Andrew Brennan

One of these days I’ll start writing about things in a timely manner, but until then…

The weekend after Christmas (December 26-29) was super fun. Friday night I took the train to Market East in Philly and met up with Sas, his sister Melissa and their friend Matt. We went to Plough the Stars, Philadelphia’s Irish-ish bar, and then Urban Saloon near the Art Museum, which was big and generic.

Saturday, jumped some rope (it’s a good workout, really!), then went to Sabrina’s on Callowhill for brunch with Leslie and Rob (tried Day by Day but it was closed). Then L&R gave me a ride to 30th Street Station and I took the Boltbus up to New York. I arrived near Penn Station and discovered post-Christmas hell: Herald Square and Macy’s–thousands of people blocking the sidewalk in every direction, trying to catch a glimpse of the Macy’s display. Eventually I made it to the L train and Brooklyn, met up with Carolyn at her store and picked up her key, chilled at her place for a bit until she got back and then we grabbed dinner at Dumont Burger.

Then the West Village, met up with Warren and Ryan at Dos Caminos. I hadn’t seen them properly since our sailing trip in July. It was really good to catch up with them; they were in the middle of a move and uber-busy. We then met up with their friends Brad and Matt(?) and headed to Lucky Strike in Soho, then Soho House NYC, then Brad and I hit Mr. Black before I discovered the joys of late night public transport in New York–it’s worse than London, somehow.

Sunday got brunch with Warren, Ryan and Brad at Extra Virgin (which was later featured on The City…eeeeee!), then Brad and I hung out for the rest of the day–I had only just met him but he was very cool and it worked out pretty well: both of us were in town without an agenda and most of our friends were still away for the holidays. We watched some football with Brad’s friend Mike from home, grabbed a drink at Splash (heh), then went to Brad’s friend Dane’s, where he was staying. Thai food (from Spice) for dinner, then a group of us headed to 1Oak and then a place called Park. It was fun, and we ran into a guy Anthony knew from Oxford, who has a juggling act with his twin brother.

Monday hung out with Brad again–got brunch at Cafeteria and then met up with Ryan, attempted to go to the Chelsea Galleries (but they were closed) and instead Dane joined us and we did the Guggenheim, which I hadn’t been to before. It was alright, but nothing to write home about. Then I just barely caught my bus, went back to Philly, then flew to London on Tuesday in time for New Year’s.