New York: Love It or Hate It

View from a  rooftop bar

New York City. 

It seems that whenever I tell people I'm going to New York, I get two responses;

"Oh I just LOVE NYC!"

or "Oh really? I hate New York."

My husband and I adore it. Every chance we get, we escape our life in Cleveland and catch a quick flight to the Big Apple. For us it's only 59 minutes away. So as long as there are no delays or cancellations at the airport its super easy to get there. 

As soon as the Manhattan skyline comes into view we sigh, feeling somehow like we are home again. Though we both grew up in the Midwest and have lived in Ohio for 18 years. 

Yes, it is dirty especially on trash day. Yes, sometimes you will see an occasional rat running down by the subway tracks. Yes, it is crowded and there are homeless people lying on the sidewalk.

But 1.6 million people live in Manhattan alone and on weekdays the population swells to 3.9 million according to the World Population Review that's approximately 170,000 people/square mile on a workday.  If you count all five boroughs there are roughly 8 million people, double the amount of Los Angeles. Fun fact, there are also over 800 different languages are spoken in NYC! That's pretty cool!

Of course there will be problems with that many people. But there are so many positives. Here are just some of them.

1. You can pretty much find any type of food you could ever want to try. You can go as fancy as you want spending thousands on a meal, especially if there is alcohol involved, but there are plenty of cheap eat options. A few weekends ago, my husband and I stuffed ourselves with the most delicious pork buns and dumplings in Chinatown for under $20! 

Brunch is my favorite meal of the day and two of my favorite spots are Jack's Wife Freida and Balvanera. Hmm I'm getting hungry just thinking about them.

2. The entertainment available is infinite. From small intimate comedy shows, new plays, and less well-known bands to the glitz and glamour of Broadway, superstar performers like Billy Joel playing Madison Square Garden, or a night at Saturday Night Live. Oh and don't forget all the professional sports you can watch. They have it all, baseball, hockey, basketball and football, take your pick! You can find whatever type of entertainment suits you. 

3. Roof-top Bars. There is nothing like watching the sunset over the NYC skyline at a rooftop bar sipping a Negroni or a Paloma! 

4. There are an endless amount of beautiful cathedrals, historical museums, art museums, and historical places to visit, like Alexander Hamilton's grave and Fraunces Tavern and Museum which was a key meeting place in the Revolutionary War period. 

5. Shopping! You can buy anything you could possibly want in NYC. 5th Avenue has all the super fancy big name stores like Gucci, Dior, Tiffany, Bergdorf Goodman etc. Even if you're not buying they are fun to browse.

Brooklyn Bridge

6. The parks are great! Of course Central Park is the biggest of them all. You could spend an entire day there; walking around, enjoying the lake, taking a boat out on the water, just sitting in the grass having a picnic, getting your exercise by running or biking in the park, and there are pull up bars and other gymnastic work out equipment in some parts of the park. 

Washington Square Park is another of our favorites. We could spend hours sitting on a bench by the fountain simply enjoying the weather and people watching--and ooohing over all the cute doggies that walk through. 

7. We also love that NYC is such a great walking city. You would never have to take a car, you could walk pretty much anywhere, and when you're tired or in a hurry (or it's pouring down rain and you forgot your umbrella) you can always take the subway or grab an Uber. We have clocked over 20,000 steps in a day on some trips. 

After all New York City is one of the top destinations in the world to visit! We already can't wait for our next trip!

What do you think? Love it or hate it? What are your favorite spots in NYC?

Kathy :)

Wanderings

Plans are great but sometimes wandering is even better.

Don't get me wrong, thinking ahead and planning out life is a super important skill as I've desperately been trying to teach my teenaged daughters... often in vain, but there are times when it's refreshing to let go of all planning and allow the moment sweep you along.

I've always loved serendipity but when it comes to traveling, my husband and I have well planned routes and itineraries to make the most of our time away from home (my husband is always the mastermind behind the planning! :).

Enjoying Central Park

But this last week we did things a bit differently.  First of all, we left the kids at home with grandma and grandpa which we never do. I can't thank them enough for this!! Then we flew off to New York City for a week with basically no plan. We've been there before so we didn't feel the pressure to see all the touristy spots but I still kind of wondered if we could pull off a fun, relaxing trip in the Big Apple without advance reservations and plans for everyday.

So what did we do?

Well, we wandered.  And it was lovely.  We took a day and strolled through Central Park, sat on a rock near Gapstow Bridge and watched turtles sunning themselves and ducks swimming aimlessly.

We found a quiet spot elsewhere in the Park, stretched out, and looked up at the clouds and talked.

We walked 5th Avenue and wandered into Bergdorf Goodman.  It was fun to see what they had though I'm not really a $3000 pair-of-shoes-kinda-girl!

New York Library

We meandered through Bryant Park on 42nd Street, drank coffee at a little table in the sun, and decided to check out the New York Public Library's ornately beautiful Stephen A. Schwarzman Building built in 1911.  How I would love to sit at a table in there and write all day!

Breakfast at Jack's Wife Freda

On Thursday, we traipsed all the way from our hotel on 42nd street down to West Village finding adorable breakfast spots like Jack's Wife Freda, (one of my favorites) and little coffee shops.  All along the way we just talked and took in the
moments together.

Believe it or not even after 22 years of marriage there is still plenty to talk about!  Our kids, future retirement plans, future travel, where to eat dinner, and more heavy topics like:  why we can't seem to take better care of the mentally ill, as we passed an old man who slowly rose from his "home", a ratty old blanket in the corner, with urine and likely feces soaked pants, who even we'll forget about once we're back home in our cushy lives; and the sad state of our nation that seems to only care about hating everyone who is different and "my team/group against yours".

After wandering most of the morning, we found ourselves in the Chelsea Market area and we decided to go check out the ice rink at Chelsea Pier.  As pure luck would have it, one of my best friends from college, that I haven't seen in twenty years happened to be on the ice teaching a lesson. (I did know she taught there, but I had no idea what her schedule was.)  It was great to spend an hour with her catching up and it probably wouldn't have happened if we'd tried to plan it!

We made our way back uptown, with Stumptown Coffee in hand and decided we would hang out by Rockefeller Center, where the ice rink had just opened.  We sat and watched skaters go by, then the ice was cleared and a couple came out alone. We watched the guy very carefully and not too gracefully get down on one knee and propose.  Everyone around cheered for them as she seemingly said "yes", I held my breath as he attempted to get back up.  I envisioned him slipping as he rose pulling her down with him, not a good start to an engagement! But luckily he wobbled and then stood and they skated carefully off.

We sat and watched the city go from daylight to brilliant city lights.  Then we went up to the Top of the Rock, (a tour that takes you to the top of Rockefeller Center.  We decided to do this a couple hours earlier and purchased tickets online.)  There is nothing quite like New York City at night.  The weather was beautiful. Just a slight autumn breeze and crystal clear skies.

By the end of the week it was time to head back to Cleveland, the kids whom we missed dearly, and fine tuned schedules, but we'd had a wonderful time on our wanderings.  I loved not knowing exactly what was coming next and allowing the tide of time to move us along, relishing in each serendipitous moment.  

Kathy