New York City
I had meant to start writing this while actually on vacation instead of waiting until afterward since it seems like it becomes a list of things done. We’ll see how well I can recreate my original thoughts…
Wednesday morning was a mad dash to get everything cleaned up and taken care of before catching the afternoon flight out east. I had left everything, laundry included, until Wednesday morning which took a lot of stress off me during the two days I was at work, but I ended up running short on time. Thank goodness for large suitcases! I threw random items in to my suitcase confident I covered 90% of my needs and assuming I could pick up anything I had missed. The flight out was pretty uneventful and seemed to pass pretty quickly between games on my iPad and audiobooks on my phone. The flight got in to Newark a little early which was nice.
I’ve never flown in to Newark, typically opting for JFK, but the tickets were cheap enough it off set the additional cab fare. New Jersey was, well, all those stereotypes? They seemed to be true from my limited exposure. All the industrial areas around the airport smelled bad but it was so warm and muggy that I left my window open anyway. I watched a cop parked in the “white zone” at the airport trying to pick up on some girls while heading out to the taxi stand. Arrived at the hotel sometime after midnight and checked in. I’ve stayed at the Warwick on all my trips to Manhattan. I’m sure some folks would rather have something that is the new hotness but I love the classic nature of it and the location is pretty damn awesome. I wasn’t sure what to think when the desk informed me the room was on the top floor, the 33rd. It turns out only two of the four elevators go above the 29th floor. When we arrived at the floor it was TINY, in a good way. There is only one room, our’s, the Warwick Suite, and a small conference room. That’s it! There was absolutely no street noise, no elevator noise, no ice machine, and very little sound from the suite next door. The room was pretty spacious and included a livingroom area and the bedroom. Much more like a small studio. It clearly had a kitchenette at one point but they don’t advertise it. All the cupboards were empty but I was happy to have the small dorm fridge since folks are finicky about the honor bar fridges anymore. Despite the time change in our favor we crashed out in the wee hours of the morning.
Thursday was the usual wandering around town hitting up familiar places. A late brunch was had at Fred’s in Barney’s. I 
was a little caught off guard by the weekday lunch crowd and the ladies that lunch. It was very busy! After that I wandered past Tiffany and picked up a Fifth Ave charm for my collection. Eventually we ended up at Knave enjoying cocktails and some light fare. After eating little more than lobster bisque and raw tuna for lunch it went straight to my head. I hadn’t spent much time in Central Park so we ended up wandering around the entrance watching the stars and the people. Eventually a raccoon came bursting out of the brush and trekking across the trail towards one of the ponds. It startled me so much I squealed and pulled up my feet before laughing at myself. On the way home true New York pizza by the slice was acquired and happily eaten before crawling in to bed.
Friday ended up wandering around Central Park. We stumbled across, what I now realize was the old location of Tavern on the Green, where we were happy to discover the food trucks. We had a variety of dumplings from Rickshaw Dumplings while watching some poor girl try her hand at starring in a fluff piece on food trucks. By the 20 or 30th take of her intro we were ready to grab some ice cream and head out. We decided on a generous cup of palm sugar flavored ice cream from Van Leeuwen and wandered off in the heat. For dinner we gave a LocalEats.com recommendation a chance and hit up Benoit for some small plates and wine. I was thrilled to get to try the Veal tongue Lucullus (a pressed veal tongue with thin layers of foie gras) and Crispy pied de cochon (fried cakes of chopped pig’s feet) in particular, but everything was very tasty. The bartender/waiter was jovial and quirky and the atmosphere very reminiscent of Paris although a little more spacious. The only sad part of the experience is that it’s on a side street and therefore doesn’t offer good people watching on the street front as is typical in Paris. Randolph’s at the Warwick is still my favorite place for a glass of wine and people watching. Later in the evening I was peckish again and happily waited in the growing lines for a platter from The Halal Guys.
Saturday my travel companion wasn’t feeling well and ended up being a bit of a down day. Eventually we ventured out to do some shopping at Sak’s where I took in most of my haul (like usual). On the way back to the hotel laden with shopping bags we cut across 51st street to get back to 6th Ave and saw the lines starting to queue for a new Cirque du Soleil show at Radio City Music Hall. I peered in to dressing room windows and could even see a backstage short circuit camera view of the stage on a mounted TV screen. I made a few jokes about sitting on the side walk to watch the show for free, but once pushed a little my companion agreed to see if the show was sold out. After wandering the crowds a bit we found the box office and the show was no where near sold out and it started in about 15 minutes. We grabbed two tickets to Zarkana and ended up in really good seats just 10 minutes before the show started. Counting through the program I believe this was my 7th or maybe 8th Cirque show. I just never grow tired of them.
Sunday was my last day and the heat was really driving me crazy. It’s probably not so bad when you have reason to be in air conditioning most of the time but instead I was out walking the streets regularly. It was no fun to go out and feel like you needed a shower 20 minutes after you had just taken one. We got a later check out to draw out our time in the room before checking out and stowing our bags. To kill the few hours until we needed to head to the airport we did a little geocaching in Central Park and hit up the Camper store where I had been eyeing some new shoes. We took the long way back walking through FAO Schwartz and had a light lunch from a vendor near the corner of the park. The ride to the airport and flight home were pretty uneventful. I was feeling ready to get back to cooler weather, but as usual I didn’t get to see half the things I wanted to see. I guess it just gives me an excuse for more visits 