Guest post: Time travel in NY

One week in New York in 2016

I've never committed so consistently to any deadline more than I have to this completely arbitrary Thursday post deadline I’ve set for myself. But this Thursday rolled round quicker than 2pm does on a school day. The kids are off school, we have friends staying for Easter, we're hosting a kids birthday party and I didn’t get a chance to think, never mind write my non-existent thoughts down. So I’m treating you to a guest post today but SURPRISE! The guest poster is ME! Me from the past. 31 year old me. Me almost 9 years ago to the day.

I first visited New York aged 19 on a family holiday. I loved it immediately but wouldn't return for another 12 years, when I went on a one week holiday with my boyfriend of the time (Spoiler: he is now my husband). My two brothers had moved to New York after college and we came out to stay with them in their apartment in Queens.

I kept the below account of the week we spent there. It was intended as a personal memento only and I never intended it for publication. If you read it and think: “There's no way you'd have added hyperlinks if it wasn't meant for publication”, well, you'd be very wrong because I love a hyperlink. Always have, always will.

The only editing I've done is to delete hyperlinks that no longer work and take out people's very specific personal home addresses (I'm a thorough record keeper).

Otherwise, please enjoy it in all its original glory. (My brothers are Seán and Brian and the rest I think you’ll figure out).

2016

Monday 25 April:

Arrived in JFK. Got a bus (for free cos we had no change) connecting us to the L train. Got the L train to the boy's stop (Myrtle-Wyckoff). Met Brian outside the Laundromat beneath their apartment on St. Nicholas Avenue, Queens. Had a beer with Sean, Brian and Torres in the boys' apartment. Sean took us for a walk around the neighbourhood viewing local graffiti and to the roof of his old apartment. Got the train into town with Sean and Brian. Got the Staten island ferry. Saw statue of Liberty. Walked down Wall Street. Saw the Bull and the Stock Exchange. Had a cocktail in the Dead Rabbit. Had a drink or two in the bar the boys work in, the Grisly Pear. Rustling of bin bag on walk home – live rat …eugh. Thunder and lightning storm during night.

How Instagram 2016 is this? Me on the Staten Island ferry

Tuesday 26 April

Woke early and went for a run around the neighbourhood! Picked up some bread in a deli. Had breakfast in apartment. Trained into town (misty-ish day) and went to Intrepid sea, air and space museum. Saw jets, rockets, space ships and submarine. Had sandwich for lunch in Gotham West Market in Hell's Kitchen. Sun came out and we walked the gorgeous Highline. Got coffee and a cake in Sarabeth's in Chelsea market. Got the subway to Ground Zero to pick up our tickets. Saw the new World Trade Centre Transportation Hub which is designed by the same person that did the Samuel Beckett bridge and which looks like a turkey carcus/eagle. Had some beer and sushi and M&Ms in a nearby Amish Market as we awaited entry to museum. Visited the 9/11 memorial museum. Unreal. Stayed till closing at 8pm. Got a train to meet the boy's for dinner in an Asian restaurant called the Spice Markets. Really tasty. Our waiter was from Bangladesh and apparently lived in Kilkenny for 10 years but his banter, and English, were both appalling. We looked for a jazz bar to go into (Village Vanguard was recommended by Ger Jones) but cover charge was high so went to a bar which had live salsa music and dancing called Fat Cat. We played a game of Shithead there. Trained home.

Inside the turkey carcus Photo by Zoshua Colah on Unsplash

Wednesday 27 April

Had breakfast in the Ritz Diner – authentic American diner. Shared an omelette and pancakes. Waiter was a Conor McGreggor fan. Went to Saint Patrick's Cathedral, bought a Confirmation present for Maura and caught a bit of Mass. Lit a candle for Hugh McNally RIP. Visited Top of the Rock (Rockefeller plaza). Amazing views of Central Park and all of city. Had a Ben & Jerry's in the basement as we waited. Had a beer in the Campbell Apartment. Had another beer in the Michael Jordan bar with a great view over the gorgeous Grand Central Terminal. We tried the whispering gallery near the Oyster bar but it didn't work! We went to Central Park, passing Trump Tower on the way. We got a pony and trap around the Park with a Turkish driver. Had a hot dog outside the park. Then got the subway (a woman in her 70s ran past us in the middle of Manhattan in a bikini) to meet the boys for a walk across the Williamsburg bridge at dusk. Went with them to a BBQ of a regular in their bar, Tim. Really great apartment and party on the corner of 1^st and 1^st. liked the neighbourhood (soho/the Village). On the way there we passed Katz deli of When Harry Met Sally fame. Met an actress at the party whose name was Finnerty. A Jamaican man cooked all the food and has a poetry/cookery book coming out. We went to a nearby bar afterwards with all of the party. Brian went to meet Mel. Me, Dave and Sean got trains home.

