On the Town

My middle brother ("Middlebro") and his girlfriend ("GF") came to NYC this weekend. Middlebro is 23 and GF is 21. While it was fun hanging with them, and I loved playing tour guide, and I liked being able to treat them to dinner and drinks, I felt. . . old. For God's sakes, she's a JUNIOR in college. They were here for part of her spring break! I miss spring break. It seems like only yesterday that I was in London for my junior year (actually, just my second semester b/c I couldn't get my act together and apply to a year long program in time) abroad, and I was backpacking through Europe. Was that really 9 years ago? Where the hell did the time go?

They drove in from Pittsburgh and wandered around Brooklyn on Friday -- PS1, Williamsburg, some vintage (i.e. used clothing) stores in Greenpoint -- before meeting up with me after work. Middlebro and his GF are vegetarians so I took them to a vegetarian restaurant on the Lower East Side -- note to self, never order a cocktail that contains anything organic, otherwise your drink will taste mildly of cardboard. I think the restaurant used to be a wine bar that Isa had taken me to back in the day, yet another reason to feel old. Dinner was surprisingly good and filling despite the absence of meat. It worked out well for me since it is Lent and, as a good Catholic, I only eat veggies on Fridays. After dinner we went to a bar on Rivington and met up with a law school friend ("LSF"). We had a few rounds, and then Middlebro and GF were off to the Sullivan Room b/c a DJ that they like was spinning. I don't even remember the last time I went to a club. LSF and I walked over to Angel Share which was nice, quiet, and does not allow standing or shouting and has great drinks, one drink later and we headed home. One 20 minute cabride up to el barrio and I was in bed by 2:30 am; Middlebro and GF got to my apartment at 4:30 am after an hour long ride on the A train -- one of the perks of being older is being able to afford the $28 cab ride all the way uptown.

The next morning, I woke up at 10 am and went for a run -- when I got back, 30 minutes later, Middlebro and GF were up and eager to wander around NYC. We had lofty expectations of going to the Whitney Biennial, the Young Designer's Market in NoLIta, and the Bodies Exhibit down in South Street Seaport. Two out of three's not so bad. The weather was gorgeous so we decided to do some walking. We started in SoHo and walked east towards NoLIta, doing some shopping along the way and stopping at Cafe Habana for a late lunch; made it to the YDM and bought some stuff -- no apparel or shoes for me, though, and then took the train down to South Street Seaport to see some flayed and preserved human bodies.

The Bodies exhibit really creeped me out. I think I would have been ok if the bodies were behind glass or roped off, instead there was an occasional sign that said please do not touch. People don't always read signs. Even more disturbing was the fact that all of the bodies -- despite being stripped of their skin, fat and fascia -- had fake blue glass eyes and blonde eyebrows pasted onto their faces -- especially strange since all of the bodies were Chinese. Middlebro and GF both want to be doctors, so they really liked the exhibit, pointing out the various nerves, etc... I stopped listening and walked away. I didn't have much of an appetite after 2 hours of peering at body parts, so we walked around the LES and had some tea at Teany (Moby's tea shop) and met up with BF before heading to a vegetarian Thai place -- Pukk -- on 1st Ave between E 4th and E 5th Streets for dinner. I highly recommend it if you're in the East Village, even if you're not vegetarian, it's good cheap food in a stylish setting. A round of drinks at a bar and BF and I called it a night at 1:30 am. I gave Middlebro and GF some expired metrocards (I thought that one of the 5 metrocards that I found in my apartment while cleaning might have some money left on it, I was wrong) and a map of Manhattan for wandering around on their own. We were originally supposed to go to Crobar, but I was tired and supposedly, so were Middlebro and GF. They wanted to keep things low key since they had barely gotten 5.5 hours of sleep and we had spent the entire day walking all over the place. I guess when you're 21, keeping things low key means getting home at 6 am. . .

The next morning, we met up for brunch at Public, again in NoLIta. Great food, amazing space, but really bad attitude. I don't think I will be going there again. By the time we finished, it was 3:00 pm. Middlebro and GF wandered around the neighborhood a little more before driving back to the 'burgh. I hopped on the B train. . . and headed to the office. I guess that's what grown ups do.