After we took a pit stop at the White Horse Tavern, we went over to one of the most famous taverns in New York - Fraunces Tavern!
Fraunces Tavern is the oldest remaining building in Manhattan!
Fraunces Tavern was originally built in 1719 as a home for the Delancy family, but was purchased by Samuel Fraunces in 1762 who turned it into a tavern. On December 4, 1783, George Washington gave a farewell speech to his officers of the Continental Army here. The Sons of Liberty originally met here, and when NYC was the capital, the US Treasury, War Department (before it was the Department of Defense), and what became the State Department used to meet here.
You can kind of roam around the building as there are several bars and restaurant rooms to choose from. One had an AMAZING singer, but didn't have any good seating, so we went into Lafayette's Hideout Room for a pint.
Lafayette's Hideout Bar was one of many rooms in the building that you could visit. They also do a tour, but we did not have time - put that on the list for next time because this place was COOL! We asked the bartender - did Lafayette really hide out here? He said, "Yes! He also brought a lot of ladies here!" Yikes!
We ordered a little charcuterie board which was weirdly excellent! I always feel like charcuterie board's can go really, really wrong but this one was quite good.
By the end, I made my last snacks into a happy face!
Now I KNOW that it's really cool to see where Washington sent his Army off from during the Revolutionary War but THIS was maybe my favorite thing about Fraunces Tavern! A Hurricane Sandy HIGH WATER MARK! I'm such a nerd!
Right after this, we walked outside and there were some (likely drunk) people hanging out outside and smoking. As we walked out, one guy looked at Todd and he said, "Congratulations!" Todd had no idea what he was talking about, but later he realized the guy was commenting on his silly yacht race champion shirt!
There is a great spot in Battery Park where you can go and see the Statue of Liberty - but it was closed. One of the Battery Park workers (if you know, you know) told us that it was closed but we could go up the stairs at the Staten Island Ferry Terminal and get a good view there, too!
We decided to head north and as we did, we ran (literally) into Saint Elizabeth Ann Seton's birthplace! She is a Catholic saint (who's maiden name was Bayley!) who was the first American to be canonized.
I'm so sorry that I went from visiting the birthplace of a Catholic Saint to ... this.
But... when in Lower Manhattan, you have to visit the Wall Street bull! Most people wait in line to errrr, ummmm, take a picture underneath the cojones of the bull as this lady is doing. No judging, we just didn't want to wait in line so we snapped this picture with the WHOLE BULL.
Literally days before this, the Knicks had won the NBA Championship, and apparently this was the parade route because the ticker tape was still stuck to everything like tinsel on a Christmas tree!
I literally did NOT plan on stopping at Trinity Church. It just looked old and pretty so I snapped this picture. But the cool thing about New York (coolest?) is that there is history literally on every corner! So of course, we stopped when we realized...
OMG Alexander Hamilton and the Schuyler Sisters are buried here! Angelica is not buried with the rest of her sister's family but is on the other side of the cemetery. The church has half of the cemetery on one side, and half on the other.
We walked around a bit before we finally found Alexander and Eliza.
Philip was buried somewhere in the cemetery, but they don't exactly know where.
People have left coins (and dollar bills!) on Eliza's grave and in front of Alexander's. Presumably because he was the first treasury secretary and because she was just a good human, having founded NYC's first orphanage. People also leave pennies in honor of military service.
Dying is easy, young man, living is harder.
Hercules Mulligan is ALSO buried here, but like Philip Hamilton, they don't know exactly where his grave is.
We continued our downtown walk toward Freedom Tower and we spotted this guy, called "Double Check" which was a fairly ordinary business guy looking through his briefcase, which is filled with ancient treasures like a calculator, a stapler and a tape recorder. In the rubble after 9/11, they found him, dubbed him "the survivor" and put him back near his original position after cleaning him up. He still bears some of the scars from the buildings crashing down on him.
It's always overwhelming to see the WTC site. I literally tear up every time I'm here.
I had never seen the Survivor Tree, so we went over to check that out. According to the 9/11 website, "In October 2001, a severely damaged tree was discovered at Ground Zero, with snapped roots and burned and broken branches. The tree was removed from the rubble and placed in the care of the New York City Department of Parks & Recreation. After its recovery and rehabilitation, the tree was returned to the Memorial in 2010. New, smooth limbs extended from the gnarled stumps, creating a visible demarcation between the tree’s past and present."
Some children have left notes on the tree. I hope this kid's grandma retired before 9/11. On our way out of the area, we just happened to come across the name of one of Todd's friends from UNH. Somehow we always find her (I didn't take a picture, but she was in the south tower, like this kid's grandma).
Why does this gummy bear have a mugshot? What did he do to deserve this? And why is this across the street from the Freedom Tower?
We wanted to walk across the Brooklyn Bridge, so we headed that way after visiting the 9/11 Memorial. We stopped to say hi to Ben Franklin on our way.
We also had to stop and say hi to Mayor Mamdani and New York's City Hall. City Hall was constructed between 1803 and 1812, making it one of the oldest continuously used city halls in America!
