Winter in New York - our November trip
April 12, 2016
Yet another post loooooong overdue - this past winter Jen went on a work trip to New York, she had two sets of meetings five days apart, so she went up for the first set of meetings, then we split the cost of my ticket to join her for the days in between the two. So I got to go to New York! Woo!
It's really quite something, but what actually struck me most was how compact it was. I mean, it's big, for sure, but I'd never truly realized that you could walk Manhattan end to end in an afternoon (granted, a long one, but still!)
I landed, popped out of the airport, and had no idea - whatsoever - where I was. So I googled it :) Jen said to meet her in Union Square (wherever that was) and then her phone died. Ha!
So, I looked up the fastest route, and the magic of Google told me to get a Metro Pass and take a bus to the metro, then take the Yellow line into Manhattan.
...I didn't know what a Metro Pass was, where to catch the bus, or how to tell which line was the Yellow one, but I rolled with it, and was shocked how smoothly it went. Had it not been for my backpack and laptop bag, I probably would only have looked very lost, rather than completely lost!
But it worked :)
I found the bus, found the Metro, and even found the Yellow line first try. I only missed my bus stop once! But, it was a block from the other stop, so relatively harmless. I was prepared for the classic "New Yorkers," all curse words, bluster, and general rudeness, but I found everyone I met to be the nicest, most helpful strangers I'd seen anywhere. That was actually the biggest shock on arrival - I could have been anyone, from anywhere, and I'm pretty sure I could have safely found my way. Good on you, New York!
I found Union Square. My stop, at least, two stories underground, with exits in all directions. I picked the closest, and walked up right in the middle of a giant nigh market.
"Where AM I?!" I thought, then quickly realized, this was one of four corners, with a park in the middle, full of people, and I had to find my lovely wife without getting distracted. No problem... ?
I did laps, lugging my backpack and hoping. Folks were pretty distracted for the most part, no one really paid me any mind. I'd don't my second lap, when I spotted her! Oh, she's so very pretty :D
We dropped my stuff off at the tiny, tiny hotel we were staying in (up six flights of stairs, in a bed-sized closet they called a "room," but we didn't expect to spend much time there!)
Like I said, we only had a few days, and a lot to see. It was around 11pm at that point, but we just went for it!
The Flatiron Building! This is famous? I'd never heard of it, but it was our first stop. I took a million pictures, and this is the one Jen said was the least embarrassing :)
Or was it most? Even better!
That one I know! The Empire State Building! But who painted it green... ?
We'd planned on checking this beauty out the next day, but figured, since we were there, and it's open until *2 am,* why not?
Some scalpers on the corner tried to convince us that we needed "VIP passes" to get in and avoid lines, but it was midnight :P we figured we'd be fine.
And we were! Cool lobby! There were lines, but they flowed. The most we ever had to wait was a few minutes for an Elevator. This is the first point where New York started growing on me: it's a place where it's actually good to be a Night Owl
I took a lot of pictures of the view, but these two are the ones that came out all right, through the rather intense bars. Sorry they're a little fuzzy, it was night after all. Still, very pretty!
Selfie :)
We also wanted to check out the Times Square, and stopped for a few photos on the way
It was... Big. And certainly bright, full of people. But really, quite possibly the least exciting thing we saw on our trip. Oh well!
We headed back around then, just checking out stuff on the way. We swung by this small skating rink, but I don't remember which park/garden this one was- Bryant! Bryant Park, thanks again, Google :D
So, I drive Jen nuts. I drive her nuts because I do things like this - I find something like, oh I don't know, a toilet paper rack in a public bathroom, and get all up in a tizzy about it. This time? The hung two rolls of toilet paper. One over, one under, just so no one got offended by rolling their TP the wrong way ;P
How do you not take a picture of this??
This is a dream breakfast.
After Bryant Park, we moseyed back to the hotel, it was close to two or three in the morning at that point, then hunted up something delicious for our first couples New York breakfast. This beauty is from a place called Grey Dog Cafe, if I recall.
After breakfast, we went walking again - this time our destination was the Staten Island Ferry, to check out Lady Liberty herself. This was our alternative to the tours, because it was essentially free, we'd get to see the statue, and get to grab lunch on Staten Island!
...And because we're not from or familiar with NYC, the idea of "grabbing lunch on Staten Island" still sounds exciting to me, don't burst my bubble
On the way, the World Trade Center memorial, closed for renovations, but still very striking.
Wall Street!
FAR less impressive than I'd imagined. Humph!
A very thick New York Skyline. Yeah, I know that's New Jersey. And I called it New York. Bring it!
Only Zven, who I've been friends with for the better part of thirty years, braves living in Hell's Kitchen. Which, turns out that isn't just where Daredevil lives!
And there she is! Lady Liberty herself!
They sure don't skimp on the Christmas Trees up in NYC, this one posed for this photo
Basements, basements everywhere. For an island that's uncomfortably close to sea level, there's a shocking amount of underground construction here!
After we rode back on the ferry, the next stop was walking the Brooklyn Bridge, this was a very cool walk :)
This, is not what you want to see outside the restaurant you're planning to go to for dinner:
But hey, at least it's being taken care of?
This is a Pickleback. A combo shot - we found a super-awesome place called The Belfry (yes, there were bats in it) that specialized in Picklebacks. This here was my personal favorite: on the left, a little hot sauce and bourbon. On the right, delicious house-made pickle brine. You throw 'em both back and feel alive like never before!
