Saul and Chelsia: Over the Moon and Back: A Night out in NYC

Saul's cousin Malcom (one half of MKTO), was doing a show in NYC and we thought why not make a night of it. Addie, Saul and I hopped on the LIRR and headed into the city. We had dinner, pre-gamed and then went and had a blast at the concert (see Saul's post) although the three of us were the only people at the venue with 21+ wrist bands (exaggeration). We got done with the concert and other shenanigans at around 10:30pm. Addie checked her phone and saw that our cousin, Pat, had messaged her and that he was in the city too (pretty close to where we were). We ended up meeting up with Pat and his girlfriend, Kiana who lives in NYC. This was a pretty awesome because I hadn't seen Pat since something like 2008 as he'd been in Guam and is currently living in Hawaii and we just never crossed paths.

Anyways Kiana knew of this really fantastic Speakeasy called Fig19 on the Lower East Side so we hopped in a taxi (for the first time since we'd been in NYC) and set off. Taxis aren't all they're cracked up to be. I think that I'd rather walk and save the money but then again I'm notoriously cheap. Historically a Speakeasy is a place that illegally sells alcohol and so, is hidden. Fig19 is a modern take on this as you have to walk up to the bouncer and tell him of your intention to go to the bar. He eyes you pretty hard and then lets you enter an art gallery. Hidden on the back door of the art gallery is a door that then opens up to Fig19. Fig 19 had some delicious cocktails! I tried one that was made with rosemary and it was so nom worthy, Saul got Apple something, and Addie had bartenders choice which ended up being made with rose (don't ask how my 19-year old sister is able to hang haha). At this point it was approaching 1:00am and we still had the hour train ride back from Penn Station to my parent's house so decided it was best for us to get going. It was so great to catch up with my cousin but we decided we really shouldn't let six years pass before we all get together again.

Instead of taking the expensive cab ride from the Lower East Side to Penn Station, we decided to try to take the subway. We realized we were at the station for the wrong route. Now, I really have no problem with the subway but the man sitting at the desk was such an ogre! He was rude and unhelpful and left us feeling more lost than we actually were. We decided we'd use our god-given talent of walking and trek the 2.9 miles back to Penn Station.

Now, as I was writing this blog I knew it was far but went and put it in google so that I could tell you all just how far it really is and I'm just sayin' it didn't feel that far at one in the morning. Anyways, we get to Penn Station a couple minutes past two, go to the LIRR terminal and find out that the next train isn't until 3:10am. Poor planning on our part but we decide to trek off to Times Square to kill time and to find a 24-hour McDonalds.

We go back to the LIRR terminal to wait. Now every big city has seedy people and we were super prepared to be on the train with seedy people (especially at 3am). Turns out Thursday night trains in the middle of the night/morning are actually the train that all the drunk people from the burbs of Long Island pile onto to get back home. It ended up looking like Vegas piled on the Long Island Railroad. People were still drinking, girls were in uber short dresses, and guys were bro'ing out. It was quite the scene and made me feel entirely too sober. We got back home at 4:30ish and didn't get to bed until 6:00am.

What. A. Night.

-C