NYC featuring the US Open

The train dropped us right at Penn Station in Manhattan and from there we had a 10ish minute walk to our hotel. NYC is as busy a city as ever and with the US Open in town felt just that bit more busy with people. Thankfully the weather was good and the walk wasn't so bad; we probably got to our hotel faster walking than had we attempted to take a taxi. We split our time in NYC between two hotels with the first being Pulse Marriott Vacation Club. In true NYC fashion, our room was cozy (aka tiny) but honestly provided all we needed for our stay. We arrived later in the afternoon and after checking into our hotel, we decided to go exploring on foot a bit before we had dinner. We found ourselves ending up at a quaint wine bar during happy hour... oops! When one finds oneself at a wine bar during happy hour, what does one do? Allows the bartender to make your wine selection after a quick explanation of your tastes and you end up drinking some very enjoyable French wine and are happy you tried something new!

As we continued our walking exploration we came upon a store devoted entirely to Harry Potter and of course had to check it out before ending up at Times Square, because what is a visit to NYC without strolling through Times Square. Someone had researched that one of the best pizza joints in NYC is Joe's Pizza and seeing the line up stretch all the way down the block when we got there, the anticipation (and impatience) started to build. After about a half hour of inching slowly forward we got pizza slices and admittedly it was really worth it. Some pretty darn good pizza! 

We had a few days in NYC to explore before our sports weekend started. Oh yeah, not only were we going to the US Open, but we decided that while we were there we'd see what other NYC sports events were happening and found out the NY Mets were playing - turns out baseball for me is also a big snooze fest in person as it is on TV, and NYFC were also playing in Yankee Stadium - how cool is that? It so happened that NYFC were playing our hometown team so there was no excuse not to go and cheer on the visiting team decked out in our jerseys. We also saw two other people decked out in the same jerseys which was pretty cool to know we weren't the only ones cheering on the visitors. Our home/visiting team won the match!! Our initial plan had been only to catch the US Open, but when we learned these other games were on, we thought, when else would we ever have this opportunity? 

NYC has so much to offer, food, sights, and shows to name a few. We walked the city a lot and explored some of the very distinct neighbourhoods. It seems like each neighbourhood in NYC has a park where people meet up or just go to sit outside. We stopped in one by NY University after grabbing some takeout and found ourselves being entertained by a jazz quartet. What a wonderful lunch! We found the lego store on 5th Avenue which was really cool and we found, but didn't go inside, an ice cream museum. We made our way down to the 9/11 Memorial site; they've done a beautiful job with the grounds and while the line up far too long to go into the museum, we walked the grounds and took a moment to reflect at the two memorial pools. It was a bit of a sobering experience going there. And what is a trip to NYC without a walk through Central Park? 

One of the highlights of this amazing trip was meeting up with Z's cousin and her husband who live there. We met up at a fabulous Greek restaurant and had a great evening filled with food, drinks, great conversations and many laughs. After dinner we walked towards the Metropolitan Opera House and Lincoln Centre for Performing Arts all the while getting a local's take on the city, it's history and architecture. 

I had never been to the Statue of Liberty, but we didn't want to take a tour because it didn't quite fit our schedule. Instead we took the free ferry to Staten Island which goes by the Statue of Liberty and turned around and came right back. We weren't the only ones with this idea as half the people on our ride over did the same thing as us; got off and immediately ran to catch the return ferry. Not much, if anything is free in NYC. 

Of course when in NYC you have to take in a Broadway, or off Broadway show... there are so many to choose from so we took in two!! Neither of us had seen either and when we booked, both were supposed to star some actually known famous people. Our first show was the musical Funny Girl staring Lea Michele (from Glee fame) and the night we choose was her last performance as the show was also closing in a week. We arrived to find out that Lea Michele wasn't performing that night after all but the show was fabulous regardless and the lead was amazing in her performance. Our second show was a comedy, not musical, The Cottage staring Eric McCormick (from Will & Grace fame), and directed by Jason Alexander (from Seinfeld). The show was absolutely hilarious and we were in stitches laughing throughout the entire performance even without Eric McCormick performing that evening. Strike two... but it didn't matter, we enjoyed both shows immensely. And besides we'd at least get to see one or more of the top ranked tennis players play at the US Open, right? 

Brotherly Love and the Big Apple

What sounds like an odd title for a book was actually a very fun trip outside of the time I spend being sick. For a long time now we've wanted to experience the US Open tennis tournament in New York. Perhaps our impromptu day at Roland Garros many years ago wet the appetite but perhaps it also is a bit more within reach than many of the other major tennis tournaments. We had a really steller deal from Marriott and one of their New York properties qualified for it, so we decided no time like 2023 to make this experience a reality. Of course, if we were going to fly all the way to New York, why not make the most of it and see if we fit in somewhere else nearby that we hadn't been to before. Enter the City of Brotherly Love (aka Philadelphia). 

