Heading home after a week long trip to NYC. What an experience. Everyday was packed with planned and impromptu activities. Each one of these was an assault to our senses and overwhelmed our system in good and bad ways. We decided to rate each experience on a 1-5 star rating scale (adopting from John Green essays we have been reading lately).
Our hotel was right at Times Square so we were in the thick of it all. Food was our main focus for this trip and there were so many awesome restaurants just within minutes of walking. We made it a sport of finding the highest rated ones and getting just in time reservations in these. We even got Door Dash deliveries when the lines were too long. (Doordashians! :)).
Other favorites were visiting Liberty Island 🗽, watching Wicked at Broadway, Chinatown and we even squeezed in Ice Skating at Bryant Park. The kids adapted surprisingly well to change or pace and loved every bit of it.
The most mind bending part of the trip was passing through Times Square multiple times a day to get to and from our hotel. Including driving there to drop off the luggage and then checking out and loading up on the last day. And giving away our car and car keys to a random person, in exchange for a small slip of paper. This was online parking. My heart just stopped at the prospect of losing or damaging the car. But our nerves were too frazzled to do much about it. When in New York …. Or rather Times Square … just go with it.
The place has a totally different character at different times of the day. Evenings are madness. It's not just the throngs of people, the food trucks, the smell, the sounds of police sirens non-stop piercing the otherwise loud cacophony, the ADD inducing billboards all vying for our attention, the jay-walking thru signals, everyone pushing and shoving and stepping on others feet, the cops literally battling the traffic to keep it moving. There were random things like Elmo helping Spider-Man adjust his outfit in a side alley, Bumblebee, Kong-Kong, Mario, Minnie Mouse and yes Grinch wandering around offering to take pictures. One store boasted hand-prints from Jackie Chan and Harrison Ford on its wall! And then there was a COVID-19 testing station right in the middle of the road with a huge waiting line. On top of all this, they started putting together the stage and other preparations for New Years Eve Ball Drop. We learned a gross little tid-bit that people line up the night before to get there spots and wear diapers so they don't have to leave their spot for the next 24 hours. Glad we are not part of this particular ordeal.
However, the highlight of the trip was eating at Momofuku Noodle Bar. Earlier this year Diya had bought me David Chang's book 'Eat a Peach' and we have all read all or parts of it. We are totally fans - so this was a much anticipated event.
The Noodle Bar was at Lincoln Center Mall in Uptown. We were rushing to find the place before we lost our reservation. We were exhausted from the day spent on Liberty Island, distraught that this was our last day in NYC and mind was so bombarded by the last week that we did it not even notice two huge naked statues at the mall entrance. This would have totally grabbed our attention and would have been a topic of much discussion at a different time and place but we just walked passed these without another glance or comment.
Finally we did reach Momofuku and it exceeded our expectations in so many ways. Complete unpretentious goodness. The food, the service, the whole experience was welcoming and made us feel comfortable in our skin and created a memory that we will cherish. Diya is totally inspired to pursue her Chef dreams and live in New York someday. And we are committed to coming back again. We already have started a list for what to do next time.
We are in New York State Of Mind!!
