“I’m sorry sir, I don’t think we stock Tom Selleck masks specifically,” the man lurking in the basement of a three floor costume shop in Downtown said while wearing a mask that echoed scenes from Donnie Darko at 10am. This was the only disappointment while in New York. (Sorry pops, we tried!)
Landing around 9pm at JFK via Reykjavik we breezed through the infamous CBP guardians without issue (in under 10 mins) and fell into a Yellow Taxi bound for Manhattan. Crossing over the Triborough Bridge at night we saw NYC for the first time lit up at night.
Arriving at out Ye Olde Carlton Arms at 23rd & 5th we were faced with the agony of choice. The place is not the Plaza by any means, but it’s cheap and has ‘amusing attack cats’. It’s called the ‘Art Break Hotel’ because every room has its own theme by a different artist. Choices were three fold. The room with the luminous green paintings, the room daubed in bright red and yellow depictions of Ganesh or the small room that just simply smelt of sweat and shame….or possibly death. We settled for the spiritual depictions, and headed straight out for a few Brooklyn Lagers and a Burrito.
Suitably jet lagged the next day we were up and out the door by 7am and into a diner where Ollie excitedly ordered her eggs ‘over easy’ and found to her surprise that this was her preferred way to cook eggs anyway. Feeling quite pleased with ourselves we ambled down 3rd Avenue towards Downtown passing through Chinatown with New York waking up all around us.
At this point I realize that my particular brand of rambling writing will be quite time consuming for both me and you. (If you’re getting bored and just want to see the photos, click here!) So in an effort to the get to the point I will try to list our activities on this first day:
We walked to Downtown past City Hall, 1PP and various other impressive and 
iconic buildings. Went to the 9/11 memorial and was taken aback by the sheers size. List of all the souls lost covers the side of each memorial, with roses placed in those whose birthday it is. Moving onto the Staten Island Ferry we took it across and straight back to see Lady Liberty. Back ashore, we walked up Wall Street and the braved the subway for the first time uptown to 
Times Square. Quickly walking away from that awful area with the touts at our backs we made for Central Park after having our first round of ‘Coke and a Slice’. (You really can’t get a bad slice of pizza in NYC.) After idling in the park for an hour, we walked up the Upper West Side and then down Columbus Avenue after a coffee to catch up with Ollie’s Brother John. Arranging to meet him after work we waited at one of his watering holes called PJ Clarke’s. After some beers and finding $20 on the floor, then moving onto a dive bar to spend it, we decided it was time to call it a night after too many beers to count. Confusing ourselves on the subway, we finally got back and had a second round of pizza.
Ok, that was still quite lengthy, so from this point on, I will just talk about highlights as each day was pretty much packed full. It’s easy to be out in the city for 16 hours each day and not realize it!
We just loved walking around. Manhattan is huge basically but everywhere you go, you can stumble across something awesome. NYC library, Grand Central, Empire State Building and the Flat Iron building to name but a few things we just happened upon. Saying that, you can see the Empire from most places in the city!
Top of the Rock was a great thing to do. After an ‘Architecture and Art tour’ (yep, that’s right) we went up the 78 floors to look over the city. We did this twice, once in the day and once at night. Both are a good idea.
Central Park is beautiful, and you can spend a day in there. We certainly did when we met up with the Zwarts, where we searched for the (seemingly elusive) fountain from Friends. Had a great day and not just due to the company and meeting little Skylar for the first time. October is the time to go with the leaves falling/changing.
Took the train to Astoria in Queens where John lives and drank $10 pitchers and played pool in one of the many Irish bars. ‘Mississippi Bob’ took quite a shine to Ollie but after politely turning him down twice he moved on, as did we. The Strand is a bar that is definitely worth the trip over to Queens. Back bar covered in casks of Bourbon and Ale, while serving up Smokey BBQ in the back.
