USA TRIP 2015

Part 1 - up to and including the wedding

A trip to New York for Dan (our son) & Robs wedding and a chance to sample the Beer scene over the pond.
Plenty of time to line up some decent pubs/bars to try & including a visit to Plymouth & Boston (both in Massachusetts).

Thursday 30/07/15

We flew with Thomas Cook on the 0945 from Manchester airport / arriving at JFK 15.30 US time.
Although more expensive then the rail option we took a Yellow cab into the City, a chance to see the skyline & buildings of interest whilst queuing our way into the City.
To make us feel at home the heavens opened on our way, so much so that texts of Flash Flood warnings started arriving on my mobile. Just alighting from the taxi & walking into the Hotel became difficult due to the torrent of water running down Park Avenue, our home for the next six nights being the Waldorf Astoria Towers.

              The Waldorf Astoria Hotel

After settling into the room, unpacking etc I decided to brave the storm & walk over to Penn station to check out my pre-breakfast train moves the following day & purchase a ticket for these.
A vain attempt as the heavens opened once more & the deluge forced me to take refuge – in the Heartland brewery, Times Square at 127 West 43rd street. Here I sampled Harvest Wheat 5.0% & Summer Time Apricot ale also 5.0%

   Heartland Brewery Times Square

In the evening we met up with Dan, Rob & his parents for a trip out to find a typical New York bar for a drink & a meal – we decided on PJ.Clarkes at the corner of 55th Street and Third Avenue which has remained virtually unchanged since it opened its doors in 1884 and one of the most historic bars in the City.
This is the place where Frank Sinatra ended his nights on the town, and where Buddy Holly proposed to his wife to be before a stunned crowd. Jackie Kennedy brought John Jr. and Caroline for lunch on Saturdays, where singer Johnny Mercer penned the hit song “One for My Baby,” and where Nat King Cole famously bit into a cheeseburger and declared it “The Cadillac of burgers,” establishing what would become P.J. Clarke’s signature dish.

   P.J.Clarkes

I had a free range Chicken Pot pie, excellent & washed down with an Allagash white wheat ale (Portland, ME) 5.0% & a Goose Island (Chicago, IL) English style IPA 5.9%. The bar area was wedged
all evening, after our meal we retired to the Peacock Alley bar in the Waldorf Astoria.

Friday 31/07/15

Up very early looking to sample some diesel traction on the “West of Hudson” train services out of New York Penn station. However it soon became clear that all the direct lines from Penn were electrics but at least they were still loco hauled. 

Moves:

4609 NY Penn - Newark Broad St 0554 Penn - Montclair State Univ
4502 Newark Broad St – Orange 0615 Hoboken - Dover
4634 Orange – NY Penn 0557 Peapack – NY Penn
So no diesels ! 

We decided to go shopping on 5th Avenue , starting with Tiffany’s which found us outside awaiting the store to open at 10.00am. After a good look round all the floors & working out this is NOT the place to buy memento's of New York to take home for friends & family we retired to a café out the back of the Trump Tower (very impressive waterfall in the building) to wait for Dan & Rob who joined us for a Horse & Carriage trip around Central Park.

We had a very informative Driver, who emigrated from Ireland in 1960 & was as interested in goings on in the UK as much as we were in the “Who’s who” of famous names living in the buildings outside the park, which we were passing, as well us which locations in the park were used for which films.
The weather was by now scorching (which didn’t change for the entirety of our stay) and for some unknown reason we decided to walk back to the “Tavern on the Green” in Central Park to book a table for our evening meal. 

Lets just say it’s not easy to find your way around here & we were in no fit state to do anything other than have lunch & a few drinks to recover ! We tried to sit in the Beer garden but ONLY beer was available & Colleen wanted a soft drink so we relocated inside. A bit strange, also some of the beers available in the Beer Garden weren’t available in the pub ! Still a nice lunch left us looking forward to the evening ahead.
A taxi back to the Hotel, Colleen settled down for a break before getting ready for the evening, I decided to explore some of the bars in the area. 

