New York, April 2015

 On April 9, we went to New York City with our friends Amy & Sara Nolan.

 See all our photos here.

Our flight was originally scheduled to leave at 9:10AM, but after several delays because of a mechanical issue, it was finally cancelled all together.  We ended up leaving on the 3:00PM flight that was itself 45 minutes late.

That was a long time to sit in an airport.  But, everyone has airline stories and they are mostly uninteresting.  There are worse things than hanging out in an airport bar all day.

We got in to NY and to our hotel, the Hilton Vacation place on west 57^th Street, right by the Russian Tea Room, without further incident  A & S are members and graciously allowed us to stay there.

Our room, a “Studio Plus,” was great!  Big bathroom, sitting area, separate bedroom area area, and, best of all, a huge balcony on 57^th St., looking north.  We could see Central Park!

Looking west down 57th Street from our balcony

Friday was a museum day with lots of walking.  

Laurie, Sara, & Amy on Fifth Avenue

We started out at the Frick Museum.  The Frick is one of our favorites and we go every time we’re in New York (it helps that it has reciprocity with the Milwaukee Art Museum).  There are two portraits there, one of Thomas Cromwell and one of Thomas More (hardly a saint in my book), that have become quite popular because of the books, play, and now Masterpiece show, “Wolf Hall.”

Amy & Sara in the Frick

After the Frick we went to two museums we hadn’t been to before (thanks Amy!), El Museo Del Barrio and the Museum of the City of New York.

These museums are somehow linked and buying tickets to one gets you into the other.  But oddly, they don’t cost the same.  El Museo is $9 and the Museum of the City is $14.  Of course we went to El Museo first and Laurie and I got the added bonus of the senior discount!

Senior Matthew and August Belmont

After lunch we hit the Nicholas Roerich museum on the upper west side.  Roerich was a Russian painter who spent a lot of time in Tibet.  If you’re in the area and have a little time, stop in.  It’s pretty interesting stuff.

 

Dinner Friday night was at Sullivan Bistro on Sullivan Street just north of Houston.  This was a great find by Sara.  The place was very small and it seemed everyone there was from the neighborhood.  The food was excellent.  I had mussels, Laurie and Amy had shrimp, and Sara had salmon.  Laurie and I split an order of sautéed calamari and our waiter brought them a salad when our squid arrived so that they wouldn’t feel left out.  We had some fun political conversations with the people next to us.

 

Saturday was Brooklyn Day.  We spent a little time in Prospect Park waiting for the Brooklyn Museum to open.  11:00 seems pretty late to me.  After a few hours there we headed for Dumbo for lunch, then walked back across the Brooklyn Bridge.

Laurie on the Brooklyn Bridge

We meandered our way back to the hotel, stopping for some wine along the way.

We had snacks and drinks at the Hilton’s happy hour, then went to the Booth Theater to see the play, Hand to God.

A nightcap at the Whisky Trader, then we were ready for bed.

5:00AM came pretty early, but we made it in plenty of time for our 8:30 flight back to Milwaukee.  We were home in plenty of time for a restful Sunday.

Great trip & friends!