To sing “the weather outside is frightful” on Monday would have been an understatement. CJ and I got an idea of what a true New York winter could be like. Snow, sleet and freezing rain came at us sideways as we slipped and slided along the icy sidewalks. However, determined not to let this stop our fun, we headed down to the East Village to go to the Tenement Museum, which documents how the many immigrants lived when they first came to New York. It was really interesting as so many “Americans” have origins elsewhere and it’s hard to imagine that as late as the early 1900s, their ancestors would have arrived from elsewhere to start a life here. The tour we took covered an Irish family and how they would have lived when they first arrived. You weren’t allowed to take pictures but the encouraged us to take them off their website so I’m taking them up on the offer!
Ready for lunch, we headed to Katz’ Deli, from that scene in Where Harry Met Sally, for an indulgent lunch, well deserved after battling through the snow. It’s a fun atmosphere, surrounded by neon signs and memorabilia, with an impressive collection of famous people who have eaten there! CJ went for a chilli dog (better eaten there than off a street cart!) and I had the classic smoked salmon bagel – Yum! And yes, we even made a dent in the pile of pickles!
We had a relaxing afternoon with a bit of shopping before heading out to meet my friend Alex for dinner at Murray’s cheese bar (the place with that cheese fondue if you remember from a few weeks ago). You’ve forgotten? Ok then, here it is again…
There’s a bar I had been meaning to try for a while down in that area so we slipped our way up the road after dinner and arrived at Marie’s Crisis Cafe. It’s a piano bar with a twist – the only songs you can request are broadway show tunes. Everyone stands around the piano and sings along – there are clearly some regulars who knew every song and harmonies while CJ and I could join in about every 4th song… looks like I will need to go see a few more broadway shows while I’m here to build up my knowledge. The pianist had a great sense of humour and even mimed cutting his hair during “I dreamed a dream” from Les Mis (played when some French guests asked for “something French!”). Only in New York could a bar like that exist – another reason I love this city!
On Tuesday, the sun showed its face again, much to our excitement! We had a farewell breakfast at Penelope’s, this time with pancakes and a chorizo scrambled egg croissant – it just gets better and better!
And then it was up to Central Park to work off our breakfast and play in the snow! Truly a winter wonderland…
“Do you want to build a snowman?” came into our heads, and it turned out we did… (we had to be creative with the accessories…)
And we stumbled across a real life gingerbread cottage complete with icicles…
We warmed up in the Natural History Museum, marvelling at their amazing collection of stuffed animals and looking up in wonder at the life-sized blue whale suspended from the ceiling, and then went to somewhere where you can get a bit more up close and personal with the animals… Fao Schwarz, the oldest toy store in the US.
CJ found her favourite… the Despicable Me quote, “It’s so fluffy I’m gonna die”, comes to mind here… (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=82utG7Q3G_k)
And I had a slightly nostalgic moment… too tempting to resist doing this…
All too soon, it was our final evening. I’m sure you’ll notice one tourist sight in particular has been absent from CJ’s visit so far – yep, you guessed it, last stop Times Square! CJ got the classic tourist shot before we headed to the theatre for Les Miserables.
We took advantage of Broadway week to get half price tickets and it was an amazing show although somewhat of an emotional roller coaster! The songs are still going round in my head 5 days later…
A fantastic four days – thanks for coming to visit me, CJ!
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