A long weekend in NYC (Jan 23)

I love this place!

Every neighbourhood of the city has a completely different vibe; from the calmness of the parks, to the buzz of Broadway and Times Square, or the bohemian nature of Hells Kitchen and Greenwich Village, and that’s just a handful of locations in the borough of Manhattan alone.
NYC is so diverse and cosmopolitan, and the nearest place to London that I’ve been. It really does feel like home; safe and familiar on the one hand, but completely different on the other.

We split the long weekend between two places; Brooklyn, where we checked up on Ben who is midway through his internship and Manhattan, where we hooked up again with Karin. 

After an early morning jet-lag-avoiding-caffeine-fix at the Beanmomger Coffee shop in Union Street we met Ben and spent the day exploring some of his local haunts around Flatbush and Crown Heights, finishing with a walk around Prospect Park. It was great to see a different side of NYC across the East River from where Ben commutes to his Maddison Avenue job. 

We had booked into the nearby Industrialist hotel which was ideally situated for quick subway access. We also purchased a seven day Metrocard, which is better value than using contactless payment for each individual journey. 

The Midwood Flats Ale House (577 Flatbush Ave, Brooklyn) was an ideal place to stop for lunch ahead of taking a short ride on the subway across Manhattan Bridge to Greenwich Village, where we found ourselves in a cosy subterranean bar shooting pool before moving onto Bleeker Street and the Red Lion for some great live music. 

Poor Ben, I actually felt sorry for him having to endure a night out with a couple of oldies, especially as it didn’t stop Emma from declaring (via the dance floor) that “she’s back” in town!  I wasn’t far behind with my embarrassing Waacking and Voguing! We’re old enough to know better, but silly enough not to care (Ben is now seeking trauma counselling).

On Friday morning we headed for a morning rendezvous with Karin, who invited us to stay in her Manhattan apartment again. Hmmmm… the beer, shots and cocktails started at breakfast and the party ended up at the best dive-bar in town, Rudy’s, so it’s safe to say that we picked up exactly where we left things last September – it got messy! We spent the day bar hopping around Hell’s Kitchen.

Ben joined us midway through the day – so even more trauma counselling needed!  

It was great to meet Nick, Karin’s friend from New Jersey; he was the only one in our group who could call himself a local!  I thought the four of us must have appeared amusing for others looking on… a selection of blonds, baldies and dodgy foreign accents! A new type of gang? Sisters? Brothers? Actually, who cares. It’s New York!  

So, onto Saturday and a much calmer morning with a visit to the Whitney Museum of American Art which was exhibiting a selection of Edward Hopper’s work, then onto Caffe Reggio (of “Inside Llewyn Davis” fame) for a coffee. 

But then… oops, it was supposed to be a quiet night but no… we ended up in Waylon, a rocking country music bar about 10 minute walk from the apartment. We shared a table with an Argentine & Mexican couple and a guy from Oregon and danced the night away again, singing along to far more country songs than a self respecting Englishman should know… 

Sunday:-  blue skies greeted us on our trip to “Down Under the Manhattan Bridge Overpass” (DUMBO). We had breakfast at “Time-Out” market place and wandered about taking in the views. Thanks to Ben’s directions, we found the iconic vantage point in Washington Street where the Empire State Building can be seen in the distance underneath  the imposing arches of the Manhattan Bridge. 

The afternoon was spent in a blues bar just behind DUMBO called Superfine, it has a great atmosphere, even if the waiter couldn’t understand a word we were saying! We were lucky to see the Jack Grace Band, a local Brooklyn guy who has shared the stage with some of the greats including Gordon Lightfoot and Jerry Lee Lewis back in the day.  

The visual highlight of the week was our trip up to the 104 floor of the World Trade Centre where we watched a mesmerising sunset over Manhattan. The 360 degree views are simply stunning, it’s expensive but well worth it. We booked a slot for an hour or so either side of sunset, and being out of season, there were no queues! 

Monday:- Our late evening return flight from JFK meant we were able to make the most of the day and the great weather, taking a leisurely stroll around the city from our base near Times Square. We headed for Central Park, via Rockefeller Center and Grand Central Station. Ben was able to join us on account of Monday being a Federal Holiday – the Birthday of Martin Luther King, Jn. 

We couldn’t leave Hell’s Kitchen without paying a final visit to Rudy’s Bar and Grill, which, whilst off the map, will not be everyone’s cup of tea but with pints starting at $3, and with a free hotdog thrown in for good measure, it’s the sort of place where memories are made.

Like any big city, New York has its rough edges, and being in the USA is brutal for anyone slipping off the bottom rung of the ladder. The divide between the “haves” and “have-nots” hits you square in the face everywhere you look. However, almost everyone you meet is super friendly regardless of background. This was summed up by our final day breakfast chat with a LGBT local we met in Galaxy Diner (9th Av & W 46 St.) who was quick to recommend places to visit on our next trip and who has the most interesting job in media, traveling the globe’s hotspots to bring news of atrocities to the world. We’d still be talking now had we not had a plane to catch!

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