Day 1
Emmie and I managed to get some sleep on the plane, which was important given the jam-packed agenda we had for the day. We began with an Uber ride to Long Island City, where we dropped our bags at Caley and Caleb’s apartment, where we were spending the next five nights. Their almost-8-year-old daughter Nola joined us for our Thursday adventure, beginning with a 45-minute subway trip to the borough of Brooklyn.
Emmie and Nola were happy to see each other.
Our time in Brooklyn was centered around the Brooklyn Cat Cafe, a cat adoption center and “social space” where guests can pay an hourly rate to spend time with the cats. But, before we could get to the cat cafe, we had to eat lunch. I’d earmarked a wood-fired pizza spot that was well-rated on Google. Unfortunately, it just wasn’t that good. I ate a few slices, but the kids only nibbled on the mushrooms, crust, and a few clumps of cheese.
The kids were thirsty when we exited the subway in Brooklyn, so we grabbed some lemonade at a cute empanada food stand.
At the Brooklyn Cat Cafe, the attendant confirmed our reservation and waivers before reviewing the ground rules for our visit. We were given a brief introduction about the cats and learned the cafe was also home to two bunnies and nine rats. The girls had a blast roaming the large space and interacting with the cats. Nola liked engaging them with the toys, while Emmie preferred to find cats willing to sit and be petted.
It wasn’t surprising that Emmie was a fan of the Brooklyn Cat Cafe. I was a little surprised that Nola enjoyed it so much, telling me the experience was among the best in her life, like meeting her sister Nina when she was born.
The agenda for the rest of the day hadn’t been established, but Emmie wanted to get closer to the water, and we weren’t far away from a number of piers which looked to offer tantalizing views of Manhattan. Conveniently, there was an ice cream shop along the way, so we went to the counter to order scoops of sweet cream and cookies, dark chocolate, and strawberry, for Nola, Emmie, and me, respectively.
After ice cream, we walked to the pier for various Manhattan views (and photos.)
We found a few minutes for a playground stop between the pier and our Uber ride.
We decided to take an Uber ride to our next stop to get a quick respite from walking and the heat. We were dropped off near Jane’s Carousel but made a few impromptu stops before returning to actually ride on the carousel.
First up was Starbucks, where Nola and I tried their new juice-infused iced teas and Emmie went with a classic caramel Frappuccino. We also stopped at Luke’s Lobster, a cute stand declaring itself as serving New York’s best lobster roll. The marketing sucked me in, so Nola and I split a lobster roll while Emmie acted bored. Caley did take my excitement down a notch by later pointing out that Luke’s was a fairly big chain, with locations around New York and the east coast, and even as far away as Las Vegas and Los Angeles.
Cake pops accompanied the girls’ drinks at Starbucks.
The Luke’s sign makes it look pretty legit.
Nola was a fan of the lobster roll. Emmie wasn’t interested in giving it a try.
Jane’s Carousel was a retro, well-priced ride that yielded impressive views of Manhattan. But, the girls were far more interested in walking closer to the river, where a small crowd of people was wading into the water. Nola and Emmie smartly removed their shoes. I didn’t, so I ended up with soaked tennis shoes for the rest of our day of exploration.
Our final stop in Brooklyn was at the Time Out Market, a collection of local restaurants with communal tables for eating. It was built in the style of the market of the same name in Lisbon, but the Brooklyn iteration was more expansive. None of us were too hungry, but we took the opportunity to take another break from walking and split a serving of edible cookie dough three ways.
We probably could have called it a day, but we did need to buy some dresses before returning to Long Island City. For Christmas in 2018, I’d bought Emmie a pretty pink dress which she’d originally planned to wear for the tea party scheduled for her second night in New York City. However, before we packed for the trip, we found the dress was a little too big. She was disappointed she couldn’t wear her dress but seemed okay with my alternate proposal to do some NYC dress shopping to find matching dresses for her, Nola, and Nina.
Nola and Emmie agreed on several dress ideas at H&M, our first stop, but the outfits they liked most weren’t available in our three needed sizes. Next up was GAP, which had no shortage of sizes, but the girls couldn’t agree on a dress. In one style, Nola liked a striped one; Emmie didn’t. Emmie liked a pink and orange dress, but Nola didn’t. So, after trying on a half-dozen dresses, we decided to keep shopping, heading next door to Old Navy.
Post-fitting room success!
Fortunately, at Old Navy, Nola and Emmie quickly found dresses and accompanying sweaters that they tried on and liked, and the outfits were available in the needed sizes. We picked up the dresses, made an efficient stop at the M&M store, and jumped back on the subway for our return to Long Island City. On our way back, I insisted on stopping at Petey’s Burgers, my go-to burger spot when in the area. We hung out around Caley and Caleb’s place for a few more hours with the girls retiring for the night just before Midnight.
The girls took a few photos in the photo booth at the M&M store in NYC.
Tired after a long day exploring New York City. My iPhone logged more than 4 miles of walking.
A Long Island City staple!