A gray nomad gets older
In my mind birthdays are a HUGE deal. Our chance to set the tone for our upcoming year! A week celebration is not nearly enough! We are lucky to live between Philly and New York and East of us is the Jersey shore-so we are an hour from 3 of our kids (and about 30 hours by plane away from my daughter).
This long weekend of Dan started with a quick run into Philly to see his son, and have some of his favorite food and beer at Monk’s Tavern, a small but full to the brim spot with excellent food, and beer. Dan ordered Scaldis Prestige, for beer lovers this is a big thing! His son had a sour he said is his favorite beer and is imported by Monk’s which probably explains why the prices are so good there? Dinner was amazing - best fries ever, burgers, veal cheeks, mussels (of course-always in a Belgian spot apparently), cheese and discussions of the new tattoo studio that a loved one is opening, and of course scheduling our wedding ring tattoos-so strange in life how we want something and it alludes us-Dan and I have tried three times since we were married to get this done, but I think now, that we were waiting for someone we care about to do it for us! Even more special….We continued the weekend with a show that was hosted by Bucks County Playhouse-word of mouth a story telling series, and then headed to NYC.
Three years back, for Dan’s birthday I took him to the Royalton after reading an article that touted it as one of the most romantic hotels in the US. It did not fail on this. Our room, deep in the heart of the city on West 44th street started as luxury condos - the first building back in 1898 that spanned an entire block and allowed people to pass indoors from one block to the next. The wealthier tenants had views of 43rd and 44th street, and there were 90 apartments. It was re-opened as a hotel in 1988 with 168 rooms, this would explain my question as to where would the kitchen have been in our space? Designed by Philippe Starck to be reminiscent of a 1920’s hotel it really is lovely-personally it reminds me of being on a steam ship, long curvy corridors, round lit signs on the doors of the rooms, nooks and crannies….It was also mentioned in the book Slaughterhouse-Five . Our room was cozy and we once again booked the fireplace package, I love that the rooms have fireplaces-seems like it shouldn’t work in such a high rise! But it does and its so sweet and cozy!
On our first visit we fell in love with the Royalton, and booked tickets to see Sleep no More at the Mikittrick Hotel. This was amazing-Macbeth was done throughout the old hotel, so you would see different scenes where ever you ended up as you wandered, in masks, silently through. My favorite part was the woman singing “is that all there is” one of my favorite songs ever! They have a restaurant there too - delish, fun band with old school 40’s type music, and a roof top bar. Truly a fantastic night.
This year we ate french themed dinners across the street at DB Bistro Moderne, this is the place that reportedly started the gourmet burger craze in 2001-their signature burger is stuffed with red wine braised short ribs and foid gras. The next night we dined at Saju Bistro down the street at 120 West 44th street. Both yummy. For our entertainment we headed out to the Moma and Industry City for two art shows with Dan’s daughter who brought fun and the idea for the Escher exhibit at Industry city.
We lucked out and caught the last day of the Charles White Retrospective. It was amazing and truly touched my soul. Beautiful works, Charles White is a great example of the impact and importance of art and social responsibility. You can go to the Moma website and find an interactive site with a soundtrack for the exhibit-very cool, it included descriptions, interviews and music to go with the show. We also saw some great works of modern art, Van gogh’s Starry Night….so much beauty to see!
The Escher Exhibit and Experience was in Industrial City in Brooklyn. This is located on the waterfront in Sunset Park, and is a giant rehab of what started as a building in 1890 for inter-modal manufacturing, warehousing and distribution. Until the 1960’s this was a major hub and instrumental in helping the area to become a major international seaport. As with all cycles in life, in the 1960’s this faded sadly, as urban manufacturing declined. In 2013 redevelopment began and this area is an innovative ecosystem that aims to serve to benefit its tenants and the wider community (that was taken from their website). Its pretty cool tho, stores, little sweet spots to gather and eat. I would like to explore it further! Sadly though it was getting late, it was super cold, and we headed home to our pooches and our little yin house on the canal.
