say it with pie

Last weekend, me and Pete went to NYC for the second time this year. And while I managed to bring three pairs of boots with me, I forgot my camera (palm, meet forehead). Good thing my iPhone takes pictures! I mostly just didn’t take pictures though.

We arrived on Wednesday, my birthday, and checked into the Hotel Grand Union for the night (recommended: not fancy but does what it says on the tin). Then we walked down to Madison Square Park and grabbed some burgers and shakes at Shake Shack. I had heard a lot about this place and was not let down in the slightest. The burgers were soooooooo good. Please do not visit New York without trying them. Line-ups are bad on weekends, but weren’t a problem at 3:00 pm on a weekday.

Then we walked down to Greenwich Village and found an ale house called The Half Pint. It had a great tap selection, so we stuck around for three rounds and dinner. I can’t remember the specific names, but I drank a lot of beer from Blue Point Brewing Co. from Long Island during the trip. The Toasted Lager was lovely! After dinner, we planned on going to the Comedy Cellar but spotted a blues bar and made a beeline inside.

Terra Blues was absolutely fantastic! This place made my birthday, I had the best time. First up was an acoustic set by bluesman-in-residence Jr. Mack, who often plays with The Allman Brothers. The main act was the Slam Allen Band. We bought both their CDs with no expectations, but they turned out to be great albums and perfect birthday/holiday souvenirs.

On Thursday, we went to the MoMA. The MoMA was the MoMA. Pete likes Mark Rothko; me not so much. I really enjoyed their photography collection, especially works from the Farm Security Administration photography program.

Then we headed over to Liberty Landing Marina in Jersey City, where my parents were staying on their boat. It’s a pretty sweet set up: ferries run every half hour from the marina to the World Financial Centre, and you can just hop on the metro from there. We made it from the marina to Brooklyn in 45 minutes. According to my parents, however, the marina was quite expensive and they charged a ton extra for hydro and wifi access so if you’re ever on a boat in NYC, beware.

On Friday, the whole Whaley gang went to Manhattan and walked around Soho for the afternoon. It was too expensive to shop. When we got too tired to walk, we camped out at the Croton Reservoir Tavern for late-afternoon drinks (nice bar!) and then dinner (good food!). In the evening we saw a performance of Hair: The American Tribal Love-Rock Musical. I liked it; Pete was ambivalent. Some of the songs weren’t that great, but the cast did a truly outstanding job at connecting with the audience (essential for a play like Hair) and the vocal performances were excellent.

On Saturday we headed back to Williamsburg and did exactly the same stuff we did the last time we were there. This time at Jack the Pelican Presents, we were treated to more NC-17-rated nightmarish goodness with Andrew Erdos’ multimedia exhibition, Santalopes: The Sweetest Thing. I’m not even sure if I can even begin to describe it. It was WTF in the best sense of the word, I loved it. Then we ate some Thanksgiving dinner and drank Brooklyn Brewery’s Pennant ‘55 Ale. The end.

Hat tip to Porter Airlines for being quick and classy as always!