Cats are good judges of character

Tuesday, November 29^th, 2016

New York, New York

It’s 4:30am EST and I am quietly gathering my stuff for a 5am airport pick up. I have elected to pay a car service for a ride to the airport, since taking a train will take almost 4 times as long at this time of day. My ankle is still very swollen and I can barely put any weight on it. Around 4:55am I start to hobble down the front steps. Sarah has generously gotten out of bed to carry my bag down the steps and hug me goodbye. Luckily, my driver is right on time. 

A few blocks from Sarah’s the driver turns to me and insists that I pay him cash. Despite the fact that the booking site offered payment by credit card, I eventually I agree. He stops at a corner store and tells me to go inside to get cash. I feel like I may be mugged soon, but I am also too tired to really care. When I get inside, I see a group of workers hanging around the cashier and small cat that is frantically rubbing against their legs. I think that cats are good judges of character and begin to relax.

I successfully withdraw cash for my driver and soon we are on our way out of Brooklyn. The drive to the airport is easy and we arrive ahead of schedule. 

When I go to check in I notice that my pre-check has been disabled. I ask the airline agent and she basically tells me “tough shit”. I guess they do not have to honor pre-check status if they don’t want to. This is fine with me though, everyone can just wait patiently while I sit on the floor and gingerly slide my very sore and swollen foot out of my little shoe. As it turns out, nobody really cares and they all just walk around me. 

Eventually I get through security and start to hobble to my gate. It's not as bad as it sounds though; my rolly bag doubles nicely as a cane. I make a quick stop at a coffee cart and successfully grab a seat right next to my gate.

The rest of of my travel home is uneventful. The pain in my ankle even starts to subside about halfway through my flight. As I sit quietly in my seat I start to organize my photos and feel very appreciative of the colorfulness, the hardship and the fun that is New York City.

The Melvins of old European art

Monday, November 28^th, 2016

New York, New York

It’s 6:30am and the neighbor's cat is body slamming the outside of Sarah’s window. Ugh, this cat is aggressive. I feel for the window with one hand and slide it open. A cold, wet cat comes bounding through and immediately starts begging to be let into the hallway. I abide. 

Around 7am Sarah starts the Dunkin Donuts coffee. She quickly gets ready for work and leaves me with half a pot of coffee and a promise to meet up later for dinner in Queens. I enjoy a lazy morning filled with some work from the office and opening doors and windows for the neighbor’s cat. I spend a solid 30 minutes on Yelp picking out a place for brunch. I finally settle on Concord Hill. It’s close and has good reviews. I want to avoid restaurants with great reviews, since I am not interested in waiting for a table. 

The restaurant is tiny and completely empty. Oh well, I’m staying. I get amazing service from an overzealous waiter. My meal consists of eggs, sausage, bacon, toast and coffee. It’s delicious but my new waiter friend gives me a lot of trouble for not eating the toast. 

After breakfast I decide to try using the subway. There is one train that will take me from Brooklyn to the Met. I find the train stop and the correct line but can not figure out which direction to go. This is way more confusing than I thought it would be! I make a guess and quickly deduce that I guessed wrong. I get off at the next stop and have to re-enter the turnstile. Apparently it’s been such a short amount of time since I last entered a turnstile that the system has frozen my card. I have to go find the station lady to give me a new one. After another 10 minutes of standing on the freezing platform, I board the correct train. Ugh, New York life is rough.  

Eventually I make it to 86th street and successfully exit the station near the Met. I wander into the lobby and happily pay the suggested admission price of $25. I check my coat and I am off! 

I start out by the medieval art and wander around some collections of very old objects. Eventually, I make it through the art of Rome, then Africa, then Egypt. This place is definitely comprehensive. I spend most of my time in the American and Modern Art rooms. 

I make a point to visit two of the special exhibits before leaving. The first one is on an artist named Valentin De Boulogne. As it turns out, Valentin was never very famous but ended up influencing a lot of other people. I guess he’s kind of like the Melvins of old European art. The next special exhibit is focused on the art of Jerusalem. This one is much more comprehensive and definitely more crowded. Even though my feet are starting to hurt again, I walk through the entire exhibit and read almost all of the information cards. I end up learning a lot and am happy that I pushed through. 

