Father's Day and vacation

Fathers Day...........my Dad lives out of state so I send him wishes by phone and mail and via this blogpost. So Dad, I hope you have a very Happy Father's Day.

Last weekend (Wed thru Mon), DH and I were in NYC. We were originally just going to see a play, but why spend money on airfare, etc to stay just for 2 nights. So we tacked on a few extra days and nights and made the most of it. Due to Hurricane Andrea we did have some rain to contend with but that's what umbrellas are for, right?  Let me admit up front that I took absolutely no knitting with me. I know, right?  I'm not working on anything small and truly I didn't think I would have any downtime to be able to knit, and actually I was right. So we arrived at the hotel (Marriott Marquis-Times Square) on Wed evening and stayed in. We ordered room service and went to bed fairly early. Thursday is when the fun began. We hailed a cab and went to Greenwich Village. Walked around Washington Square and other streets. We watched the speed chess players for a few minutes.  This was worth a video to watch how fast they play, but I didn't do it, just a picture.

My new right knee did great the whole weekend, the left knee was very angry, it didn't do too well. I had to use my cane and walk slow but we managed. We finally ended up at a wonderful place for a very late lunch called La Villette. Located at a corner where 6th St meets up with Bleecker and Downing St. It was a delightful place. We ate 3 different kinds of paté (duck, rabbit and veal, pork), French bread (baguette), Salade Nicoise, DH had Branzino fish and we had some wine.  For dessert we each had Crème Brulee. Delicious!! The server was Italian and the maitre'd was French. The maitre'd spent some time talking to us, we spoke some french and we had a blast!

After our late lunch, we hiked over to Purl Soho.  It was a small shop and while it had a nice selection of yarn and fabric, it wasn't quite what I expected.  They have such a nice website that I expected more and that's my fault, I set my expectations too high.  I didn't buy anything there.  Then we grabbed a cab to take us to The Strand.  A very large bookstore that carries new, used, rare and out-of-print books. I bought a few things. How can you leave a bookstore without buying anything?

After The Strand, we cabbed it back to the hotel and then walked around looking for a unique place to have dinner. 

We found a place on 49th called Sake Bar Hagi. Very interesting foods and luckily I wasn't very hungry. :-)  DH had sautéed squid in liver sauce, chicken gizzards, and seared mackerel over a period of time. I had pork dumplings and veg spring rolls, which were absolutely delicious.  Also tried a Ukon beer. NASTY!  It was like an orange juice with beer. ick.

Friday....well, it rained all day.  Even with umbrellas we got soaked. Our backpack got soaked, my little purse wallet got very damp, everything was just wet. We had fun anyway. We cabbed it down to Chinatown and walked around.

I bought a couple of silk/cotton wraps (teal and burgundy) and then had a dim sum lunch. OMG, it was fabulous.  Walked around a little more and then cabbed to Marseille at 9th and 44th and enjoyed a couple of Ricards.  Walked to the hotel, soaking wet and changed clothes for the play.  We went to see Macbeth with Alan Cumming.  It was playing at the Barrymore Theatre on 47th.  It's a one man show of a guy in an insane asylum and he plays all the parts of Macbeth. He did a fab job.

After the play we walked back to the hotel and sat in the bar. We had a beer and I had some delicious wings, DH had fish tacos.  Then finally up to the room as we were both exhausted.

Saturday....we walked to Hell's Kitchen because we had read they had a Flea Market every Saturday.  What fun!!!

It wasn't raining but it was very cloudy.  We meandered through the booths. Bought a necklace/earring set and a bracelet of old coins. very cool.  DH bought a book.  Afterwards we walked to a pizzeria and had a small delicious pizza and some delicious sangria!!  Went back to the hotel to relax afterwards, we each took a short nap. Then back out and went to another Italian place, Uncle Mario's and had even more delicious pizza. Are you getting the picture here??

Sunday....we left early and went north to 113th St and went to church services at the Cathedral of St. John the Divine. This cathedral reminds me so much of Notre Dame in Paris, it's just breathtaking.  It's a shame that more people don't attend that church as their regular church, it's just so beautiful. You can just feel the holy spirit when you walk in.

After services, we walked south on Broadway looking for a place to have brunch. We found it at a place called Regional at 99th.  With a purchased meal, you could choose unlimited mimosas or bloody marys.  I had Eggs Benedict and mimosas, DH had eggs, some interesting sausages and bloody marys and we shared a tomato, mozzarella and basil salad. We stayed there for a while as we had a wonderful seat outside and enjoyed watching the locals shopping and walking their dogs, etc. A very enjoyable morning/early afternoon.

After we were satiated, we continued walking south on Broadway intending to go to a yarn shop at 82nd, called The Yarn Co.  We came upon another Flea Market at 86th which apparently went all the way to 70th, yep 16 blocks.  It was glorious.  They had all kinds of stuff and wonderful smelling food but we had already eaten. Had we known.....oh well.  I bought some earrings and a few other goodies.  DH bought a book.

 We walked on through the flea market until we arrived at the yarn shop.  This was located in an old building where you had to press the buzzer to be allowed in.  When we opened the door, there was a steep flight of very narrow stairs, about 20 or so steps. I told DH that this had better be worth it. Well, it was. The store was lovely, the staff was divine and an unexpected benefit was that Nicky Epstein was there. She was there promoting her new book, Knits for Dolls.  I ended up buying Knitting in Circles and she autographed it for me.  Nicky was so nice and friendly, even DH had a good time. :-)

I did make some purchases,  both fiber and yarn.

Afterwards, we grabbed a cab back to the hotel to drop off our purchases.  Then we cabbed it back to Greenwich Village to walk around some more and then found a Thai place to eat called Kin-Shop Thai at 469 6th Ave.  Ate a little there and then went back to the theatre district and had sushi at Iroha on 49th.  Then back to the hotel to pack since we had to leave on Monday morning.

The sad part of coming home was we found that one of our cats had died, the little gray one called Maddux. She came back to die in their cat house sitting on our deck.  We don't know what killed her but we didn't see any traces of blood leading to the house, so I just don't know. 

A post about knitting next time, I promise!