New York City – July 4-8, 2011

Paul and I traveled to New York City via Porter airlines a few weeks back.

It was exactly what I needed! Excitement, adventure and the buzz and craziness and unpredictability that comes with the way we travel. For the most part, we don’t make plans. We end up where we end up. And we ALWAYS make memories that we’ll laugh about for years on end.

Before leaving, Paul did insist that we at least find a place to stay before arriving. Not wanting to take any “pets” home with us after our trip, he spent a lot of time on the bedbug registry. I have to agree, that was a mighty fine idea! He finally found something both our wallets and our hygiene standards could withstand and we ended up at the West Side YMCA.  The accommodations were simple, and sleeping in bunk beds was fun! My only beef about our stay there was having to share a washroom — I found myself shocked at the state of the women’s washroom at times (why oh why would you leave your underwear balled up on the back of the toilet or throw toilet paper and tampon wrappers on the floor. And the lady who put her toothbrush on the floor while peeing…totally gross! Yuck!).

What did I love most about our trip to New York?

 

63 Bites – The cafe attached to the Y

The neat thing about staying at the Y was that we got to be part of the community there. There were tons of day camps going on, so there were lots of families around. Also, there were gym-goers and this most charming cafe called 63 Bites. What most interested me about this place were the esthetics: mirrored windows, “chandeliers” made from soldered copper, pillars stenciled with “63 bites”, walls painted with birch tree trunks, and my favourite: windows collaged with pages from a Julia Child cookbook (pictured on the right)!

 

Visiting the World Trade Center site.

We went to take a look. We had to. it was super great to see the construction progress since the last time I was there in 2009.  I snapped this picture of the main tower, which is half completed (at 60-ish stories). Apparently, it will become the tallest American building when it’s finished (it will be 1,776 feet). On the site we also saw the beginnings of the 2 memorials (named “The Void”) which demarcate the exact location of the 2 towers. They will be water falls and they will frame a museum which will help us to remember what must be remembered about that horrific day.

In the meantime, a temporary museum has been set up and we visited it. It houses the stories of 911 along with haunting posters that desperate family members posted while looking for missing family members. Bits of rubble, including steel from the buildings, remnants of the aircraft, and even identification absent it’s owner are displayed there. I found myself breathing deeply and guarding my heart with my right hand as I read the stories and went back in my mind to my reaction to that day, after which none of us could ever really be the same.

After visiting the museum, we visited a resto beside the museum, across from the WTC site. It was filled with memorabilia and messages from grateful emergency workers who had used the space as a medical refuge.  That was a very solemn lunch indeed.

Here’s a really great part of the main WTC site that has updates about the construction updates on a regular basis.

 

Renting Bikes and Riding in East Harlem.

 

You know me, I LOVE riding my bike! So naturally I was experiencing a wee bit of withdrawal.  One day, we rented bikes and were told it was ok to ride through Harlem, but NOT east Harlem. Apparently, Columbia University is buying up lots of real estate in parts of Harlem, but we were advised that east Harlem was not an altogether safe pace to visit. It was quite beautiful to see the University grounds and we stopped for lunch at a cafe in the university district. Then we meandered around a park and ended up in, you guessed it, East Harlem!

I don’t know exactly where we were , but I looked up at one point and saw the East Harlem Cafe.  It looked funky from the outside, and I would have visited it, but I didn’t want to make Paul any more nervous than he already was, so we turned around. But if you look at their website, you’ll see it’s a unique place! Visiting next time fo sho!!!

And a note about “being scared” in unfamiliar places: I travel lots and always set out with the mindset that we are all the same deep down.  I take the recommended precautions, but frankly like be among others who, on the outside may look different, but inside at just the same as me.  Bring on the opportunity to connect with others!

 

Visiting Brooklyn for the First Time

We took the train to Brooklyn, all set to go to the visitor’s centre to get the scoop on what to do. But wouldn’t you know it, the map I had written on to tell us how to get there was in my other bag back at the Y. So, we got off at a random station and wandered. While buying a funky sweater from Daffy’s (which I hadn’t discovered earlier), I asked the woman ahead of me in line where to go. She directed us somewhere within walking distance. And of course, she told me to go in one direction, and I took us in the opposite direction. Again, though, we found fun stuff. A neat juice shop where we cooled off with a smoothy, and a shopping area with clothes that were truly working for me and my figure. BONUS!

Seeing “Freud’s Last Session” (Off Broadway)

We stayed in the Y, right? Well apparently, there was a theatre attached to the Y, which we didn’t know about until AFTER we bought tickets for Freud’s Last Session, which happened to be running at said theatre (The Marjorie S. Deane Little Theatre). So instead of walking through our building (the short cut), we walked around the block – not knowing until afterwards it was attached!

 

The play was phenomenal – all about what would have happened had CS Lewis and Sigmund Freud actually met in real life. The banter about religion, politics and atheism was thought provoking and well executed. I highly recommend checking it out!

 

Cafe Fiorello (1900 Broadway , across from Lincoln centre, between 63rd and 64th) 

I felt like royalty dining here, and the food was scrumptious. Read my Yelp review about it here.

 

All in all, it was a great (although short) vacation. I don’t think I’ll ever ever tire of NYC!