The city that never sleeps...and neither do I.

Travel, round 2!* 😊

I'm fairly certain about the veracity of my schedule keeping, but there may be some discrepancies. I failed to keep notes of what we did each day, which is something I normally do. Things tend to run together and it can be tough to remember what happened which day, so I'm relying on Google for help on this one. Since we did so much walking, I frequently had my location turned on for mapping purposes, which means Google created a handy (and only slightly creepy/stalker-y) timeline of our comings and goings. 

So - according to Google, here's what we did on our trip: 


Mon., October 7th
➼ Flew to NYC
- Well, technically we flew to Newark, NJ. They have a non-stop flight from Omaha on Southwest! 

➼ Dinner at Angelo's Coal Oven Pizzeria on W. 57th street 
- We've eaten here a couple times. I love their cheese ravioli with pistachio cream sauce. It's within reasonable walking distance from the hotel, which is nice...though on this particular night it was misty-to-rainy, so the walk was less than pleasant. I looked like a wet cat by the time we got to Angelo's.



Tues., October 8th 
➼ Met Cloister
- "The Met Cloisters, which opened to the public in 1938, is the branch of The Metropolitan Museum of Art devoted to the art and architecture of medieval Europe." We've visited it twice, and both times it was impressive. You feel like you're walking through a medieval castle or monastery, with all the detailed stonework and interior gardens. I would recommend adding it to your NYC "must see" list!

➼ Mother Cabrini Shrine
- We walked from the Met Cloister through Fort Tyron Park to the St. Cabrini shrine. We stumbled on it last time we were in NYC and decided to stop by again this trip. 

➼ Via Quadronno on E. 73rd street 
- Quick rustic Italian lunch. The paninis were good (I got the San Babilia - smoked ham, brie, fontina, rucola and pâtè), but the service was not. 

➼ Ladurée on Madison Ave.
- This began our bakery/pastry run. It felt like there was a patisserie on every block, so I must admit on this trip, even with all the walking, we did not maintain the status quo weight-wise. At least I didn't. 😐

➼ Attended "Betrayal" at the Bernard B. Jacobs theater 
- Amazing performances by Tom Hiddleston, Charlie Cox and Zawe Ashton! The play takes place in reverse chronological order, starting two years after an affair between Ashton and Cox, and goes back to the precipitating event that began the affair. Cox and Hiddleston's performances were devastating, as the guilty best friend and the grieving then jaded husband, respectively. The staging was simple and effective - basically a large box with chairs and a small table that moved around the stage...and with the exception of about 45 seconds, all three actors were on the stage for the entirety of the almost two hour play (no intermission). Impressive on all fronts and definitely worth seeing! 

As I left, I saw a bunch of people waiting around the stage door. After the fact I wish I'd have stayed and gotten Tom Hiddleston and Charlie Cox's autographs. I saw a video posted on Instagram of Tom Hiddleston posing for selfies, basically just walking the line behind people so they could take their pictures with him. It made me want to have a real interaction with him (assuming I didn't get all Aidan Turner star-struck again, lol). I'm sure it gets old to just be a background for some random person's photo. 



➼ Bobby Van's on Park Ave.
- After Betrayal, I met my folks at Bobby Van's (I think it's worth noting that I walked to and from the play, thank you very much 😁), an old school steakhouse close-ish to our hotel. Our waiter, Mario, was a character and I think very happy to serve "normal people," instead of big city execs.  




Wed., October 9th 
➼ Bubby's (Highline)
- I really like Bubby's. It's a little loud, but otherwise the food is really good and I enjoy the aesthetic (high ceilings, exposed brick walls). I've gotten the chicken and pancakes twice...I forget what I got the other time we ate there.  If Matt had been there, he would have been giving me a hard time about photographing my food. 😆

➼ DAVID'sTEA on Bleeker St.
- It was fun walking in a David's Tea. As you might guess, it's filled with tea. I bought some cinnamon chai for the movie night host, to replenish his tea vault that is constantly being depleted by a plethora of tea drinkers. I got some for myself as well.

And thus began the church walk. 

➼ Our Lady of Pompeii 
- Mom had read about Fr. Demo Square and noticed Our Lady of Pompeii across the street...and then the other churches were added to the list. 

➼ Dominique Ansel Bakery on Spring Street 
- I know we stopped at another bakery before Dominique Ansel's...but I can't remember which one. Anywho, we'd read about DA's and decided to buy way too many pastries and such as desserts to have back at the hotel. One thing we tried was a cronut - is a croissant-doughnut - which was invented at DA's. I thought it was a bit overrated and not nearly as good as their DKAs (Dominique’s Kouign Amann), "a smaller version of the traditional Breton pastry, which is similar to a caramelized croissant. With a crunchy, caramelized crust on the outside and tender, flaky layers within." D-e-l-i-c-i-o-u-s. 

➼ Shrine of St. Anthony of Padua on Sullivan St.
- St. Anthony is my favorite saint, so finding this shrine was a happy accident (or diligent research by my mother). 

