My hubby has outdone himself again. We just came back from an amazing weekend in New York City.

We stayed at the Mayflower Hotel on Central Park. It is closing this Wednesday presumably because of the lack of guests. This in itself is weird experience. The hotel was a lot like our Montreal apartment. In a condition desperately needing more attention from the management, yet stubbornly liveable. I contemplated snatching a few towels (not like they will be in use any more) but it seemed like they were getting them from the bottom of the barrel and they did not even meet my standards of towel luxury.

We took many walks and subway rides. New York (at least Manhattan were we generally stayed) is amazing. Combination of urban rot and regeneration was evident everywhere. Art deco is overpowering, the ratio of really tiny dogs is mind-boggling and stenches of the city combine with surprising scents. It is surprising how liveable the city feels.

We ate at some pretty nifty spots. The Prune is my new favourite restaurant. I had tripe and really liked it. I don’t think I will ever order it again now that I know what it is, but I still enjoyed the meal. Another memorable spot is the Bus stop, a sidewalk breakfast cafe we stumbled on after we’ve found out that the place we intended to go for breakfast was no longer there. It was pretty regular cafe of its type, but it was still so much fun. Chris was absolutely giddy about Tea & Sympathy, an authentic Manchester eatery.

We went to the Puffy Ami Yumi concert at Webster Hall. The Mosquitos opened and they were cool. Excellent stage presence and the music was fun. I tried to buy their album, but by the time I made it to the desk the CDs were gone. I’ll see if I can get it off the Internet or get Record Runner to order it for me. Puffy Ami Yumi were fun. I was a bit disappointed with Ami and Yumi since they were generally just walking back and forth and moving their arms a bit. It didn’t help that Yumi looked positively stoned. The rest of the band was excellent. The drummer was absolutely mental, and the other musicians were fun to watch too. The music was solid and kicking. We met John, a J-pop fan, who helped us get good spots after we got kicked out of the VIP section. He took a few photos of the show and sent us the link to them.

The opera was a blast too and the bad movie we went to see was a kick, especially since we got a private screening after the only other guy in the theatre left once the boy band acting in the movie started singing.

I don’t know if I would ever want to live in New York. I wonder how high my salary would have to be to spend over 3000$ a month on rent. Given ability to afford living there I probably would not mind it at all. I am looking forward to going there again in a few years. There is plenty more to check out and I can’t wait to see what will happen to the hotel we stayed at. Will it be knocked down to make space for something bigger? Will it be gutted and turned into pricey apartments or condos? Will it re-open as hotel? Suspense!

*Cibo Mato