Tourist Time

We feel like we work all the time on this New York assignment. We had a few days off, so we picked a day and filled it with activities.

We started off at the Merchant House. This home was owned by a single family for over 100 years. When the last descendant (who was born and died in this house at the age of 93) died in the 1930s, the house was turned into a museum. All the original furniture belonging to the family remains on display. We enjoyed a self-guided tour and I will mention that Lauren and I were the youngest patrons touring the house.

Next stop was McSorley's Old Ale House. It's the older continuously open pub in the United States. It wins the title from an older bar in the neighborhood because they remained operating during prohibition.

This was Minnie, the McSorley's Bar Cat. She sat in a chair next to Lauren.

There are a variety of ales to choose from at McSorley's: Light or Dark. When you order your preference you get two mini mugs.

The light was mighty tasty. We enjoyed the afternoon drinking a few brews and people watching.

A friendly Irishman sat down to chat with us, who we later found out was the current owner. We must have been charming or again the youngest patrons there because he gave us brew on the house.

Then we headed to our final destination for a late lunch at Katz's Deli. The experience was extremely overwhelming. We didn't know about ordering at the counter and the sandwich size was intimidating. We ended up splitting one.

We sat just a few tables over from where this sign hung. "Where Harry met Sally...Hope you have what she had!" Lots of celebrity photos on the wall.

Mr. Katz himself came over to see how we were enjoying our sandwich. While we regret not getting corned beef or pastrami, it was the best deli turkey I've ever tasted!