Manhattan and Brooklyn Review

            When we went to New York City last year, we did not really have a set plan. We were going to go to a Broadway show, and we were going to wander around the area in which we were staying. This time, we had a firmer plan for what we wanted to do. This included going to a Harry Styles concert at Madison Square Garden and going to Brooklyn to wander around the following day.

            So at 10 o'clock on Saturday, we left to drop our pup off for the weekend at Carm’s in Liverpool. Once that was taken care of, we headed to the city. The drive honestly went great. We split it 50 50, Mya drove the first half, so I could get some reading done, and I drove the second half so she could do some crocheting. The best part was that there was no traffic until we got to the Lincoln tunnel, which was to be expected, so I would consider that a win.

            Once we got out of the tunnel though, we faced our first challenge, finding parking. It was not a real challenge, because we had a parking garage spot reserved for 48 hours. Where the annoyance came in is that the GPS took us to the wrong spot. It brought us to one side of the block, but the garage was on the other side. Normally, fixing this problem would just take a couple of quick turns, and then boom you are there, but not in New York City.

This turned into a 20-minute error by the GPS, because the streets are one way, and then the next spot to turn right was a no right turn area. Those 20 minutes were not integral to anything, but again, it was just annoying, but we got there and left our car. It does always feel wrong to leave my keys and car with a stranger though.

We had to sit in the lobby of the hotel for another 20 minutes anyway so that it would be 3 o’clock so we could check in to our room. The room was nice enough, but it was $500 plus all of my hotel points to stay, and let me tell you, the room was not that nice, but it was Labor Day weekend, so of course, the prices were all raised.

Mya’s mom and sister were also coming to the concert, but they flew in from South Carolina. They had a shirt for Mya to wear to the concert, so we walked to their hotel to grab it, and on the way back to our room, I had to stop and grab a slice. There are $1.50 Slice places everywhere, and I was so ready to start my pizza journey. I wanted something weird to start, so I got the sweet chili chicken pizza, and it was delicious! I honestly had no idea what I was ordering when I pointed to it, and when he said what it was, I was skeptical, but I loved it. It was sweet and tangy mixed with the greasiness of the cheese and the slight accent of the sauce all served on the perfectly crisp vessel of the crust, and I was in heaven.

Then we got ready in the room. I dressed in a manner that I would never normally dress, but Harry Styles dresses eccentrically, so we are supposed to as well, and might as well buy in. I wore my black jeans, and a black button-up shirt that was short-sleeved, which is normal. But I kept the top button un-buttoned, and I wore a yellow tie, but loosened so that the unbuttoned spot could breathe. I rolled up my sleeves by two rolls, so that more of my arms were showing. Then I put on Mya’s silver chained pearl necklace as a joke initially, but honestly it looked great, so I kept it. Every time I looked in the mirror, I thought I looked sassy, but I liked it!

Once everyone was ready, we walked to dinner, which was John’s Pizza on Broadway. We ate here last time we came, but I do think that it was better this time. I think the biggest difference between having a full pie and grabbing a slice from a hole in the wall is the crispness.

When you get a whole pie, there is a chance for the grease to pool in the middle, so the slices lose their crispiness, especially while going through the process of eating. Whereas the slices have the chance to be recrisped, because the pie is already made and has cooled, then it gets crisped again. So I still would take a street slice over this place, but the inside of this location is awesome. It has a balcony, and a massive mural of the city on the wall. It feels like an old church, and eating pizza is always a religious experience.

Before the concert, we walked around Madison Square Garden to take pictures with different signs. It was funny, because so many people were waiting for this electric billboard. I swear it took ten minutes for the billboard to make it back to the Harry Styles sign, but when it turned, everyone freaked out and ran to go get their picture taken, and then switch with the person that was holding the phone first.

Honestly, I was underwhelmed with the outside of MSG. It is this hugely revered sports venue, but it looks like an office building built in the 90s. Most of it looks like metal mixed with corkboard. They did have one cool entrance that looked modern.The inside was a little bit cooler. Our tickets were in an advantageous spot. It also helped that the stage was in the shape of an eye, so he walked around constantly, and at the closest, he was only like 20 rows away. The ceiling is lower than most basketball arenas that I have seen, but it still looks like it holds the same amount of people, so that was nice. It felt more cozy, but the overall aura of  MSG was underwhelming to me, maybe it would be different for a basketball game.

