NYC

Alison and I were planning to visit New York in late June this year. We had a hotel booked and even had tickets to a Yankees game. Then we discovered Alison was pregnant and that timing wouldn't work for us. We pivoted and booked a trip over Alison’s birthday. 

New York is our favorite place to visit together. One of our very first trips after we were married was to NYC. We have come back many times year after year. It felt important to have one more trip as a family of two. 

Our New York trips over the past few years tended to portend the way the year felt for us. 

In 2022 we came to NYC full of hope and optimism for the future. We were designing and building our dream house and were early enough in the process that it still seemed to be progressing well. Around that same time, we did some soul-searching and decided together we wanted to have children. At this point, building the house and starting our family seemed like they would be easy, relatively pain-free processes. To celebrate we visited Tiffany & Co on Fifth Avenue. During that visit, we bought Alison a ring. The ring has two sets of three diamonds. This ring has been special to us as it symbolizes our decision to expand our little family. At the time we kept that meaning to ourselves as there was still a long road ahead. 

In 2023 our feelings were fraught and full of uncertainty. We were selling our first house and that was a stressful process. While we were in New York the challenges of the build really settled in. As we reflected together we could see our house was stalled and it was frustrating. Starting our family was also not going as planned. These feelings of frustration were so different than the ones we felt just a year before. 

How things can change after one year. Here in 2024 we have settled into our home and have a baby girl on the way. We have a lot of hopes and new dreams for the future. In many ways, this trip is a celebration of those dreams. One last NYC trip as a family of two before we embark on the next great adventure - an adventure we have been planning for and looking forward to for years. 

This trip was one for the books. At one point, as we were walking around the city Alison told me that she sometimes wonders if we will ever get tired of visiting New York. Not that you could ever exhaust everything there is to do there, but will we ever get to the point that there are other places we would rather go? So far the answer is a resounding no. 

We have explored a lot of what NYC has to offer. On this trip, we did a combination of the old favorites and new experiences. We really only had a few things planned - two shows and two baseball games, all at night, which meant our days were wide open. We had a few ideas of things we might want to do, but we let our whimsy lead the way. 

One of the challenges Alison has faced during pregnancy has been finding good maternity clothes - comfortable clothes, that look good and are reasonably priced. There are few, if any, local places to shop for maternity clothes, and buying them online can be very hit or miss. I suggested maybe we could find a place in New York. Alison looked into it and found Jane's Exchange, a children's and maternity resale and consignment store. It was one of our first stops in NYC. The shop is located in the East Village, which is an area we do not frequent often. It was fun to venture off our normal beaten path. If I was hungry I would have gotten a pastrami sandwich from Katz's Deli, but we had recently eaten, maybe next time. Shopping at Jane's Exchange was such a good experience. Alison found a pile of good options to try on and there were quite a few outfits she liked. While she was trying on clothes I was searching the shop for baby girl clothes, children's books, and other items of interest. I found an absolutely darling butterfly dress that had to come home with us. 

We spent a lot of time at Grand Central on this trip. We love Grand Central. No NYC trip is complete without at least a quick jaunt through Grand Central. It was one of the most convenient places to catch the subway near our hotel. On this trip, we stayed at the Hilton Club The Central at 5th New York. It was a great use of our timeshare. The room was nice - clean, and spacious, and the hotel gave us as many free water bottles as we wanted. At first, the location seemed great - right off 5th Avenue, a few blocks from Grand Central, a couple of blocks from Rockefeller Center, and within walking distance of Times Square. While we liked the location we found that it wasn't as perfect as it seemed. It was a fairly long walk to any subway station. We found the best route was to take the LIRR tunnel about a block from the hotel to Grand Station, but we put a lot of miles on our shoes walking to and from Grand Central. 

We also visited the Tiffany and Co. mothership at The Landmark - their Fifth Avenue flagship store. Alison loves this particular Tiffany's location more than any other. For good reason - the experience is top-notch. We were on the lookout for a push gift. I was tasked with coming up with some ideas and I had my eye on a particular piece from the Elsa Peretti collection, but we took our time looking at all of the options throughout the store. They recently finished an extensive renovation and the updates are beautiful. After we explored the entire store one associate, Clyde, talked Alison into trying on a few pieces. After some water and treats and trying on a lot of pieces we ended up leaving with the Elsa Peretti piece I had my eye on. Alison is never sad when we walk out of Tiffany & Co. with that distinctive blue bag. 

