Bardill's take on the US of A

NEW YORK:

Iceskating in Central Park

Accommodation:

- Westin- Times Square: our first four nights were here. The location was very handy and the rooms were lovely - big beds, space and a double shower head… if only it wasn't set to the "environmentally friendly" settling! My one complaint would be the 1.5hr long wax session at the hotel spa, with a middle-aged lady from Urkraine, who kepts saying "whoopsie!" with a Russian accent!

The Westin

- Casa Crofton - New Caanan, Connecticut: would move here in a heartbeat… and if I could stay with Mike and Joan full-time :) they have a lovely, traditional Connecticut house in New Caanan. Alas, we were only there one night. The town itself is beautiful - small boutique shops all painted white on the outside… very Ralph Lauren - I loved it!

The Crofton's

- Chung's Palace - Midtown New York: Jacqui, Kyu and bubba chops Timothy were kind enough to have us stay with them for our last 4 nights in New York. They have a great apartment on the west side of Midtown with two doormen - posh! 

Our host - Timothy

Dining Experiences:

- The Modern: great atmosphere - next door the the MoMA. I had lamb, goat cheese, pistachio, lemon pesto slice for starters and Roast duck with spinach, tomato and fried apple for mains. Ninja had wild mushroom soup with chorizo ravioli, and Angus beef fillet with mash and spinach for mains. We really didn't have room but we shared the dark chocolate tart and with vanilla bean ice-cream - winner.

My entree

Ninja's soup

The Modern

Ninja's main

My main

Dessert

- Otto Enoteca Pizzeria: we dined here for Christmas Eve - it's a Mario Bartoli restaurant, with great staff and amazing pizza and wine. We shared the lily bruscetta for starters, Ninja had his usual Carbonara (it's important to contrast and compare at all opportunities) and I had mushroom and taleggio pizza - out of this world! Surprisingly, we each had room to squeeze a 'black and white' - chocolate mousse, ice-cream, honeycomb, caramelised hazelnuts, and choc chips…we were glad we didn't share :)

- Palm Court - The Plaza Hotel: We had a fabulous sparkling afternoon tea at the Plaza Hotel - fully recommend it - book ahead! I felt like a movie star!

-North Star: Funky local pub in New Caanan where we dined with the Crofton's. I had the goat cheese salad, and pumpkin ravioli, Ninja had chickpea soup and steak. Dessert was a very impressive ice-cream sandwich (the slices being cookies!). We had a great bottle of Napa Valley Cab Sav to boot!

- Bedford Post Inn: Richard Gere's B&B which hosts guest, yoga classes, a restaurant and a lovely cafe for breakfast! I had the scrambled eggs with spinach and mushroom - delish! 

- Gramercy Tavern: Utilising my Goop New York Guide, we headed to Gramercy Tavern for dinner one night. Great atmosphere, dim lit, stylish. Ninja had a veggie soup with kale no less, followed by mushroom lasagne, I had my usual pear, walnut, blue cheese salad, followed by flounder with dill sauce - delicious! 

- Hill Country: Jacqui and Kyu introduced us to this little gem - it's Texan BBQ - order your meat by the pound as a group and grab some sides and feast! We had moist brisket, Kreuz market sausage, short ribs, mac and cheese, green bean casserole, shoepeg corn pudding and chili! Timothy was super well-behaved, as usual, and had his first outing on the subway with us :)

Highlights:

- The great sights of New York: Rockafeller Centre (at night), Central Park (via a tandem bike!), Guggenheim (Maurizo Catalan exhibition…interesting), Empire State Building view (also see in 'low lights'), New York Public Library, Statue of Liberty via ferry, the new World Trade Centre, freezing to death on the open-aired tour bus through Greenwich Village, Soho, etc.

- Avoiding the giant Apple store queue on 5th Avenue by purchasing my new Macbook Air at the store in Grand Central Station 10mins before our train left for Connecticut - booyah.

- Knicks Vs Celtics Basketball game at Madison Square Gardens - we got club seats as Christmas pressies to each other - it was an AWESOME experience!