First stop being the Stags Head at 252 East 51st street & 2nd Avenue. A good range of ales on offer I sampled Abita (Covington, LA) Lemon Wheat 4.4%

              The Stags Head

My next planned port of call was the Manchester pub at 920 2nd Avenue & 49th street – but this has gone out of business, a sign in the window advised trying the Stags Head instead. I opted for the Press Box at 932 2nd avenue (just a few doors down) where I sampled Peak (Portland, ME) Organic Summer session ale 4.4%

              The Press Box

Next I ventured over to Maggies Place at 21 East 47th St & Madison avenue where although it boasts “the best pint of Guiness in New York” I was hot so ordered a Hoegaarden Witbier 4.9%.

              Maggie's Place

The six of us shared two taxi’s back to the Tavern on the Green, our table outside gave us a good view of the building used in the “Ghostbusters” movie. Part of the pub was also used in the film.

A very civilised evening followed, a singer in 50’s garb accompanied by a four piece of musicians soon got the regulars up & dancing.
I sampled Brooklyn brewery Empire Light  & Captain Lawrence brewery (Elmsford NY) Pale Ale 5.5% both on draft then bottled Ommegang brewery (Cooperstown NY) Witte 5.2%

Saturday 01/08/15

Up very early again with a different plan of action to again try to sample some diesel traction.
Moves:
4661 NY Penn - Secaucus Jn 0607 Penn - Long Branch
4021 Secaucus Jn - Delawanna 0625 Hoboken - Suffern
4032 Delawanna - Secaucus Jn 0440 Port Jervis - Hoboken
4627 Secaucus Jn - NY Penn 0557 Trenton Transit Centre – NY Penn

    4032 departs Secaucus Jn

So 4021 & 4032 diesels produced but it’s hard to get anywhere near the locos as only part of the stock is available to travel in outside peak periods – you can only sit in the coach(es) the Guard lets you.
After breakfast we decided to walk to Grand Central station & get a few photos of this iconic location.

    Grand Central

The deli food on sale in the Central market was mouth-watering, including the home made cakes.During our trip round the Grand Central terminus we found Beer Table to Go, offering 8 draft & over 100 bottled ales to take away. 

              Beer Table to Go Guest beer list

I came away with a pint of Alpine (Alpine CA) Hoppy Birthday 5.2% to consume in our room in one of their innovative "takeaway" pint mugs.

We then took a trip on the Metro to visit Bloomingdales store – they have an entrance to the shop directly from the Metro platform.
Back to the hotel for a break for Colleen – I popped out in the quest for a pint. I tried Blackwells pub & restaurant at 150 East 47th Street (between Lexington Ave and 3rd Ave) for a Boston brewery Summer Ale 5.3%

Off to Broadway tonight to see the show "Wicked" so went for a meal in a local Italian beforehand, great meatballs & spaghetti. 

We got to the Gershwin theatre to find something of a rugby scrum going on in the foyer & as everyone has a reserved seat we avoided it by having a quick drink in McHale’s bar & grill opposite at 251 West 51st street. I think I had another Allagash white wheat ale.

An enjoyable show, followed by a walk around Times square to take in the lights.

Sometimes all this typing makes me thirsty - Buy me a Pint?

Sunday 02/08/15

A much required lie in this morning. We were heading straight off to visit Chinatown but on exiting the hotel we found 3rd Avenue closed to traffic with a large market set up in the street. Colleen’s cry of “shopping time” probably woke up some neighbours. 

     

   Police block off 3rd Avenue for the Sunday market

After a very effective market shopping spree it was back to the room for a break washed down by a 750ml bottle of Brooklyn Sorachi Ale 7.6% an excellent beverage. 

Then off to Chinatown on the Metro , the heat was excessive but after a wander we got a drink & top snack of fresh waffles, strawberries, bananas, fresh cream & chocolate sauce in a local café. 

Up a few streets into Little Italy where the New York Xmas shop took Colleens interest.
On our last legs we dropped into the Mulberry Street bar for a well earned rest.  