Our first show of the trip was Cabaret. A new revival of Cabaret opened the week of our trip. The show is headlined by Eddie Redmayne as the Emcee and Bebe Neuwirth as Fraulein Schneider. We chose to see Cabaret because we wanted to see Eddie Redmayne. We are so glad we did because it was an excellent show. The show started with a pre-show. They transformed the theater into the Kit Kat Club. We entered through a side entrance and as we were entering they covered our phone cameras with stickers to protect their intellectual property. Before the show, they had a preshow with musicians and dancers. The atmosphere was like what you might have found if you walked into a club in Berlin in the late 1920s. It was very impressive. As showtime approached we took our seats, they retrofitted the theater so that the stage was in the center of the theater and the show was performed in the round. The cast was incredible, particularly Eddie Redmayne. We were entranced. The music was great and the story is powerful. The themes of inclusiveness and fear of the other resonate today. 

Since my phone camera was covered up, I didn't take my traditional playbill pictures until we got back to the hotel.  

We spent a lovely morning in Central Park. The weather was a bit cold, but it was clear, and felt comfortable in the sun. Central Park is particularly lovely in the springtime time the cherry blossoms and tulips are blooming. Exploring Central Park is one of our favorite things to do in New York. While we were there we took a jaunt to Levain Bakery to get our favorite cookies. They had a limited-edition lemon cookie that was unbelievably good. It was a plain yellow cookie stuffed with lemon chips that are the perfect blend of tangy and sweet. 

On this trip, we ate our favorite New York foods. On a night we needed a quick meal we grabbed halal food from a street vendor - that is always one of my favorites. Of course, it wouldn't be a trip to NYC without eating some delicious pizza. One of our more recent favorites is Los Tacos No. 1 and it was as good as ever. Of course every morning we had our favorite omelets with home fries and toast. New York has such great food options. 

We celebrated Alison's birthday on this trip. We stopped by Magnolia Bakery and got a slice of birthday cake (not good) and their banana cream pudding (way good). Then we celebrated her birthday by attending a game at Yankees Stadium. It was a cold night at the stadium, which meant we got to come home with a nice Yankees fleece that we needed to keep us warm during the game. The Yankees were paying the Athletics. The Yankees have been pretty good and it seemed like there was a good chance they would win. Nestor Cortes was pitching. He had a good game with really only one bad inning where he gave up three runs on two home runs. That could still be a very winnable game, but the Yankees only scored one run on a home run by our catcher Jose Trevino. Jose Trevino is one of Alison's favorite players so she was thrilled when he hit a home run on her birthday. She even said our baby girl kicked a bit when Jose came up to the plate. The Yankees had lots of chances. They loaded the bases twice and each time grounded into a double play. The Yankees outhit the Athletics but ultimately came up short. However, during the sixth inning, there was a nice message on the video board wishing Alison a Happy Birthday!

We had a few new things we wanted to check out on this trip. They have been on our list to check out in NYC for a bit now, but they aren't necessarily convenient. Since we had time we checked them out on this trip. The first stop was Cornelia Street of T-Swift fame. It is a little street in Greenwich Village. 

While we were in Greenwich Village Alison had a new to us ice cream place she wanted to check out - Morgenstern’s Finest Ice Cream. They make texture-driven small batch ice cream. It is really good. I tried a scoop of the Arnold Palmer Cobbler and it tasted just like a peach cobbler in ice cream form. The ice cream was so good that I went back for a second scoop of Circus Animals. To me this scoop tasted like childhood, I even got it served in a cone. 

We were near Washington Square Park. It was another clear, cold, sunny spring day in NYC. We walked over to the park. It was a lovely spring day. Lots of people were out and about enjoying the sun. We basked in the sun enjoying the beauty around us. 

Another stop that has been on our list for a minute was the RGB mural by Elle Street Art located in the East Village. We love RGB. The mural is a beautiful tribute. In a world where we are having a baby girl, we are grateful for women who have broken down barriers and worked to make this world a more inclusive and better place. 

