Two Librarians in New York: Quick Recap

Quintessential New York Experiences:

• Ate pizza by the slice.
• Visited fabulous restaurants.
• Saw a Broadway show.
• Visited the Statue of Liberty and the Ellis Island Immigration Museum.
• Walked through Times Square.
• Visited St. Patrick’s Cathedral.
• Saw Rockefeller Center.
• Shopped on Fifth Avenue.
• Strolled all around Central Park.
• Breakfasted on genuine NY bagels.
• Paid our respects as librarians to the New York Public Library stone lions.
• Went to a museum.
• Had a sundaes at Serendipity.

Reviews:

• Amtrak Service from Alexandria to Penn Station, NY – Good. But no wifi? Really? And train staff were efficient, but not especially friendly or service-oriented. But at least it ran on time and did not smell like urine, which are common Yelp complaints about the Megabus service on the same route.

• Roger Smith Hotel— Very good. Super comfortable beds. Friendly and helpful staff. Free wifi. Reasonably priced (at least by Midtown standards). Within walking distance of many iconic landmarks. I also appreciated how they took what could’ve been a negative (it was an old building and sort of dated in a lot of ways) and turned it into a positive in an interesting way. They could’ve gone for just “quaint,” as so many older hotels with architectural flourishes do. But instead they made it “quaint + irony,” adding little hipster touches that upped the cool quotient. Real art, real plants, and real books were everywhere, and you could check out VHS tapes at the front desk to watch on the TV/VCR combo in your room. My only real complaint is that for some reason the outlets took three times as long as normal to charge any electronic devices.

• Wicked — Excellent. Sarah and I both really wanted to see Book of Mormon, but those tickets cost literally quadruple the amount of any of the others. We couldn’t justify the expense for three hours of entertainment. Sarah’s second choice was Wicked, which I had already seen before in Chicago, but my seats then had been extra shitty, so I didn’t mind going back. I still really liked the story and the music. The actress playing Glinda this time was more over-the-top than in the other version I’d seen, but even though she kind of took me out of the moment, she still brought a lot of energy to show and had an amazing voice.

• Toloache — Excellent. Beautiful ambiance. Great service. Right next to the theater showing Wicked. Dinner was superb, but dessert was even better. Best hot chocolate I’ve had in my life bar none, accompanied by churros.

• Fatty Cue in Battery Park — Blech. It was edible, and I was completely starving, so it hit the spot at the time. But that’s the most I can say for it.

• Bobby Van’s Steakhouse — Good. This was a convenience choice rather than a deliberate decision. We happened to see it when we were hungry and tired of walking. I didn’t actually eat steak, so maybe that would’ve been more satisfying. I had pasta, and it was pretty good, but nothing that had me over the moon. Toloache spoiled me for other restaurants, I guess.

• Ess-a-Bagel — Excellent. We ate breakfast here on Sunday and loved it so much we went back on Monday morning, too. Sarah bought an entire bag of bialys to take home to her family.

• Serendipity 3 — Very good. It was the cutest thing, and both our desserts were just about the most delicious thing I’ve ever tasted. However, it’s important to keep in mind that one sundae can feed roughly three people. I hate food waste. I loved that it was open extremely late at night, but the service towards close left something to be desired.

• Museum of Sex — Awesome. Small, but well-curated. Everything struck just the right balance between good scholarship and fun kitsch. The gift shop was a hoot, as well as the adjoining restaurant specializing in foods rumored as aphrodisiacs.

• Bar Breton — Good. Sarah ranked this one as a solid “Excellent” because she loved the plate of mussels she ordered. I had a goat cheese crepe, and it was quite good, but I still can’t get around the fact that I’m just not a huge fan of French cuisine.

High Points:

• Stumbled upon the Pagan Pride Harvest Festival in Battery Park. We didn’t stay long because we were so wiped out from traipsing all over Liberty and Ellis Islands, but I did get to hear a small part of one lady’s presentation on incorporating Wiccan craft into cooking.

• The old Jewish man at the bagel bakery mistook Sarah for a local. She was pretty jazzed about that.

• Stumbled upon a gay wedding in the Shakespeare Garden in Central Park. Super sweet.

• Spotted LeBron James getting interviewed in the NBC building.

• We were first in line for Statue of Liberty on Saturday morning. Because we win at tourism

• Sarah weeped copiously at Ellis Island. It was touching how strongly she identified with the immigrants.

Low Points:

• Immediately upon arriving in New York, I fell down the escalator at the subway station. Basically, my heavy suitcase tipped over, and then with the motion of the escalator, the suitcase kind of pushed me down. The entire left side of my body is seriously scratched and bruised, which looks completely lovely in all my vacation photos.

• Was pouring down epic rain when we first arrived. Which added a degree of difficulty to the trek from Penn Station to the hotel. We (and our luggage) couldn’t have gotten more wet if someone had turned a fire hose on us. Combating dampness was an issue for the entire weekend, particularly because the jeans I was wearing were the only pair I brought.

• While making our way through a Saturday night crowd in Times Square, a guy claiming to be a jazz musician was offering free cds of his music. So I was going to take one off his hands. But then he writes my name on the cd, and then tells me he accepts tips, and gets all aggressive about wanting me to give him a five spot. And I’m all like, no, you said it was free, and he’s like, but I wrote your name on it. And so finally I gave him $3 to leave me alone. And then later I looked at the cd, and it’s not even jazz music. Haven’t listened yet, but it appears to be gangsta rap or some such nonsense. Rip off.

• The whole weekend was practically nothing but walking. And when we weren’t walking, we were standing for long periods. Being not in great shape, I was battling exhaustion and pain the whole weekend. My feet feel worn down to nubs.