    Mulberry Street Bar

If you had to whack a mob boss, you'd probably take him to this Little Italy gem. At least that's the popular wisdom:
The Frank Sinatra movie Contract on Cherry Street was partially filmed here, Johnny Depp meets Al Pacino here in Donny Brasco ,  as well as Kojac, The Pope of Greenwhich Village, 9 ½ Weeks, Woody Allen’s Out of the Darkness (a.k.a. Shadows and Fog) starring Madonna, Men of Honor starring Martin Sheen, The Godfather Part III, State of Grace starring Sean Penn and Night and the City starring Robert Di Niro. The establishment is also regularly seen on The Sopranos and Law & Order and plenty of photos capture the moment, among them one of Frank Sinatra from Contract on Cherry Street. 

I sampled Shock Top (Missouri) Belgian White 5.2% & Blue Moon (Denver CO) White IPA 5.9% & looked up somewhere to eat in my Rough guide to NYC – I picked “Peasant” at 194 Elizabeth Street.

The time was 5.15pm and as the restaurant didn’t open until 6pm we had some time to kill so I chose The Spring Lounge at 48 Spring street, a top dive bar with outstanding draft beer range.

    Beer list at the Spring Street Tavern

I chose a 1/2 of Avery Joe’s (Boulder CO) American Pilsner 4.7% & pint of Founders (Grand Rapids MI) Porter 6.5%. It was a great hole in the wall experience, the sort of place you could come back to time & again.

Peasant restaurant is so low key from the outside we walked straight past without spotting it ! No gaudy signs or self promotion here. Described in the “Rough Guide” as : A bit of a hangout after hours for city chefs, paying homage to Frank De Carlo’s beautifully crafted Italian food such as parchetta arrosta (roasted suckling pig $29) sumptuous pastas & brick-fired pizzas.
Inside we found fresh olives available, tasting as though they had come off a tree in the back yard, which we nibbled while we waited for official opening time.

    Peasant looking towards the kitchen

Great service throughout our meal from a very informative waiter , Colleen tried the VERY special starter of Chicken Livers with various tasty ingredients which was as expensive as a main course but too fabulous to describe in mere words ! 

I then sampled the signature parchetta arrosta, following this with a huge slab of traditional bread pudding which left no room for anything , all washed down by 2 bottles of different beers from Forst brewery of Algund, South Tyrol.

Monday 03/08/15 Wedding Day

The big day was upon us. No trains today as the ceremony was in the morning on the rooftop garden of the Rockefeller building (about 8 floors up) with lovely views of St.Patricks Cathedral. 

              View of St.Patricks Cathedral taken from the garden

The Rockefeller garden is another location used in countless movies - in the Avengers for one.

A moving service followed with two great personalised vows getting the guests laughing. 

              Looking out to the Rockefeller garden & Cathedral

As with every other day the weather was scorching, no rainy day wedding photos here!
The rest of the days itinerary had been kept a closely guarded secret, we were ushered downstairs to the Rockefeller plaza where Prosecco & snacks were the order of the day while Dan & Rob went back up for more rooftop “just married” photographs.

Next it was off in an authentic yellow "School Bus" to Central Park for an afternoon picnic, we guests were already overwhelmed with the never ending treats laid on for us.

              Central Park picnic

Sometimes all this typing makes me thirsty - buy me a Pint?

After the picnic I nipped into Snafu bar 127 East 47th Street between 3rd and Lexington for a Weihenstephan Wheat beer 5.4%. 

The evening promised to be extra special as the wedding reception

was to be held on the Lexington, a lovely boat all fitted out in wood, accompanied by songs sung live by Ddendyl Holt (runner up on season 6 of the "Voice" tv show.

Drinks were free all night, the evening started with a Cocktail bar and some of the best Canapes ever ! 

These kept coming round and with about 5 different ones to try everyone lapped them up. 

              The Freedom tower viewed from the boat.
  

              Empire state building during Sunset

Front & back views of the specially designed wedding cake (chief designer & artistic input from Colleen)

The Statue of Liberty at dusk followed by the New York skyline at night.

The whole day was a magical event that only by participating in it could you ever really appreciate the awe inspiring nature of it all!