Oasis holds a special place in my heart. I started listening to them when I was 12/13. It brings me back to a special time in my life when I was developing my own taste in music independent from outside influences. I bought their albums and followed them on MTV. Of course they fell off my radar a bit because they broke up and stopped making new music but I'd always love hearing "Wonderwall" and "Champagne Supernova" pop up randomly on the radio. I would've loved to have seen them perform live but I also had to honor who I am as a person and I hate big stadiums (professional sporting events are held there), I hate crowds (all the concerts sold out in minutes), and I was anxious about the logistics - where would we stay? How would we get back to our hotel after the show? For all these reasons, I made a lot of effort to try and unload the tickets with no luck. Ticketmaster wouldn't let me sell directly through their site until 24 hours prior to the concert.
At first I did nothing because by that point Evan and I were committed to going. We had a hotel, train tickets, and other plans set in motion. We assumed we would do Lyft to/from the stadium and hoped it would work out and not be a mad dash. I also wasn't feeling my best because of some persistent health issues and not exactly in the mood for a big, loud, late concert. We decided to roll the dice and see what would happen. I listed our tickets and they were gone within an hour or so. Once they were gone I was so relieved. Again, it had nothing to do with Oasis and everything to do with me. But Evan and I decided to go forward with our trip anyway and enjoy the time away from the kids.
...
When we arrived early afternoon, after having been startled awake by a wheezing and teary Iris (she was smiling and ok by the time we left) and a delayed (1 hour+) train ride, we got on the High Line.
We couldn't have asked for better weather. This last stretch of summer has been amazing and unseasonably temperate. I was still sweating my butt off but that's because I run hot no matter what. We picked up the High Line just steps from the train station and walked about two-thirds of it to The High Line Hotel, which is conveniently located right off the High Line. Surprised? Honestly, its location is the best thing the hotel has going for it. Everything is expensive in NYC so the hotel was no exception but aside from the location, it wasn't worth the cost. The room was clean and I was able to sleep, despite the mattress being too soft, but the shower was unusable. Evan turned it on and the water wouldn't drain. Will we get a partial refund? Probably not. Anyways...
9/4/25 Update: We did, in fact, get a 10% discount when the charge came through on my credit card.
Some of the public art from the High Line:
Dinosaur! This might be one of my favorites. I remember when this sculpture was featured on CBS Sunday Morning and very much wanting to see it in person. I'm so glad I got that opportunity, especially as it's slated to move in spring 2026. The detail is astounding. It's a magnificent representation of an animal often seen as a pest but should be celebrated.
I don't know WTF this is but as soon as Evan pointed out that it seemed phallic to him I was grossed out and no longer thought it was weird in an interesting way.
This looks like a cross between a minion, one of the Simpsons, and Buddha.
Hudson Yards:
It's hard to tell but there's a sculpture of a melting woman in the foreground. I had to take a picture because, well, I can relate!
From there we stepped off the High Line, checked into our room, had a quick pit stop, dropped off our backpacks and got a Lyft to the Tenement Museum where we had booked an afternoon tour. We a little bit of time so grabbed a New York slice beforehand. I shared some of my crust with the pigeons.
While waiting for our tour we perused the gift shop where I found this gem of a Jewish meditation:
We did the "Under One Roof" tour which had us walking through two different apartments, one of which belonged to a Russian Jewish family and the other, a Sicilian family. It's shocking how many people they were able to fit in one of these very small apartments. Each apartment had three segments, one of which was a bedroom, the middle was the kitchen, and the last was the living room. There was no bathroom or toilet. There were outhouses in the back that were shared amongst all the tenants. The Jewish family we talked about was a family of eight! The parents had the bedroom, the two girls slept in a small bed in the kitchen area, and the four boys slept on the couch with their legs propped up on chairs in front of them. Surprisingly, the Sicilian family was a modest family of four so they had more room to spread out.
Fannie Rosenthal, (the last name was changed from Rogarshevsky in an effort to better assimilate) the matriarch of her family, became a "janitress" (some version of a modern-day super/handy-woman) after her husband died and it became her added responsibility to financially support her children. She remained in the building for many years and her descendants have provided a lot of primary material. Josephine Baldizzi, the daughter of the Sicilian tenants next door, recalled in an audio recording how Fannie would call her over on the Sabbath to turn on their gas lights. She felt honored to be trusted with that responsibility. According to our guide, Josephine only passed away a few years ago and has recorded hours of her and her family's experiences in the building. Her children and grandchildren still live in NYC.
It really touched my heart to hear directly from Josephine about how much she enjoyed helping her Jewish neighbors, especially at a time when there was probably (maybe?) more prejudice than even now. The shared immigrant experience forges strong bonds.
