It must be the hearing aids...

I'm finally getting around to writing about our mini-vacation in NYC.  There are sooo many things to write about...

We arrived in NYC at 12:30ish.  I had printed out a coupon for a parking garage on 20th St. between 6th and 7th Avenues, and we got there without too much trouble.  Then it was on to the Doubletree Hotel in Chelsea on 29th St.  We were able to check in right away - however, only one elevator was working and we were on the 19th floor, so it took a while to get to our room and then get back down to street level.

It was then time to walk to theater to pick up the tickets for Death of a Salesman. Not only were we warned by the ticket agent to be on time for the performance, but I also received an email from the guy who got us the house seats - so we were prepared to BE ON TIME.

After leaving the box office, we took subway to the West Village and lunch at Agave.  It was a 1000 pointed on Open Table - sweet!  We actually sat "outside" in a glass enclosed area.  Lunch was good, not great, and when we tried to use the $20 check from Open Table, we couldn't because there was no manager there to process it.  Oh, well...

For some reason, I can't get the stupid Blackberry pictures to come in correctly....grrrr.

While we were there, we watched a wine salesman pull his wares out of his car -- he, too, was waiting for the manager.

Then we walked over to Chelsea Market and checked out the Easter stuff - I was looking for some things to put into Easter baskets for the Aranda kids.  I was a little tired, and it was getting late, so we left the market without getting anything.  We walked back to the hotel and got ready for the theater - the second elevator was operating, thank goodness!

The play started at 7PM - we got to the area at about 6:15, so we went into the Italian restaurant across the street and had a glass of wine.  We got to our seats about about 6:45.  The couple next to us started a conversation with us as we kept having to get up as new people arrived (they were on the end seats; we were the next two seats).  They had stood in the cancellation line and ended up with great house seats for about $10 more than we had paid.  They lived in Washington, DC, but they were originally from NYC.  We talked about our grown children - they had a daughter who lived in Miami and worked for a liquor distribution company.  She was involved with a new product being introduced to the 20-something female crowd, and things were going really well.  She loved her job but was having trouble meeting people in Miami (two crowds - the elderly and the Cuban professionals) while her friend who had jobs in Manhattan hated their jobs but loved the social life. Their children were meeting them in New York for an annual family gathering - cool!

The play was really intense.  Afterwards, we walked back to the hotel, discussing the themes and characterizations - we're so cultured!!  We stopped in the hotel bar for a drink before bed - since we'd had no dinner, we got some bread with our wine...

We woke up the next morning, made coffee, broke the coffee machine (later we discovered that the machines regularly go bad and get replaced), got ready for the day, and decided to go to a Chelsea coffee shop because there were no Pain Quotidiens in the immediate vicinity. So we ended up at Moda, a coffee shop/art gallery.

While we were having the "best latte in Chelsea" and sharing a croissant, we watched the barista/art dealer talk to a potential artist  - fascinating.  I'll leave the Michener version to Bob --- I'm sure he'll want to add more here.

The art and artistic lamp at Moda in Chelsea - we get tired of being on our sides...

After our delicious espresso and latte, we continued on to the Highline.  It was a beautiful day for a walk, and we enjoyed the people-watching as well as the New York skyline.

Highline in Spring

I had made reservations at Colicchio and Sons, a place Bob refused to visit on an earlier trip because he didn't want to go to a "celebrity chef" restaurant.  This time, however, I didn't tell him anything about the restaurant except that it was near Chelsea Market.  So we sat down, ordered some craft beer, and decided what 3 delicious courses we would have for our $25 price fixe lunch.  The food was spectacular, and when the beer sommelier came to our table to chat, we talked about different microbreweries in Pennsylvania.  Then, as we were having dessert, he sent some beers to accompany that course.  Bob got two samples because the first one was the beer he was already drinking. We also commented to our waitress about the artistic placement of the firewood. Of course, we got the beer guy's card as we left.  I told Bob he was in a celebrity chef restaurant about midway through the
 second course...

Enjoying Colicchio and Sons

Coconut Creme Caramel with raspberry and kiwi sorbets

Back to the Chelsea Market we went - I checked with Andrea before buying anything to find out whether the kids could have candy; the answer was no, so I had a limited range of items from which to choose.  We got some cool stuff and cookies too, and then we walked back to the hotel, stopping at a Pain Quotidien for some coffee after our very filling lunch.

While we were sitting outside sipping our beverages and enjoying the afternoon, a woman at the next table, who was sitting by herself and writing in a notebook, asked us if we were married.  She said she enjoyed listening to us talk to each other -- so I guess we weren't bickering or anything! She and her husband had moved to Manhattan from North Carolina, and they lived in the Chelsea area with their baby.  After we chatted for a while, it was time to get back to the hotel and get ready to go to Queens for dinner with the Arandas.

We bought some cupcakes to take with us, but I dropped them, so the icing was all over the inside of the container -- still good to eat, though.  We caught the R and got to their place at around 4:15 - Andrea was actually on the same train because she was working on a project for the White House!!  We gave the kids their gifts, which included dyed egg shells with rope at the end for hanging on trees.  Nori and Lorenzo had a great time putting their eggs on various branches in their courtyard - score for us!!

Then it was time to dye some eggs.  Andrea got the dye cups ready, and I sat at the little table with the kids -- like riding a bike it is...  We had so much fun with the colors and crayons and stickers - Uncle Bob showed them the multi-color method.

Then we had sushi for dinner - perfect!  We left at about 8:30 after having a great time.

After a glass of wine at the hotel bar, we went to bed -- I read for a while; Bob went right to sleep.

Next morning we had breakfast at Pain Quotidien, spent a little quality time at Macy's (while Bob sat outside and froze), and then checked out and got home at about 2:30.  A great time!!!