My biggest gripe about the whole trip though would be the opener for Harry. Jamie XX was the one and only opener, and I think that is being generous. He is a D.J, and he was not terrible, but I was not blown away. Also, the vast majority of people in attendance have seats, not floor spots, so it is not conducive for raving. The biggest hit the guy played was a Strokes song, none of the actual D.J stuff got a huge cheer. Styles clearly has some pull, and he is in a huge city, so even if it is not the same opener every night, bring someone else up there, even as a second opener. The tickets are too expensive for that underwhelming of a performance. The only good part was that Harry comes out immediately after the D.J is done, there is no waiting.

Harry himself has great stage presence, and he is fun. His music is very popular for a reason, and his new album is no different. He does do a good job of blending in his old music with his new as well. There were some cool effects on his stage, and that the cameras did up on the jumbotron. The sound quality was great, and it seems like everyone was having a great time. He is also genuinely funny, when he did his crowd work, I was laughing. Most importantly, Mya had fun, and that is why we were there!

After the concert, I made us stop at a bar. I think it was called Local 42. It was dark, dingy, and cheap. We saddled up to the wooden sticky bar top, and I ordered their special that they had outside of the door. It was $7 for a shot and a beer. I got to choose which liquor I wanted, so I went with tequila, and the beer was a PBR. Honestly, the tequila was good! Like it went down easy. I have no idea what brand it was, but I would have gotten it again. Also the PBR was solid too. Obviously, there are many other better options, but as far as $7 in NYC go, I can’t complain.

Then I saw another sign in the bar, and it was a local shot and beer special, and it was only $10. So I got that next. The local whiskey went down a little rougher than the tequila, but I think that is just as much personal preference as taste. It was not bad. The beer that came was from Threes brewing, and I think it was a lager. It had more flavor to it than the PBR. I do wish that I tried the house beer they had, which was also $4, but Mya was ready for bed, and I wanted to get up and run in the morning.

On the way back, I decided I needed another layer of food to protect my stomach, so I stopped to get some pizza. It was another random slice place just on the side of the street, and I was feeling adventurous again, so I got a chicken bacon ranch slice. This might be my favorite specialty slice (but breakfast pizza is a close second). What separates these slices from local pizza shops here is the base. In Syracuse, when you get a specialty pizza like this, they change the base sauce. So it might just be a garlic base, but in NYC, they keep the tomato sauce base, and I like that more, especially for this slice, because I would not be made at a tomato on a chicken bacon ranch sandwich, I would embrace it.

The next morning, I got up early enough and went for a run. I ran the rest of the length of Manhattan to Battery Park, so that I could see the Statue of Liberty from far away, but I also found a nice path that went along the water. It was awesome! The lighting was soft and made the old boats in the harbor look like a beautiful painting. The path was filled with people running and walking, which I love, but it also made me feel lonely, and the same can be said for my Central Park run the next morning. There are so many people, and most of them are in their own world, and some are with a partner, but I just wanted to be running with one of them.

I feel like there should be an invention, where people put like a digital bib on their shirt. It has their name on it, it has their pace on it, it has how far they are running that day, how far they have gone, and if they mind company. It would be so cool if you could just pick someone and give them a try as a running partner. Like I stopped to take a picture, and this guy went past, and it took me a minute to catch up to him, and he was not that far ahead, and I could hear him behind me for the short remainder of my time on that path. Maybe we could have been friends. The same can definitely be said for Central Park when there was an even bigger flow of runners, and I was running the opposite direction from most, so I would have seen someone worth joining undoubtedly.

After my run, the four of us went out to breakfast at a diner close by, and then we went and wandered around Time Square. I will be okay if the next time I go to NYC I do not go to Time Square. It is basically just an outdoor mall with big screens.

My favorite experience was that I went outside of the Disney store to wait while they checked out, and a short older lady in a tight bright green dress with giant earrings was walking around from person to person to talk about Jesus. She stopped to talk to the people beside me, and they said they were Jewish, but she kept talking to them anyways, and I knew I was next. I just agreed with what she said, and we said positive Christian affirmations together, and then she said she loved me and carried on her way. It was a small interaction, but it put a smile on my face and made me feel good.

Once we said our goodbyes to Mya’s family, we took the subway further down Manhattan, and then we walked across the Brooklyn Bridge. I love bridges, so this was awesome to me, and it lived up to the hype, except for all of the freaking vendors, like this is not the place for you, there is a limited amount of space, please do not take up half of it with your nick knacks. The bridge was incredibly crowded, and it was funny to see people try to go for their daily runs, and just have to swim through all of the people.