This trip started out in Philadelphia. We arrived later in the evening and by which time it was already dark. We were staying in the city centre and our taxi driver assured us that we were in a safe area now; apparently that wasn't always the case but the city really invested a lot in cleaning up the area. Thankfully our taxi driver was right and we felt pretty safe walking around. That first evening we tried to get in to the oldest pub in Philly, McGillin's Olde Ale House, whose beer taps have been flowing since 1860 only questionably stopping during prohibition, but found that Saturday nights turns the place into more of a bar with cover charge and all. Not entirely interested in being in a packed, loud atmosphere our first night we decided to skip and found a shawarma food truck instead, I think meant to cater to those bar patrons once they stumble out of McGillin's, and grabbed ourselves some very tasty wraps which we ate while walking the streets of Philadelphia exploring. What stood out very quickly, particularly for a weekend night, was that driving loud obnoxiously "souped up” cars and motorbikes around the street is the thing to do with the noise reverberating from the buildings into the wee early morning. We did end up having dinner at McGillin's Sunday where I tried my first ever Philley cheese steak, because when in Philley, why wouldn't you?  

Our hotel, The Notary, is situated in the historic old city hall annex building where residents used to go to get documents notarized, hence the name. The building dates back to 1926 and was designed in the classical revival style. There is a nostalgic feel to the hotel with a certain charm. It is located right across the street of the current city hall, and steps from the convention centre, so very well located. The Notary pays homage to its history through its 1920s decor. There are display cases with men's top hats from various historic periods and another display depicting the evolution of the typewriter on its ground floor corridor by its restaurant. The modern day city hall is world's largest free standing masonry building and is an architectural marvel. The clock tower features a clock face on each side measuring 26 feet in diameter. Its location is geometrically centre to four other squares within the city centre and the city hall courtyard provides access through to each of these other squares. 

Philadelphia has a rich history and is known as the birth place of American democracy. We had a couple days here and explored as much as we could given I came down with something that knocked me out for half a day and lingered on keeping my energy levels low. While still taking great care of me and making sure I was good to be alone, Z also took advantage of the time I was down to find himself a barbershop open on a Sunday. It would seem like this has become a thing, Z getting a haircut while we're travelling. He came back looking quite fine with his meticulously clean cut and a cool story about his experience.

We explored old town Philadelphia with a walking tour that highlighted the significance of the city during the American revolution and the eventual signing of the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution. We stopped in to see the Liberty Bell, and learned about various people that contributed to the birth of democracy and the significance of William Penn as founder of the city. A lot of the buildings have a European architectural style to them with large Roman columns and intricate details. 

Philadelphia has a vibrant food scene so we booked ourselves a food tour and it ended up only being four of us and the guide. The tour started in the famous Reading Terminal market with a sweet apple pastry which was super delicious and quite filling so we couldn't finish it all without spoiling our appetite for the rest of the tour. We had five stops in totalling including a Malaysian restaurant in Philadelphia's Chinatown, and an Irish Pub before heading back to Reading Terminal market to sample a cheesesteak pretzel rollup from Miller's Twist. This Amish style pretzel was the best pretzel I've ever tasted, it was soft and just melted in your mouth. Had it not been our second to last stop I would have been able to devour an entire pretzel on my own, but being pretty stuffed Z and I shared one. Our tour was capped off with a stop in at Famous 4th Street Cookie Company, also in the market, for a choice of whatever cookie we desired. This was the best store bought cookie every and tasted just every bit like homemade. I choose a peanut butter cookie and it was soft, chewy and tasted sweet and salty all at the same time. Z, never able to resist a chocolate chip cookie, opted for that one without any regret. Reading Terminal market is a great place to stop in for a bit to eat at any of the numerous food ventures, it has a fresh fruit, vegetable and foods shop within as well as many other shops selling a variety of goods. I had to stop myself from spending too much time in the honey shop. We did come back the morning of our departure day to grab some food for lunch and couldn't resist stopping at Beiler's Doughnuts to try one of their very unique donuts.  

The other must do when in the city is to visit the Philadelphia Museum of Art famous for the movie scene where Rocky runs up the stairs and jumps up and down while throwing his fists triumphantly in the air at the top. Obviously the thing to do is to repeat that scene; there are even "Rocky feet" imprinted at the top and a statue below where you can get your picture taken for a donation fee.

All in all it was a good visit, but after our 3 days there felt we'd experienced enough and were ready to move on to our main event. We had booked a train to New York which took us just under 2 hours.