Let’s get this NYC recap out of the way so I can go on with my life. It’s only been a week but I think it’s taken me a full week to recover. Here’s the detailed overview:
Friday: arrive Grand Central Station. Decide to conquer my fear of the subway since we couldn’t catch a cab. Was left halfway through my first subway trip and was forced to fend for myself. Just HAPPENED to get off at the correct station, and was rescued from a street corner by Mariss, hostess extraordinaire.
Walked to her super-cute apartment in Prospect Heights, hemmed and hawed about what to do that evening, got gussied up and made our way to the W Hotel: the Court (not the Tuscany, though they’re right next to one another) so we could meet up with Erica and another Sarah.
Spent several hours at the W, catching up and reuniting with high school people I haven’t seen in 8-9 years. Hopped in cabs and went to Marquee, where we were promised a table and bottle service, where one of our party got her ID taken by the bouncer, and where we did a single lap through the club and decided to leave.
Ended up at some random gay bar for about 10 minutes, until I decided to put my foot down and insist that they take me somewhere with food. Seriously, I hadn’t eaten since lunch and we hadn’t stopped for a single minute, so I pretty much owe Ken my life for hustling us over to the Corner Bistro for the most DELICIOUS burger ever. I scarfed that thing down and I regret not savoring it just a bit more – and this is coming from an infrequent burger eater. Burgers never mean much to me, but this one truly did. Mmmmmm.
Cabbed home to Brooklyn. Fell asleep at 5am.
Saturday:
Woke up at 9am and consulted my list of “To Do in NYC: March 5-7″. Got in touch with Shane and after much back and forth, decided to venture across Brooklyn to see his (what I expected to be a pretty fabulous) apartment. It did not disappoint. At all. Oh, how I would decorate that apartment. It would be amazing. You’d never want to leave.
But before we got there, we witnessed a very large man fall off his seat on the subway and then start vomiting all over the subway car. We huddled in the corner with our noses covered while a portly Russian man screamed at all the passengers to “help!”. Did nothing to help. Watched others do nothing. It felt very “New York” to me.
Once we escaped the medical emergency and went above ground, we discovered we had taken the train in the wrong direction, and so we had to turn around and go all the way back and then some. Or not. It was very confusing.
So after all that, we were thrilled to discover that Shane pretty much lives in an urban palace (exaggerating, but it’s awesome) and that he only serves mimosas to his guests, so we lounged there are marveled at the following:
- The dishwasher
- The washer/dryer single unit
- The ceilings
- The windows
- Etc.
And once Shane was sick of our ooh-ing and ahh-ing, we made our way towards the Natural History Museum but detoured once again because I hadn’t eaten since that amazing burger, 14 hours earlier.
And though we set out for a Thai restaurant, I made us stop at Havana Alma de Cuba because I refused to walk another step without putting something in my stomach. In went arroz con pollo and a Bloody Mary.
From there, we headed towards The Strand Bookstore, former employer of LaRocha and no, I didn’t go for the books. I went for the tote bags. I have a hot pink one and I wanted to add to my collection. So I bought this and another one for Meneely.
En route to The Strand, we walked through NYU and “the arch from When Harry Met Sally” and were introduced and then practiced the art of the “photobomb”. See below.
And because I’m getting tired and distracted by the television, I will summarize the rest of Saturday in classic SBS poetry-style:
From Strand to Mood, with an excited ‘tude
Found it closed, said “that blows”
Was lured to Times Square, though before I wouldn’t dare
Visited Central Park and watched the ducks ’til dark
Strolled over to Dylan’s Candy Bar, the happiest place on earth, by far
Spotted two friends, was amused then concerned that this might be a trend
Ate pizza, disco-napped and rallied for night two on the town
Falling out of rhyme…
Went to the Magnolia Bakery and bought coconut cream cake and an SATC cupcake
Looked for celebs at the Spotted Pig (and got yelled at by a bartender)
Mistakenly agreed to hit up the Buddha Bar, blah
Stood outside a hotel for awhile, waited for the subway for awhile, got home and talked for awhile, went to bed and slept for awhile (only five hours).
OMG, we’re not even at Sunday.
Sunday!:
We had bagels at a bagel placed and watched all the church-goers in their Sunday bests walk by. We went to the Brooklyn Promenade and then ate ice cream and walked across the Brooklyn Bridge. Made our way to Chinatown, SOHO, and finally Little Italy. Found some lamps I want. Bought a pair of $5 sunglasses. Added The New Museum to my list of “next time”. Discovered where you can buy old subway directional signs. Watched them make candy at Papabubble and tried macaroons in pistachio and raspberry flavors:
Ended the afternoon in Little Italy by eating ravioli with Shane and Marissa, hustled back to Brooklyn, had a book signed by an author (:)) and took a car back to JFK.
And there you have it! WHOOSH – that’s 48 hours flying by.
Posted on March 15, 2010
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