A classic NYC experience, pizza at 2 in the morning :D :D :D
I had to go with this, and we just stumbled across the spot that's supposedly Jimmy Fallon's favorite!
A little Subway. Day three we were going to see Zven (!!!) and get a tour of Google NYC. Since I'd missed my chance to tour the Mountain View office, I had to get this one in before Zven moved to the moon - or wherever the next office was.
Ooh! Off to a good start!
Apologies for the bad picture, but that steel back is chock full of word puzzles! I tried to stay there in the lobby for as long as I could, but we had to get on with the tour :D
We were being led by a trusted Googler, full of Googliness and security clearance, but there were of course things we couldn't hear or see, and things I wasn't allowed to get pictures of. Still, I'll share what I can!
At first glance, this looks like a very serious wall, but very quickly it turns into inspiration for smiles and wandering minds. It's one of many things meant to lighten the mood of engineers, and get them fired up to think wild and crazy things, so they can go back to re-writing the modern world, one line of code at a time.
Moving on :)
THIS made my week:
Lego wall. As if there weren't enough reasons to want to work at Google?
This is a giant roll of fiber-optic cable that goes up the stairwell through the building, very cool when the light hits it just right. The picture doesn't do it justice.
This is the patio outside the cafeteria. It was spectacular out there, and this is arguably a better view than the ESB. But I'm biased, because it came with food!
Not the Empire State Building in the center there, and the quirky Nautical-themed hotel and bar to the left.
This is from the upper patio, it really was spectacular up there!
Sadly, at this point we'd kept Zven from work long enough, so we were led back down to the front, and said our farewells.
For the moment at least, we planned to go to Central Park the next morning!
The Convention Center - that building is AWESOME!
That night we went on to the Rockefeller Center, Jen had always dreamed of seeing it around Christmas. Apparently, so had a LOT of people, so we had to fight through crowds for real, for the first time since landing. But it was really something to see!
Not pictured: the Lego store to the right, which made my inner child squeal for hours with delight.
Playing with my new(ish) phone - the horizontal panorama!
Once we fought through the crowds, we went looking for the bar that was the inspiration for MacLaren's in How I Met Your Mother. Being huge fans, we couldn't pass that up.
The bar was all right, not bad, not great. But after our visit, we weren't sure how it had any connection to the show at all...
Then, we found this!
It's something :D
A little easter egg that made it worth the trip. My Guinness was cold and satisfying as well
I enjoyed these decorations more than I should have, they were cool! But this was also where I finally got my street-vendor, 2 am hot dog, so I had to keep the picture in :D
And then, of course, one of the attractions I'd been most excited about- Central Park
This guy has the right idea :)
It was overcast, but still very pretty, and the perfect amount of warm and cool for a long hike.
We crossed a foot bridge here, and saw a couple getting engaged on the bank. That was cute :) everyone standing nearby gave them a round of applause
Still, folks in both were having a lot of fun, and it's good that there is a rink on either side.
That was our last full day in the city, that night we finally met up with Sky and Aine. We'd missed them for breakfast, but they were troopers and tracked us down late at night :)
I'd just found a copy of Diplomacy in a Goodwill for $5 and was literally bouncing off the walls with excitement, they came out and met us there, and then guided us through what turned out to be the NYC Santa Con - which turned out to be hundreds and hundreds of wildly intoxicated 20-somethings (if that) running around drinking in Santa Suits.
It made for a pretty great last night for me! But there was some barf dodging...
Sky showed off a bit, taking us to a real-live Speakeasy. Which was full. But since the four of us were just so classy, that Speakeasy sent us to a better Speakeasy!
It was pretty amazing, a very upscale bar upstairs from a Sushi restaurant, with their own specialist cocktails (which were incredible) and a quiet street view to watch Santas go nuts in the street. I wish I'd gotten more pictures, but I was busy catching up and taking it all in. Here's the one photo I did get:
After this place - which shall not be named to preserve some semblance of secrecy - we went to a bar called... Burp Castle. A true Belgian-themed beer bar, with all Belgian-style drinks, but also a very - very strict noise policy. If you couldn't hear a burp from one end of the bar at the other, it was too loud. The Barkeep would "Shh!" the crowd, and the crowd would pick it up, Shh, shhing until everyone was calm and quiet again. Aside from the drunk blonde in the midst of a mid-life crisis, who I was amazed, was actually kicked out for being too loud - it was the single most relaxing bar experience I have ever had. That was cool :)
We had one other stop after that, but I'm afraid I can't recall where it was... But that's all right, it was late, and I was flying out the next day, so it was good to pack it in. Eventually.
This was a really cool trip. It made my wife very happy, it gave us yet another shared adventure, and it let me catch up with some of my very favorite people in the world.
It's been cool since, too. Although I was only there for a handful of days (and nights), now every time I've seen a show or movie in or about New York, I've recognized places and understood so much more about it. It's nice to know that this trip will stick with me, in little ways here and there, for a long time :)
I couldn't possibly cover everything, it was a whirlwind of a trip, but that's a good highlights reel. I hope you enjoyed it!
I'll close with this shot of Chicago/O'Hare airport in Christmas - amazing airport by the way - and call it a night on this post.
Thank you for reading, you're a trooper :)
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