Florida Winter Wedding

It's winter outdoor wedding season! Sound like an oxymoron? Well, not in South Florida. Our friend Omair was getting married in Ft. Lauderdale, so we booked an AirBnB with our friends Alexis, Thomas, and Petros, packed our bags, and flew to southern Florida.

We arrived on a Thursday night and picked up some groceries before retiring to our AirBnB. It was a nice house on a lake/canal, with great outdoor spaces and a pool. The canal view was of a Rooms to Go, which was quite hilarious.

Our AirBnB pool at night.

On Friday we visited downtown Ft. Lauderdale. It has a small but nice touristy center, and we walked along the riverside path and through "Old Fort Lauderdale" before having lunch at The Downtowner.

Next we went to a wedding social event for people who had arrived early. It was on the rooftop deck of an Irish pub overlooking the beach. We enjoyed some drinks and snacks and enjoyed hanging out with the grooms. From there we wandered down the beach to get cocktails at the bar in the Four Seasons before heading back to the AirBnB where we ordered some delicious empanadas from Amado Market for pick-up. 

What a view of Rooms to Go from the backyard!

Some iguanas in downtown Ft. Lauderdale. These are an invasive species that are now everywhere in South Florida.

There were a lot of draw bridges around Fort Lauderdale.

We're the beating heart of this city!

Brightline train heading to Miami. New American high speed rail future?

Small historic site along the river in Fort Lauderdale.

Downtown Fort Lauderdale is super bougie.

View out towards the ocean from the Friday welcome venue.

Los of fancy hotels along the beach in Fort Lauderdale.

Hi!

Petros and Alexis say hi too!

Late dinner empanadas.

Saturday was the wedding day. Thomas, as best man, went to rehearsal events, and the rest of us took the rental car down to Miami, about 40 minutes to the south. We, unfortunately, weren't feeling the best today. We both picked up a cold somewhere on the way to Florida. Luckily, it never got too bad and we were able to soldier through with some cold medicine... but it put a slight damper on the weekend.

We started our half day in Miami at Wynwood Walls, an outdoor mural exhibit. From there we drove down to Miami Beach, and spent a few hours walking on Ocean Drive, checking out the beach, and having lunch. While at Miami Beach, we also visited the Art Deco museum to learn a bit more about the history of South Beach's unique architecture.

Oh, did Miami not tell the rest of us enough times that Messi plays on their (very bad) MLS team?

Wynwood Walls statute. Man-child hulk?

We really love the colors in this one!

This mural is from Atlanta native Greg Mike.

Miami has a really pretty setting.

South Beach is an art deco paradise. This few block stretch was closed to traffic.

The Leslie.

We briefly went down to the beach to put our feet in the water.

Very Miami.

Random Polish car club. Everyone was speaking in Polish.

The Art Deco Museum is very small, but tells the history of the architecture's presence and preservation in Miami.

Paul's an art deco flapper!

Leaving Miami Beach we drove back to the AirBnB to get ready for the wedding. The wedding was at the historic Bonnet House Museum & Gardens. This venue was a very beautiful, densely vegetated oasis among the strip malls and hotels that lined Fort Lauderdale's beachfront. The service and reception were both lovely. 

Our AirBnB had a great back patio! Unfortunately, we didn't have too much time to lounge around this trip.

Outdoor wedding in February? Why not! The weather was beautiful.

David, Alexis, and Petros posing by the lake.

Great venue!

 

David and Alexis all dolled up.

Cocktails after the wedding but before the reception.

After the ceremony and reception, we called it a somewhat early night and headed back to the AirBnB with Alexis. Thomas and Petros kept the party rolling with the grooms well into the early hours.

On Sunday morning we grabbed some coffee and pastries for takeaway from the Alchemist Cafe, which was a super cute restaurant/coffee shop with a large patio and a homey vibe. After showering and chatting for a bit, we headed to Bo's Beach for the post-wedding brunch. Shortly after we arrived the sky opened up in a torrential/very Florida storm that lasted 15 minutes before clearing out.

From Bo's the five of us went to a nearby coffee shop to hang out for 30 minutes before parting ways and heading to the airport. All in all a great 3-day weekend and happy event to celebrate with friends in south Florida.

Weekend friend visit in NYC

Earlier in October we took a weekend trip up to New York City to visit our friends Thomas and Alexis. Thomas recently moved back to the US from London, so we were excited to visit him in his new home. We flew up after work on a Thursday, and took a Lyft to Thomas's apartment at 8 Spruce Street, a skyscraper designed by Frank Gehry.

On Friday Thomas and Alexis both had to work, so we set out with Thomas's partner Petros and dog Pepper. We started with coffee at Voyager Espresso then took the subway to the High Line. We had a nice walk on a sunny, chilly morning, and travelled the length of the High Line up to Hudson Yards. We saw a lot of people in costumes because Comic Con was happening at the nearby convention center. We stopped for lunch at Gotham West food hall.

