"And On Your Left..."

Matt and I were tour guides this weekend.  Our friends, Pete and Heather, came to visit from Austin.  Heather had never been to NYC, so there was a list of things she wanted to see and we made sure she saw them and lots more!

Friday:

Matt and I watched Landon Donovan's last US soccer game at Jack Dempsey's before Pete and Heather arrived:

Saturday:

Rain didn't deter us as we struck out for a day in the City.  We started down south at the Statue of Liberty.  We didn't go over to the island, we just viewed from afar.  Then we walked north through Chinatown and Little Italy to Soho, where we stopped by the Central Perk coffee shop from "Friends" that has been set up for the week.  Pete and Heather are our "Friends" gurus.  The wait was 5 hours long to get in and sit on the orange couch.  The couch was really comfy, the 8 O'Clock coffee was delicious, and we even saw Courtney Cox...is what we might have said if we had actually stood in line for 5 hours.  Instead, we opted to just take a passing pic and peek inside.

  

From Soho we went back over to the East Village to Momofuku, one of the most popular ramen restaurants in these parts.  Pete is a huge foodie and this was one of his special requests for the weekend.  It was an hour wait, so we walked over to the East River parkway to look over at Brooklyn and see a vista of the buildings uptown.  Back to Momofuku we went and the bowls of ramen we had hit the spot on the damp, cool day.

Pete was like a kid in a candy shop.  We took a break back at the apt. for a little while.  Heather helped me make nutmeg cookies.  They are one of my Grandmother's recipes and a favorite of mine.  I'd been hankering for them, so it was good that I had some friends to make them for (especially since the recipe made 7 dozen!).  Coworkers will be getting a treat tomorrow.  

Back out we went and this time heading north to Central Park.  We started at the pond with all the sailboats, though the boats had been put away.  We saw some beautiful foliage, lots of wedding parties (check out the crazies below), and even skate-dancing!  There was a lot going on.

 Wedding guests wading in the Bethesda Terrace fountain.  Classy.

Line dancing on roller skates - this happens every week.

We wandered through CP, over to the Plaza to see the lobby (more weddings), and down toward Times Square.  We had dinner at Rue 57, a lovely Brasserie.  Pete and Heather went to see Wicked on Broadway, so we got them there then went to a corporate arts event that Credit Suisse hosted at the Whitney Art Museum.  This was quite interesting.  Jeff Koons' art was on exhibit and his taste in art is a bit different than mine.  His idea of art is inflatable rabbits and flowers displayed on mirrors,  and vacuum cleaners atop fluorescent lights.  It just didn't do it for me.  

Mind you, we still had fun inventing crazy artistic theories about the meanings of each piece but overall I wasn't jumping to collect any of the art I saw.  There were some Edward Hopper and Andy Warhol pieces on the top floor that I was relieved to see after all the other stuff.

Sunday:

After sleeping in for a little while, we got up and headed out again.  We went to Almond for brunch then walked up to Madison Square Park to see Matt's building and Eataly.  We happened upon a Lego festival going on in the park, where a team was building the Statue of Liberty out of Legos.  I had to take some pics for my brother, Graham.

Lego Ninja Turtles

We headed up to Rockefeller Center to check that out.  They already have the ice skating rink up, so we watched people skating for a little bit.  Pete and Heather went to visit another friend in the city before Heather flew out of Newark, so we said goodbye to her (Pete stayed on for work).  Matt and I had VIP passes for the CBGB concert, courtesy of one of my students' parents.  It was going on in Times Square, so we went over there to check that out.  CBGB is one of the biggest concerts for alternative rock, which is not our favorite music, but we had the passes and it was free to get in, so why not?  If anyone out there does like this music, we heard Jane's Addiction and DEVO.  It was pretty cool to sit in sofas and eat free food in the middle of Times Square listening to music and watching all the lights and people.  

We headed downtown and went over to the Crocodile Lounge with Pete.  This place is great, we discovered, because you get a free personal pizza (delicious) with every drink you buy (which are decently priced), PLUS they had trivia, which we love!  So, that was dinner and entertainment for the evening.

Monday:

Matt and I both had today (Columbus Day) off.  We had lunch at a diner and then have basically chilled around the apt. today.  We probably walked 12 miles on Saturday and Sunday so we were ready to just sit.  It's been fun to show friends around the city that we've been discovering the past 4 months.  We're getting pretty good at showing people around, so if you're in the area, let us know!  Have a great week everyone!