ways.
Then, of course, the real fun was to begin. . .
I think the biggest failure was trying to give The Boyfriend a second chance - which he totally blew. I’m not going to get into the ins and outs of the idiot he made of himself, since I prefer to focus on the positive (and I've already ranted enough on that), but at least now no one can say I haven't given him a fair opportunity to prove himself. . .
This post I will take day by day because it's shorter and this part of the trip doesn't fall into any nice neat categories like the last one. . .so off we go!
Friday
The family all arrived around 4:30 to the hotel where everyone got settled in and congratulated Mom on picking such a fantastic place over looking central park. I'd already made dinner reservations for a "family style" Italian place in Little Italy, (check). The food wasn't anything to blow one's mind, but it was hearty and well-made and more than plentiful providing a nice backdrop to conversation as everyone got caught up. From there we all rather needed a walk (being over stuffed) and so walked north up to Union Square, doing a little window shopping along the way and letting everyone decompress and take in the city or chat in smaller groups as took people's fancy.
Saturday
We found a pretty good little cafe not too far from the hotel right across the road from FAO Schwartz for breakfast and then took our time wandering up 5th avenue (check), stopping to people watch at the Rockefeller Centre (check), lingering for a while in Bryant Park (check - not going into the library, grumble), finding a little local pub-type place, and then eventually cutting across to the Empire State Building (check). Yes, ladies and gents, we all went up to the top, which I'm not sure I would ever do again), but it was a big priority for mom who was still rather sad about not getting to go do the whole Statue of Liberty/Ellis Island experience (and after the ESB, I'm not sure that's something I could ever be up for - tourist nightmare).
And at this stage, I botched my conscientious tour guide roll. The original plan was to walk over to Grand Central Station (check) and then head off into the East Village for some vintage shopping. Unfortunately, everyone by this stage was exhausted and I didn't read through the lines of what they were telling me so thought that because they said they were ok they really were. So we got to the East Village and ended up crashing in a little local Italian cafe after walking through Alphabet City, which really freaked Mom and BF out *le sigh*. So after bundling the other four into a taxi, R and I decided to walk about and explore a little before meeting back up with them.
Fortunately, the evening didn't continue the downward trend. Bud managed to find a little jazz club not too far from the hotel. So we got all dressed up and headed over to a French place that Mom and BF had found the night before (they decided they wanted a nightcap after us kids went to bed) and then over to the Carnegie Club. Talk about classy! I was glad that we'd taken the trouble to get all dressed up (wearing my favourite brown silk dress no less). It reminded me of something out of the early 1920s - all overstuffed leather sofas, an 11 piece jazz ensemble, book lined walls, and lots of nooks and crannies where no doubt deals are made. The drinks were super tasty (mojito plus champagne, kids) and my brother surprisingly even splurged for a cigar (that shocked mom a little). The music was a tribute to Frank Sinatra and the singer was surprisingly good. A fantastic, very chilled and yet stylish. Perfect!
Sunday
We took pretty easy, starting off with morning mass at St. Patrck's on 5th Street (check). From there, we went back to the hotel to change and then decided to hit the Brazillian festival (check) that was taking up most of 6th. Can I just say that I love street food? Best Sunday lunch ever. It was also good fun wandering about the various stalls and people watching in general. We split up for a couple of hours before heading into Chinatown for dim sum (check), which was a big thing on my brother's list. Apparently his one taste of it here in London a few years ago have given him something of a craving. So we picked a place out of the many recommended ones in our guide books. Unfortunately, I just assumed that dim sum hours would be the same as here in London (ie go until 5). Unfortunately, they stopped at 3, which was right when we arrived. Fortuntely, they had a few standard dumplings on their regular menu, which seemed to sate everyone who wanted to eat.
We then decided to take it a little bit easy and split up our separate ways before meeting back at the hotel. I had already arranged for tickets (check) to Screwtape Letters for the evening's entertainment, which turned out to be a fantastic show. I wasn't really completely convinced of how they imagined Toadpipe (at times it was just so over the top as to be silly), but the guy who played Screwtape himself (MAX McLEAN) was fantastic. I thought they also did an excellent job of creating a consistant narrative flow out of what could have been a very disconnected piece. It really shook up Mom, BF, Bud & SIL who had never read the book before. Just as it should do, I think.
From there, we stopped at a random little Italian joint for a late dinner and then headed back to the hotel our separate ways.
Monday AM
After finding breakfast at the same little cafe as on Saturday, we headed into Central Park for an extended stroll. We stopped to play checkers at the Chess House (and I got stomped royally by my brother), and otherwise just enjoyed wandering around and enjoying one of the many beautiful days we had. Naturally, we didn't get to see everything, but it was a good way to wrap up the trip and decompress a bit before all heading off our separate ways.
Then, of course, the real fun was to begin. . .