By now I am exhausted and starving. I stop at a hot dog cart outside of the Met and enjoy some good, old fashioned New York street food. After a short walk through the incredibly picturesque Central Park I brave the subway to get back to Sarah’s. Somehow I am successful and am back in time to make a few phone calls for work and be ready for dinner. 

Soon Sarah arrives home from work. I immediately bombard her with a step by step recollection of my day. She assures me that everyone has difficultly with the subway, at first. 

We take a few minutes to pack up a little bit more for the Queens apartment and take another Uber over to her new apartment. After a quick drop off, we walk over to SoleLuna for long, good Italian dinner. The wine-by-the-glass list is awesome and we both get exactly what we want. The restaurant is pretty empty, but I can not figure out why; the food is amazing. 

After dinner we walk over to Maggie Mae’s and order a round of cocktails. The bar is pretty empty, but I can still tell that it’s a place for locals. After our night cap, we head over to the train station to get back to Brooklyn. The view of Sunnyside from the platform is totally awesome. Rows of brick buildings are lit up by thousands of Christmas lights. I really like this neighborhood. 

Once we are back in Brooklyn, we still have a 20 minute walk back to Sarah’s house. It’s getting pretty cold and we are walking quickly. About one and a half blocks from Sarah’s I make a wrong step and feel my ankle snap. Oh fuck, it hurts. Multiple groups of people are standing outside on their front porches. I try real hard not to make a scene as I hobble back into Sarah's brownstone. 

Once we are inside, I assure Sarah that everything is fine. I let her have bathroom access first, and when I eventually take off my shoe and sock I see that my ankle is the size of grapefruit. Shit. 

I complete the rest of my evening routine on one foot. It’s my turn to sleep on the couch and I elevate my foot on a couch cushion and stare at the ceiling in a complete state of panic as to how I am going to get on my super early flight back and then back to my house in LA on one foot. Eventually I drift to sleep. 

Tourists and New Yorkers

Sunday, November 27th, 2016

New York, New York 

It’s around 9am EST and we are both slowly waking up for the day. Sarah will be moving to her new apartment in Queens next week so she is starting to pack up bags of non-essential items. Our plan is take a trip over to her new place to drop off a few things and get her keys from the property manager. After a brief discussion we decide to have breakfast in Brooklyn before heading out. 

Sarah picks a place called Father Knows Best. We sit a at cute, little table by the window and enjoy a hearty breakfast along with some delicious coffee. Our server is super nice and I am becoming progressively charmed by Bushwick. After breakfast we walk back over to Sarah’s, gather some of her things and call an Uber to Queens. Our driver seems very New York and watches impatiently as Sarah and I load up the black of his car. Soon we are dropped in a neighborhood called Sunnyside. It is so cute here!

As we walk into the front of Sarah’s new building we immediately run into the property manager, who is setting up a Christmas tree in the lobby. He is very talkative and nerdy with a thick New York accent. He could have easily been a character in Seinfeld and I can not get over the fact that he lives in the building! I guess this is what people would call a “super”. Sarah’s new life is going to be like a sitcom and I am secretly jealous. 

Eventually, we take a very slow elevator up to Sarah’s new apartment. It is freaking awesome. It has dark hardwood floors, large windows and is filled with sunlight. We talk a little bit about her decorating plan and eventually head out for a quick walk around Sunnyside. We walk about half a block and end up on the main street for this neighborhood. It has such small town charm that I can not believe we are only a few miles away from Brooklyn. 

Now that we’ve had a glimpse at Queens we decide to head over to lower Manhattan so that we can take the ferry out to Staten Island. I am excited to see the views of the city, be on a boat and, most importantly, sit down for a little bit. This city is all about standing and walking!

It proves to be surprisingly easy to get tickets and walk right onto the ferry. It’s a little crowded, but we have no problem getting seats with a nice view. As the boat takes off we run to the back with a small group of tourists. We are all frantically taking pictures of the Manhattan skyline. Sarah tries to get a few pictures of me and the skyline but ends up getting pictures of other people. 

