A Picture an Hour

A visual diary of a sunny Sunday in New York City in the form of a picture (or a few) an hour:

10am
Woke up in our friend Jeffrey's cozy, Lower East Side apartment and got ready to meet the day.

11am

Stepped out into a gorgeous Spring morning in search of brunch and ended up at Spitzer's Corner. Brett and I both had avocado omelets with green tomato sauce.

12pm

Cabbed to the Manhattan side of the Brooklyn Bridge and took our time walking the length of it.

1pm

Once in Dumbo we made our way to Brooklyn Bridge Park and Jane's Carousel. The park was a riot of people and dogs and babies enjoying the first real sunny, warm weathered weekend of the year. The carousel was every bit as lovely as I thought it would be. The perfect combination of old and new; the more than ninety year old merry-go-round looked completely at home underneath it's ultra modern glass pavilion.

2pm

Hopped on the East River Ferry and headed up to Williamsburg.

3pm

Pushed our way through a very crowded Williamsburg Flea. Snapped up a couple of treasures and wished my suitcase was bigger so I could've grabbed even more loot.

4pm

Met up with our friends Carli and Davey! After a pit stop at Davey's apartment, we wandered through Williamsburg and then jumped on the L train back to Manhattan.

5pm

Back at Jeffrey's place I went through my flea market spoils including a lovely 1950's doll sporting the cutest summer dress and ballin' white slingbacks. We packed up our things and said goodbye to Jeffrey and his lovely apartment.

6pm

Dragging our suitcase through the East Village we met up with Carli and Davey again at the Mermaid Inn for happy hour. 

7pm 

We had buck-a-shuck oysters, Tom Collins', mini fish tacos and shrimp corn dogs. They gave us free mini chocolate mousses for dessert and fortune teller fish toys with the bill. Everything was delicious and insanely affordable.

 

8pm

After ditching our suitcase at Carli's apartment we headed to the Russian & Turkish Baths. Open since 1892 (!) and the last bathhouse of it's kind it's lovingly referred to as the "Schvitz" by regulars. Being seasoned patrons Carli and Davey took us through a circuit tour of all the rooms. First came the outrageously hot Russian sauna heated by baked rock, when we could take no more we had a dip in the ice cold pool and then ran to the Turkish room heated by radiators, a quick stop in the aromatherapy steam room and then we repeated it all again. We also tried and failed to convince Brett to get the "Platza" treatment wherein a burly man beats the hell out of you with soapy oak leaves in full view of everyone else in the sauna. Apparently not the most pleasant of experiences it's said to be borderline life changing if you live through it. Definitely not your average spa, it was one of the most quintessentially New York activities I've ever experienced. I can't wait for our next NYC trip so I can go back!

9pm

We emerged two hours later a few pounds lighter and feeling absolutely ah-mazing. An intense desire for salty food and beer overtook us. 

10pm
Which brought us to Veselka, the 24 hour Ukrainian diner down the street. We immediately ordered a bowl of pickles which were quickly devoured. That was followed by the yummiest cabbage roll and pierogies I've ever had. The blintzes with strawberry rhubarb compote we ate for dessert nearly sent me into a delicious, cheesy coma.

11pm

We spilled out into the night and wandered back to Carli's apartment past fruit stuffed bodegas and busy restaurants bleary eyed, exhausted, full, and very happy.