30 Mile Marathon

These past two weeks have been a testament to the amount of energy living in NYC both gives and takes.  I've been working hard to get myself up to speed at my new job, and can honestly feel animation smarts beginning to click though I know I still have loads to learn, and in the midst of our  projects I took a few days off to tour Brian around and complete the West Coast/East Coast turf battle.  I'm still not sure which city won, but our NYC agenda covered more than 30 miles of walking and included:

(Drumrolllllll....)

WEDS//  Yeasayer at Rumsey Playfield (Central Park), a quick wander back down through the park at dusk, and RARE Rooftop Bar for drinks with a view.

THURS//  Lost Weekend coffee shop, Chinatown, Little Italy, SoHo, Greenwich Village/Meatpacking District, Highline Park, a quick College Humor stop, SoHo again with Stumpe for Lombardi's Pizza, back home over the Williamsburg Bridge, then out again in BK for Sam's Birthday.  The night was finished off with a White Castle run (chalk it up to west-coast curiousity)and amounted to 9 miles of walking, yoawch!

FRI//  I worked a half-day, then we hit up Wall Street in afternoon, Battery City Park, took a wander along the waterfront to Southside Seaport/Fulton Market, back up Wall Street past Trinity Church to World Trade Center, hopped the train to West 4th for a beer with Marcy, hurried home via Washington Square park and Union Square, and ran back into Manhattan for a movie with Amandrew at 8 in their neighborhood.  Afterwards we walked to Times Square because it just has to be done, and finally made it back to my apartment after grabbing neighborhood Schwarma. (~ 6 miles)

SAT//  Brooklyn Waterfront/Smorgasbord, Goodbye Thai food & Alyse's going-away party followed by a fun night at Whiskey Brooklyn with everyone who came out to send her off on her new L.A. adventure. (~4 miles)

SUN// Yankees game in da Bronx (they won √), then a lazy afternoon hanging around with the roommates and Jared.

MON//  I worked half a day, then we toured the lower third of Central Park, took a walk down 5th ave in an attempt at finding Toynbee Tiles, saw Radio City Music Hall/NBC Rainbow Room/Rockefeller Center, hopped down to Shake Shack for lunch, stopped home to change into nice duds, and went out for whiskey on the LES with stops at an upstairs Cuban bar that was out of the 1940's, Pommes Frites on 2nd Ave (the sauce they make for those Belgian fries is not your average condiment...), and then Please Don't Tell, a speakeasy where you enter through a phonebooth at a hotdog restaurant.  I had the PB&J cocktail -- it was whiskey-based with peanut syrup, a special mulled red wine, and celery liqour.  It was completely bizarre and absolutely delicious. (~6 miles walking)

TUES//  We met up with Sam at Magnolia Bakery, walked to Alex's work to get the SVA Social Documentary Department tour, hopped the 1 train down to Staten Island Ferry, then back to Union Square and home.  We finished off Brian's last night in town with Roberta's pizza and drinks at Pine Box with a light spat of rain.   (~3 miles)

As always, I loved playing tourguide and I'm afraid the holes in my shoes are a product of that, but here's to hoping I never exhaust my guests so much that they won't come back and visit again, because believe me -- there were plenty of to-do's that we didn't get to.  More than anything, though, reuniting the old college gang was what the battle was all about and as the dance party pics can attest to, we definitely hit that mark. 

Rock Skippers

'hello'

friends

Staten Isle Ferriers

sunset view from the Williamsburg Bridge