Once we are sufficiently far from Manhattan we spend a little bit of time wandering around the boat. From the portside we are able to get a great view of the statue of liberty and the late afternoon light makes everything incredibly picturesque. I even get a few shots of myself in the afternoon light, one of which goes straight onto Facebook as my new profile photo. 

Once we reach Staten Island, we decide stay on the boat for the ride back. We grab hot drinks from the snack cart and enjoy the view of the setting sun. 

Back on dry land, Sarah suggests that we spend some time exploring the south side of Manhattan. We start out at the financial district, which is completely empty except for a small herd of tourists. Sarah points out a bronze statue of a bull and I quickly realize its anatomical correctness. I am giggling at the bull along with the other tourists. 

Our next stop is the 911 memorial and I have no idea what to expect. The last time I was here was in 2003 when there was still a large hole in the ground, overrun with construction equipment. As we approach, I see a large, flat black fountain that flows into the ground. It doesn’t matter where you stand you can not see the bottom of the fountain, it just looks like its in flowing into the opposite wall. I am really impressed by the artfulness and respect of the monument. To my surprise, I can not think of any criticism. 

Our next stop is the new train station next to the memorial. It is also beautifully done and looks like a modern art museum… with a dash of shopping and snack carts. 

It’s starting to get dark and cold so we decide to stop for dinner. We open up Yelp and quickly decide on a place called the Malt House. We have no trouble getting a table and are seated against the furnace, which is extra cozy. We both order dinner and drinks and are very happy with our meals. This restaurant is so warm inside that we have peel ourselves out of seats to head back to Brooklyn. 

By the time we get back, it’s starting to get late. We opt for a nightcap at Sarah’s house. She has to work tomorrow and goes to bed somewhat early. I stay up and watch the new episode of Game of Thrones on my iPhone. 

Tomorrow is my last full day in New York and I am already sad. 

I’ll have the last one that you said.

Saturday, November 26th, 2016

New York, New York 

It’s around 9am EST and the smell of Dunkin Donuts coffee is wafting through the air. I am groggy, but also excited for a full day in Manhattan! After a few good stretches, I get out of bed and quickly get ready for the day. Sarah is already awake and almost done with her first cup of coffee. She pours me a cup and we sit in the living room while the neighbor’s cat explores the kitchen. We discuss a few options for breakfast and I surrender to Sarah’s good judgement. 

We walk over to a packed restaurant called SoCo. We end up sitting at the bar and the service is amazing. I have a huge plate of bacon and eggs and more coffee. After breakfast we take the train into town for a day of sight seeing. 

We decide to start out at Central Park. I have not experienced fall in many years and immediately fall in love with the brightly colored trees. Our first stop is Belvedere castle and then we eventually wander past the ice skating rink and then to the boathouse. I’m pretty excited to see the boathouse since many pivotal TV and movie scenes have occurred here, particularly that episode of Sex in the City when Carrie and Big fall into the lake and then realize they can never be together. Sad face. 

We make a quick stop for water at the snack stand and then continue over to 5th Ave. The weather is starting to get really cold and I resolve to buy a light-weight jacket. Luckily, Sarah knows just the place! 

We walk into Uniqlo and I immediately understand it to be the perfect blend of H&M and American Apparel. After strategically weaving through almost all of the aisles I come across a counter of fur-lined hoodies. They are perfect! I find a muted pink hoodie with a tan lining and buy the largest size I can find. I am beginning to understand the concept of layers and intend this to be my outer layer. 

Post shopping I am warm and can now feel that my feet are getting very tired. We are right next to St. Patrick’s Cathedral and decide to take a break inside. It’s beautiful and the front pews are roped off. We sit in the back for a quick rest and come to realize that a wedding is starting to happen. I find this whole set up strange, but my feet do not want to move, so we stay amongst the sea of tired tourist in the back of the wedding. I stay silent, but am judging the bride’s dress in my head. As soon as it’s polite, we sneak out of the back.  

It’s getting to be early evening and we make the decision to go back to Brooklyn for dinner. We head over to Speedy Romeos where we have some real New York pizza paired with a California wine. The restaurant is extremely busy and smells like garlic; this is exactly how I imagined New York. 

