Old Friends, Good Times

Dave and Alex

This weekend was a long-awaited one for me. Some dear college friends and I had planned a mini-reunion of sorts in which my friends Jimmy (and his very fun wife Kathryn) and Alex would come to New York. A few other familiar faces from Vanderbilt live in the city or nearby, so it promised to be a good time. And now that it is over, I think I can safely say that none of us is disappointed.

Alex, who lives in Austin now, arrived first, and Jimmy and Kathryn came from Louisville the day after. I couldn't take time off work, but I was able to sneak out to join them for lunch once, and of course we had the evening and the whole weekend, too. We did lots of bar-hopping and had dinner at several wonderful restaurants. We also met up with Dave, who befriended Alex during Alex's last visit to New York two years ago. They were fast friends the first time, and it was fun to see them clowning around together this time.

View of the park from Top of the Rock

Jimmy and Kathryn really wanted to go to the roof of Rockefeller Center, also known as Top of the Rock, so on Saturday we headed to midtown. It had rained the night before and was a bit misty, unfortunately, but I was excited to see the city from a high rooftop for the first time since my family ascended the Empire State Building when I was 18. We waited in line for tickets, then for the elevator, then security, then another elevator. The ride to the top was amazingly fast, and the elevator had a glass ceiling so we could watch the shaft above us shrinking as we rose. Then the doors opened and the first full glimpse of the city was a northward view, showcasing Central Park blazing through the center of Manhattan. We walked around the building, admiring the view on all sides, and then took an escalator up one more floor and still more stairs to get to the very top. We picked out famous buildings and bridges, and could even see the Statue of Liberty, a gauzy blip rising out of the river to the south. It was a really cool experience to see the whole, chaotic city spread peacefully below us.

Southern Manhattan and the Hudson River

After a quick stop in Times Square, we had a few beers in Hell's Kitchen and then made our way back to my apartment to relax before going out again that night. After dinner at a restaurant around the corner, we were off to Union Square to watch a show called Fuerza Bruta. I saw Fuerza Bruta about a year ago with my friend Jeremy and I had a feeling my friends would love it. It's a difficult thing to describe. The show is an hour long and there are no seats. You check your coats and bags, then you go stand in a large room with a cement floor surrounded by curtains. When the show starts, stagehands signal for the crowd to split down the middle and wheel a platform into the middle of the room. An actor appears on it, then others join him. There is no dialogue, just movement in time to loud music. Then that platform is wheeled away as the audience is ushered forward to watch dancing on a stage that has appeared at the front of the room. Then two women in long dresses swoop over the crowd on roped harnesses and perform a graceful chase around the ceiling. Later, a thick sheet of plastic descends from above and women slide around it in a pool of water. And...well, you get the idea. It's wholly unlike anything I'd ever seen before, and I was pretty sure it would be a unique experience for my visitors as well. The show was not everyone's cup of tea, as it turned out, but most of us really enjoyed it (even though my neck was sore the next morning) and we reconvened after it ended to go out on the town again.

Sadly, Jimmy and Kathryn had to go home Sunday afternoon, but Alex got to stay another night. We planned to make dinner and so headed to Eataly to shop. I had a feeling that Alex, who loves to cook, would enjoy walking around it and I was right; his eyes were huge as we admired the different counters and the fresh and packaged foods. Later that night, Dave, and our friend, Chris, and his fiancee Sarah joined us at our apartment for a delicious dinner, wine, and conversation and laughter that went a lot later than it should have on a Sunday night. It was a fantastic end to a really wonderful weekend that ended much too soon.

I hate having to say goodbye to these particular friends. It was tough to spend so much time getting to know them for four years only to have our group scatter around the country when we graduated. I'm lucky if I get to see most of them once a year. But Chris and Sarah are getting married in New York in April, and so this time when we said our goodbyes it was with the knowledge that we'd all be together again in just six months. It's longer than I'd like, but it felt easier than usual this time. There was also talk of Jimmy and Kathryn hosting a gathering of people during the Kentucky Derby in May. So there's always something to look forward to, and I can reminisce about how much fun we had this weekend in the meantime.