Hello Brooklyn Bridge!
Ok, you just get another silly selfie of us on the Brooklyn Bridge. When we were first dating, we walked across the bridge but it's been about 23 years since we last did this!
The pedestrian walkway is up above the traffic of this bridge that was completed in 1883. At the time, and for about 20 years, it was the longest suspension bridge in the world!
I love that the traffic is down below us and we don't have to worry about dodging it!
A helicopter on it's way to Queens flew directly over us.
It was LITERALLY right over head!
This was right before it started raining, thank goodness we had umbrellas!
We appreciated the warm welcome back into Manhattan.
Our downtown explorations continued at the Titanic Memorial Lighthouse, which was built in 1913 after the famous ship sunk in the Atlantic. They almost tore this memorial down (at another nearby location) but it was preserved and moved here in 1976.
Ok, that's enough sightseeing for today, let's go back to the hotel, get cleaned up and have a drink at the bar. I love the little rainbow flag toothpicks!
Ahhhhh, yes and please.
For dinner, we went to Panna II in the East Village, a place we have visited many times before. There used to be another Indian food restaurant next door (Milon, as you can see the name is still on the window) but I guess that went out of business. Two guys used to stand at the top of the stairs and yell at you as you walked by to come in and eat at their restaurant. If you were going to actually eat at one of the restaurants, the shouting match got even louder until you picked one!
Good to know Todd still doesn't fit in here with the low hanging Christmas tree and chili pepper lights!
Natalie and Todd love the show Daredevil, and apparently Matt Murdock took his love interest, Karen Page here so I took this picture for Natalie!
Natalie also has really been into Love Story (the story of JFK Jr. and Carolyn Bessette) so of course, I had to send her this too since one episode was also filmed here. Rumor has it the real JFK Jr. and Carolyn Bessette also ate here! In the TV show, apparently this was the site of their first date, but that part wasn't true. But they DID eat here!
This is the real love story. We've been coming here for 23 years!
We absolutely TORE that up! It was so good!
Panna II doesn't sell alcohol, but they let you bring in your own so we had purchased this great Montepulciano.
Thanks for the memories and the wonderful meal, Panna II!
Ok, now where to? McSorleys, of course. Y'all moms on. Well yeah, duh. Of course I am/we are.
Man, we haven't been back here in literally decades! The last few times we came to NYC, we had the kids with us (or had planned other things!) It's such a fun place!
Lights, please.
McSorleys in NYC's oldest continuously operating saloon. And they don't take no crap from no one. You walk in, you order lights or darks. There ain't no messing around. There's no reservations, and it's cash only. Be Good or Be Gone is their motto, although prior to 1970, women were not allowed in, so the motto was, "Good Ale, Raw Onions and No Ladies." Women are no longer banned from McSorleys, but you can still get the good ale and the raw onions!
John Lennon, President's Lincoln and Grant, Dustin Hoffman and many other famous people have had lights and darks here at McSorleys. Todd used to frequent this place so much, he became buddies with the bartender, Tommy Lloyd who was here for many years.
No memorabilia has been removed since 1910. However, at some point maybe around 2011, those chicken wishbones over the light fixture had to be cleaned because they had collected so much dust, the health department made them clean it. They had been there since doughboys heading off to World War I left them in the hopes that they would come back after the war to make their wish. But they never returned.
You can see there is still sawdust on the floor here.
At McSorleys, you just sit down at a table, regardless of whether you know the other people at the table. The tables are big, they usually sit 8. When we first arrived, we were sitting with a family from St. Louis!
BUT THEN. The Scots arrived! The Scots have been a WHOLE VIBE this summer. They arrived in Boston for the World Cup matches, and literally drank the bars dry. EVERYONE has been talking about the Scots and WE got to drink beers at McSorley's with them! We ordered the cheese platter, which is hilariously just some sliced American cheese, Saltine crackers and raw onions. Here, Todd is teaching the Scots how to put a cracker on your forehead and work it down to your mouth without using your hands, and only using the muscles in your face.
Well, they tried!
This guy was pretty close! They were so awesome. They told us how they LOVED Boston, but really didn't love Miami. New York was good to them so far, but they definitely loved Boston more.
One Scottish-American selfie for the road! The Scots were too kind- they bought us SO MANY beers. So many.
But we had to get up early to drive back to Fitchburg to pick up Grant, so we headed back to the hotel -- much later than we had intended because we were actually getting ready to leave when the Scots sat down at our table! The 23rd Street subway station has cute hats on the wall so I made Todd pose with them.
The MetLife tower (now the New York Edition hotel) was all lit up for the Pride parade. I was so sad to be missing it - we had to head back home!
The New York Life building also looked pretty at night!
I wanted to be Scottish in the worst way. The Scots have a tradition of putting traffic cones on the heads of statues, so I wanted to do the same. Ooops. It had rained the day before and this one had a little water in it! Ewww!
Until next time, New York! You'll always be my favorite city!
