Summer in NYC | Austin Travels

It's time for our weekly Austin Travels visit with Kristen Feinan, fresh back from New York City. Pretty, it's always exciting in New York City. You just missed some real excitement. Yes. We barely missed it. Did not get invited, I'm assuming? Sadly, no. RSVP, I'm sorry. We have to go back. We can't stay. Very, very sad that we missed that. But even without that, plenty of fun out there, right? Yes. I mean, summer is such an amazing time to go to New York. It's really fun, too, with the World Cup fever. There were all kinds of installations. We actually watched part of a game in Central Park. And it's just so amazing. I mean, we were there in winter, too. My daughter's a little obsessed with New York. I am, too. There's never a bad time to be there, in my opinion. And it was such a night and day experience. It's a very different experience. It is. Totally. I read some of the notes of some of the stuff you did. I know you said you're kind of based out of Brooklyn. Yes. Some of our really good friends years ago were living in Brooklyn, pre-kids. It blew me away to spend a few days there because you're in one of the biggest cities in the planet. But that's like a small town. They had their own little butcher and their own little dry cleaner. Yes. It's such a cool thing. Oh, my goodness. So the hotel we stayed at, it's called the One Hotel Brooklyn Bridge. And we're actually about to get one in Austin, which I'm really excited about because it's super beautiful. Is that one of the pictures back there? Yes. That was the view from our window. OK. So it is absolutely incredible and like a boutique hotel and just incredible views. And then they have a rooftop pool. So you can see the entire skyline of Manhattan. You can see the Statue of Liberty. So we just sat out by the pool for like hours just taking it all in. We were both just mesmerized by it. Yeah, I think that's one of the things, of course, I guess it helps if you go different times a year and go more than once. You need to know you're not going to do anywhere near maybe everything in your mind that you might want to do. Yes. And that's OK. Yeah. Don't race through it. Just kind of enjoy what you get to do on a trip there. Yes. And I love to just wander around. My daughter's a little bit more type A than me. Oh, really? Not too much. So we'll go like walk Central Park every morning. Yeah. And then what was really fun for us was just stumbling upon especially a lot of the eateries. She would be like, oh, that's a viral ice cream spot. We should go. And so we just go. And she's gluten free. So we went to, you know, bagel shops like the modern bagel shop. It's just I love getting a New York bagel. Everything in there is gluten free. And you don't even have to think about it. So that was really fun for her. So that looks pretty. This is Cafe Pana. So this is was like a 30 minute wait. But it was absolutely worth it. Yeah. And then it's like some entertainment and stuff. They're just different things to do. Yeah. So we also spent a night at the Muse Hotel, which is right outside of Times Square, which is super fun. And they've just opened a bar called the Pocket Jazz Bar. And it is intended to be like a 1950s era jazz club. And so but what's crazy is tickets are only like twenty five dollars. So you're seeing these performers that have worked on incredible albums and they're just doing a jazz show. It's one hundred and fifty seat space, incredible menu. And you just are enjoying it like you'd step back in time in New York City. That's great. And of course, some of those artists there, maybe they're just making it to town, trying for bigger and greater things. So it's probably amazing talent, even even for a small price point. And there's usually two shows a night. So you can catch a seven o'clock or nine o'clock, depending on what you've got going on. And it was I hadn't been to a show like that in years and it was absolutely phenomenal. New York is so cool. Like you said, if you've got a type a traveler with you, he's at this agenda. But like if you're wondering, like I'm kind of like you, you might still wonder into something really great. You know, you don't have to worry about it. You're going to find something, whether it's food or entertainment, you're gonna find something really worth your time. Yeah. We were like, walk, eat, shop. And that was our entire itinerary. And it was absolutely perfect. So for people who are in early July, I think, hey, the back half of the summer, we want to try to make a trip up that that could be pretty easy to put together right now. Absolutely. And, you know, it is like it was interesting with World Cup traffic and and with the wedding. But actually, that's about to come to an end. Yeah. But it was kind of special being there during it, because we went to a place called the Summit One Vanderbilt, which is one of these skyscraper observation decks. But everyone there was from different countries. And we all watched the sunset together. And it was just this amazing, like the people in the elevator with us from Australia came over for two weeks for the to see the matches and then just spend time. And it was just a really incredible vibe in New York right now. So I think the rest of the summer is going to be that way. This sort of World Cup high of everybody just there together. And then, of course, everybody wants to be in New York City in the fall. Yeah, it just gets better and better, better and better. So it would be nice to maybe a little cheaper to plan that summer trip if you do it in the back end of July or in August. My daughter's already trying to talk me into like we haven't done fall yet. So I'm like, I'm an easy sell. I have a feeling we'll be sitting here talking about that in a few months, and I look forward to it. Kristen Feynon from Austin Travels. We appreciate it as always. Thank you.