Friday, November 17, 2023 - We're headed to Meg & Maddy's for Thanksgiving so we decided to make a few stops on our way east. We spent a few days with Ann & Erich, and then a few days with Mom. On Friday we drove the 6 and a half hours from Mom's to Westfield. And we stayed overnight in downtown Westfield at the Westfield Inn.
We got to Westfield in the afternoon, and had fun walking around downtown, to see what had changed since we were last here.
It looks like Fall in Westfield
The Westfield train station looks the same
There is a new brewery in town. We had a few beers and watched rush hour traffic in the circle
Lions Roar Brewery
It was a quick walk from the brewery back to the Inn
And then across the street to 16 Prospect where we met up with our old neighbors, Mary & David for dinner and catching up.
rainbow crosswalk and rainbow buildings
I've never seen a solar charging station bench (and right in front of the Westfield Christmas tree)
The Westfield Inn
822 Village Green-our old house looks a little different
We did a few laps around Tamaques Park for old time sake
Pretty fall day in the Park
NJ Transit!
And we made it to Meg & Maddy's! Meg & Maddy are in London until Wednesday night, so we're going to pretend we're New Yorkers and hang out in their apartment for the next 5 days!
Kevin made himself at home using Meg & Maddy's workstation
The front hall of their apartment building is beautiful!
We walked the .4 miles to Tal Bagels on Broadway and north of 92nd. They supposedly have the best bagels in NYC.
I'm going to have to try a muffin one day. Love the trays above the counter
Nice walk!
And the bagel was still warm when we got home...yum!
We walked along Central Park
Nice benches in front of a huge boulder
Through the park
The towers of the Dakota on the right
Cool little arbor
The fall colors are pretty nice
Women's Right Pioneers Memorial
Shakespeare looking pensively off into the distance.
Lots of new skinny skyscrapers
the Wollman ice skating rink is open
The Plaza
I liked the "WE DIG NY" sign on the back of the work truck
Bloomingdales
We made it to the Roosevelt Island tram. We weren't sure what it would cost, but it's just like a subway fare ($2.90) and easy to use, with a tap of your credit card as you go through the turnstile
Views from the tram
View of RI through the Queensboro Bridge. We've ridden our bikes across that bridge quite a few times during the 5 Boro Bike Tour that we used to do every year.
The Tram headed back to Manhattan
We walked along the RI promenade, with great views of the city
The Chrysler Building peaking through the skyline
A closer view of the Chrysler Bldg
Lunch with a view
The remains of the Smallpox Hospital which was designed by James Renwick. It was the first hospital to house smallpox patients in the country
Roosevelt Island was used for hospitals and jails in the 1800's and early 1900's. It was also called Welfare Island
The UN Building
We walked through Roosevelt 4 Freedoms park to the end of the island
The UN Building
Brooklyn Bridge in the distance
View down the East River from the end of Roosevelt Island
The tram just barely visible on the other side of the Queensboro Bridge
We're headed back to Manhattan
Tram shadow
Next we took the subway down to the Buddhist Art Museum, the Rubin
Beautiful temple artwork
We took the subway back to Meg's neighborhood on the upper west side, for wings and football at a bar around the corner from the apartment (Bodega 88). Pretty flowers everywhere. We walked over 8 miles today, I think we're going to sleep well tonight.
Monday November 20, 2023 - We've got another busy sightseeing day today. We headed to Meg's subway stop, 2 blocks away and headed down to Times Square. From there we walked down to 37th and finally visited the fabric store Mood (that they use on Project Runway). It was not far to Hudson Yards and a walk on the Highline, a quick visit with our old Westfield neighbor and then Little Island and Chelsea Market. Next we hit the book store the Strand and then ended the day at McSorley's Tavern for a few beers.
Meg's subway station. The tilework all over the subway system is really pretty
We're at Mood! We were the only tourists there, everyone else looked like they actually belonged there.
We didn't recognize anyone and Swatch the dog was nowhere to be found
Kev is running up the infamous steps
I'm having trouble picking out which wool knits I want to work with!
multiple aisles filled with buttons and fasteners
A quick peak at the Empire State Building
The highline
Great day for a walk on the Highline
The Edge
A close up of the Edge. A sightseeing platform with a glass floor for views of the city.
The Vessel is no longer open to climb
A quick catch up with our friend Jon
It was a close walk to the newest Hudson River park called Little Island.
There are two bridges used to get onto the Island. It has an open air stage, walking paths and great views of lower Manhattan
The island is built out of 132 pot shaped structures (called tulips) that extend into the riverbed. It covers about 3 acres.
The World Trade Center in the background
We stopped in Chelsea Market for a milkshake, it was a bit too crowded
The bookstore the Strand had a cute Christmas tree made out of books
McSorley's Old Ale House, the oldest pub in the US (established in 1854)
If you ask for a beer the bartender says we don't have beer only pale ale and porter. When you order they give you two glasses. Kev liked that
There was sawdust on the floor and people shared tables
We were texting with Meg and told her we were at McSorley's. She said to order the cheese and onions. It was a half a sleeve of saltines, a bunch of slices of cheddar cheese and raw onion sliced, all for $4.00, we enjoyed it!
Selfie in front of McSorleys then an NYU subway stop home. We figured Elaine knew the stop well. We only walked 7 miles today!
Tuesday November 21, 2023 - Today was a more low key day. The last two days we got so much of my sightseeing done that I needed to find more things to do. We had lunch at home then decided to check out the NY Historical Society which was only a few blocks from Meg's. I read they have new space for their Tiffany Lamp display that was donated by Egon Neustadt. He collected Tiffany lamps after finding his first piece in Greenwich village for $12.50, after they had gone out of favor. Tiffany glass was in business for only a short time 1895-1920.
The Womens' vote stained glass in the stairwell of the NY Historical Society
They made different patterns on the lamps but I especially liked the flowers. I think this was a rose design
I especially liked the daffodils, since Nana was such a daffodil gardener
Tiffany did some geometric lamps
Peony lamp
This is the template used by the women who cut the glass. Each piece is numbered
and the watercolor used to design the lamp
more daffodils
Another exhibit at the Historical Society had all sorts of New York relics. This exhibit was items from 9/11. I was especially interested in the piece hanging that was a blind from the wreckage.
It was raining when we left the museum, but luckily it was a quick walk home and we stopped at Billy's for a small cheesecake to split and a pizza from Meg & Maddy's favorite pizza place, Marinara, which was really good pizza!
