The weekend after Easter we flew up to New York for a quick family visit and we decided stay in the city for the first night so we could make sure to see my niece (since we usually miss her during our Christmas or summer trips). Hotel prices were rather high for our particular weekend so we decided to redeem one of our free Hyatt nights (earned through a credit card signup) at the Hyatt 48 Lex.
In a first for us, our flight from RDU arrived at LaGuardia 45 minutes early, so our cab arrived at the hotel right around our original landing time. At check-in we were notified that we had been upgraded to a lexington studio room on the 19th floor. One minute later we were in our spacious (by NYC standards) room.
looking left, looking right
our view in the morning
We decided to try out one of the better-known craft beer bars in the area, The Ginger Man, and along the way I took Leandra through Grand Central Station since she had never seen it in person.
The bar was quite crowded when we first arrived and we struggled to get an order in. We eventually got a menu (they’re printed daily as the beers change rapidly) and placed our orders for a Left Hand Ambidextrous II and the ‘t Smisje Imperial Sour. Beers in hand we scouted around and found stools and an open counter towards the back, allowing us to settle in and enjoy some people watching. Around 9pm the crowd thinned out, then became quite busy again after 10p. Looking over the beer list again Leandra noticed they had the Alvinne Undressed sour beer that we’d only seen in Brussels. That quickly became my second order (Leandra opted for a Two Brothers Northwind Imperial Stout), along with pretzels and a surprisingly spicy mustard sauce. Tired after a long day at work we gave up our seats around 11p for our super comfortable bed.
The next morning we had breakfast at Demarco, a coffee shop in midtown. Their breakfast sandwiches were tasty and Leandra really enjoyed her latte. As a bonus, they had complimentary copies of the NY Times so we read through a few sections with our breakfast.
Fueled up we walked across town taking in a few of the tourist sites that we hadn’t visited in about 10 years: Rockefeller Center, Times Square, then on to the Macy’s Flower Show in Herald Square.
Chrysler building (one of my favorites); 30 Rockefeller Center
still ice skating in April!
a typically busy Times Square
Macy’s flower show
Macy’s flower show
We returned to the Hyatt around noon, checked out, then took a taxi to my brother’s apartment on the Upper East Side. From there we all walked to the Guggenheim.
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Photos are only allowed on the ground floor, but the exhibit spanning the main hall was quite interesting: long plastic tubes with colored liquid.
The Thannhauser Collection was our favorite exhibit, featuring an outstanding density of masters including Monet, Picasso, Renoir, Van Gogh, etc.
We spent the rest of the day with family, then back out to Long Island later that evening.