The Babymoon

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Hey Y'All,

Long time, no post, eh? Since CC and I took a little Babymoon (I guess that's what folks call it... I'm not fond of the name, but... I can't think of anything better) to New York City last weekend, I thought I'd share my Top Five and some photos with you good people.

Enjoy!

#1 - BXL - When we were trying to find a place for dinner on our last night, CC went to Yelp! in search of a place that "we wouldn't be able to find in Cleveland." She struck gold with the section of Belgian restaurants. BXL got great reviews (most importantly, from locals) and I am a big fan of Trappist ales, so it was an easy choice. Unfortunately for us, a torrential downpour erupted an hour before our reservation that did not abate until about an hour after we we back in our hotel room. BXL was about two blocks down and two blocks over from our hotel, which was enough distance in that rain for the entire front half of my pants (I DID bring a rain coat) and most of CC's front to get completely soaked. Once there, I tucked into a sampler flight of three Belgian ales - Ommegang, Duvel Green and Palm. Mmmm... all of them. I followed that up with a delightful McChouffe. I ate a loverly salade maison and then destroyed two pounds of moules provençal and pommes, both of them frites. Don't know French? That's mussels and fries. CC had boucheé a la reine, which is a puff pastry with a creamy chicken, mushroom and bacon concoction. The joint had a great atmosphere and really good food. No complaints from either of us.

#2 - Top of the Rock - CC might not put this on her list because she's slightly afraid of heights, but I love being up high and looking down on the world around me. Granted, the top of the General Electric Building isn't as high as the Chrysler Building nor the Empire State Building, but it's up there. #10 on the list of tallest buildings in NYC. I got to take pictures from three different vantage points. Some are shared here.

#3 - The Metropolitan Museum of Art - Lots of paintings and sculptures and historical artifacts, all under one roof (well, not really... there are like four buildings that compose the museum, so...). Got to see classical works by all of my faves - Miró, Goya, Picasso, Velazquez, Reubens - as well as paintings from Rothko, Warhol and Lichtenstein. So much stuff... we didn't want to spend four hours there, so we did the best we could with the two hours allotted. Guess we'll just have to go back.

#4 - Museum of Modern Art - Free on Friday nights after 5pm, this museum had lots of Picasso, Kandinsky and Miró. It was really crowded - I mentioned it was free, didn't I? - but it was cool to see Monet's 'Starry Night' in person. Lots of people walking around, taking photos of the art, which we thought was a little odd. But it is a great collection.

#5 - The Omni Berkshire Hotel - May sound funny to put this on my list, but it really was a) a nice place to spend the weekend and b) in a great location. Four blocks away from 30 Rock, six blocks from Central Park, around the corner from lots of good shopping (our budget kept us from doing too much of this, but in another situation, it would have been ideal) and also a block away from the E and M subway lines. We snagged a great price on hotels.com, too. If/when we go back to NYC, I'm sure we'll check this place first to see what their prices are.

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