Vince had never heard of City Mouse and Country Mouse. (Actually it turned out to be Town mouse). But City mouse is better.

So we headed to NYC to see his daughter in Damn Yankees and enjoy what the city has to offer.

Meaning food , great beer bars, and night life. The drive down was easy. Now I hate traffic,but somehow we didn't hit any. Parked and unpacked and took a walking tour of the neighborhood.

Stopped at a bar called "Tap a keg." Walked in looked like quite an array of taps. Blue Moon and Brooklyn Lager turned out to be the best choices amongst the AB products. As we a approached our seat a woman gave me the elbow for a stool and put her purse on it and walked away. OK, Welcome to NYC. The bar maven had a thick NY accent and told us. "Honey,If you can find a beer here. You must be pretty picky!" How did she know? Then a couple that seemed to have met on the street or a Craigslist Rendezvous sat next to us moving this woman's bag. She came back and went nuts on them. They seemed oblivious as they were now making out at the bar. We went up the street for sushi. Is there a better food on the earth than raw tuna? Here we had a couple variations on this. The spicy rolls with Tuna roe were incredible. We took a tour of the Korean markets en route home. Back at the apartment a night cap of Ithaca 10 was the order of the night. This beer has to be one of the 10 best beers in the world.

Day two took us to Canal St. My ex and I had bought rings there and I'd decided that the thing to do was go back where I'd bought the ring and throw it down the street. I think it would make a good read about if someone picked it up and wondered how it got there and now it was part of their journey. Down the street it rolled. Coming to rest under a truck. It's new life awaits. I turned and started a brand new day. Done. I love Canal St. The buzz, the knock offs, all crazy stuff for sale. We stopped for a street vendors mango. Her secret to peeling a mango. A screwdriver! Better get one of those in the kitchen. Tasty too. The knock off watches and Obama shirts seemed to dominate this week. So Vince haggled with a vendor and scored two "Swatches". Mine in orange. There's a surprise. Self winding. I like analog watches. How about you? We then headed to the village in search of the Blind Tiger Pub for the first of our beer adventures. This place turned out to be the highlight of the weekend beer wise. The Ginger man may have had more beers, but not the vibe, The East Village Tavern was fun but noisy, knowledgeable staff. But the Blind Tiger was best. The food was superb. Deviled eggs and and a chipotle quesadilla. As were were enjoying a fine Belgian beer we met a young Latino couple ,Jessica and Steve,from LA. They were so "LA" . Suffice to say our beer drinking stayed at the Blind Tiger as we shared beers and laughs with our new found friends.

The nest day was Megan's show. Headlining was Sean Hayes, Jack from Will and Grace. Vince's friend Corey met us at the theater. Vince's grand kids and the Mid Westerners were there with Mid western values. We had great seats and the show was fun. Been a long time since country mouse had been to the theater. Another circle opened and closed there. My first LTR had a fear of the number one in a sequence. 11:11, 111 etc. Odd things did happen that way. He got the call I'd been in accident at 11:11.He was admitted to the hospital for his final days on 11/11 only to be put in room 111. What was my seat for the show? You guessed it. 111. But that was cool, be cause he was involved in theater and loved it. Maybe all the planets were aligning for me. We came back to the apartment for drinks and then had a "fabulous" Italian dinner. Corey headed home we headed off to the Ginger Man. More subway time. The Ginger Man was what I would consider a NY bar. 20 foot ceilings ,dark wood, library lights. Open spacious. They had 70 taps with an incredible bottle list and prices to match. So we had a beer and headed to Alphabet City for another beer. I need to write down the beers as I go. As I said the Blind Tiger was the winner. Will be fun to go back. A cab ride home capped off the night. Thanks.

We'd met one of Vince's neighbors on the street walking the dog. He had sciatica and was in obvious pain,but was very pleasant and said we should get together for a drink. Plans were made and then Oliver couldn't make it but Larry could. Vince figured maybe he'd stay for an hour. A trip to market for appetizers and we opened some nice Belgian Ales as Larry held court for THREE HOURS! God was he droll. Country mouse was getting hungry. So Vince suggested we get dinner. He offered for Larry to go with us. He accepted. Court continued. Thai food was the choice. Turns out Thai Thai's green curry was better. Food was very good. A long night. but probably a "NY night".

Sunday we had brunch with Clair. What a great person. Lots of fun. It was a Bloody Mary Morning. More tasty food and laughs. It was time to head home.

Enjoy life. More tales to come. A return to cycling stories.

OGQ