As I told a couple of weeks ago, we weren't supposed to go to New York, but somehow it lured us into its mesmerizing spell and before we well knew it we booked us a flight to JFK.
We packed our suitcases on thursday and took off on friday. It was extremely windy, so our flight wasn't all that ( severe turbulence ), but after touchdown there was no denying anymore this weekend was going to be absolutely amazing.
Tired but full of wanderlust, we checked into W hotel on Lexington avenue and went out for dinner at Soba Nippon. This restaurant actually has Japanese owners and employees... Which is probably quite common in the big apple..., but surprised us, because we're familiar with Chinese and Korean people running Japanese restaurants in the Netherlands. So we got to say 'domo arigato' a lot...
Don't be turned down by their non-trendy entourage, the food is sublime.
After munching on seaweed and sashimi, the jet lag struck and we had to drag ourselves back to the hotel, where we instantly fell asleep.
Of course we woke up way too early, but we were then still full of energy and got out of bed anyway. The coffee over at Cosi rudely shook us even further awake ( half a liter of pure caffeine - or at least that's what it felt like ), but it was just what we needed because we had quite the hike ahead of us.
Be decided to pay a visit to Brooklyn and walk back to Manhattan over the Brooklyn Bridge. We took a single metro ride to York street and walked towards the river. The walking trail led us through cosy Brooklyn neighborhoods. I never ever thought Brooklyn was as amazing as it is... No offense, but New Yorkers themselves make it seem like it's a worn down place where the people lacking Manhattan-money reside. Or at least that's what some movies told me.
I fell in love with it instantly and wished I could stay. We roamed the streets for a while and took the walk across the bridge. It was crowded, but an experience like no other. It's the set to a ton of love stories... But I might just romanticize every thing that happens on this particular bridge. I'm a sex-and-the-city-enthusiast.
After walking the bridge, we extended our walk and walked all the way to Soho, Chinatown and Little Italy. Soho is fast and trendy, fun alright, but I thought both Chinatown and Little Italy took it to a next level. Chinatown feels exactly like Beijing... Exactly! The fumes, the people, the shops... It took me right back to the Orient.
Next up was Little Italy. My fellow travelers have a thing for all things 'Bada bing', so we crashed on Mulberry street for lunch. We sat down at a semi-cool breezy cafe, drank wine and ate oysters. Life's good.
The wine made our achy feet feel like Hermes' and we nearly flew a couple of blocks up. Hectic Canal street made us change our minds eventually though and we hailed a cab to take us back to Lexington.
We took a quick nap, because that night we would wine and dine and jazz at the Blue Note.
We luckily made reservations when we were still in Holland, because we got the absolute best seats of the house! We sat right in front of the stage and thus the band playing that evening.
We went to see the Bad Plus, a Canadian trio jazzing our socks off. I'm quite new to the Jazz scene compared to my father in law who's been born 'jazz', but I love, love, love all of it.
The Bad Plus are badass, go check them out!
After the show we got us some Blue Note Merchandise to spread the holy word of Jazz amongst our friends.
That night we couldn't get to sleep, because we were too pumped up by the upbeat and kick-ass performance we saw earlier.
This was a good, good day. Brooklyn stole my heart, the wine was tasty and the Blue Note unforgettable.
This day set the standard to our trip...
♥
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