L and K Take New York

I have been MIA yet again – sometimes a little internet detox is a good thing. And I have been so busy! This past weekend, my former roommate L came to visit me. We had such a blast and enjoyed New York the way I love to – the non-tourist way…Well, sort of. L flew in on Thursday (St. Patrick’s Day) and met me at my building. I took a half day on Thursday and off on Friday and we never stopped moving till I sat down at my desk this morning.

Thursday, the holiday heard round the world from all of the drunken people on the planet, was spent “pub crawling.” We hopped more than crawled, but went to a few places in midtown I had never visited before. The Pig and Whistle, The Mean Fiddler, and the Blarney Stone (are the names Irish enough?) were all very good to us…well except for the bartender who kept charging L eight bucks for glasses of coke with a splash of rum in them. L tried to joke with the bartender on her second trip to the bar and said, “Can you put rum in it this time?” The look on the guy’s face made the beer in my stomach churn. I promptly looked the other way pretending not to know the girl asking the lethal question.

Friday was the most beautiful day of the year so far. The temperature was a high of 73 and the sun was bright and shining. It was Heaven! L and I made our way over to The Metropolitan Museum of Art where we walked around for several hours looking at medieval and Italian paintings and sculptures. L did ask me to take pictures of her posing as some of the statues…Like I said, it was almost a tourist-free weekend. Friday night, L and I met my parents in midtown (it was so beautiful out that we decided to slowly walk from The Met to my dad’s office on 41st - 40+ blocks…and L thought she wouldn’t exercise on vacation) We all went down to Little Italy where we had the most fantastic meal sitting at a window that was opened wide and looked out onto Hester St – it was as if summer had come early. We ended the night at South Street Seaport sipping cocktails overlooking the East River and chatting about life – it’s nice that we’ve finally hit an age where we enjoy spending time with the parents.

We began Saturday by going to the Seinfeld Restaurant a few blocks from my apartment. They didn’t film there, but it is still cool to take photos outside and eat at a place that has been made famous by TV – and they make an awesome omelet. Saturday night was dedicated to the East Village. We discovered a few bars and decided to party it up NYU style. We wanted to go somewhere with a young college feel since that is where our friendship roots lie. After gin and tonics, rum and cokes, pizza with beer, and L dangerously sprinting across Broadway at 2am to hit up the McDonalds, we made it back home.

On Sunday, I woke up early and completed my first outdoor run of spring. Afterwards, L and I prepared to go see her first Broadway show – aptly titled “Chicago.” We had brunch (Sunday brunch is my favorite thing in the whole world) and then walked around the Theatre District stopping to take pictures with Daniel Radcliffe’s marquee for “How to Succeed in Business without Really Trying.” I’m pretty sure L enjoyed her first Broadway experience – I know I did! We went back to my apartment, ordered pizza, watched our school dominate George Mason and did some much needed relaxing. She left this morning and things are much quieter, but lonelier. I will miss my roommate very much and I was so happy I got to take New York with her. I hope my other three roommates come to visit soon because this weekend was so much fun – a repeat is necessary in the very near future!