The reasons for our NYC visit: Family, friends, festivities and food! BTS grand finale to New York Week, Part I

View of the Statue of Liberty from the Stanton Island Ferry

As we wrap up New York Week at BTS where we highlighted visits to tea venues, the Brooklyn Museum (and the rare knife rests!), the Tenement Museum and a special Tuesday Tea and Tomes featuring a novel set in 1960's Brooklyn, we're going back to the beginning and the original reason for the trip:  family, friends, festivities and, well, yes, the food.

Clinton Street Bakery for brunch

CSB famous for its pancakes

Our son, Matt, along with his girlfriend, Jenna, reside in Brooklyn, so it's a given we'll be visiting them there from time to time. However, this August, we scored a big bundle of intersecting events which included a wedding and extended family in from out-of-town. My husband, Chris, and I saw this as an opportunity to extend our typical long-weekend stay to almost two weeks. It was wonderful!

Dining in Williamsburg with J's family

Dessert afterwards

Our first weekend in, we met up with Jenna's family visiting from the west coast.  We found we had many shared interests including Harney teas, baseball, and brunch.  So, we shopped tea in So-ho, took in a Mets game and indulged in pancakes (and more) at Clinton Street Bakery.

Mets game at Citi Field. 

Then, while their respective jobs called our Brooklyn couple back for a few days, Chris and I, enjoyed some very touristy pursuits. We took the Stanton Island Ferry roundtrip (still free) which gives the most amazing views of the Statue of Liberty and Manhattan.

Stanton Island Ferry:  best free deal in the City

We also became somewhat savvy with the subway system and journeyed from Brooklyn to Manhattan's Upper West Side. Our destination was the "Arconia" (aka "The Belnord"), the building used in Hulu's "Only Murders in the Building", where there exists another kind of "knife rest".  

The "Arconia" in Manhattan where another kind of "kinfe rest" resides

Matt took an afternoon off and treated us to tour of The Whitney Musuem after afternoon tea at Tea and Sympathy. The Whitney Museum has strong ties to the Gilded Age even though most of its exhibits are relatively "modern". It was founded by Gertrude Vanderbilt Whitney, great-granddaughter of Cornelious Vanderbilt, and aunt of Gloria Vanderbilt. Gertrude was an artist in her own right and a generous patron of others. We were big fans of the museum's contents - some were inspiring while others put a smile on our face. 

Chris and Matt at the Whitney 

Drinking bird, great art

(The enormous "drinking bird", a rather kitschy item from the 1970's, brought back a fond memory of my childhood. My dad purchased one of these in its original era and set it to rest on one of our kitchen windows where it could dip continually throughout the day. Although my mom was not a fan, she let it stay until it met an untimely demise. Could my dad's art appreciation now be vindicated?)

Portrait of Gertrude Vanderbilt Whtiney, founder of the Whitney Museum and aunt of Gloria

And, after all this, we're only mid-way through our NY stay.

Like New York City, our blog can go on and on - and New York Week is no exception. We continue the Grand Finale, Part II in our next post (only bloggers in the building. 😀)