➼ Basilica of St. Patrick's Old Cathedral on Mulberry St.
- "The Basilica of St. Patrick’s Old Cathedral is the original Cathedral of the Archdiocese of New York. Since its construction 200 years ago on the corner of Mott and Prince, it has stood as the heart of old New York; a beacon for the Catholic faithful and an American symbol of religious freedom. Originally the center of a once impoverished Irish community, St. Patrick’s has expanded to serve a diverse community of Catholics from Italian, Hispanic, Asian, and various other origins. Today, our Basilica of St. Patrick’s Old Cathedral remains a vital force in the community which proudly unites Catholics through worship, social groups and spiritual guidance."

➼ High Line
- The High Line is a public park built on top of an old rail line on the west side of NYC. It was established in 2009 and has turned into a space for spending time outside with some nature, art and relative peace in NYC. It's like a long, skinny Central Park along the Hudson. We've walked it twice now, this time stopping at the Hudson Yard. 

➼ Hudson Yards 
- Hudson Yard is a microcosm of NYC.  It's has an architectural centerpiece (the Vessel, see below), an art center (the Shed), high end places to eat or shop and expensive residential offerings. We didn't get to climb the Vessel (which is "comprised of 154 intricately interconnecting flights of stairs -- almost 2,500 individual steps and 80 landings"), so that will be on the list for next time. 

➼ After all that walking, we decided to just order in pizza and watch something...probably either The Rookie or Bull. 



Thurs., October 10th 
➼ Dad was super tired that morning and didn't get up till about 9am, which NEVER happens. We used it to our advantage and spent the morning hanging out in the hotel room watching Love It or List It on HGTV.

➼ Central Park Zoo
- I'm a big fan of zoos, so I was glad we finally had a chance to visit! It's relatively small, but they did a good job in providing animals with sufficient space to live and move around. The sea lions were fantastic, so energetic and people-pleasing. They hammed it up like crazy before the trainers came out for a performance. I got a great video clip, but can't upload it to Blogger for some reason. 

Who knew pigeons came in purple?! 

➼ Becco for dinner 
-We're big Masterchef people. I've watched it from the very beginning...ditto for Masterchef Jr. I'm a big Gordon Ramsey fan, but while he's undeniably terrifying, Joe Bastianich's my favorite judge (he scares me even more). When we visited England last year, we ate at Gordon Ramsey's Street Pizza on Bread Street and on this trip, we found Joe Bastianich's Becco. The food was really good...when it finally arrived. We had a 5:15pm reservation and were going to a 7pm performance of Aladdin. Not only did they ask us when we arrived if we were going to a show (I assume that's pretty typical, since they're only a couple blocks off Broadway), but we told our waiter...twice...and our food didn't start showing up until about 6:20pm. It would have bothered me less if the waiter hadn't given us attitude because we were concerned about leaving on time. After rushing to eat so we could get out the door by 6:40pm, he was all "see? You got your food in time!" Why yes, we did...but I would have preferred to enjoy it in peace, instead of scarfing it down before running out the door! Grrrr...

➼ Aladdin on Broadway
- I'd seen the traveling Aladdin when it was in Omaha and really enjoyed it, so I suggested we see it on Broadway. Half the main cast was the same, which was great. Genie and Iago were the best! 




Fri., October 11th
➼ Cathedral Church of St. John the Divine (mother church of the Episcopal Diocese of New York)
- Despite currently undergoing extensive restoration due to a fire back in the spring, St. John the Divine is definitely worth visiting. It's the largest Cathedral in the world and a gorgeous New York landmark.  

➼ Maxwell's Central Park
- I started following them on Instagram a while ago and since we were on the Harlem side of Central Park. The food was good (I got the Jack Daniel's pulled pork sandwich) and they had Guinness on tap, so I was happy. :)  This was also the best service of the trip. Mallory was a great waitress - the perfect combo of enthusiastic, helpful and not too hover-y. 

➼ Downton Abbey Movie
- My folks hadn't seen the new Downton Abbey movie, so we saw it that evening. The theater we found just off Broadway and surrounded by theatres, which was kind of funny. 

➼ UPDATE: I forgot we Uber'd to St. Patrick's Cathedral before heading back to the hotel. My folks went there to Mass every morning while we were in NYC, except this day because dad slept in. We made a quick visit and then walked back to the hotel.

➼ Leftovers for dinner 🍕
- We had so many left overs, including desserts/pastries, that we decided to eat in. 




Sat., October 12th 
➼ Flew home
- We used a pick-up service instead of Uber/Lyft this trip. 
Pros: it was cheaper; there were people from at least 3 other countries in the van with us (Portugal, Australia and Germany).
Cons: It took us over an hour longer to get to the hotel from the airport than if we had Uber'd and they picked us up 2 hours earlier than we'd originally planned to leave the hotel, which kept us from doing anything that morning before heading home. 


It continues to amaze me how much I like New York City. It's makes no sense, but there you have it. Hopefully I'll get a chance to visit again...perhaps as a stopover when I visit Iceland next year (it's going to happen! ⛄).



~ Katie Q. 🐧


*Technically Round 3 - Denver trip in August for the Josh Groban concert...but round 2 for the month! 😁