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.