Big Sky: meet Big Apple.

This is the story of my parents' long awaited visit to New York.

The day after I got back from Germany, Mom and Dad flew into JFK airport and met me at the Howard Beach stop of the A train.  It was so wonderful and surreal to see their faces way out here, on the East Coast.  We booked it back to my place, and Mom brought out presents for my roommates and I while Dad surveyed the slightly less-than-ambitious contracting job done on our apartment.

(what flying into New York is like)

We ate some chili and cornbread, tried Lichen Schnapps from Iceland's airport (I'd describe it as"brisk"), and decided we could make it into Chinatown for some Bubbletea before my favorite spot closed at 10.  We rode above ground on the M line to the Lower East Side and emerged in a mostly closed-up but still stinky Chinatown.

We walked with our Bubbletea through Little Italy to the LES Proper, and then back to our subway stop.  At this point, I still thought Mom & Dad were leaving after three days in New York and I needed to squish as much in as possible.  I had a list.  We checked stuff off the list.  I found out they were actually staying four full days.  I added to the list.

"The List"

The next morning, we set out for Manhattan and discovered along the way that my neighborhood, blowing Halloween and Thanksgiving off in the process, was already decking its halls.

'tis the....what season 'tis it again?

DAY 1

We hit up my favorite part of the city first, Washington Square Park area.  From Washington Square we walked to Union Square, where we checked out the Farmer's Market, then it was on to the Flatiron Distict near my ol' work diggs, and next to the Highline Park.  This put quite a few miles under our feet by the time we descended the Highline steps into Greenwich Village.  It was at about this point that I developed an incredible stomach ache compliments of Veselka's farmer's cheese Pierogi's.  I'm a huge fan of Veselka (Ukrainian food at Union Square: czech it out!  http://nymag.com/restaurant/veselka/ ) but my stomach perhaps was having digestive jetlag.  We plonked down at a wine bar and waited the pain out through the best glass of wine I've ever had.  Muskateller, I think.  {Austrian - go figure.}

Highline Park at sunset

Since it was becoming dark as left the wine bar, we headed to midtown to serve our requisite sentence at Times Square.  It's better at night.  If we want to get specific, it's best at about 1:00 a.m. on an off-night during the coldest streak of winter, but one can't always hit that mark.

Although you'd think we'd be done in by our activities, we still managed to stop at Trader Joe's in Union Square on our way back home, stocking up on wine (thanks Mom & Dad!  I still have a couple bottles left ;) as well as fruit and cheese for some low-key eats before we passed out.  We also made this map to track our activities, feel free to refer to it as I take us blow-by-blow through the rest of the visit....

"The Map"

 DAY 2:

1. Wallstreet & The Financial District
2. The South Ferry waterfront
3. Statan Island Ferry
4. Statan Island, land ho.
5. Battery Park (chimes, a wild turkey, and a view of The Statue)
6. World Trade Center
7. Trying to find food near the WTC
8. Chinese Food.  √
9. Central Park at 59th Street, Columbus Circle
10. Hopping the subway near John Lennin's house
11. Meeting Allison for drinks at a very loud, very hip midtown bar. 
12. Italian food in SoHo at Il Corallo Trattoria ~ buona.
13. Wandering to the A train, then back home on the L.

Central Park

Central Park

DAY 3:

1. Picking up my recovered photos from TekServ
2. SoHo:  soho this, soho that (Jacques Torres)
3. SoHo this 'n that (Broadway, window shopping)
4. SoHo still, SoHo hoh hoho. (+ some Dallas Barbecue)
5. Somewhere around 34th street: walking to 30 Rock past Radio City Music Hall
6. Rockefeller Center: up & up & awayyyy!  What a view!
7. The "Baton Death March" begins.  My Dad's wording.  (I still feel bad about taking this route to nowhereland...)
8. The Death March ends, thank GOODNESS.  Not much was seen, and the Library Bar was never found.
9. Trader Joe's: shopping for ingredients to make Miluakee Sweet Tart Supper!  Note: Trader Joe's does not carry Saurkraut.  Unbelievable?  Believe it.
10. Train hopping back to BK.

Top of the Rock

DAY 4:

Brooklyn Day!

1. BedStuy Parade:  A tour of my old neighborhood.  A brief tour.
2. Since the G train was down, this marks the spot near Atlantic Avenue where we started walking about a mile and a half toward our Brunch destination.
3. Brunch at Apertivo's! 
4. Taking a gander at Brownstones and trying to catch sight of some of the very nice, old neighborhoods of west Brooklyn.  (Brooklyn Heights, Cobble Hill, Carroll Gardens.)
5. Starting a walk along Downtown Brooklyn.
6. Brooklyn Bridge Park.
7. Dumbo: Jacques Torres Part II, Grimaldi's Pizza line, and the base of the Manhattan Bridge.
8. A bus ride from BedStuy to Williamsburg that ended unexpectedly early, by about two miles.
9. Bedford Avenue in Williamsburg
10. Clam Chowder at Surf
11. Berry Park Rooftop Beer Garden
12. (or what *should* be the #12 on our map) Hitching the L train home!  Exhausted....

Maddy surveys the goods at Berry Park

the view from Highline

Just typing this made me a bit dizzy, so I have to give my parents a standing ovation for getting through the whirlwind tour with me.  I think I'd revise my battle strategy next time to make things a little less hectic, but I'm amazed at how much ground we covered.  We painted this town, and I'm so glad my parents came all the way out here to see what living in New York is really like.

(I couldn't have found Saurkraut without you.)