Once across the bridge, it was time for lunch, so we stopped for… pizza! There was a slice place close by, and those slices were huge. I got a cheese slice, and it was solid. Mya had the same. After all of the walking, we sat at the one small table they had inside, and then when we were done, we kept walking. There was a store Mya wanted to stop at, and after that, we went and got a slice of pizza at Little Italy. This shop had a little more seating inside, and it had more people stopping in as well. I got the margherita slice, and I think it was my least favorite slice of the trip. It just was missing the salt like flavor that the other cheeses had been providing.

I stopped at two breweries on our way out. One I had never heard of before, Sound and Fury, and the other I was familiar with, Evil Twin. Sound and Fury had a great vibe, and it just felt like what I expected from all of Brooklyn. It felt hip, but I was disappointed by their Oktoberfest and their red IPA. Evil Twin had a kellerbeir, which I was also disappointed by, but I got one of their signature weird sours, and that was much better! There were a couple of other pizza places I wanted to stop at, but one was too far away and opened too late, and the other was closed on Sundays completely, which was depressing.

We had to head back after that because we had dinner reservations at an Italian restaurant, Bocca Di Bacco. While we were there, we compared it to other Italian restaurants we had visited, and this one ended up being middle tier, not the best not the worst. I had an eggplant and pasta dish, which was good, but when I saw eggplant parm, I was expecting it to be breaded and fried, but it was not. It was still good though, but eggplant skin is tough and bitter, and this is less prominent once fried. We were pretty full and exhausted after that, so we went back to the hotel and did not go out the rest of the night.

The next morning, I got up and went to Central Park for a run, and I thought it was bigger than it was, so I did not think I was going to be able to do the whole perimeter given the milage I wanted, but it worked out perfectly. I love the oasis that it is. It no longer feels like you are in a big city, and I also love all the dogs wandering around. I do not understand how they are all able to go around without a leash, but they are so well behaved!

At the end of my run, I stopped at Liberty Bagels. We got them last year, and they were good, so might as well stop again. Mya stuck with her buttered rainbow bagel, which is so pretty. Last time I had the steak and hashbrown sandwich on a jalapeno bagel, but I was feeling cream cheese this morning, so I got a plain bagel with oreo cream cheese, and I got a blueberry bagel with Nutella peanut butter cream cheese. I think I would have preferred the steak and hashbrown instead, but all of our stuff was cheaper than one steak and hashbrown bagel, so I was not too upset about it. I did however drop half of Mya’s bagel and half of one of my bagels when I was laying them out to take a picture…

Our parking was good until 2, so we still had a big portion of the day to wander around, and there was one pizza place that I wanted to hit, and it was a little under two miles away, and by the time we walked there, it would be open. So we walked to John’s on Bleeker Street, and it worked out perfectly. We got there like ten minutes before it opened, and there was already a line waiting outside. Thankfully there was enough room for us to get a table.

I wanted to come here, because it was in Dave Portnoy’s top five, which is high praise. They have pictures of the different celebrities that have come and eaten there, and of course, Portnoy was one of them, but we sat at the James Gandolfini table, which made me feel more Italian and excited to try the pizza.

The inside was super dated, but in a magical old pizzeria way that makes you feel like you are going to eat the best pizza ever. Sadly, this place did not live up to the reputation it was given. It was still very good, do not get me wrong, but I was not blown away. I still would have preferred one of the slices off the street.

We finished our trip with some more exploration. The Washington Square Monument was close by, so we walked there. It is beautiful, and to get there, we walked through the park, and there were like twenty chess boards set up with people waiting play, I made the mistake of making eye contact with a couple of them, and they were calling me over like carnies at a fair trying to make you play their game. I really wanted to, but I know I would have gotten smashed. I did not want to waste their time or overly embarrass myself.

The last stop we made was the Harry Potter store, which I did not even know existed, but it was pretty cool! It was two stories tall. I really enjoyed looking at the various unique wands, and their merch was nice as well. I did not get anything, but I can see how a store like that would be super successful.

On the way back to the hotel to grab our stuff, I just kept thinking about getting a gyro from a street vendor. I had like $20 left in my wallet, and it was burning up, it needed to go, but I never pulled the trigger, because we were in a bit of a time crunch to get there on time, so that is on the top of my list the next time we go.

I had a fun trip, and I really loved eating the pizza, but I think I am limiting myself. NYC is rich with food from different cultures, so it demands to be explored more. I would also like to stay somewhere else besides Manhattan so I can see more of the city. I really enjoyed the random dive bar I went into, and I would love to find more gems like that, but I am ready to go and explore somewhere else. NYC needs a couple years rest.