I'm Out of Catchy Titles for NYC

Greg had to head to NYC for work one last time for 2023, so I snuck along for the ride. We normally always leave in the morning for places, so a late afternoon flight was super weird. Before we left the house, our Montreal to Laguardia flight was cancelled, so we got things sorted around to fly into Newark instead. Uneventful flight to Montreal, customs was quick, ate some food, found some coffee, got unexpectedly upgraded to business class (both of us, on separate reservations!), flew to Newark, Uber to Soho, finally made it to our hotel (Moxy Lower East Side) around 11pm and went to bed.

Greg had to work, so I spent the day wandering... as I do. I decided I would do a free walking tour. I have never done one in NYC and there was one starting near where I was staying in about an hour when I looked, so why not. It was the three hour SoHo, Little Italy, and Chinatown tour with Free Tours by Foot. We had a great guide - super knowledgable and interesting and a true New Yorker. It was an interesting tour of an area I don't spend a lot of time in - I'd recommend it.

Once Greg finished work for the day, we grabbed some eats at Beatnic and then braved the chaos that is midtown to see the Christmas displays. Starting from the Lotte Palace hotel, we worked our way up 5th Ave to the Plaza hotel, back down to see the Rockefeller tree, down to the Winter Village at Bryant Park, and past the Macy's displays - and that was more than enough fighting through crowds for us.

With another beautiful full day in New York before I was heading home, I decided to test out another free walking tour - this time the Financial District Stroll with GuruWalk. My guide was a lovely dude from Mexico, but the group was nearly entirely Spanish speakers on a tour that was advertised as being in English, so it got a little tedious waiting for him to go through both languages. We did cover a lot of ground, including a places I've never bothered to visit before like the charming Stone St. Our tour ended at the 9/11 Memorial and it was nice to see how lovely that area is now and browse all the dedications at my own speed. I also wanted to visit the Oculus - not for the subway access or the shops, but for the photo ops. I cannot resist cool lines. There's lots of fun art nearby as well.

Greg had work committments in the evening as well, so I wandered my way up to Momofuku for some tasty noodles and then over to the Union Square Holiday Market. I managed to get a little holiday shopping done and then back to the hotel to prep for an early departure in the morning. Greg had to stay another day, but it was time for me to head home. Uber to LGA, flight to YUL in business (gotta use those eupgrades up), delayed in YUL because the bathroom on our plane was broken and they had to bring in a new plane, and then finally another business class flight home. Luggage was the first off the carousel - always a win.

I'm sure I'll see you again soon NYC. Ange out.