Fairytale of New York
We’ve both been to NYC before so this trip was all about catching up with friends and family rather than doing the tourist attractions.
We stayed in a great Airbnb near Prospect Heights in Brooklyn and after dumping our bags caught the subway into West Village to a Belgian bar to meet Dan’s friend Blake. Dan and Blake did some serious catching up before we headed to a recommended great little Ethiopian restaurant called Injera. A little trouble getting the hang of the subway meant we missed our stop but we got home eventually!
A walk through Prospect Park the next morning watching runners on a Santa 5Km woke us up before meeting my friends Katie and Sven for a lovely Italian brunch at Morandi. We decided to walk north via the Highline which was still looking good in all it’s autum colours. A trip to Macy’s (for him as much as me) resulted in a few bargins as they had a sale on and then we headed to Soho for dinner with my friend Jono before ending the night in a dive bar in Brooklyn with Blake and some of his friends.
The next day we took a train out to see my cousin Liz, her partner Sara and their kids in Southbury, Connecticut and was a wonderfully relaxed affair with delicious homemade food cooked by Sara (the banana bread was amazing – and i don’t even like bananas!), games and gingerbread house decorating.
Too soon we were back in NYC and heading to Dan’s favourite dumpling place, Vanessa’s Dumplings. Cheap and delicious they filled the spot when i decided it was time to be a bit touristy and get into the Christmas Spirit so we took in the Rockerfeller tree and lights before visiting the famous Prince’s Pizza for a slice of their Pepperoni pizza which really was as delicious as the reviews say!!
Next stop: Charlotte
Picking up a hire car to start our US roadtrip, we drove to visit my other cousin Paul, his wife Kristin and their kids. Charlotte is home to Nascar and they put on christmas lights around the track every year. We went to this in the evening and the photos don’t do it justice!! A spectacular light and music show it’s unlike anything I’d ever seen and was great fun.
Next was Columbia, SC to see Dan’s friend Blackmon and his wife Courtney and baby son Ridge. We had a tour of the University of South Carolina including their incredible sports facilities before taking in some history and visiting the State House. The evening entertainment was a college basketball game which we watching from a suite courtesy of Dan’s friend Jason and gave him a chance to catch up with some of his good mates. The Gamecocks won so everyone was happy!
The stay was short but before we knew it we were back on the road driving to Charleston. Unfortunately for us we brought the British weather with us and it was cold, rainy and pretty miserable the two days we were there!
But we still managed to eat some fantastic food! First up was 167 Raw, a tiny, trendy fish restaurant where we had THE most amazing scallop Po Boy and Lobster roll. Yes it was expensive but it really was worth it. A clam chowder and some oysters completed our fishy lunch before a walk around the beautiful city.
We decided to take in a Plantation house called Magnolia which has some of the best gardens in the country – although they obviously weren’t looking their best in the rain! We then headed to another hipster restaurant called Leon, known for it’s oysters and fried chicken. We skipped the oysters but the fried chicken was delicious and the mahi grilled sandwich was also very tasty – highly recommended! We finished the day with a beer and a catch up with Dan’s friend Heather in the Bass Street Beirgarten.
Tiredbuthappytravels 