Miss Rachel

On Thursday Sweetie and I went to New York with a friend of ours to go to the opera among other things.  Sweetie and she planned this trip months ago so all I had to do was arrange for pet care (my mom did the honors) and pack a bag.  Our friend wanted to drive – !  Driving in New York sounds scary to me, but we said OK, if that’s what you want to do and she did a great job of it.  We even found a parking space not far from where we were staying.

Our friend goes to New York frequently, and we stayed (in adjoining rooms) in the hotel she always stays at (the people there knew her on sight) on the Upper West Side.  It’s a no frills kind of place with bumpy paint on the walls and somewhat cramped rooms, but the people who worked there were friendly, and it was clean and it was cheap by New York standards.  We also had a great view.

How you'd like to have this for a patio?

New York roof tops from our hotel room.

Once in the city, we walked everywhere.  That afternoon we went to Zabar’s – so fun, so New York!  Not a lot of vegan stuff there, but Sweetie and I did get some rye bread (it’s delicious) and dark chocolate.  For dinner we walked to Lincoln Center and had dinner at Rosa Mexicano.   We had guacamole (which they make right at your table), frozen pomegranate margaritas and vegetable enchiladas.  Loved this restaurant – delicious food, good, fast service and clean bathrooms.

After dinner it was on to the opera at the Met. This was only my second time to the opera. The first time was in high school and our seats were miles away.  This time we were on the balcony, but closer to the front, and our friend had opera glasses that she shared with us. We saw The Barber of Seville, a light, comedic opera.

Here’s a not very clear photo of me inside the Met.

Afterward we had long, cold walk back to our hotel. It was only about a mile and a half, but it seemed long because my ears were freezing.  I would have been OK if I had a hat or scarf, but silly me, I didn’t bring either.

The next morning our friend made coffee on a coffee maker she brought herself (remember the hotel was no frills).  She was so well prepared.  We has stopped at a 24-hour grocery store on the way back from the Met so I could get some vegan creamer.  Then we met her cousin for breakfast at a diner where the only vegan thing I could have was a bagel or toast with jelly or French fries so I had the fries.

Then it was back home to Connecticut.  We were gone all of about 24 hours, but what a 24 hours they were.  We definitely want to do this again some time.