NYC December 2018

After just having gotten back from an adventure in NYC (more on that soon), I thought it was finally time to post photos of my last NYC adventure, from December 2018. I had to go to New York for work, and was able to take my sister with me! We arrived in the afternoon, got checked in and changed, and then walked through Rockefeller Center before dinner. I love the chance to see the holiday decorations!

We then found a really yummy sushi restaurant nearby (and quite inexpensive, particularly for the area!), and headed over to the show we'd bought tickets for.

I finally got to see the Rockefeller Center Rockette's Christmas Spectacular! And wow, was it amazing.

Love the building, love the art deco decor. There was something beautiful to look at everywhere!

 Our seats were over here very close to stage right. Our tickets were inexpensive because we did have a partially obstructed view (we couldn't see the full side of stage right, but that was ok), and I liked being so close to the stage.

Don't we look pretty all dolled up!

The next day I had some client visits, and then we went back out to walk around more. We got to see Rockefeller Center during the day!

 

I love this view so much!

 

And of course no trip to NYC is complete without walking through Times Square at night, even when it's crazy cold out!

What an awesome couple of days we had - so nice to get to do this together with Carrie!

Central Park July 2018

On my second trip to NYC for the summer (I went once each month, although I have no photos really to share from my August trip), I was fortunate to spend quite a bit of time in Central Park when not working. I stayed near Central Park, and was able to go on two really nice walks - the first on the night I arrived, and the second the following morning.

One of the first things I saw was this carnival set up near the base of Central Park. The top photo was taken on my evening walk, while the second photo was taken the next morning.

In the evening I walked past The Pond at the south end of the Park; you can tell the weather was nice by the number of boaters out!

The reflection of sky, buildings, and boats on the small boat pond was lovely.

And finally, as I headed back down towards my hotel on the west side of the park (after circling through) I saw these lovely horses peeking at me through the trees. I love the colors!

NYC with my mom!

In June, I had an addition to my usual 1-2 night trips to New York City - my mom came with me! Since starting with B-Line, I typically take Amtrak to NYC, and my mom had mentioned how she would love to do that sometime. So, we found a trip that worked with her schedule, and with my work schedule, and she joined me!

We headed up to NYC on a Sunday evening, as I had meetings on Monday afternoon. We got to our hotel room kind of late, around 9pm - I picked a hotel on 42nd street so that we were near everything, including Times Square. We checked out the view from our room (on the top floor of the hotel!), and then I convinced Mom to go down to Times Square with me, just to check it out. I also convinced her to take a selfie - I had to get at least one photo of us together, even though she hates having her photo taken.

 

It was still VERY warm out, and Times Square was busier than I had seen it on my previous couple of trips. You'd think the heat would keep people away...but I guess it was the start of summer vacations, so I should have expected that! Fighting through crowds of people in the heat is definitely not fun, so we checked out some of the lights and billboards and then went back up to the room.

The next morning I had a few hours before my client visit, so we started walking. We headed up 5th Avenue, not really with any destination in mind, but ended up walking through Rockefeller Center. Despite having a ton of photos of RC, I had to take a few new ones, as there's always something new or a new perspective to shoot!

We continued north to the base of Central Park, at which point we grabbed a cab to take us back to the hotel so I could change and head off to Long Island for my appointment.

We walked about 2 miles that morning, which is a lot for my mom with her knee, and in the heat!

While I was out in Long Island working, Mom explored a bit along 42nd street, and only retreated to the hotel when the afternoon got too hot. That night, after I returned, we took a car over to the High Line to walk around a bit and enjoy some tasty pizza for dinner. I forgot to take too many photos, but I did like this one!

On our second and final day in NYC, I had a client appointment in the morning, and then returned to the hotel where Mom and I sat in nearby Bryant Park, had lunch, and I got some work done. We had a few hours to kill until it was time to go back to Penn Station, and this was a great place to make our home for that time. It was warm, but we were in the shade and there was a lovely breeze.

Finally, it was time to get our stuff and head over to Penn Station. I took this shot of our hotel from across 42nd St - crazy that we stayed WAY up at the top of that middle (blue) building!

It was a relatively quick trip, but Mom hadn't been to NYC in years (since we used to live up there), and I think she got a pretty good taste of the city. It was definitely fun to have some company when typically I do this alone!

Not one, but TWO Brandi concerts!

I was fortunate to be able to see Brandi TWICE on her 2018 tour for her new album By The Way, I Forgive You, and both times with friends! The first one was back in early April, when I was in work at the same time as Kathy, and we were able to make our trips coincide with seeing her! This was one of the first stops on the tour, and at a venue I'd always wanted to go to - the Beacon Theater on the Upper West Side

The interior of the Beacon is absolutely gorgeous! I was able to take a few photos in between the opening act and Brandi.

We arrived during the opening act; frankly, I don't even remember the guy's name because he was so terrible. So, we got a drink, and went back inside between acts to check out the space and prepare for Brandi!

This tour started with an absolutely stunning string quartet performance. I don't know how long they played their chords for, harmonizing with one another, but I could have listened to it for another hour.