Sunrise from the apartment.

Cool architecture in Thomas's neighborhood.

Coffee in an Erlenmeyer flask down in the subway? Why not!

Pepper just hanging out.

An art installation near hell's kitchen.

The High Line trees have really filled out since the last time we visited!

Lots of interesting buildings around the High Line.

David and Petros walking on the High Line.

Approaching Hudson Yards.

The view up through "The Vessel."

Building reflection.

Pozole and pizza for lunch.

After lunch, we walked east, passing near Times Square and through Bryant Park. Our destination was the Morgan Library Museum, housed mainly in a 1906 building that is a national historic landmark. It's a small but impressive space, with a few small exhibits and the breathtaking library that holds J.P. Morgan Chase's collection (yes, the banking family).

Bryant Park was busy on a gorgeous fall Friday.

Ceiling of a hallway in the museum.

A really old book that was part of a botanicals exhibit.

Pierpont Morgan's office.

The main library room.

Some old sheet music that was on display.

Extremely old carved stamps that were used to make repeated patterns.

After finishing up at the library museum, we walked through Grand Central Station on the way to meet up with Thomas after work. We had a chilly but nice sunset stroll checking out New York's architecture and ending with views from Central Park, before taking the subway back to Thomas's apartment.

Grand Central Station.

Old and new architecture in Midtown.

NYC has such cool buildings.

Reflection of a synagogue dome.

Peering into the Apple Store.

We sat for a while in Central Park.

The supertall skyscrapers lining the south end of Central Park.

Thomas's building from City Hall Park.

After relaxing for a bit, we met up with Alexis and all of us went for cocktails at Paper Planes. New York has a lot of good cocktail bars, and this was just the first one we'd visit over the weekend. We had planned on having dinner at a place nearby but it turned out it was permanently closed. Without reservations on a Friday night we were in trouble - after wandering around and having no luck at a few packed places, we eventually found room at Horus Cafe on A. It was an Egyptian restaurant and hookah bar, but luckily they had a small completely separate dining room with no hookah. The food was hit or miss - the cold appetizers were great, but the koshari was actively bad. We still had a good time and enjoyed the company and the Lebanese beer. We went back and hung out at Thomas's place to close out the night.

Brooklyn skyline at sunset.

Creative cocktails at Paper Planes.

Round two!

The wild over-the-top theming in Horus Cafe.

The appetizers were great!

The forecast on Saturday called for rain, and it was indeed rainy pretty much all day. We didn't let that stop our touristy plans! After getting caffeinated at Variety Coffee the five of us walked to the Skyscraper Museum. It's a small but interesting museum, mostly focusing on NYC's skyscraper history. We had brunch at Broadstone, then went to the nearby National Museum of the American Indian. The museum is a Smithsonian museum, and has some excellent exhibits as well as being in a really cool building. Highly recommended.

Iced coffee and chai to get us going. Oh boy, which is which?!

The skyscraper museum.

The weather was a bit miserable.

Brunch time!

The grand central hall of the Museum of the American Indian.

One of the displays.

A cool contemporary piece.

The museum is in the impressive Alexander Hamilton US Custom House. 

After the museum, we took the subway to Alexis's neighborhood, SoHo, grabbing some coffee at Drip Drop Cafe on the way. We hung out and had some wine at Alexis's new apartment before heading to dinner at Old Tbilisi Garden, which is a Georgian restaurant. We particularly enjoyed the dumplings and some of the spreads. After dinner we had some excellent cocktails at Donna.

A nice stop on a rainy day.

The delicious appetizer platter at Old Tbilisi.

Georgian dumplings.

A big-ass cheesy bread bowl.

Donna had creative and delicious cocktails.

Shot from New Year's Eve 2010.

Faithfully recreated 13 years later!

Also we were there 😉

On Sunday morning David had arranged a meet-up with a couple of his Final Fantasy XIV friends (Shaina and Mike) that live in the area for brunch at an Instagram-worthy spot called Haven Rooftop. David has known and played games with Shaina for 20 years but this is the first time they met in person! 😁 Super exciting!

After brunch we strolled over to Bibble and Sip with Mike and Shaina for some super cute desserts to take to go.  After saying goodbyes, we headed back to lower Manhattan to hang out with Thomas, Alexis and Petros for about an hour before jetting off to the airport. Overall, this was a great weekend in NYC! It was great to see old friends again, or for the first time in person. Looking forward to more catch-up trips in the future.

Paul's brunch at Haven.

Brunch rooftop views were really nice!

Final Fantasy brunch crew! And Paul. But we're rocking with Paul b/c Paul's rocking with us!

Really adorable snacks from Bibble and Sip.

David, Alexis and Thomas! Aging like fine wine...?

Hey maybe next time we'll take the bus! 😅