Thursday 28 April

Grabbed a Dunkin Donuts for breakfast. Went in to the Met. Such an impressive building. Could spend a week there. We saw European paintings, interiors and some African art. Dave went to meet a colleague from Dentons for lunch. I got a subway to Madison Square Park where I had a delicious burger and shake outside at Shake Shack. Went to Times Square to meet Dave. Used the toilet in Juniors! Didnt try the cake. We then got a cruise around Manhattan on Circle Line (Landmark Cruise). We saw the statue of Liberty close up. The colgate clock in Jersey. The River Café where we are going for dinner on Saturday. We then got a bus across town to meet Michael on Lexington Avenue. We met up with his boyfriend Ben in Grand Central and they took us for a drink in a rooftop bar called 230-Fifth with views of the Empire State. Then we yellow cabbed (paying by card and watching tv on the way – the future!) to a beautiful Italian restaurant in Gramercy called Posto. We shared four pizzas and two desserts and delicious wine. Then we went for a drink in the Anyway Cafe. A Tina Turner lookalike was singing live and she sang "As Time Goes By" at our request. Such a fun night! Her friend Marjorie joined us. She had just starred in a play called Dot and told us about the wonderful review she got in the New York Times.

Friday 29 April

We were up early for an 8am breakfast hosting of the Roscommon football team set to play NYC on Sunday. (not one member of the team graced us with their presence). The event was in the Irish consulate. Michael was there (he told us about it) and we met the consul to NYC, Barbara Jones from Enniscorthy who knows the Garahy family. We then headed to get the Megabus to Philadelphia. I slept the two hour journey. Packie picked us up at the train station in Philly and drove us to Havertown where Rita had lunch prepared for us. We caught up with them and they showed us old photos and told us about arriving in America etc. Brenda joined us briefly. We went for a stroll around Subrurban Square and Dave picked up a necklace for Barbara in a lovely shop called Ten thousand Villages. The four of us had a delicious meal followed by cherry Garcia ice-cream in Iron Hill Brewery. Waitress was fun. She had purple hair and Packie told her she should go back to school. We won the battle to pay! Packie and Rita dropped us to Billy and Maureen's (Packie and Rita getting carpets down and no room for us). We met Maura (12) and Emma (11) before they went to bed. Stayed up a while chatting to Billy and Maura before we retired to the basement. Their house is lovely.

Saturday 30 April

We were picked up at 9am by Packie and Rita and brought to theirs for a cooked breakfast. We went to Maura's Confirmation Mass at 10am. Nice Mass. Brenda was her sponsor. She took the name Mary. Back to the Maureen's then for a family lunch of mac and cheese and hoagies. The kids all played outside. Billy's mother and sister both very friendly and lovely. Rose and Eileen Gildea were there. Siobhan arrived with her three kids, Daniel, Julia and Shannon and husband John. Everyone sang happy birthday to Dave and gave him a card with a few $$ to get a drink! It was a lovely day and Shannon gave us a tour of her chalk art on the driveway before Packie and Rita drove us back to Philly to catch the bus. We got back to the lads house. Feargal and Torres were in. Matt had gone back to Ireland that day. The lads all watched Independence Day as I got ready. We got a taxi to dinner in the River Cafe under the Brooklyn Bridge. Our taxi driver went about his call to prayer as he drove us. The tasting menu and matching wines were delicious. It is situated on the River and we got a table close to the window. One of our waiters was from Dublin. Our sommelier was a real New Yorker. Courses included oysters along with something served in a mother of pearl shell, fish in orange sauce, foie gras with pistachio, steak, sorbet, Brooklyn Bridge dessert. We got a photo on the water and they arranged for us a taxi home. We were home by 1 and Sean came in at the same time.

Sunday:

Feargal was up watching Man U. Sean was working at 11am. Brian, Dave and I went in to town picking up our last Dunkin Donuts of the trip en route. Dave had a successful trip round Century 21 and me and Brian visited the Irish Hunger Memorial in Battery Park. We went home to pack then got the bus to the airport!

Addendum:

• “Brian went to meet Mel.” - I hadn’t met Mel yet but they are now married and live in Dublin.

• Packie, my dad’s cousin living in Philadelphia, sadly passed away during the pandemic. Sean was still in New York and the only family member of us able to attend the funeral. Packie was sharp as a tack but I remember during that trip he said that Donald Trump would be the next president and I wondered was he losing it.

• “Dave went to meet a colleague from Dentons for lunch.” - This cracks me up. A 2 year qualified associate doing business meetings on his holidays. But it explains how he is a partner now and the person, happy as a pig in shit with their burger and milkshake, is not.

• “on the corner of 1^st and 1^st. liked the neighbourhood (soho/the Village)” - I’m still not great on Manhattan neighbourhoods but pretty sure this is the East Village.

• “Woke early and went for a run around the neighbourhood!” - this definitely got an exclamation point because it was the most unlikely thing. God bless jetlag.

• “we met the consul to NYC, Barbara Jones” - this was amusing to us because that’s David’s mother’s name.

• I surprise myself with the level of detail on confirmations and Mass but, you’re welcome!