- Seeing the American Ballet Theatre's Nutcracker at the Brooklyn Academy of Music (BAM)… Sascha Radetsky performed the Arabian nights, and Gillian Murphy was Clara !!! (for all you Centre Stage fans out there :P)

- Driving around Connecticut with Joan - some of the houses were amazing!!! She lives near Harry Connick Jnr and Paul Simon…and took us to Richard Gere's B&B for breakfast - see 'dining experiences'. We drove through Darien, Tokeneke, Greenwich, and Rowayton.

- USS Intrepid - you should have seen Kept Ninja's face light up when he heard we could go and see the Intrepid - almost as good as his face when he saw all the fighter planes on it! we spent 3-4 hrs on it and the nearby submarine, USS Growler.

- We had two euphoric shopping days in New York - one at Woodbury Commons, a 1 hr bus drive from the city - I had success at Tods (bag and belt), Fendi (necklace), Cashmere/Woollen coat from Neimen Marcus, whilst Kept Ninja got some sports shoes, casual shoes and a cashmere jumper. Our other success was at Bloomingdales - they have free wifi, so in between scouting items for me, Kept Ninja killed some pigs with some very bored and angry birds… I got some great long pants and some tops from DKNY and some Ralph Lauren belts. We also had success for Kept Ninja at Rochester Big and Tall, where the assistant picked his size by looking at him :)

- New Years Eve - we avoided the 30 hr wait in Times Square like some other nappy-wearing tourists, and instead partied with the Chung's until 10:30pm, then popped over 2 blocks and up 5 and we saw the ball drop from 58th Street & 7th Avenue- we had space around us and could just turn around at midnight to see the Central Park fireworks. I highly recommend this approach!

Happy birthday cupcakes for Ninja on the train to Washington!

Lowlights:

- "breaking" the Chung's toilet on our first day - with the help of Google, we located a nearby hardware shore and walked the streets of New York at 7:30am with a plunger in order to fix said toilet… "every household needs a plunger" they guy told us! *Awkward turtle* indeed.

- Macy's - it's just really tacky compared to Bloomingdales or Saks.
- The 2hr line at Empire State forced us to pay double for the "express" line...which still involved 3x 20min waits... damn us tourists!!!

- Delta airlines - this will feature as a lowlight for all three cities - DO NOT FLY THEM! crummy food - if you get any; our inflight entertainment didn't work for a 12hr flight(!) and the airhostess rudely poked Tristan to get him to move a window shutter when he was asleep!

WASHINGTON:

Accommodation:

- The Quincy: I was concerned when we entered the tiny lobby, then hopped in the old elevator, but was pleasantly surprised when we opened our door to a giant, modern bedroom with a humungous bed - winner! The hotel's in a great location too - near the subway, a quick walk to Ab Lincoln, etc.

Dining Experiences:

- Ben's Chilli Bowl (Next Door):  on a tip from Jacqui, Devo…and Barrack Obama and Bill Crosby, we sought out Ben's Chilli Bowl… unfortunately, it was a very 'rustic' diner and I got all dressed up so we went next door to "Next Door" restaurant which is the upmarket version of Ben's. We got chilli fries for entree (v. good stuff) and then I had the most mouth-watering crab cakes EVER, whilst Ninja had a turkey burger. Since we missed the chance in New York, we tried the NY cheesecake in Washington and it was fab - straight to the hips, but worth it :) The bar was packed and played rap music, which was a bit different!

Highlights:

- The usual Washington sights were explored: White House, Washington Monument, WWII Memorial, Arlington Cemetery, Capitol Hill, Supreme Courts, The Smithosian's (Natural History, Air & Space, American Indian)

- We knew we were exceeding our baggage weight for our next flight, so we scoured the streets of Washington for two leather 'weekend' bags to carry the weight and be of use in the future. Unfortunately Washington was not conducive to shopping! we finally hit up the Georgetown area (v. pretty btw) and found the winners at Brooks Brothers - the shopping euphoria returns!

Lowlights:

- DELTA: First the switch broke, then the nose of the plane was off centre, then, after disembarking for the third time, Delta moved us to a later flight - 5hrs later - DO NOT FLY DELTA! There goes half a day in Boston we can never get back!
- The Reflecting Pool is being refurbished for a few years so that ruined some photos... on every journey there is "scaffolding", this was ours!