Next, we head over to The Emerson for a night cap. This bar is dark, cozy and just busy enough to be totally awesome. This feels like a place where one would drink brandy. I ask the bartender if she has any brandy and she asks what kind I would like. I stare blankly as she rattles off a few brand names and I lamely reply that I’ll have “the last one that you said”. To be fair, I only drink brandy in New York.

We thoroughly enjoy our beverages and even drunk text some of our friends. Around 11pm it’s time for us to head back. We stop at a wine store and I buy a bottle to bring back to Sarah’s. It’s over priced and we don’t even open it when we get back. Sarah goes quickly to bed. I stay up for an hour or so reading my book. Eventually I drift off to sleep.

These wine physics

Friday, November 25^th, 2016

New York, New York

It’s 7am in New York and Sarah is bustling around her apartment getting ready for work. I am strangely not tired.

Sarah makes me a cup of Dunkin Donuts coffee. I don’t expect to like it, but I have to admit that these east coasters are onto something! She also allows her neighbor’s cat to come in through the bedroom window. He is super cute and, almost immediately, he is begging to be let out of the front door. Cats.

Once Sarah leaves, I settle in on her couch to drink coffee and watch the morning news. I am already enjoying life as a New Yorker. It turns out that we are in a neighborhood called Bushwick. I have this vague memory of a Girls episode that took place in this neighborhood (later when I look it up, I’ll find it’s titled “The Crackcident”). I decide to spend the morning in Williamsburg, which is only a few miles up the street. I spend a few minutes on Yelp, picking the perfect restaurant for brunch. Eventually I decide on the Two Door Tavern, based more on the photos than the menu. I order an Uber and I am off!

Two Door Tavern is as hip as Yelp suggested. I order a large plate of bacon and eggs as well as a cup of coffee. I eat my breakfast slowly as I appreciate all the different kinds of hipsters. When I am finally done, I literally shimmy out of the café; it is so packed. I spend the next few hours wandering around different shops. I want to buy some hip clothes from Brooklyn but I am wearing so many layers that I cannot bring myself to try anything on; I make a mental note revisit some items online, once I return to sunny LA.  

Eventually I get tired and pull up Google Maps to see what else is around. I find a coffee shop called Northerly that sells a drink called Buttercup Coffee. It sounds like it has butter in it, so I go to check it out. When I arrive, the barista talks to the customer in front of me for like 5 whole minutes. Luckily, I don’t have anywhere to be (apparently, that’s something we all have in common). Eventually I get my chance to order. I chat with the friendly barista for a while and eventually get my butter filled coffee. I’m loving all the trendy food in Brooklyn!

Upon further investigation, it turns out that I am only about 2 miles away from Sarah’s house, so I decide to walk back.  As I start to get closer to Bushwick, The Crackcident makes more sense. Nonetheless, it’s the middle of the day and Sarah tells me this neighborhood is safe. I want to get some photos of the stray cats, but literally everyone is staring at me, so I just smile and keep walking.  

Eventually I arrive at Sarah’s house and have about an hour or so to relax and take care of a few items for work. Around 3pm I head out to meet Sarah in Manhattan for dinner. Sarah has given me hyper-specific instructions for getting into town and I am eternally grateful. 

I successfully arrive at the 58th Street Library stop. There are at least 7 exits from the subway station. I pick one at random and walk out into the chilly rain. I end up in Bryant Park and decide to walk around for a little bit. This place is in full holiday mode, with little heaters distributed throughout endless rows of vendors. I spend some time looking a jewelry and purses. I even buy a cup of bone broth from one of the street vendors (more points for New York and it's awesome food!). 

Eventually I make my way into the library. It’s beautiful. And warm. I spend an hour or so walking around and taking all sorts of arty pictures. I make a stop by the gift shop and am impressed but still unmotivated to buy anything (there’s something about not having a car that is making me think twice about purchasing anything).  

Around 5pm I start heading over to Grand Central Station. I stop to look in a few extravagantly decorated store windows and eventually end up in the train station. I only have a few minutes to look around before I meet Sarah right in the center. She is done with work for the weekend and ready for happy hour! 