On the left is the parents' bedroom in the Rosenthal household and on the right is the parent's bedroom/living room in the Baldizzi household. Adolfo Baldizzi (head of the household) was a fan of FDR - that's his picture on the wall. Rosaria Baldizzi left Sicily at 19 to join her husband in NYC. She never saw her parents again. What a sacrifice she and so many immigrants had to make to provide a better life for their children.
Entering the tenement we were told immediately that we shouldn't touch or lean against anything for the sake of preserving what's left. The one thing we were allowed and even encouraged to touch was the railing on the interior stairs. Apparently the oils from our hands help to maintain the mahogany. But the coolest thing is that everyone who's ever lived in that building has touched that banister and now so have we. It feels good to share in their history.
A random factoid - pot is everywhere. Not just dispensaries but the smell. We could not get away from it. Not sure how we'd explain that to the kids when/if we take them to NYC.
Almost as soon as our tour ended we grabbed a Lyft to go to The Stand for a night of comedy. Stand up comedy used to be our thing. We've been to two weeklong comedy festivals in two different cities (Toronto and Montreal) and we spent years buying tickets to see comedic greats on tour. Then Covid happened, which put a stop to anything like that and then we had a second kid and we haven't been able to reignite that interest again. That's why this felt particularly fitting on our one night in NYC.
We'd been to the Comedy Cellar in the past and wanted to try something a little different. We did, in fact, go down to a cellar-like room for the show. It was a really nice venue. It was clean, the service was good, and it definitely had that classic comedy club vibe and atmosphere. The show was about two hours with 7-8 comics. Honestly, the host was awful. I thought he might harm himself or others. He wasn't funny, at all, and seemed hostile. When he looked in my direction I pretended to laugh because I was afraid. Most of the comics were misses for me. I guess I'm getting old but hearing the "kids" talk about dating apps and graphic sex acts is just not my speed. The best comic of the night was Ron Bennington. He's a seasoned pro and the club knows it because he had the most time on stage - 30 minutes. He brought knowledge, history, intelligence, and finesse to his act. I was entertained and I learned some things. The other memorable comic was Sarah Sherman from SNL. Her time was brief (I guess she had better things to do...?) but she has the stage presence, talent, and charisma to go far.
The show ended sometime after 9:00pm and we weren't sure what to do with ourselves. We didn't want the night to end but had no plans. Evan suggested going to a late show at the Comedy Cellar but I put the kibosh on that. I couldn't imagine sitting through potentially disappointing comedy for another two hours. So we started walking and followed our feet first to a hot dog stand and then to a gelataria. Before we knew it we were in Washington Square Park, somewhere neither of us had been before. And while we were there I had an iconic New York moment - I saw a rat! This was no pizza rat, it was an apple rat. A big, juicy one. I happened to see a second rat later, too. We also had a random but pleasant conversation with an Italian man taking a break from his job at a gelateria (not the one we ate at earlier). This sounds like a joke but we were on the sidewalk talking about sciatica and knee pain. If that isn't a sign we're getting old, I don't know what is!
We even got to see the Empire State Building all lit up and beautiful.
By then it was 10:30pm so we got a Lyft and returned to the hotel to clean up and go to bed.
We got up relatively early, got ready, and checked out of the hotel. We picked up the High Line where we left off the day before and began walking so we could enjoy some more of NYC before we had to leave.
What do you think this one's called? Why did the chicken cross the road?
There wasn't much left to walk of the High Line and then we reached our goal - Little Island. This is a relatively new hot spot and our first time seeing it. There's always something new in NYC it seems. It draws your eye with its architectural features and draping vegetation. I can imagine that going there for a summer concert would be lovely, particularly with the Hudson River as a backdrop. Walking around it took little time. It really is a little island but we took our time and enjoyed the amazing weather and views from various perches.
From there we walked into Pier 57 and quickly perused the food hall. It was still early so most places weren't open yet (I gather it's more of a lunch place) but Evan grabbed a coffee and a pastry. From there we got back on the High Line and walked all the way to the train station.
I missed this the day before - can you see Andy Warhol and Frida Kahlo through the buildings?
This building is called Vessel but it looks like a beehive. They closed it for a while because there were some suicides, but it was reinforced with barriers and reopened almost a year ago.
We had bagel sandwiches in Moynihan Train Hall, grabbed the kids some quick souvenirs, and got on the train to head home.
We had a great time. It was quick but we enjoyed the break, the freedom of movement, the ability to walk through the world unencumbered and remember what life was like before we had kids.
I hope we'll make a habit of taking 1-2 night breaks to NYC and elsewhere going forward. The kids are getting older, more independent, and comfortable being at my parents' house. We'd like to take the kids to NYC too I'm just not sure we're there yet. There's some logistical stuff with Iris that makes it difficult to be on a train and walking around in the city for long stretches. Definitely something to aspire to!
Edited to add: I almost forgot to mention that I saw Emily Deschanel in the wild. I think it was in between the Tenement Museum and hopping into the Lyft to go to The Stand.
