A little bit of Memphis in New York

This weekend our friends from Memphis got to visit us! They were only here for a few days so it was a busy weekend. We started their visit off with a subway trip to Brooklyn. Our visit wasn’t very long in Brooklyn, but it looked just like all the other areas in NYC. I do know from all my research that the area known as Brooklyn Heights has the most beautiful Brownstones in the metropolitan area, but we didn’t get to venture that far. While walking to the Brooklyn Bridge we came across a random bag of marijuana laying on the sidewalk and for the rest of the trip we joked “I guess New Yorkers love their street weed”. We didn’t get to go across the bridge the first time we went, so all of us were excited. It was just as grand and beautiful as it was in the pictures. You just have to make sure you don’t get in the bike path on the hill or you could get run over! After we walked around on Wall Street, we headed back uptown so we could freshen up and get dinner. We got dinner at our favorite ramen place, Jin Ramen, and slurped our big bowls of pork belly and noodles.

I’m not entirely sure what it is about this city, but on the way to The Museum of Modern Art we passed a bag of pills. We let our imagination decide what they were and we came to the conclusion it has to be MDMA, to make the painting more vivid. MOMA, as the locals call it, was more everyone else’s speed than mine. I enjoyed it, but I guess I just don’t have that type of creative mind to appreciate it like others do. I did enjoy getting to see “Starry Night” by Vincent van Gogh. After we left there we went to Grand Central Station and took the S train directly to time square. To get away from the crowds we went to the lounge in The Renaissance hotel, which has amazing views overlooking Times Square. After walking around all day, we got a well-deserved dinner in Chinatown.

With our friends having one last day in NYC, we decided to hit the highlights. We went to see the 9/11 memorial, The One World Trade Center, and the Oculus. The Oculus is a large subway stop within a huge mall. We were given a restaurant recommendation a couple of weeks ago by our new city friends, so that’s where we got dinner. It was this cute little trattoria called Malatesta in The West Village. The whole experience was perfection. From the amazing pasta, the tasty Chianti we all shared, the dim light from the candles, to the great wait staff. It was AMAZING! After walking off our dinner we got on the Staten Island Ferry. Its Free and it goes right past the Statue of Liberty and has amazing view of Manhattan on the return trip.


We had an awesome weekend showing our friends around, but it sure did make me miss home just a bit. I am actually going home for one of my best friend’s wedding at the end of March. I’m not sure what I am most excited about, sleeping in my own bed or seeing all the people I love. I am still not sleeping well so I bought a 6-inch mattress topper to go on top of the futon. Hopefully that helps me sleep better.
Its Noon now, so I guess I need to go pick up our laundry. With all the excitement this weekend we didn’t have time to do it our self, so we dropped it off.
2 Comments
Nashanda Christopher
I Love all the stories Don and Sage‼️ Was it Anthony and his wife Visiting?? Donald you are greatly missed at Regional One?
Sage Johnson
No, it was some other friends. I think Anthony and Rachel might try to visit in May! Thanks for reading 🙂