In a New York Minute

We were there…now we’re gone…good thing we fit as much in as possible.

Tuesday our train got in at 12:15 which left us just about enough time to meet up with Patrick and get a quick bite to eat before he had to leave to teach his last final. I can’t remember the name of it but we enjoyed the view from the 39th floor and some pretty good Korean food and then we were off.

Our first stop was the Empire State Building to take in the observation deck. We couldn’t have found a better way to see a 360 degree view of all of NYC. Nikki has been to the Top of the Rock at night so seeing the city during the day was a treat. After being bogged down by lines and crowds we finally made our way out of the tower to happily find Heartland Brewery at the main floor. Shocker, we stopped to have a quick beer. Nikki enjoyed a Cornhusker Lager and I had the Indiana Pale.

We moved uptown a little bit to see Grand Central Station and the New York Public Library (on the way we stopped to get a hot dog, because, why not, we’re in New York). Both are very historic and we enjoyed taking time to go into both and experience them.

Patrick met us at the Library and we were all on the same page…time for some pizza and beer. We took the subway over to the NYU area and enjoyed some Ray’s Pizza and Victory Prima Pils. Our next stop was right around the corner at the oldest bar in New York, McSorley’s. This place dripped history out of every corner, booth, wall and table and smelled like stale beer from 1857 mixed with onions and about 40 New Yorkers who just got off work…so pretty much the definition of a great dive bar. The three of us enjoyed some ‘Light’ and ‘Dark’ beers and took it all in.

After making it out to Brooklyn we found a pub and finally closed the night with a little Sake and Arrested Development…pretty standard.

 Wednesday morning we found a nice Greek diner for a really good (and Cheap) breakfast before sending Patrick off to Massachusetts and exploring more of Manhattan. Nikki and I took off from our hotel to explore Radio City Music Hall and Rockefeller Center (I could have spent hours in the Lego store). From there we walked up 5th Avenue to Central Park. The biggest surprise for me was seeing the massive rock outcroppings throughout the southern part of the park. Our journey to the Park had to make a pit stop at the Wollman Ice Skating Rink for Nikki to show me where her favorite scene of one of her favorite movies (Serendipity) takes place. Unfortunately there was a Fair taking place (one of Nikki’s least favorite things) so to make the Universe right we donated $1 to a local YMCA youth basketball team, Karma is in our favor.

After the park we found Three Monkeys Tavern for a break to get off our feet (we’ve been walking A LOT). We both enjoyed some beer (Yonkers Lager, Three Monkeys IPA and Radiant Pig) with some good sliders and chicken sandwich before hitting up Times Square on the way back to our hotel. We both needed a little down time before attempting our first subway ride without help and the Yankees game last night.

The Subway was a success and far less intimidating than the first time through (thank you Google Maps!). Yankee Stadium was a sight to be seen and pretty much had anything that you could have wanted at a stadium. We picked up our $11 Bud Lights (yep…) and got to our seats in the Bleachers just in time to see Miss USA, Miss Teen USA and Miss Universe in the section next to us and to join in with the Bleacher Creatures in their pre-game rituals (all very cool). Even though it is a new stadium you could feel history all over the place and it retained a very intimate feel. A couple more $12 beers and some Nathan’s Hot Dogs helped wrap up our entire Yankee Stadium experience. We had to stop one more time at Times Square at night.

New York came and went but we enjoyed every minute of it…we’re 30 minutes outside of Boston and a new adventure will begin soon.

 

Cheers

Ben and Nikki