The High Line, a walkway park on a disused railway line running down to the Meatpacking District is pretty nice with great views of the city. Pretty busy on a Saturday though. Bleeker Street is great, one end has exclusive shops and the other has some nice pubs/bars where we spent a Saturday watching some live music and drinking $5 beer in The Red Lion Pub. (Always ask for what beer is on special in any bar you’re in)
Vue Bar (formally Me bar) in Korea Town on top of a Hotel offers one of the only places you can sit, drink and smoke outside in Manhattan I swear. Also with the Empire towering over you, the view isn’t too bad.
Buffalo Wings – They are awesome. Why must us Brits put up with pork scratchings when every bar here has these tasty little bastards on offer.
“Every day is a struggle, that’s why we must be kind to one another” adorns the door of PJ Clarkes. After John took us there on the first night, we returned twice for the general atmosphere and high quality cocktails. Ollie enjoyed the Manhattans and I the Old Fashioned, but at $15 a throw, you certainly can’t live on them.
Jazz in Harlem is something people say you should do, and we took the long Journey up to Londel’s for some soul food and Jazz on a Saturday. Great music, tasty home cooked style food and a pleasant relaxed atmosphere made this a wonderful evening. The journey home, put simply, was awful, with poor subway connections delaying us every step of the way.
A diner breakfast; What a thing! Without realizing it I ordered a stack of three large pancakes, bacon, sausage eggs and ham at the Sunflower Diner on 3rd and proceeded to eat most of it covered in butter and syrup. Good shit!
Food in general, you can’t help but feel New Yorkers eat out for three meals a day as every corner seems to be selling Bagels, Pizza or sandwiches and every one of them is busy. It’s all cheap…and it’s all damn good! Especially the pizza which we tried many times.
A trip to Brooklyn took up Sunday where we walked across the bridge, ate some top burgers in 67 Burger situated in the Fort Greene area. We then took the subway to Williamsburg (Yes they are all hipsters there) where Bedford Avenue has the feeling of East London’s Broadway Market on a Saturday morning. After a coffee, we headed to the Brooklyn Brewery where we broke our no drinking before 5pm rule yet again, and again justified this by circumstances. The free ‘tour’ was simply a brief respite from the drinking for most, but was still quite interesting. Feeling merry we then went to ‘Mugs Ale House’ where Ollie enjoyed some Pinball, but claimed the pumpkin ale tasted of the sweet yams from the night before so we found a bar called ‘The Soft Spot’ where happy hour earned me 2 for1 beers and a chance to sit outside with a drink and a smoke like a civilized person for a change.
The last night in the city was exceptional, visiting Bar Boulud, the restaurant John has come to work for. The place is pretty exclusive with prices to match, but to our surprise we got the chance to sample over our budget. A free glass of the fizzy stuff on arrival followed by a charcuterie plate with all manner of terrines and pates along with finest ham I have ever eaten. This was then followed by a surprise course of squid ink pasta topped with a quail’s egg and trout roe. My last experience with small fishy eggs nearly ended with me throwing up at an East London art exhibition but this was delicious and plates were soon cleared. The steak, we did pay for but was outstanding and Ollie’s duck looked pretty damn tasty. Feeling like we couldn’t eat another thing, the kitchen then sent out three delicious desserts, one of which was a selection of small delicate cakes which we ‘bagged’ with the waiter assuring us it was in keeping with the tone. In the very rare chance that anyone from that restaurant is reading this, thank you. It was delicious and ended our time in the city perfectly.
There is so much more I could write, but there is no point. You need to go yourself if you haven’t already done so. And if you have, go back again. We will be!
All the snaps click here
Writing this on the plane to the West Coast, on a 6 hour flight to San Diego to begin our ‘Journey’ south. NYC was the holiday….
(p.s if anyone reading this is planning a trip and would like info please email us. I tried to keep records of spending and average costs, which I will endeavor to do throughout the year, as I found it pretty difficult to find any decent info on this subject when planning)
hop on the good foot 