New York City - Day1

We left our motel in Dansville, NY mid morning to drive to New York City. Rainy and I decided to travel the interstate so that we would make it into the city before dark. We took Vishu's advice and stopped in Corning, NY to visit the Corning Glass Museum. It was a huge museum that took you through a variety of modern glass artists and the techniques they each used. Then there was a section that displayed the historical aspects of glass. It was fascinating! I am sorry there are no pictures to show you, I didn't take my camera into the museum.

Off to NYC! I drove and Rainy navigated. We make a pretty good driving team. Driving in the city was a totally new experience, I don't think New York cars come with signals for changing lanes and it must be okay here to turn left from the far right lane. In spite of this challenge, Rainy guided us to Raven's apartment without making a single wrong turn! Parking was my next challenge. The first time down the street Raven lives on, on the parking spots were taken. I circled the block, and lucky for us, a car was leaving. Have you ever parallel parked in a spot where your car would barely fit? Lucky for me that I learned how to parallel park in the 1970's using a big Chevy Suburban. Lucky for me me that Rainy was here to make sure that I didn't accidently bump one of the cars as I was parking. The car was parked with inches to spare. Raven wasn't home from her wine class, but we lugged our suitcases up four flights of stairs and her neighbor let us in. We cooled off by standing next to the window air conditioner. NYC is currently hot & muggy!

Our night began when we met Raven at Jimmies No 43, a place that specializes in craft beers and serves small plates of food. Rainy and I both ordered a casked nut brown ale while Raven had Schneider's Aventinus. We shared beer sausages, herring & montauk tilefish ceviche. Rainy and Raven talked about friends from middle school and basically caught up on what everyone has been doing. Raven had recently been to Las Vegas so she was pretty up to date on people they knew.

Our next stop was next door to Burp Castle.......yes they served more craft beers but the atmosphere was like a Monastery. You are supposed to be quiet and let the beer speak to you. Well we weren't too quiet, but no one seemed to mind. I enjoyed a Hebrew, Rainy had a Tripel Karmeliet, Raven had a blanche style beer. Lucky for us they had pommes frites, belgium fries with an array of sauces, for us to sample.

We left the Burp Castle and went to the Blind Barber, a pseudo speakeasy. Their selection of beer was lacking (I had an IPA, Raven and Rainy had a wheat beer), but Raven finagled a private, off-limits, parlor for us to sit in. It was much quieter and more suited to our conversations.

Our last stop for the night was PDT (Please Don't Tell). To enter this true speakeasy, we went into Crif Dogs, a very tiny hot dog joint. Raven went into the phone booth, picked up the receiver and pushed a button. The hostess responded and let us all enter PDT through the phone booth. We were seated at the bar and ordered cocktails. Because we had a skilled bartender, we simply told him the liquor of choice and what we liked. I requested a gin drink that wasn't overly sweet. The bartender made a "She's so Delicious" that actually had a gentle hint of the red bell peppers that he muddled in. Rainy requested a whisky based drink. The bartender made a cocktail similiar to a Manhattan but he used bourbon and a maraschino cherry liquor, plus other ingredients. Raven ordered The Bone, a spicy tequila drink similar to a bloody mary. Every good speakeasy has a list of rules to follow. PDT just happens to post theirs in the bathroom that is lined with mosaic broken mirror fragments. By now it was past 1 am, but Rainy and I decided to each have another cocktail. This time Rainy had a drink made with tequila and strawberries. My request, thanks to Raven, challenged the bartender beyond his comfort zone. I wanted a cocktail using Canton ginger liqueor. The only one the bartender knew of used whiskey, which I don't drink. He ended up mixing a beautiful cocktail that used the canton, St. Germaine, and gin. Because the bar was linked to the hot dog stand, we were able to order a hot dog which of course was passed through a secret window. We shared a Wiley Dog.....Yummy!

Our last stop for the night was the Snack Dragon taco shack. You can imagine what we ordered! Actually , we shared nachoritos (crispy tortillas, delicately turned into nachos), quack-n-cheese (quinoa, beans and cheese), grilled sole tacos, and grilled sole with chorizo tacos.

We were full and slightly drunk.....time to go home.

Good Night.