We go to the a restaurant called the Grand Central Oyster Bar and decide to sit at the bar. After one round of cocktails, I am already drunk. New York bartenders do not fuck around. We order mussels to share and then I have a bowl of the seafood soup. The food is awesome and I am still drunk. Oh well, it’s vacation. After one last round of champange and a very spirited conversation with our very New York bartender, we head out to our evening activity - The Radio City Christmas Spectacular. I’m so tipsy and excited that I basically skip out of the train station.

We are only about half a mile from the Rockefeller Center but neither of our GPS’s can quite grasp our location. We wander around in the very chilly air for a little bit before eventually calling an Uber. 

When we arrive, there is a line around the building. We already have tickets, so we decide to walk to the front of the line and ask if we can go in. Surprisingly they says yes. We walk right in and to the Will Call window; I feel like we broke a rule, but am also excited to be inside. 

Immediately we go to the bar and order 2 glasses of wine. The wine is prepackaged and comes in little plastic glasses with lids on them. The lid is air tight and we can turn our containers upside down without spilling a drop. We are overjoyed by these physics. We try to take some selfies but can’t really get the background we want. After basically sitting on the ground to get a good shot, a nice man offers to help us. He takes a few photos and they turn out horrid. 

Eventually we find our seats and are the middle of a huge group of tourists. We notice that the upper balcony is almost completely empty. We move up there and end up with 2 full rows to ourselves. By the time the show starts our feet are all over the chairs in front of us and our plastic containers of wine are only half full. We talk over the entire show and can’t stop laughing about the creepy Santa Claus character.

Once the show is over we have a long trip back to Brooklyn. I follow Sarah through a maze streets and subway stations and eventually we end up back at her house. We hang out to drink a few glasses of water but end up falling asleep very quickly. Being a tourist is both fun and exhausting. 

21 hours of Thanksgiving

Thursday, November 24^th, 2016

Los Angeles, CA and New York, New York

It’s 8am and I am waking up for my flight to New York City! I am going to spend my long Thanksgiving weekend at Sarah’s temporary brownstone in Brooklyn. This is going to be awesome!

I drive myself to LAX and quickly realize that the economy parking lot is full. I was afraid this would happen. I make the snap decision to wing-it and drive up Sepulveda until I find a residential neighborhood with no parking restrictions. I grab the first spot I see, order an Uber, and hold my breath for a hassle-free airport experience.

Luckily, all goes smoothly and I am at my gate 45 minutes early. I grab a cup of coffee and call my parents to say hi. They are about to start their Thanksgiving dinner and won’t stop talking about their special recipe for mac and cheese. Eventually I get off the phone and have just enough time to download the second Harry Potter audiobook before I board my flight.

The flight is smooth and I land at JFK at 7:05pm Eastern Time. Whoa, it’s cold here. Per Sarah’s instructions I find the cab line, which is completely empty except for a couple who can’t stop making out. They cut in front of me, but I don’t even think they saw me, so I don’t take it personally. I wait less than a minute for my cab and then am off to Sarah’s house!

When I arrive, I cannot believe how beautiful Sarah’s place is. It has super tall ceilings, large windows and dark brown, wooden floors. The entire space feels very open and has a strange old world feel to it. After about 5 minutes of getting settled, we decide to head over to Little Italy for our Thanksgiving dinner. It’s dark and rainy, but after only 2 train rides we arrive. The restaurant is pretty empty (to be fair it’s almost 9pm on Thanksgiving). There is a small family blocking the front door and their adolescent kid will not move. Sarah chirps “watch it” as we push past. I can already tell that New York fits Sarah like a glove.

The host and servers at the restaurant are obviously Italian and are extremely over the top in their presentation of the table and menus. We each order a glass of wine and examine the menu. I order chicken in a cream sauce with veggies on the side and Sarah has the scallops. The food is delicious and we have a lot of catching up to do.

Sarah has to work tomorrow, so after dinner we head back to her place and drink one more glass of wine in her living room. Around midnight Sarah really needs to get to sleep and I am not tired at all. After all, today only had 21 hours for me. I take a quick shower and lay in bed staring at the celling. Before I know it, I am asleep and my first day in NYC is complete.