NYC! Philly! Radiohead! August 2018

In early 2018, Radiohead announced a small tour, mostly on the East Coast. I love them, Anthony loves them, and it's always worth traveling for a concert. I bought tickets to their Philadelphia show, and we made a trip out of it.

It was Anthony's first trip to this area, so I tried to not drag him around to all my favorite stuff and let him lead the way on what he wanted to do. Maybe that worked, and maybe it didn't, but we had a good time. We also counted this as our 1st anniversary celebration, and boo, did we need to celebrate. Not everyone falls into the 'the first year is the hardest' camp, but we sure did.

We had a bit of time once we arrived, so I made Anthony do one walk through Times Square on the way to dinner, and then never again. 

 We met up with Holly and Brandon, and Josh and Carly at Jacob's Pickles, like I always do. We decided next time we're not going here, because even though it's fun, it's way too loud and we've overdone it.

We met the babies for the first time. Friends raising babies in NYC - I don't think we all could have predicted that. 

Long walk back and down part of the High Line. 

 Our hotel had a pretty decent rooftop bar, for being a lower end Marriott property.

The next day we went south and had decided to tour the 9/11 Museum. I had free tickets through work, so we figured, why not? Little did I know, this was a terrible idea. 

Hey, AMEX building. I'll miss you. 

The 9/11 Museum. 

We came outta there and need a bit to recover. We both hated it, and I don't recommend visiting. Go to the memorial outside, but skip the museum. This article sums it up pretty well. I've been to plenty of somber event museums/memorials, but this one didn't get it right at all. Especially one sectioned off room - it was claustrophobic and chaotic and just seemed to capitalize on the gore of it all.

 Walking it off to see Hamilton and Eliza.

Stopped by the Pier to see Geronimo's (friend Jihan!) installation.

 Oculus and lunch.

 Got a DKA at Dominique Ansel. I didn't love it. It was fine.

Another 9/11 related event that night, but thankfully this one was refreshing and wonderful. If you haven't seen this or read the book, please do. It will remind you that humans are sometimes great.

 Late night ramen and buns. 

 Train to Philly the next morning.

Right to food. 

 We walked by the temple, and I just think this one is so lovely and fits right into the city.

We spent the afternoon at the Eastern State Penitentiary. It's rad and creepy, and we loved it.

This place opened in 1821 and was operational until the early 1970s. Lots of history and interesting stuff here, so I recommend a visit if you're in Philly. 

 They've tried to preserve the decay and leave things as they are.

We really liked the prison. Quick nap, dinner with Malaysian street food where we met up with Carol - lovely coincidence that we both bought tickets to the same Radiohead show (especially because they did two nights in each place). Anthony got his shirt and we settled in for a rock show .

 Second dinner of champions.

Train time back to New York. 

Off to MoMA for this Yugoslavia exhibit, because now that I've been in that area of the world twice, I will absorb almost anything about it. It's so fascinating.

Lunch at Sweetgreen (obsessed) and then some Morgenstern's for a treat. This might be my most favorite ice cream. 

Anthony wanted to sit at a Zen center, so I did some shopping and popped over to Washington Square Park. 

We stopped at the Allbirds store and fell in love with shoes. 

Juliana's for dinner! We sat next to a lovely couple from Georgia and ended up chatting with them all night.

 It rained on us a little bit, but we braved the walk across the bridge.

For the last night we treated ourselves to the Giraffe Hotel. It's lovely.  They even left us an anniversary card and gift (which we didn't drink, oh well).

Dough for breakfast. 

Chinatown dumplings for lunch. 

And back to Morgenstern's....

 Then to the airport where had a loooong delay. Finally made it home. Until next time, New York...