And then the band! The show was so great (as always); they performed the entirety of the new album, interspersed between older songs.

We had pretty good seats! We were in the balcony, only a couple of rows back. So I was able to zoom in between heads in front of us to get some decent shots.

At one point, I badly needed to go to the restroom (damn you, pre-show drink!), so I went during one of the new songs that's not one of my favorites. The line for the bathroom was so long that unfortunately I showed up late to the next song...which is one of my all-time favorite's of hers, off of her second album, and one that I've NEVER seen performed live. I managed to record part of it once back in my seat, with tears in my eyes. Acapella, no mics, so much emotion...loved it.

The second show was in May, and Kathy and I went with Beth and Rachel. The concert was at a new DC venue, The Anthem. It's located down at the waterfront in DC, and I'd heard of it but hadn't been there yet. Who better to see for my first concert there than my favorite singer?

The concert venue is huge, as you'll see in the video below. Here's a shot that I took during the opening act (a band who was a LOT better than the guy who opened for her in NYC!).

For this show, the strings were only a trio, not a quartet, but still sounded amazing. Here's the whole band on stage (a bit blurry - I was far enough back on this one that I was at the limit of zoom ability on my phone).

The very last song they played during the encore is off the new album, and is definitely one of the more sing-along, crowd-pleaser songs. It was a great way to end the show!

NYC April 2018

In early April I went to NYC for work for two days, although I managed to get some fun stuff done during the trip as well! On the first morning, I had to take Metro North up to my client north of the city. I walked to Grand Central Station from my hotel - it was a gorgeous morning, and I had to stop and take a few pics like a silly tourist.

First, as I walked along 42nd street - the Chrysler building.

This was taken as I was passing Bryant Park. Because so few of the trees had leaves yet, I was able to see the Empire State Building across the park.

I hadn't been to Grand Central in a very long time - I loved this shot of the outside, with the Chrysler building behind.

Of course the inside of Grand Central (the main terminal) is one of the most iconic, but I failed to capture that at all! I was in work mode at that point, I suppose.

That evening, once work was done, my friend Kathy and I (she was also there for work!) saw our favorite lady, Brandi Carlile, touring for her new album. I'd never been to the Beacon - it's a fabulous location! More on that in a later post.

After my client visit the next day, Kathy and I had some time before taking our train home. The weather wasn't great, so we headed over to the Met for a couple of hours! I hadn't been there since we lived there, oh-so-many years ago, so it was a lot of fun to revisit.  We started in my favorite wing: the Egyptian wing.

 

The kids thought it was very cool when I explained that there were mummies in these sarcophagi!
Weird side note: the guy on the left above looks like a Sesame Street character that SUPER creeped me out as a kid. Anyone else remember that guy?

I love, love, love this part of the museum - they actually transported an entire tomb over from Egypt in the '60s, and built this gorgeous room to hold it.

The British and French who found these in the 1800s were pretty jerky with the graffiti. C'mon guys!

Still, quite impressive.

We then walked through the American wing, where I really enjoyed looking at all the Tiffany glass. Absolutely stunning windows!

Another gorgeous room (more than a room, really, but I'm having trouble thinking of words tonight. Gallery? is that better?).

We made our way over to the modern art exhibits. Modern art is one of those things that's sometimes cool, sometimes WTF, and sometimes something that a 2 year old could make. But I did like this exhibit, particularly the way the shadows were created by the lighting on the hangers.

When we left the museum, the weather was a bit better (not raining anymore!), so we decided to walk across Central Park to the west side. While walking, we stumbled across these fellas playing in the Park - it was quite lovely.

NYC in February

I went to NYC in both January and February for work. The January trip was VERY busy - 5 visits over two days, throughout Manhattan, the Bronx, and Long Island. Because of that, and I since I was traveling with colleagues, I really didn't get a chance to take any photos while there (except of my client sites, and no one here will find that interesting!).

However, when I went in February, I stayed in Manhattan, did a lot of walking to my appointments, and was alone, which led to a lot of photos!

I stayed in a hotel I hadn't stayed in before, and unfortunately by the time I checked in they didn't have the room type I had reserved. So in exchange, they gave me a room with a view of the Empire State Building - absolutely gorgeous at night! I was literally lying in bed looking at this.

 As I was walking around mid town the next day, heading to my appointment, it was a stunning clear (if very cold!) morning. And I still had beautiful views of the Empire State Building.

 

I passed this church on the walk; I loved the mix of older church architecture with the barely-in-leaf tree and the brand new architecture going up behind it.

 Later, I walked through Madison Square Park, which was surrounded by very tall new buildings, lit from behind by the sun.

And of course, the Flat Iron building! I hadn't seen this one since we lived in NYC, as I don't often head to this part of the city while there for work.

My appointment the next day was at NYU, where I walked with my client around Washington Square Park. I would have loved to have gotten a photo of the famous arch there, but since I was talking to the client (as we walked and drank hot tea), I didn't think I should stop to do that. Hopefully another time! I am heading back to NYC twice in April (first next week, and then on a second date, TBD), so we'll have to see where my visits take me.