I had the idea that since we were already in north Manhattan that we could walk over to Columbia University as D had never been. On the way we crossed through Morningside Park, which has large rock structures in the middle of the park, requiring some stair climbing to get past it to the upper west side where Columbia is.

On the way we passed by the Peace Fountain by Greg Wyatt as well as The Cathedral Church of St. John the Divine.

Unfortunately entrance onto campus was blocked off only to students, faculty and those who had prior permission to gain entry. I think that the school was trying to limit potential bad actors from coming onto campus and instigating not peaceful protests. We gave up on seeing the school and found our way back to the subway to head back toward our hotel. We had a little bit of time before our dinner reservation with my cousin so stopped at Devoción Coffee.

Our 8:15 pm dinner reservations were at Le Bernardin by Eric Ripert. I didn’t post about last year’s trip but D and I had lunch at Le Bernardin and it was delicious. This time we elected to do the tasting menu. We each started with a cocktail and then had multiple seafood dishes that were all quite tasty. I also had a glass of wine picked by the sommelier to pair with the rest of my meal.

After dinner we walked my cousin back to her hotel and saw her husband (the event was at their hotel) and then we turned in for the night.

Saturday morning D and I got ready and walked over to the Liberty Bagel located at the southeast corner of Central Park near the Apple store. One thing Liberty Bagel is known for is their rainbow bagel and they had a whole display front and center. There was also a decent line at this place but just like Ess-a-bagel the wait wasn’t too bad. These bagels were definitely better than the previous day and we sat out on some public tables looking at The Plaza hotel and the Apple Store.

We then walked over to the MOMA to wander the various rooms. Initially it wasn’t too crowded but probably within a half hour or so it was crawling with people. I guess that’s what happens when you go on a Saturday fall morning.

After a few hours at MOMA we walked over to Times Square to see about getting some cheap(er) Broadway tickets (either for that same day or the next day’s matinees). There was a DESI fest performance right next to the line and after waiting for about an hour we reached the front and got two tickets for the next day’s matinee showing for Yellowface. I was getting pretty hungry but it was also inching closer to dinner. I wanted to get a snack of sorts and I remember seeing some video about Billy’s hot dog cart near Central Park. It’s located on the UWS and dinner happened to be up there so we hopped on a subway and took it up to 96th street and walked a few blocks south to the hot dog cart. He was getting food ready for another customer and then when I ordered he gave D a free snapple for being so patient. I thought that was quite nice. After snagging a hot dog and some chips we walked into Central Park and found a bench to eat and people watch. Both of us needed to use the restroom and I thought there was one sort of nearby from what I saw on Google maps so we meandered through the park. We were right by the Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis Reservoir so it was quite scenic.

We almost made it to The Great Lawn where I thought there were bathrooms but then realized there weren’t. So we continued south and then back west towards Levain Bakery (that was another reason I chose the restaurant for dinner because it was close to the bakery and cookies!!). Just around the corner from the bakery we stumbled on a small park that had public restrooms.

The friends we were meeting had left their 4 young boys with a sitter so I figured we’d pick some cookies up for them as well. Since it was October, they had a seasonal chocolate chip cook with some fall spices. Along with that cookie, we also had the chocolate chocolate chip, regular choco chip, and the oatmeal raisin cookie. They were all very good. We sat in the bakery waiting until meeting up with our friends and then made the short 5 minute walk to the restaurant, Raku it’s Japanese II. Somehow I had thought this was part of Raku Udon but apparently they are unrelated. Luckily it still had good ratings and overall dinner and company were good. I forgot to take pictures but D and I had different types of Udon, also shared some brussel sprouts, a mushroom dish (was very tasty), and some Toro Sashimi (pictured)

We called it an early night and went back to the hotel. Sunday turned out to be a busy day for us. I ran downstairs (and at the corner of the hotel) to a bakery for some breakfast items. This place, Ole & Steen, is a Danish bakery, which is funny because we just went to Copenhagen (post here) earlier this summer. I grabbed a couple of pastries and some coffee for D (again I used the hotel Keurig).

It was the final day of “The Great Elephant Migration” – which was 100 life-sized elephants made by 200 artisans in India. This was started by The Coexistence Collective and funds raised are to help the animals. You can actually buy them as well (ranging from like $15-30K).

