New York, NY: It's a Helluva Town, Day 1/2 and 1

Wow has it been awhile! Lots going on in the two (!) months, work, play and otherwise. I've been wanting to share our anniversary trip to New York for so long now, since, well it happened way back in October. Like I always say, better late than never! 

It was such an amazing trip, every time I look back on it I get super nostalgic. It was both of our first times in New York and we loved it. I didn't want to leave, it felt like we had barely even scratched the surface, and of course we hadn't. Since we were celebrating our 10th (again, !) anniversary, we didn't really hold back. We stayed in a wonderful hotel, The Bowery on the Lower East Side. The service was amazing and the overall design was perfect for the nature of our trip, kind of British colonial with lots of dark woodwork, thick carpets, rich upholstery, brass, white marble and some palms thrown in for good measure = romantic! We mentioned it was our anniversary when booking and there was a bottle of champagne waiting for us.

Greg's first Manhattan Manhattan.

Our first full day activity was a trip to the Tenement Museum. The goal of the organization is to interpret the building to its various periods of occupation/occupants and in the process uncover the stories of the immigrants who called the building home and place of business, the history of the building itself, and of the ever-dynamic surrounding neighborhood. Rather than a self-guided experience, all museum visitors are led through a program by an interpreter. We took the Shop Life tour which was very good. Being an archaeologist/old building geek I really, really wanted to do the Exploring 97 Orchard Street tour, but unfortunately it wasn't offered on the particular Thursday we were there. :( No photography allowed inside, but take my word it was a great, unconventional-in-a-good way museum experience.

Katz's Delicatessen of When Harry Met Sally fame is just a few blocks away, so we stopped there for lunch after our tour. We shared a reuben and potato salad, our Jewish deli benchmark, and while it was good, I have to be perfectly honest: my heart belongs to Shapiro's in Indianapolis. 

Send-A-Salami!

That evening we had tickets for The Book of Mormon. We headed up early and walked around Times Square for a bit. Just a bit.

Then retreated for a pre-show cocktail as per the plan. Greg chose the Rum House and he chose well as we immediately felt transported a million miles from less-than-authentic New York City, to that's-more-what-we-had-in-mind New York City. They have a great drink menu full of all the classics. If I remember correctly Greg had another Manhattan and I had a French 75 or 76.

The theater was beautiful...

and the play was hilarious.

And we enjoyed our cab and pinot served in adult-proof sippy cups. (Caution! Despite the illusion of safety, sometimes they leak, as Greg found out.)

After the show we walked around Uptown a little bit before finding a spot for a late bite to eat.

The rink had either just opened for the season and we were too late to see the skaters, or they were still getting it ready.

We chose well for dinner and almost had the place to ourselves.

More to come!