Where do I start? How about in Harlem, where I began my visit!
Someone must have slipped my friend Amal some drugs, because she somehow happily agreed to let me stay in her super-cute apartment for THREE weeks. Amal=Angel.
We spent lots of nights doing ‘friends things,’ including a visit to Harlem’s first (and only) Bier House (fantastic!), night runs along the river, Monday Night Football with Dinosaur BBQ, and many hours spent distracting each other from work with random discussions through the wall…you know, friend things.
It was really nice to open the door every day after work to this:
Just makes you happy.
Mom and Dad came for a visit, and we packed in a matinee Broadway show (Next to Normal), a Central Park walk, delicious Italian and Cuban dinners, and the New York City Marathon!
Thanks to Matt, we had a front row seat in Brooklyn for mile 6 of the marathon. We ate brunch while watching the elite runners finish on TV and the real-time runners go by out the window (If you’re not going to actually participate in a marathon you might as well eat delicious pastries and breakfast sandwiches while watching the runners, right?)
I also had the fantastic opportunity to attend NYC’s WhiskeyFest with my friend Dan who works for VA Distillery in Charlottesville.
I “worked” pouring whiskey at their booth, talking with people about whiskey and taking strolls around the room tasting whiskeys from around the world…amazing!
Next stop, Windsor Terrace, Brooklyn.
The next kind individual to offer up his couch was my friend Kevin, and his three roommates Ronnie (person), Tom (person) and Rita (kitty). Kevin’s neighborhood sits between historic Green-Wood Cemetery and beautiful Prospect Park. It is also home to the Double Windsor bar, which has delicious food, eclectic microbrews (even a VT brewery I’d never even HEARD of!!!) and a fantastic trivia night.
It’s clear I enjoyed my time in Brooklyn! Prospect park was a great place for running, and Kevin and I enjoyed a perfect late-fall afternoon walking around the cemetery, checking out old gravestones and listening to the parakeets chirp from the front gates (haven’t gotten the back story there yet…)
Over Thanksgiving weekend Amal and I fought the crowd at the Wednesday night inflation of the Macy's day parade balloons!
It was a little crazy fighting the crowd, but the balloons sure looked good!
So far so good in the city! Next up, stays in Chelsea and Midtown Manhattan!