It was definitely an eye catching sight and there were many people out enjoying them before they left, including many kids who were in awe and would run and hug them (I also saw adults hugging them). We had previously gone to Chelsea Market and decided to go check it out again (they also have free restrooms). It was around lunch time so we also picked up some food at Very Fresh Noodles. D had read about this made from scratch hand pulled Chinese noodles. We tried the Tingly & Spicy Cumin Lamb (dry version instead of in soup) and also the Chicken Wings. The wings were nice and crispy and covered in lots of aromatics. The noodles had a nice texture and the cumin lamb they were tossed with gave it a nice flavor. Not too spicy either.

My cousin had come down to see the elephants the previous day and mentioned that she also saw the Little Island, which is an innovate public park created on these pier like artistic structures.

We didn’t actually go into the park since it was pretty busy but continued south and then crossed back into Chelsea to check out the Whitney’s gift shop (we didn’t have time to actually see the museum because of our broadway matinee at 3 pm). There is a cute little bakery within the Whitney called Frenchette. They are known for their croissants and while we were in line they had a few signs stating their Kouign-Amann had won some awards. We elected to try the Kouign-Amann instead of a croissant.

While we didn’t have enough time for the museum, we did have some time to kill before the show. The southern most point of The Highline is at The Whitney so we climbed the stairs and started walking north. Along the way there was a pop up Victoria Beckham fragrance thing that we walked through and received a small sample.

Eventually we made it to Hudson Yards (prior to arriving there we had a decent view of The Edge. We left the Highline at this point and walked by The Vessel. It was still closed – apparently too many people had jumped off of it and they were retrofitting it with nets to prevent people from doing this (it opened the following day).

With just enough time before the show, I wanted to check out the NYRR Center near Columbus Circle. I’ve not yet run a race in NYC but may be something to consider in the future.

Yellowface was at the Todd Haimes Theatre just off of Times Square. The show starred Daniel Dae Kim and some folks from New Amsterdam apparently. Overall I liked the show. The show is a semi-autobiographical story of the playwright (David Henry Hwang) as he tries to put on a play in 1993. It deals with race and media/politics. Overall entertaining and thought-provoking.

D had managed to snag a dinner reservation at Balthazar, a French brasserie that is well known and has attracted many celebrities over the years. It’s located in the Nolita/SOHO area in the city. So after the show we stopped at the hotel and then actually headed to DUMBO. D had wanted to see the Brooklyn Bridge. While we didn’t end up walking across it, we were still able to snag some evening views. We also walked by a film set of some sort.

Initially we had some ideas of getting pizza while there as a pre-dinner snack but the lines for Juliana’s and Grimaldi’s was too long. We headed back toward Balthazar and I found a slice place called Champion Pizza.

Balthazar was hopping for a Sunday night. We were seated in a back corner, which while out of the way I was kind of glad for because the central area of the restaurant was quite loud with patrons and bustling staff. We each ordered a cocktail and then I had a half dozen Island Creek oysters. D ended up getting the Steak Au Poivre and I had the Duck Cassoulet.

While we initially had ideas of going to a jazz club after dinner, we ended up calling it an early night and headed back to the hotel. I did get a nightcap (Penicillin) to have with the cookies.

Our flight out on Monday wasn’t until the afternoon which gave us the morning and lunch to explore some more. First we walked down to Utopia Bagels in the Murray Hill neighborhood (I had placed an online order which made it quick) and then over to a small coffeeshop (ARVACI) where we ate and had coffee.

Our checkout time was coming up so we hurried back to the hotel to checkout and had them hang onto our luggage while we went to Strand Bookstore. On the way we passed by The New School, where one of my friends went to get her Master’s degree a long time ago. I enjoyed the bookstore which had 4 floors with tons of books, including some rare books. We picked up a few souvenirs here.

For lunch I took D to Veselka, a Ukranian restaurant in the East Village. I had been here once a long time ago with a friend. We of course had to have the pierogis and the latkes.

After lunch we made our way back to the hotel and took a Taxi to JFK for our flight back west.

Another fun trip to NYC in the books.

-StewsCat