After leaving on an early train back from Hudson Valley to New York City, Anna Marie and I came back “home” to freshen up. Anna Marie would be leaving mid-afternoon for the airport, but we still had plans to see a bit more of Lower Manhattan.
Our tickets to see Monet’s Garden exhibit were at 11 a.m. and so we walked beyond the Stock Exchange to Water and around the area adjacent to the East River. We saw the Tin Building and, of course, the Brooklyn Bridge.
Monet’s Garden Immersive Experience uses multimedia and multi-sensory technology. With your phone you can click on a barcode and see the painting in 3D; the focus of each painting literally pops out in front of you. Some of the paintings are in motion and you can interact with them. The exhibit ends in a room with a 360 degree video about Monet by way of paintings This is not my area of interest per se, but I thoroughly enjoyed the exhibit and highly recommend experiencing it before it leaves. It has now been extended to the middle of April.
We had reservations at the Dead Rabbit, “the world’s most awarded pub,” just behind Fraunce’s Tavern. Apparently, a mixologist from this bar has won awards for his drinks. It was opened by an Irishman who had a pub in Belfast, Ireland and wanted to expand in the United States. The pub opened in 2013 and was named The World’s Best Bar in 2016. The name of this pub was inspired by the history of the “Dead Rabbit gang” of Lower Manhattan who were around between the 1830s and throughout the 1850s. Street criminals who often fought with the Bowery Boys of the Lower East Side, their main intent was to protect the immigrant Irish. In the span of 20 years, over 200 gang fights were fought and this gang often outnumbered the police and the state militia.
The Dead Rabbit is in a five-story building (adjacent to Fraunce’s) and has three different dining and drinking experiences: The Taproom, a traditional Irish Pub; the Parlor, which offers refined cocktails; and, the Occasional Room which is dedicated to private parties.
It is always odd to me that reservations are required, or rather, suggested no matter what day or time the reservation is. I can see dinner on the weekends but lunch reservations? Here we were on a Monday at noon with reservations. It is the same up and down this island. It’s not to say the place was packed; however, you never know. And, so it goes and why I continue to say, “Recession? What recession?
So there you have it. From Monet to the Dead Rabbit. There is something poetic about this.
After a couple of games of gin rummy, Anna Marie was off to San Francisco. It was a wonderful few days, seeing and experiencing new sights, only re-affirming why I LOVE New York City… and now the Hudson Valley.