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We woke up slightly disappointed that it was the end of our vacation, but checkout wasn't until 1 so we decided to make the most of the morning. We checked a local magazine and the UN Web site to see if they ran tours during the weekends, and it said they did. We layered up and walked down to the UN building to catch the first tour at 10. After we walked the length of the campus to the visitor entrance, we were greeted by a sign declaring there were no visitor tours during January or February.
Needless to say, we were a bit put off, but all was not lost; I spied a dead rat laying on the sidewalk, completing the requisite sights to see in New York. (Of course, I was careful to distract Bekki so she didn't see it.) Faced with a few hours to burn, we decided to head down to Greenwich Village to check out Peanut Butter and Company, which Bekki had read about and was hoping to make it to. We caught the subway at Grand Central and emerged into the crisp breeze at about 10:45.
Peanut Butter and Company didn't open until 11, so after we located it, we wandered down to a park and found a fenced dog park, which amused us for about 15 minutes. There were at least 20 dogs there at any given time, which led to many chases and play fights.
Confident the Peanut Butter and Company had opened, we retraced our steps back, and went inside. The small restaurant was already half full of families, which gave us time to peruse the menu. We settled on a peanut butter and jelly sandwich apiece (strawberry for Adam, apricot for Bekki), milk and the sampler, so we could try their 4 flavored peanut butters. The food was brought out relatively quickly, and we scarfed the sandwiches. We decided to take the sampler with us to the airport for snacking, then washed up and left. Overall, it was a fun and tasty restaurant, although I think it's a little ridiculous to charge $5 for a normal peanut butter and jelly sandwich on regular white bread.
We hopped back onto the subway, and cruised the long way through Grand Central Station, where we found a squash tournament being set up, where just days ago there was some sort of black history exhibit. Then we headed back to the hotel to pack and relax while we still could.
At 1 we checked out without incident, and hung out in the lobby for 10 minutes. Bekki inquired if there were any roasted nut carts nearby, but the concierge said they only came out at night around there, much to Bekki's chagrin. We then walked a block over near Grand Central to where our airport shuttle was picking us up, and it pulled up as we got there.
The ride back to the airport took a third of the time it took to get into Manhattan during rush hour traffic on Tuesday. While checking in, we tried to upgrade, but there were none available, so we were doomed to fly coach in the significantly longer homebound flight (damn headwinds). We cruised through the security check and settled into our seats near the gate. I then went and got a cup of Broccoli Cheese soup from the mini-Chili's in the terminal, while Bekki tried the various peanut butters with celery: white chocolate (which tasted like honey peanut butter), dark chocolate, spicy (which was REALLY spicy), and cinnamon-raisin (our favorite by far), along with smooth and crunchy regular peanut butter.
Our plane came in about 30 minutes late, which didn't stop half the people from standing around the gate for an extra half hour so they could be first in line. Finally they started boarding, which they didn't really bother doing by groups, causing a huge backup out the jetway. We were standing behind a family with two little girls who were highly annoying, and I spied that they were in the row in front of us. Thankfully, they quieted down on the plane, although I did have my earplugs ready if they decided to freak out like they were doing in the terminal).
The flight was excruciatingly long, or at least seemed that way. We finally arrived, a half hour late, and waited far too long for our luggage. Jessie was there to pick us up, and she graciously brought us to Taco Bravo for a real meal. We came back to our house which hadn't burnt down, ate and wound down.
Overall, it was a great trip. Our hotel, The Library, was awesome, though pricey, and both shows were definite highlights. New York is a place you can return to over and over again, and still see totally new things each time. We look forward to doing it again.