Now that we are hip urbanites, a weekend in the Big Apple is only a short (typically) train ride away. Not to mention it's still Leslie's birthday season and it turns out there are almost endless ways to celebrate! The following is the true tale of a weekend full of twists, turns, foods and photos:

"I Hopped on a train at BWI  with a dream and my Old Forester cardigan"... I think that's the lyric. — "I Hopped on a train at BWI with a dream and my Old Forester cardigan"... I think that's the lyric.

Making F.R.I.E.N.D.S.

The hijinks started almost immediately. My work-friend invited us to local restaurant pop-up called Urbanspace. Although she texted me detailed directions, anyone who knows me can attest that I am debilitatingly reliant on Google Maps for any kind of direction. So I punch it into the app and we start blindly following the GPS ten blocks to the south. We don't see a lot of signage, but do find the address and walk into a nondescript high-rise. I say "Urbanspace?" to the elevator attendant and he sends us to the roof where we seat ourselves. After about 10 minutes of looking around awkwardly we decide to ask somebody where the food and drinks are... "This is the Urbanspace corporate headquarters. You're sitting in our break room."

Ohhhh! That explained all the offices and conference rooms we passed... Well, this just gave us the chance to ride the New York Subway on our way to the real Urbanspace, a bustling bazaar of trendy restaurants.

Leslie got a sushi burrito (!) and I got some pork tacos and we recounted our hilarious misunderstanding to some new friends who probably thought we were idiots. Here are a few more pictures from the afternoon:

Friday Night Lights

From there we blended in with the masses and headed straight for Times Square. It was dark now, and the glow from our desired destination was radiating through the streets. As we approached we were greeted by nearly every Disney and super hero character. It was one of the few places often dipicted in moves and TV shows that was even more impressive in person. As a marketer of fine products, I was a little discouraged when I asked Leslie to name just one memorable ad of the 100s and nothing stood out.

A picture of a picture of a place with lots of pictures

Once we had quenched our thirst for classic tourist activities for the day, we desided to blend in like locals and do some bar hopping. We started at The M Hotel where we had a delicious fresh marg with spring rolls. From there we headed to The Refinery for a rooftop bar. $17 well cocktails? Yes please! Jokes on them, Leslie didn't even drink her cocktail!

And of course the night wouldn't have been complete without some street meat. For those counting at home, yes we know this was our third dinner, but it was so good! And we didn't regret it in the middle of the night either...

The She-Wolf of Wall Street

The next morning we awoke to a rainy, slightly chilly New York morning. Our first stop was the World Trade Center memorial.

The atmosphere was very somber and the memorial site was astonishing with the gentle waterfalls flowing in what looked to be an endless hole in the ground. It was crazy to image what that day must have been like in New York. The sight of stunning and pristine World Trade One did lift our spirits, however.

Since we were already downtown, we hedged and walked a few blocks to Wall Street where Money Never Sleeps. Leslie was pretty bullish on the George Washington Monument while I was bullish on moving to New York and becoming a billionaire overnight. As the weather spread was getting volatile, we ducked into a little bar called the Bullpen where we unloaded on some blue chip fish tacos. After that, it was time to "short" Downtown and get back Uptown for the rest of our Saturday.

"Ah! The smell of appreciating stock prices." -Phil Hanlin

30 Rock

Next, we headed to Rockefeller Center to pay $35 each for the privilege of standing on a roof.

But what a roof it was!

Central Perks

Seriously we are on some kind of tourist roll! Next we walked through Central Park. We sat down on the benches where every romantic comedy has a scene and ate some roasted nuts.

Within Central Park there is a Zoo because this is New York and anything is possible. We worried it was going to be a tourist trap, but it was a pretty legit zoo and the animals were out and about and very active.

Don't be surprised to see some of these pics in National Geographic:

A Lively Saturday Night

Finally it was time for the grand finally; a top-tier New York eatery called Lexington Brass (because its on Lexington Ave, not because of the place in Kentucky lol). And it didn't disappoint. It had all the Leslie and Robert staples: Mules, avocado, truffle fries, mac and cheese, ribs and Brussels sprouts.

Crabicurious Rating: 5 crabs out of 5

So we thought that was the end of the fun, but anything is possible in NYC! We were walking back from the restaurant and an NBC page handed us a stand-by card and whisked us into the heart of Rockefeller Center to be in the audience for Saturday Night Live!!!

It was nerve-racking as we wined through the hallways adorned by Seth Meyers, Jimmy Fallon, and other NBC stars while being barked at by the security guards who were savage, yelling at people on cell phones and throwing out anyone who looked at them funny. But we made it through, right to the entrance to the doors of Studio 8H... when we were informed that they were now at full capacity and we were no longer welcome. :( But it was a cool experience.

Travel Woes

Just like our weekend in NYC, this blog post is going on longer than you planned... The train before ours ended up derailing outside Philidelphia when it ran into a backhoe. Thank goodness we weren't on it. This delayed our train a few hours. It also only went as far as Philly where we finally found a rental car and drove the rest of the way to Charm City.

Mercifully, THE END

Looking for more from Crabicurious? Check out our Visit with Phil and Sandy as well as our Dinner with a Doctor.

Latest from the Louisville Beat: Zack on the state of televesion and Bryson's review of Batman v Superman.

Crabicurious in the Big Apple