We’ve been to New York City more times than I can even remember over the years. My brother has lived in Manhattan and now Brooklyn for at least 20 years so we’ve often visited him (and now his family) plus it’s just always an easy place to take the kids (or now our empty nest selves) for a weekend away.

As we weren’t doing the typical tourist things on a Saturday when our daughter and her boyfriend joined us, we planned a fun day mostly around food and drink. They met us around noon at the Andaz 5th Avenue and we decided to start walking to our first stop, Carraghers for the Liverpool match. It’s about 3 miles basically right down 5th Avenue to below Washington Square Park and Canal Street. We didn’t intend to walk all the way (about 90 minutes given the stops for crosswalks), but momentum and conversation got the better of us and we walked the entire distance. There aren’t too many major cities in the US where you can walk from one end of town to the other without worrying about sketchy neighborhoods or other impediments.

The bar used to be on 39th not far from Times Square, but moved downtown following the Covid closures to a larger space to fit in more Liverpool fans for each match. We had a reservation for 1:45pm, an hour before kickoff and were given a great table with a good view of the match.

Everyone was hungry (and cold) by the time we arrived. We ordered food and drinks and everything was very good. I think my hands were too cold to get any good food pictures.

Unfortunately, the match was a real dud, ending 0-0. We didn’t get a chance to show my daughter’s boyfriend the excitement of a winning goal (or any goal frankly). After the match, we Ubered back to the Andaz as nobody wanted that walk in reverse.

After a quick nap, we met up again in the lobby around 7:45pm for a quick Uber over to Patsy’s, an historic Italian restaurant owned by the same family since 1944. We wanted an authentic NYC Italian meal and I think we got one. Wine was reasonably priced so my wife and I split a bottle of red while the kids split a bottle of white.

We were stuffed as peppers when we rolled out of there. The timing was good as the kids had told me they wanted to try and go to a comedy show. We found a comedy club close by called the Grisly Pear. It was expensive, but this is Manhattan. It was $25 per person cover charge plus a two drink minimum, but it was walking distance so that fit the bill.

There were about 10 comics who took the stage in 90 minutes. A few were genuinely funny and a few were pretty forgettable. The host turned out to be one of the funnier people in the show. The drinks were at least good, although it’s not as if we needed them after drinking beer then wine since 2pm!

After the show, we Ubered back to the Andaz and called it a night. The following morning we visited my brother’s family in Brooklyn before saying goodbye to the kids, who headed back to campus on the train. Later that day, my wife and I had another long walk, this time all the way uptown to 77th and Columbus for a flea market and back to the Andaz. We had a great visit with the kids and enjoyed getting to know our daughter’s boyfriend. We had one more day left in Manhattan and both of us had big plans.

Up Next: A Visit to Roosevelt Island

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