The day after the wedding Marc and I spent at the pool. But we also got the chance to do dinner with one of my other college friends, Jourdan Haynes. He and I were on the same study abroad program to Australia and he was now working as a lawyer in Tampa so he was a good person for Marc to meet as well. While in Australia, Thai food was our thing so we had to meet up for Thai. While researching the phone book for options I found a place called “Jasmine Thai” and figured that had to be the place.
Marc and I drove that way and we ended up in a somewhat abandoned neighborhood wondering if we’d taken a wrong turn. Suddenly we saw a small strip mall and there it was looking as shady as anything you can imagine. We almost called Jourdan to change the plans but decided to go in and look at the menu. Surprisingly, as we walked in we saw quite the elegant spot with a hoard of elderly people dressed up quite nicely and décor to match. We sat down and soon Jourdan joined us. It was wonderful to see him and catch up! Plus the service and food were perfect!
http://jasminetampa.com/
The next day, pool and study again and Leah came to pick me up in the early evening. We went to dinner and hung out to give Marc some alone time, then we said goodbye and she dropped me back off.
The next day. May 10th Marc took me to the airport and I said goodbye. Now I was off to New York City though my flight landed in New Jersey and I had to find my way into the city via a series of trains. Thankfully a nice flight attendant saw me looking lost and said, “Just follow me.” There I was in downtown NYC and my next challenge was finding the offices of Harper’s Bazaar Magazine where my friend Lisa works. I called her and she gave me subway directions. With my luggage in tow I made my way there and joyfully gave Lisa Luna a big ol’ hug. Lisa Luna…I always thought we were connected because we both have “Luna” in our names! She and I also went to college together and is by far the funniest girl I have ever known in my life! She seriously could be a comedian no problem! She also could have been a doctor which is what she was studying in school, but instead there she was in NYC working for a magazine cause she loves fashion.
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| I "heart" NY |
She gave me her house key and another set of subway directions and my next mission was to find her apartment and drop off my stuff. Once there I found myself to be utterly exhausted yet determined to make the most of my NYC time. So I set out to give myself a walking tour until Lisa got off work. Lisa’s apartment was on West 85th street just off Broadway and on the “1” line. It was easy enough to find and easy to walk from. I simply walked down Broadway.
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| Reminded me of the NYC based movie "Nanny Diaries" |
The next day I got up early and headed back to Penn Station where I boarded the BOLT bus from NYC to Philadelphia. I’d left most of my stuff at Lisa’s so wasn’t carrying much but my computer bag (without a computer). The BOLT bus is genius! Cheap, convenient, even has wireless internet onboard—in fact I think I was the only one on board reading an actual book! The trip took a couple of hours…I can’t remember how long, and when I got close to Philly I called my friend Morgan.
https://www.boltbus.com/default.aspx
Morgan and I had worked together back in Aspen at the St. Regis and had always remained friendly. When he heard I was gonna be in NYC he suggested I head down his way if it was possible; when I heard about the BOLT bus I figured, why not. He was waiting for me at the bus stop in a crazy little sports car—apparently his company car. He drove me around the city showing me some of his fav spots, it wasn’t a great day weather wise so we couldn’t do much else.
After getting showered and changed he took me out to dinner at a vegetarian restaurant in a new developing area of Philly that was really cute. The restaurant was called “A Full-Plate” We were having an early dinner so we were the only guests, but it was nice opportunity to catch up with Morgan on all his details and to grab some advice from him. Being that he is a Harvard graduate and quite successful at securing bizarre but good jobs I definitely wanted some career advice from him.
http://afullplate.com/cafe.html
After dinner we headed back to his –did I mention—amazing apartment. First of all it was in the crazy cool building with an awesome gym & pool. But the apartment itself was huge, had a great view, and was just a nice set up all around. Soon enough a few of his friends and his girlfriend showed up for what was their weekly “LOST” party. Apparently he and his friends love this show, or rather are obsessed with it. I had only seen a few episodes off and on and definitely wasn’t up to date…which with LOST apparently you have to stay up to date. They tried to give me a run down before the show started, but once it did it was all talking off and concentration on the show looking for clues and such. I have to admit, it was pretty funny.
After the show they did some analysis of what they think happened and any ideas they had about who is the bad guy after which they all headed home. Morgan and I stayed up late talking and then headed to bed.
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| Dude with a protest in Philadelphia behind him |
When I woke up the next day he was already long gone to work and had left me a few maps of the city. I walked from his place (640 N. Broad) into downtown where I came across a protest, visited the Liberty bell and Franklin’s grave. Then had lunch at this cool indoor market that had all sorts of cool Amish stuff. Back at Morgan’s, I went to the gym, then showered and started walking to get my bus back to NYC.
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