BOSTON:

Accommodation:

- Clarendon Square Inn: In a quest for something a bit different than a boring business hotel, we stayed at Clarendon Square Inn in South Boston near Back Bay. It's in a suburb of beautiful brownstones, and our boutique Inn was one of them. We arrived - hiked up 3 flights of stairs only to see that our room was on basement level - oh boy. The room was tiny but was so well decorate - Hollywood Regency it was called - chandelier in the bathroom and all! I loved it but it was probably a bit small for the Kept Ninja. 

Dining Experiences:

Giacomo's: The local Italian restaurant near our Inn in Back Bay - South Boston. Great food, great find! Ninja had smoked chicken ravioli with spinach in a cream sauce, whilst I had the tomato, chicken gnocchi with mushrooms and spinach - we both think we picked the "winner"!

Cheers Bar: We popped in to the bar where everybody knows your name for lunch. Ninja had Norm's Steak Sandwich and I had the clam chowder. We took pics and bought memorabilia!

Regina's on Thacher St: After sitting next to a large Bostonian named Jim at the hockey match (see 'highlights'), we took his local advice and headed to Regina's for the "best pizza in Boston" - he was right - it was off the charts fantastic stuff - we had the Pollo Pesto pizza (the ricotta is the key!). If you go to Boston - go there - Jimbo was right - local treasure!

The Modern on Hanover: Also situated in Little Italy is this bakery - there are many - Jim told us, we must not go the Mike's - all the tourist go there - go to the Modern! we did Jimbo, we most certainly did! We got a chocolate covered cannoli with chocolate custard insert and a custard berry tart - we were stumbling into a sugar coma afterward, but again, no regrets!

Petit Robert Bistro: Another local restaurant in Back Bay - we had a great steak each with bernaise sauce…and then…to celebrate our last night of the holiday… we had dessert… what's new?!?! Ninja chose the moderate, but delicious apple tart, I chose the devilish chocolate profiterole with ice-cream - once again, a sugar coma set in - Ninja had to do his manly job and finish it for me - damn it was good!

Highlights:

- Boston sights: Boston Common (public garden), Massachusette State House, both City Halls, Bunker hill Monument, Charles River Dam, Boston Tea Party (see 'lowlights'), Holocaust Memorial, Quincy Markets, MIT, Fenway Park, Cambridge.

- Walking around Harvard - great buildings and a chilled, student vibe - we stopped at Pinkberry for a yoghurt to absorb the brain waves in the area :P

- USS Constitution - again, Ninja was a kid in the candy store on this ship - we had a guided tour by a Navy Officer and went on to the lower decks of the >200 year old ship which survived 33 battles.

- Cheers Bar - Tris sat in Norm's chair - great photos of the cast on the walls.

- Walking down Charles Street - lots of boutiques, antique stores and cafes - very funky!

- Bruins absolutely whalloped the Calgary Flames 9-0 - it was a massacre - the Boston massacre you might say :P crowd were crazy and we met our chatty mate Jim - usually these chatty people talk to Kept Ninja as he is more "stranger-friendly"… that night, it was my turn to take the hit! luckily we got some good tips from the ol' p*sscat.

Lowlights:

- "The Cannon" the most annoying trolley driver in Boston - give me "Buzz" any day - the sad part is you need to tip them when you hop off - he was painful and loved the sound of his own voice.

- I pinched a nerve in my back on the last day so I gingerly walked around like a women with tourettes - yelping every once in a while… luckily Ninja found it amusing!
- The Boston tea party museum etc burnt down when it was struck by lightning a few years ago! so they are currently rebuilding it - baa humbug!

- what are the chances of swatting down in new, lose-fitting Ralph Lauren pants in the security line at Logan airport, only to have them split 20cm in the tush!!!??? I know what you're thinking, it was all the desserts, but we really didn't put on any weight with all the walking, I promise! Of course in the US, you need to remove your coat to walk through security so I sauntered through with my jumper pulled down to avoid the breeze! Luckily we'd packed trackies in our hand luggage so I'm now sitting in JFK in grey trackies with black two inch heels on and a caramel woollen coat - stylish!! to make it worse… they say "Red Sox" on them… hope I don't get mobbed by a Yankee! laugh away…Kept Ninja is!

xoxo

Karate Kate