13. Columbus weekend, 20 dollar brunches and gigs galore
On Thursday and Friday I chilled out, stayed in, got pizza, Laura was given the wrong pizza and a small tantrum occurred which was hilarious for me, not hilarious for her (it was very very funny and I make no apology for chuckling a lot at the whole situation). Laura went out Friday night and they returned incredibly sober looking….
The weekend arrived, as it does weekly, and I went for brunch with many a Mountbatten to a place that did 20 dollar brunch (absolutely unheard of and it was solid too).
We went of hair of the dog – I have got to stop going to hair of the dog, then moved our way to Brooklyn to a place called Berry Park, which provided a fabulous fabulous view of the Manhattan skyline (it never gets old).
We then moved onto another bar, which turned out to be a gay bar, and there was a show. The guy/gal in the show had absolutely amazing legs, we were all in awe. I then headed home as I quite wanted to go back to DUMBO on Sunday to see a colleague’s show and also the photography display and the art festival going on there.
Which is exactly what Laura and I did. Some of the art was a little wacky for us, although a lot of it was incredibly meaningful.
I love dumbo and I love art and it was sunny so the whole day was great.
We also booked tickets to go see pretty much Laura’s all time favourite band, You Me at Six. I am yet to be persuaded they’re fabulous, but wouldn’t be one to turn down live music so bought a pity ticket ;) Nothing much happened during that week. Loz and I went for a Mexican on Thursday. We both ate a LOT. The hunger came quickly and we ordered a shared starter, and then we ordered mains. I got nachos and didn’t even nearly finish them. But have decided the place was amazing and will definitely take people there when they come to visit … the sangria was really really tasty. quaffable, as mum would say. On friday night Loz and I just picked up a HUGE bottle (or two) of wine and played music loudly in our flat, had a listen along. We were gonna make fajitas but got distracted by chips and guacamole. Yet still drank wine. There was a house party upstairs which we went to for a while. Called it a night pretty early cos the next day we were returning to the 20 dollar brunch place before doing a rather epic pub crawl…
Turns out, unsurprisingly, we were quite hungover on saturday morning. But the God known as Eddie the housemate went out on a bagel run and got everyone (we were all suffering) bagels from down the road. Flat out the best bagel i’ve ever had (except when I came to NYC for the first time, mum will know the ones).
Issues was it was HUGE. And we were going to brunch. And I was hungover. Took me a while to get into brunch, and I wasn’t in any way hungry. However, I took one for the team and powered through. We moved onto the pub crawl. There are a chain of pubs in manhattan who’s titles are along the lines of ‘Hair of the Dog’, ‘Down the Hatch’, ‘Three Sheets Saloon’ and another one…and some others as well. Regardless, this required us to go to four of them (the three i mentioned and the one whose name i’ve forgotten). It was not messy until it was messy. And then it was messy. Loz, Rachael and Dan were not tired. At all. The people on the PATH train found it hilarious (as did I).
The following day we pretty much just wondered around the mall, watched the film Gone Girl (IT IS AMAZING. Does the book justice I think, films always miss things out but it did bloomin’ well) and then made fajitas and sat at a table. It was almost like a Sunday roast, minus the roast. We then bought tickets to watch BASTILLE. WHUUUUUUUUUUT. YES. YES. YES. YES. YES. I REPEAT. YES. The week then moved bloody slowly until Bastille arrived on thursday. They.Were.Amazing. Bah. I love Bastille as it is, but they are phenomenal live.
The only thing that brought it down was the venue. It was at Radio City, usually the venue for the dancing group The Rockettes, so it was seated. To be honest, Laura and I just wanted to get up and have a dance, felt a bit awkward sitting down. Safe to say we got up at the end when Flaws, Get Home, Of The Night and Pompeii in a row at the end….So.Good. Friday was a quiet one for us, welcoming in the long weekend in style. Saturday was a catch up on sleep, skype, and me time, with a trip to the mall. We did partake in something called a ‘Pot Dinner’ where we all bring a pot of something.
Turns out we’re not known for our prowess in the kitchen. Loz and Rachael made cookies and sweet potato fries…We put them to cook on foil because we had no grease proof paper. Safe to say the majority of them burnt on the bottom. The majority of the gluten free ones were okay…the double chocolate chip were a) incredibly burnt on the bottom and b) SOLID. ROCK HARD SOLID. I died. RIP ME. I died (see https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kGVg6gjBJ2w for this reference).
We didn’t realise this until we got to the party and had one before everyone else. Swiftly attempted to hide them but they eventually became the mockery of the night (it was very funny). It was BYOB. And we all know how that ends. Sunday was a casual day, I made stir fry and skyped a lot of people. Monday, Laura and I had the day off, for Columbus day (hmmmm, just grateful for the day off). We were FABULOUS New Yorkers. Went to the Natural History Museum. Which was AWESOME.
Saw a blue wale (stuffed…) and it was huge. I still cannot grasp how large it was. I don’t understand how it fits in the ocean (no one comment, I know the ocean is a large large place. BUT IT WAS HUGE).
We then wandered around central park and found a waffle van. Mmmmmmmm. They were really healthy waffles….ahem. um. hmmmmm. I’ve never properly been in Central Park (I’ve been to the zoo and been on a horse and carriage ride), it’s lovely. We went up Belvedere Castle, which gave a beautiful view of the park and made me feel like Rapunzel. Let down your hair!!!