Our flight up to New York on Jet Blue was smooth and left on time. After landing, we were slightly delayed getting off the plane due to jet bridge issues but thankfully we were in no hurry. Uber and Lyft were a bit high, so we used the taxi line to catch a cab into the city (fixed rate plus tip and tolls about $67) to our hotel for the evening, Courtyard Marriot Manhattan/Chelsea.
Our room wasn’t ready at noon, so we dropped off our bags, grabbed bagel sandwiches from Liberty Bagels, and headed to Hudson Yards. My brisket was underwhelming but Eric’s was good.
The ‘Vessel’ (aka ‘staircase to nowhere’) was definitely fun to see in person.
From there we walked to The Ginger Man to have a beer (or two) with our friend, Kirsten, on her birthday. Beers tried: Two Roads Roadsmarys Baby (BBA pumpkin ale, sample); Gun Hill PB and Void (export stout with peanut butter, full pour); Single Cut Chrissie (gose style lager, full pour x 2); Evil Twin Parlez-Vous Francis Toast (full pour).
After a few hours of catching up, we said our goodbyes and walked to Eric’s brother’s place to see their new apartment.
It was almost 8pm at this point, so we returned to our hotel, collected our bags and checked into the room. As we still weren’t super hungry, we opted for an order of fries from Five Guys around the corner, then walked to our favorite evening spot in Manhattan, the Flatiron Room, for jazz and whisky. This time our two-top table was right in front of the stage!
I had the ‘Triumph’ – bourbon, PX sherry, chocolate bitters and orange and Eric had two scotches: the Benriach Curiositas 10yr and the Ardbeg An Oa. Surprisingly both of his choices were available and he didn’t have to go into his 2nd and 3rd picks! We also split the chocolate plate that came with a ‘wee dram’ that caught the interest of the table next to us who asked us what we were enjoying.
Our flight the next day left at 2pm so there was no early wake up call for us! We rose at the humane hour of 9am and walked to nearby Brown’s Bagel place for breakfast. I went simple this time with a toasted everything bagel and lox spread (delicious) and Eric got the egg, cheese and bacon. We both agreed the bagels were better than Liberty’s.
After checking out we took a ‘shared’ Lyft to the airport and got lucky when no one else joined (all in for $52!). Our trip to JFK was fast and soon we were in the lounge waiting for the next leg of our trip to Japan…