Birthday Road Trip

                          The secret of staying young is to live honestly, eat slowly, and        lie about your age. ~Lucille Ball

                 Road trip for Katie’s Birthday weekend, I’m delighted she decided to come to NYC to play with us for her Birthday!  We drove down together after work on Friday and actually made pretty good time.  I was nervous as the week before there had been a 45 mile backup on the Mass Turnpike, but we had no real issues.

from Joe M on Yelp

                By the time we got to our the Happy Healing Home and unloaded the car (took advantage of it and packed it full!), we were hungry.  Deciding to be real New Yorkers, who eat late, we set out.  Stopping in first at Sojourn across the street, it was too crowded so we just walked.  It took a block to find something interesting .   We poked into Bocca on 2^nd Avenue and 78^th Street and decided to stay.  Sitting at the bar we thoroughly enjoyed our shared salad, and a pasta dish for each of us.  Delicious, not too expensive, and a block from home.  Perfect.

                Saturday, we dragged Kristi out of bed and went for a very long walk in Central Park.  It was a gorgeous autumn day.  Looking for the chrysanthemums I had heard so much about we walked along the resevoir up to the Conservatory Garden @ 105^th Street.  Never found the mums, but oh my, the gardens are magnificent.  We came upon  a couple of weddings, gorgeous.   After two hours of walking we decided we owed it to ourselves to have a lovely lunch/brunch @ Cascabel Tacqueria on 2^nd avenue & 80 Street, around the corner.

                Kristi then headed off to work where upon Katie and I hunkered down to started a Downton Abbey marathon.  After watching most of Season One, we dragged ourselves off our respective perches and had a long, leisurely walk to Valhala, on 9^th Avenue and 54 Streets to visit with Kristi.  Finding ourselves hungry we then moseyed along 9^th looking for a bite to eat, and literally bumped into “the Girl next door”” from home.  She and her Brothers, along with my Ladies, fell in love with the arts together, with “Dirty Dancing” being a major instigator.  Her Friend recommended a great little place, Hourglass Tavern on Restaurant Row, W 46^th Street, where we had another wonderful late night supper.  We closed out the evening back @ Valhalla waiting for Kristi to get off her shift.

                Sunday was a truly decadent, luxurious day watching all of Season two of Downton Abbey in our pj’s eating all the comfort food I brought from home.  It was a perfect Birthday celebration for Katie which gave us a restful place of mind to start Monday with a bang.

                 We had a our noon date with Tatzu Nishi’s Discovering Columbus at Columbus Circle.  A Public Art Fund Exhibition (www.Public ArtFund.org.), “Tatzu Nishi is known for his temporary works of art that transform our experience of monuments, stautues, and  architectural details.  His installations give the public intimate access to aspects of our urban environment and at the same time radically alter our perceptions.  For his first public project in the United States, Nishi was chosen to focus on the historic statue of Christopher Columbus.”    It was very cool.  After climbing five stories, you walk into a living room with the statue of Columbus being the focal point.  The  views from the living room window were amazing.

                Following that interesting experience we became “Ladies who Lunch”.  We went across the street to Nougatine @ Jean George on 1 Central Park West and had a long, decadent lunch, with wine, of course!  One of the most renowned chefs in the world offers a 3 course lunch for $33 that is amazing in a lovely environment.

                Very happily satiated, we walked long the Park and ambled into the Plaza for a post lunch glass of champagne.  Too crowded.  So, I took my Ladies to one of my favorite places a few short blocks away, the King Cole Bar at the St Reis Hotel on 55^th Street between 5^th and Madison Avenues.  Awesome.  However, major awkwardness ensued when two Ladies on either side of us who we were happily chatting with turned the conversation into a political one, diametrically opposed from each other, it got interesting, quickly.  So, not only Men do that.  We abruptly bid our adieus and left

                Kristi had to go out to Westchester for rehearsal for an Original Binding Production show later in the week.  Katie and I went home and rested.  Once again, rising to the occasion we went out for yet another late dinner.  Katie found a sushi restaurant she had visited with her College Roommate’s Family.  This time we had to walk three blocks to Sushi of Gari on 78^th Street between 1^st and York Avenues.  This was the real thing, not supermarket stuff I buy on the way home from work!  Really great, interesting, and beautiful! (if not cheap.)

               We joined Kristi at Sojourn, right across the street from home, our new Cheers, where Everyone’s learning our names!