In which Layla and Roz visit NYC as locals

by Layla

Last weekend I used the excuse of Roz needing to go to New York for work to have a NYC minibreak. It's the first time I've been out of DC since we moved here, and it felt odd. Also odd, disconcerting, and a delight that we can hop on a train and be in New York 3 and a half hours later (or 3 hours if we wanted to invest in the expensive train...). It was a fun break. We dropped off our bags at our hotel and went straight to East of Eighth, our old haunt, for a delicious Sunday brunch and lots of reminiscing. Then we walked along the newly extended portion of the Highline Park, looking down on New York streets, and across to the Statue of Liberty, and down into Greenwich Village where we visited the two apartments we'd stayed in on previous trips. The idea that we now live in this country seemed unbelievable.

After soaking in the Greenwich Village atmosphere, we checked in and headed off to MOMA to see a new photography exhibition, before dinner in a lovely French/Thai restaurant, and to the theatre to see a rather excellent play about the place of religion in American science classes, the prejudices of people with different world views, and the balance needed in managing such different perspectives, called How the World Began. Excellent. Afterwards, we glanced slyly at each other, jumped in a cab back to Greenwich Village, and headed for Cornelia Street Cafe, where we enjoyed sparkling wine flights and had a very cheery evening.

The next day Roz headed off to work and I headed to the New York Public Library - I was in the middle of writing a journal paper and it was due quite soon, so I wanted to ensure I made decent progress. After a delicious hotel breakfast, obviously. The public library is an amazing place to work - they have a massive room called the Rose Reading Room, with long wooden tables where people mostly type away at their various projects on laptops (wifi and electricity provided), with high ceilings, huge windows, and walls lined with books. And illuminated dictionaries at the end of each desk. Apart from lack of free chocolate, it was my dream.

After work, Roz and I met up for cocktails and cheese at the Library Hotel's bar. I heartily recommend the Hemmingway... and then back to the hotel to drop off our things, and down to Greenwich Village for a lovely dinner somewhat marred by the waiter's consternation at the insufficient (while still generous!) tip we gave him. Tipping is a stressful business in the US, and not in the slightest bit discretionary! We retreated to our hotel and had a final drink at the bar, tipping extravagantly to avoid further incident...

The next day I returned to the reading room and Roz to work. I happened to be meeting a think tank person that afternoon, and bizarrely coincidentally, Roz turned out to be meeting a different person at the same time in the same place. So we had a cheery lunch near the venue, then went off our separate ways. My meeting was short, and I pottered back to the hotel to pick up our bags and reluctantly head to the station. Roz was clearly more compelling than me, and she stayed so long we very nearly missed our train. Dashing madly, we collapsed into our seats and deemed our first excursion a grand success. But it was nice to be home. And going away made being back really feel like home.