New York, New York...

..the city that doesn't sleep.

Last weekend, my wife and I had the fabulous opportunity to take a trip for a long weekend in New York City. We had an absolutely marvelous time. There's not much we love more than some time together trekking through a place we love to visit. We did a lot of walking and eating and saw some of our favorite parts of the city. We stayed down in the East Village and spent much of our time there or in the West Village.

While I won't be able to give a full report on our trip, here's some of my observations from NYC:

• The city doesn't sleep. The song is true. By our place, on Friday and Saturday night, each block was filled with hundreds upon hundreds of people out and about. And it went on for blocks. It was so cool to be surrounded by such a vibrant place.
• If you're a store that largely subsists on selling ice cream related products, such as sundaes, it would behoove you not to run out of ice cream for 3 days. (we checked back twice, finally arranging for them to sell us the toppings and we went and got ice cream elsewhere.) Nevertheless, it was still a store we loved. Next time you're in NYC, check out Peanut Butter & Co.
• Due to the ridiculous prices NYC hotels were running at, we took advantage of a way to find a place to stay you may not be aware of. We rented someone's apartment directly from them while they were gone for the weekend. These sorts of places can be found on that lovely site called Craigslist. Luckily, we found a wonderful place. Thanks Jen. Check out our host's gallery here.
• This was the first time I had ever been to Brooklyn. We jaunted around the borough for an afternoon. There are parts of it that downright feel like Chicago. (Or do parts of Chicago feel like Brooklyn?) A couple pretty neat neighborhoods were toured.
• On Sunday, we grabbed some lunch from a deli on the Upper East Side after church and took it down into Central Park. We were soon treated to a show put on by a photographer shooting a couple's (we presume) engagement photo. He directed them all over some rocks near our bench, expressing frustration when other unaware park-goers wandered into the background. Pretty classic.
• As you probably heard, NYC and the Northeast had been getting a lot of rain. Lucky for us, it only rained on Friday while we were there. That, of course, was enough for us to be glad that was all we got.
• We ate out a ton of course. The last day, I officially overdid it. But it was worth it. The two favorite restaurants we went to were a cozy Italian East Village dinner place called Supper and a traditional American with a touch of the Midwest Greenwich Village place called Home. They come recommended.

All in all, it was a great weekend trip. We found it both relaxing and fun, a refreshing time together.