One of our favorite stops in NYC is the New York Public Library. It is fairly close to the hotel we are staying at this trip so when we had a little extra time we added a stop. We love books and reading so a trip to this beautiful monument to literature is always enjoyable. On this trip they had a special exhibit celebrating Artic literature that was really cool. They also had an exhibit full of treasures from their vaults - they moved the original Winnie the Pooh stuffies into this exhibit. On our way out we found a darling children's book called The Lion in the Library that had to come home with us. 

Something we have never done during our many trips to NYC is go to a New York Mets game at Citi Field. Since we are Yankee fans we plan trips to NYC during the baseball season around the Yankees schedule. Typically the Mets are Yankees aren't in town at the same time. However, we are also big baseball fans and like to visit as many of the ballparks as possible. This trip worked out and we got to go to a Yankees game one day and a Mets game the next day. As much as it pains us to admit it Citi Field was a pretty great stadium. It is a newer stadium and it is designed very well. It seems like most seats have great sight lines. They also have really good food. I didn't realize it at the time I made the purchase, but I bought club-level seats, which gave us access to a lounge area where we could get food and drinks. We got our dinner there (Alison had a traditional cheeseburger and I had pastrami on rye), but what was really nice was that we sat and ate it at a real table out of the elements (it was a pretty chilly night). Our seats at the stadium were also excellent. We were right above home plate. I enjoy sitting in this location in many stadiums because you have a great view of all of the action. The Mets were playing the Cardinals. Both teams have had a rough start to the year, but the Cardinals have really underperformed. Today the Cardinals did just enough to eke out a win. The Mets pitcher wasn't too bad, but he did run into some trouble early and gave up a hit by pitch and a walk followed by a home run in the 2nd inning making it 3-0 Cardinals. That was followed by a home run in the 3rd. Butto the Met's pitcher would only give up 4 hits over 5 and 2/3 innings, but those two home runs were quite costly. The Mets would claw back a couple of runs later in the game and had plenty of baserunners, but they squandered quite a few opportunities and would lose 4-2. We weren't sad about that. 

Our next day in New York was wide open so we decided to do something else we had never done before.  We took a train deep into Brooklyn to visit the Cypress Hills Cemetery. This is the final resting place of Jackie Robinson. It is a bit of a journey to get there from Manhatten. It is ~20 subway stops and then we had to hike across the cemetery to find his gravesite. Jackie Robison is buried next to his son who tragically passed as a result of a car accident 1 year before him and his mother-in-law who passed 1 year after him. Near his stone is a small monument with his greatest quote: "A life is not important except in the impact it has on other lives." I am glad we took some time to pay our respects to this great man who changed baseball and changed the world. 

While we were in Brooklyn we decided to stop by DeKalb Market Hall for lunch. This place is awesome. It is a bustling food market with more than 40 vendors. It had a great vibe and the food all looked amazing. We ended up trying a Cuban place that was unbelievable. The Cubano sandwich was so good. 

Once we had some food we decided to walk back to Manhattan across the Brooklyn Bridge. We have walked across the Brooklyn Bridge a few times, but never from the Brooklyn side to the Manhattan side. This is the way to do it. Walking across the bridge toward the Manhattan views was awesome. I would highly recommend it. We enjoyed our walk and we took Alison's weekly bump pic with Manhatten in the background. 

Our last activity in NYC was one more Broadway show. This one was the play Uncle Vanya at the Lincoln Center. Alison and I have never seen a play on Broadway. We tend to tilt toward musicals. This one caught our eye because it also opened this week and it was Steve Carell's Broadway debut. We didn't know anything else about this show. Once again we were thrilled we chose to see it. The cast was star-studded. In addition to Steve Carell, it featured: William Jackson Harper (The Good Place), Anika Noni Rose (The Princess and the Frog), and Alison Pill (Dan in Real Life) among others. Uncle Vanya is a play by Anton Chekhov. It is a family drama that explores the notion life is ultimately meaningless. The play skirts a delicate balance between tragic and comic and ends in such an ambiguous way that it really makes you think. We very much enjoyed it. 

After the play, we opted to walk back to our hotel. One last walk as a family of two past Central Park and down 5th Avenue. This was another wonderful trip to NYC. We have had many wonderful trips to NYC. I am sure we will have many more in the years to come.