Sitting in my dining room in Milton watching the
snow fall, it is beautiful. Home this
New Year’s weekend as Kristi is giving my Cousin’s Daughter a belated 16th
Birthday gift, a weekend in the Big Apple, just the two of them! And after a grueling 9 hour drive home
Wednesday (more on that later) after Christmas in NYC for 5 days, it’s good to
be here catching up a bit.
Last Friday, I drove down to NYC as I had gifts,
food, etc for the long Holiday weekend.
Also a tough drive as it was a pelting rain all through Connecticut (which
is the majority of the drive to NYC).
Still making good time as there was almost no traffic, my parking gene
was in order, and I parked exactly where I wanted to so as to just walk away
from the car til I was ready to come back to Boston again. Don’t you love when that happens?!
After unpacking the car, Kris and I walked around
the corner and bought a small Christmas tree for our Hx3. We decorated our tiny space and headed out to
get a bite to eat before she had to go off to work. We found a great place less than 2 blocks
away, Jaiya an Asian restaurant on 2nd Ave between 80 and 81st
Streets, and had a wonderful 2 course lunch for under $10 each! Wonderful.
I napped off and on and then headed over to meet Kris at work at Valahalla
after midnight. We got another quick
bite eat an Irish Pub where Kris often goes after work. Then we meandered 5th Avenue. What a treat to be alone on that beautifully decorated
street at Christmas (although to do that it must be in the middle of the
night!). Did learn an interesting
tidbit..the lights on the Christmas Tree at Rockefeller are not on all
night..they must be on a timer just like ours used to be in Milton!
"Duplicate of a pic taken 20 years ago! |
Bryant Park |
Saturday got a very late start (I definitely don’t
stay up til 4am anymore, for Kris it’s a normal routine). We again decided to share a bite to eat
before she went to work. Surprisingly we
had difficulty finding a place in our neighborhood, not serving yet or too crowded. So, we headed over to midtown on 9th so she’d be close to work and just “found”
another great place, Bocca Di Bacco between 54th and 55th
Streets, an awesome brunch for under $12.
Brunch is an institution in NYC and many places offer “unlimited”
cocktails, usually bloody Marys, mimosas, etc., for a set price for a couple of
hours. Then I simply took a walk meandering through Bryant Park and its Holiday
Market, over to Grand Central to check on my friends at Tuff Kookooshka, and again
went home to simply relax. Wonderful.
Dessert @ Bocca Di Bacco |
Sunday, Kris once again went off to work the day shift. I picked up the Hx3 and waited for Katie to
arrive from Boston. We then headed out
to have a long leisurely walk to meet Kris, stopping at the small neighborhood
place I’ve been wanting to try (and the day before discovered they only serve
coffee and pastries til 3pm, then late lunch and dinner), Eric Kayser Artisan
Boulanger on 3rd Ave at 74th Street. It is amazing, though I’ve not been to Paris
yet, I feel as though it’s pretty close to a true Parisian Bistro (unfortunately
they don’t have liquor yet but the French onion soup and simple salad we had
was awesome!).
From there we walked to Alvin Ailey on the West side
at 9th and 55th to discover that the actual show was down the street
at CitiCenter, a beautifully restored theatre on 55th between 7th and 6th Aves. The Dance was gorgeous. Needing sustenance, again, walked up to the
Time Warner Center and had a wonderful dinner at Landmarc.(known for its steak
and great wine prices!).
Monday, Christmas Eve, we headed down to Chinatown
where we indulged in amazing massages at Relax Spa (which we discovered 2 years
ago for its Foot Reflexology) on Hester and Centre Street. $50 for an hour! Then we walked across the street to the Red
Egg, for my first experience with dim sum.
Great fun!
Christmas Eve dinner was shared with the Family who
lived next door to us when I was alone raising the Girls. All 3 of the “Kids next door” live in NYC and
are in the Arts, the “Boys” as Dancer/actor/teaching artists, the “Lady” works
at Signature Theatre. Must have been
something in the water in that neighborhood!
It’s been twenty years since we all lived next door and we all connected
like it was yesterday. Who says you can’t
“go home” again?!
Christmas Day we wonderfully never got dressed. And,
Mom, me, cooked a very nice Christmas Dinner, if I do say so myself in our tiny
kitchen. That evening we threw on
comfort clothes and went to the opening of “Les Miserables”, the movie. The show that started Kristi’s love affair
with theatre, it’s been one of our favorites for over almost 25 years! Quite an experience going to a movie opening
in New York City; I highly recommend it!
Wednesday we slowly got ourselves in gear to head home,
first having a comfort lunch at Big Daddy’s Diner, again around the corner on 2nd
Avenue. It was an epic drive home, 9
hours in blizzard like conditions at some pints, spinning out and hitting the
guard rail not once, but twice, but able to drive home! (God love my 17 year
old Toyota Rav 4 w over 215K miles!). I
did find out that there is some damage, to be dealt with…
(So, once again, a lesson my Mom taught me that is
never to be ignored…go with your Gut in all decisions..I thought that perhaps I
should stay on Route 95, since it’s the coastal road…but instead I went Route
91 to the Mass Pike, as we had checked online and it reported clear and steady…forget
the internet..Go with your GUT!!)