little black journal

Friday dawned bright, sunny, and full of promise – the city was our oyster and we had places to go and sights to see.

First, though, fuel in the form of green smoothies and bagels.

We spent awhile at the 9/11 Memorial, moved by the power of the very real void left where the twin towers once stood.

And from there, we strolled to City Hall Park, where we found a sunny bench on which to share a Coke and watch the fountain’s shadows move across the pavement.

And then, the mandatory trek across the Brooklyn Bridge, for city views.

And close-up views of the bridge itself.  What a beauty (the bridge, but also, this kid!).

We made it to Brooklyn just as our feet started to ache, so we called an Uber to pop us over to Williamsburg for shopping and lunch.  I wasn’t entirely sure what to expect of Williamsburg, but…charming coffee shops?  Check.

Boutiques packed with beautiful handmade wares?  Got it.

And the prettiest little sweet shop, stocked with every variety of Swedish gummies?  Score.

I mean…

Unfortunately, the pizza place that I had picked for lunch had a line around the block, so we decided to hop on the subway, hightail it to the Financial District, and pick up some goodies at the market for a picnic lunch on the Ellis Island ferry.  That’s the beauty of New York – you’re never more than a few Subway stops away from a stellar backup plan.

We cruised first to the Statue of Liberty and then to Ellis Island, but with all the miles we’d already walked that day, we decided to stay on the boat rather than disembark with most of the other passengers.  The views from our boat deck bench seat did juuuuuust fine.

Back on land, we hoofed it back to our hotel, stopping here and there to check out a cool building or choose our favorite outfit from a fancy window display.

When our energy waned, we popped in our earbuds and let HAIM carry us the rest of the way back.

I took my cherished afternoon siesta and then rallied in the evening for dinner at Boucherie in West Village.  My Aperol Spritz and goat cheese salad hit the spot.

We wandered back to our hotel, full and happy, stopping to peek at Washington Park, which was bumpin’ at 9pm, but then a rat scampered across the lawn just in front of us and Juliette promptly decided it was time to go.  We picked up a nutella crepe from a small stand on MacDougal and ate while we walked the rest of the way back; any rodent drama was quickly forgotten.

We tucked ourselves in by 10pm and then fired up You’ve Got Mail so we could get an extra dose of NYC from the comfort of our bed.  Falling alseep next to Juliette with a rom-com running in the background is one of my favorite things.

Saturday dawned grayer and rainier than Friday, so we lingered extra-long over our hot chocolate and latte from Fellini.  I loved this coffee shop’s classy, classic vibes.

We took the Subway to the Upper West Side with plans to walk Central Park but found it was even wetter in that neck of the woods, so we ducked into Frame for another round of hot beverages.  This is why we carried our books where ever we went.

An hour later, it was still pretty drizzly, so we traded Central Park for the MOMA.  Again, not too shabby a backup.  I had forgotten just how many master works of art live in this museum.  In the space of a couple of hours, we saw Van Gogh and Picasso and Rothko and Pollock and Giacometti, OH MY.

Plus, Yves Klein, whose signature shade of cobalt blue became my favorite color when I lived in Paris and visited the Pompidou on the regular.

Post-museum, we guzzled cold Cokes and tucked into a very good pepperoni pizza.

By the time we’d eaten lunch and rested a bit back at the room, the rain had died down and we decided to give our Central Park visit one last go.  We took the scenic route from the Subway stop to the park, dilly-dallying on the gorgeous streets of the Upper West Side.

And the park!  It would take several full days to explore this place in its entirety, but we settled for a stroll to the lake.

As we were standing on the Bow Bridge, wondering what exactly made the lake water so green, a man just a few feet away from us got down on one knee and proposed to his girlfriend.  She said yes and then they were immediately swarmed by a cast of 30 friends and family members that had been hiding nearby.  There was laughter and crying and kissing and Juliette ate it up.  She’s a sucker for romance, this girl.

We exited the park on the east side and set out in search of dinner.  I was meant to be looking for the seafood restaurant I’d pinned, but we stumbled upon a Lauderee and decided macarons would make a good appetizer.

Eventually, though, we landed at Seamore for cocktails/mocktails and fish and chips.

And then…showtime!  We’d found a deal on last-minute tickets for &Juliet and had heard wonderful things about the show from a friend.  To Broadway!

My goodness, what a dose of pop-infused joy that musical is.  We laughed and sang and I found myself whooping like a schoolgirl when Romeo came down from the rafters on a star-studded platform, belting out a Bon Jovi song.  And long live Backstreet Boys!  It was a ridiculaously fun night.

Sunday was depature day, but we had a few hours in the morning to soak up our last bits of city life.  I hadn’t made breakfast plans, but figured we’d settle for a nearby coffee shop.  This is what ‘settling’ looks like in SoHo:

We had decided to check out the immersive Arte Museum, so we walked along the waterfront to the museum’s pier and then made our way through a series of exhibits that put you in the midst of rushing waterfalls and deep, dark oceans and fairy-like butterfly gardens.

It was gray and chilly when we emerged from the museum, so after popping real-quick into Chelsea Market to buy the necklace I’d been thinking about since Thursday, we grabbed a couple of stools at a ramen joint for a piping hot lunch.

And that was it, our final taste of New York City…we hustled out of there to grab our bags and get to JFK.  WHAT A TRIP.  I’m coming up short for words to express just how thankful I am for those few days with Juliette – we’ve got such a good thing going right now.  I texted one of our bench-sitting selfies to a group of friends when they wished me a happy birthday and one of the ladies responded with, “JUST LIKE LORELAI AND RORY” and I’ll wrap with that.