New York - March 2024

For the next leg of our trip, we spent 5 nights in NYC, staying at Mark and Alicia's apartment on the Upper East side.  They rent the apartment across the hall from their place which is normally used by their son but he was away at college so we got to use the place.  We got into the city around 2pm and then had to unload everything since we were putting the car in a garage.  After we unloaded and got settled, we walked around the park with Mark and grabbed a couple of beers together.  That evening, we had dinner with Carmen (Shawna's step sister) and Lewis at their apartment - we had not seen them since before Covid.  They served us a healthy and yummy salmon, brussel sprouts and salad with ice cream for dessert.  When we returned from dinner, we had a couple of drinks with Mark and Alicia in their apartment and got to catch up with Cassie as well (their daughter).  

Walking around the reservoir in Central Park

On Thursday, we went to a nearby gym - Synergy - where we payed for a 5 day pass.  The gym was not fancy but did the trick.  We then walked around the park and grabbed a quick sandwich and bagel at the Bagel Shop.  That evening, we went to the taping of the Colbert Show at the Ed Sullivan Theater.  It was so cool to see the process.  We stood in line for about an hour before they let us in and after we were seated, there was a 'warm' up act where a guy came out to warm up the audience.  Then the band came out and played music.  And then finally, Colbert came out to do a Q&A and then went into the monologue and the show. The guest star was Paul Simon who played two songs - one that was on the show and another one that is supposed to be used for a later show.  Definitely a fun thing to do!!

Colbert Show

While we were waiting in line at the Colbert Show, Shawna got an alert that a table opened up at Blue Hill in West Village - we had wanted to try this place for quite some time so we jumped on it.  After the show, we went here for dinner and had an amazing four course meal - each course usually had at least two if not three dishes.  We also did the wine pairing.  Such a great place!!

One of the courses at Blue Hill

On Friday, we went to the gym and then had lunch with Mark at Chipotle.  We then walked around the park for about two hours and then had a couple of beers at a nearby pub.  That evening, we all met up with John Cronin for dinner at Bocca Di Bacco in Hells Kitchen.  His wife was supposed to join but one of their kids were sick so we didn't get to meet her.  We had not seen John in quite some time so was nice to catch up.  The food was great - we all shared several appetizers and a couple of pastas and then we both shared a fish dish for our entree.  

Dinner with John, Mark and Alicia at Bocca Di Bacco

On Saturday, we went to the gym again and then grabbed a quick lunch at the corner bagel store.  We walked around the park again as well.  That evening, we all met up with Kim and Tom at Thep Thai for dinner.  We shared a bunch of dishes for the table - food was tasty.  We then went to Brandy's Piano Bar where we stayed until midnight, drinking beer and singing along.  We capped off the evening with a slice of pizza!!

Dinner at Thep with Kim, Tom, Mark and Alicia

On Sunday, we slept in - our bodies were not used to staying up so late!!  We then went to Union Square to meet up with Guy (Fuqua alum) and his wife Jean Marie for lunch at Boucherie. Keith got the steak frites and Shawna got the fish - both tasty.  We then went over to Old Town Bar (one of the oldest bars in NYC) to have a few beers since it was St Pat's Day.  Back uptown, we met up with Mark and Alicia at Gerry's Place where they were meeting with a bunch of friends for beers - we were quite tired so we only stayed for one beer before heading back to the apartment to do laundry and pack up!

Lunch at Boucherie with Guy and Jean Marie

On Monday, we left some stuff at the apartment (to pick up again later) and then drove to LGA where we then flew to Dallas for a few days.