We have been fortunate enough to take advantage of Chris and Louisa's very warm and generous hospitality before (in 2002) and were very fortunate to do so again – this time with the added bonus of the adorable Thomas.
On Thursday we went out for some brunch with Louisa and then headed out on our own to get our bearings, walking right down Fifth Avenue to Times Square -
taking in various sights along the was (like Rockefeller Center where we saw Alec Baldwin shooting scenes for the show ’30 Rock’). While London was experiencing great spring weather, New York was still very cold – we even had some snow flurries on two days! On Thursday night we had tickets to a Bruce Springsteen Tribute show – see Nick's blog for all the details.
On Friday afternoon, Nick headed off to some record stores while I wandered around Central Park. I went to Belvedere Castle to check out the great views -
and then walked through the Ramble (which felt nothing like being in New York) -
over to the Upper West Side to see the Imagine John Lennon memorial (surrounded by rock tragics with guitars) -
and the Dakota Building where he was assassinated.
On Saturday we met our friends Gerry and Jo (and Isaac) for brunch at the very cool Pastis in the West Village. (Gerry and Jo live in London, not too far from us, and it was a complete coincidence that we were going to be in NY at the same time). Although we had been warned of a queue, we were lucky to be seated almost immediately. The food was great – and a bargain compared to London! After breakfast we made our way to West 4th Street in Greenwich Village so Nick (with my reluctant help!) could recreate the cover of the famous Bob Dylan record 'Freewheelin'– see Nick’s blog for the finished version. After some more wandering around the Village, we met up with Jen, a friend of Gerry and Jo’s for lunch. Close by was the Marc Jacob’s store which is well known for it’s interactive themed windows. Since it was Easter, this window featured a huge chicken and Gerry, Nick and Isaac lined up to have their photo taken -
Not only do you get a copy of your photo, one is also stuck to the window which then becomes part of the display -
From there, it was next door to another queue at the Magnolia Bakery, famous for cupcakes -
After about 30 minutes waiting (!!) , we finally go in the door to buy some cupcakes and we headed back to Jen’s house for afternoon tea.
The next day we took the train from Penn Station to Washington – a very easy 3ish hours. We got in late afternoon, checked into our generic but very convenient hotel and then headed out to take in some of the sights. Washington is much like Canberra – a government town and very slow on a Sunday night – especially after being in New York! We made our way towards the White House -
and then past the Washington Monument -
to Constituiton Gardens, past the reflecting pool and the famous Korean War Memorial -
to the Lincoln Memorial before heading back towards our hotel for dinner.
On Monday we got up early and made our way to the Capitol Building to get tickets – while it’s free to get in, you have to line up early to get timed tickets for a tour for the same day - we were lucky to get some for 2.30pm. We then made our way to the other end of The Mall to the Washington Monument to see if we could also get tickets there (same deal) – unfortunately we were too late.
From there we headed back along The Mall to some of the Smithsonian museums - the Hirshhorn Museum with its amazing sculpture garden was probably my favourite, but for Nick it was definitely the Air and Space Museum. Not only did it feature all kinds of space-y things such as an actual piece of the moon which you got to touch -
it also housed a temporary exhibition of some of the major pieces from the American History Museum on other side of The Mall which was temporarily closed for renovations. It was definitely a 'best of pop culture' type collection - from Dorothy's red shoes right through to Seinfeld's puffy shirt. But of course the highlight for Nick was R2-D2 and C-3PO from Star Wars -
From there we headed back towards the Capitol Building (and see a map here of Washington to see how amazingly well laid out it is for tourists) to take our 2.30pm tour, with a quick stop at the Botanic Gardens (not our usual tourist haunt, but on the way and actually pretty cool!) -
The Capitol Building -
As you would imagine, security is pretty tight at the Capitol post-9/11 so we had to go through 2 security checks outside, as well as a couple more once we got in the building! The tour was actually pretty interesting and some parts of the building very beautiful, such as the inside of the domed ceiling -
Me on the steps of the Capitol, with The Mall and the Washington Monument behind me (did I mention how COLD it was in Washington? Freeeezing!) -
After the tour we checked out the National Gallery of Art very briefly until it closed. We stopped for a coffee on the way back to the hotel and Nick, as he likes to do in foreign cities, grabbed the street press to see if any good bands were in town. No bands this time, but he did find an event that was on in a couple of hours featuring a journalist, John Sellers, doing a reading from his book, 'Perfect From Now On', about indie rock - quite our thing, and very convenient to our hotel so we decided to go.
The venue turned out to be a very cool cafe/gallery/event type place which was also hosting a show by local artists, themed around werewolves. After looking around a bit, we decided to buy something (very cute and super cheap) called 'Werewolves in the Wood' by Mike Lowery. The reading was great and Nick bought the book and had it signed by the author. After some Thai food, it was back to the hotel. A long day!
The next morning we checked out of the hotel and went back to the National Gallery so we could see the 70% of the building we missed - unfortunately our purchase of the previous evening (the art work) meant we couldn't take our bags in and we weren't even allowed to check them! Fear of a Banksy style art-prank? Fortunately, Nick was kind enough to let me go in while he looked after the bags. From there, it was back to the station and back to NY. That night we had dinner at the very famous steakhouse Smith & Wollensky's with Louisa which was quite interesting - very old-school style and masculine with enormous servings - and the food was excellent.
The following morning, Nick and I both woke up feeling not quite right - Louisa was fine though, so not sure if we can blame the famous steak or not - possibly something we ate coming back from Washington? Anyway, Nick headed out to New Jersey on the train to take in some Bruce Springsteen sites, such as The Stone Pony, where Bruce has often played -
I stayed in NY and caught up with Jo and Isaac to take in the (ok) Whitney Museum and the (brilliant) MOMA - unfortunately by that stage, my unwellness caught up with me (and Nick, on the way back from New Jersey) and we both spent a very quiet evening on the couch.
On Thursday we kept it low key and saw a movie in the afternoon (the Tarantino/Rodriguez marathon double feature 'Grindhouse') and did some shopping close to home. On Friday, our last day in NY, we hit Soho for some serious shopping (so cheap compared to London!) and some great food at Balthazar with Louisa. For dinner, we took our wonderful hosts out for dinner at Tabla, a fantastic Indian restaurant with great decor and atmosphere (obviously at their recommendation!) From there, it was home and an early night for our early flight back to London the next morning.
