In celebration of my birthday, I decided to invite a few of my girlfriends for a girls night out in the city. It was the last week of February, and little did I know it would be my last night out for months to come.

That night was quite a night to remember. It had been five long years since I’ve stepped foot in East Village. St. Marks Place, to be exact. I’ve always admired the area. The place always seemed so lively and the people were always so friendly.

Since I’ve migrated from Nyc to a much smaller city, I’ve learned to appreciate the loudness of the city.

What was once nothing but a loud and noisy background to me is now so beautiful that all I can do is close my eyes and smile. I love the sound of the chatter and foot thumps  from the busy people rushing through the station to catch their train/bus.

I got lost in Grand Central Station. Just for a second, and was amazed by the crowd of people working their way through the maze. Time just seemed to never stop moving. Finally after walking around in circles, I was able to meet up with some of my friends.

Before catching our train, We stopped to enjoy some entertainment by the subway performers. Everyone gathered around in a circle, clapping to the beat as the performers danced around and did some pretty cool moves. I was really impressed by the side show and could tell that a lot of practice went into it.

Once it was over, we made our way to the platform to wait for the train.

Finally, after a tedious train ride filled with panhandlers and  drunken squabbles, we arrived at Astor Place.

By this point, I had finally made up my mind and decided we should all meet up at The 13th Step. I had fond memories of my times there and at The Stumble Inn  and was ready to relive my glory days.

From the moment we turned the corner unto 2nd ave and saw all the commotion, we were like yeahhh…noo. Lol. It was apparent that this was no longer “Our” scene. We’ve matured after all.

Instead, we went two bars down to the Scholarly Bar which was much quieter and more our speed. We had a super cool and friendly bartender too. I am going to assume by the accent that he was Irish. I was too afraid to ask since its so easy to offend people these days (A story for another time).  After a few drinks we started getting peckish and looked up restaurants that were close by.

We ended up going to a pizza shop that was practically across the street called Lions & Tigers & Squares Detroit Pizza. I went with pepperoni which is my go-to if I’m unsure of what I want. It was really good. I wished I had gotten more so I could have had leftovers for the next day.

Before completely calling it a night, we went for a walk. It’s a shame that it was so cold out or else we probably would have walked for much longer.

We took a stroll for a few blocks and admired the city lights. I’ll never understand why they don’t keep decorated lights up year-round. They are such a pretty sight at night.

I’ve truly grown to appreciate the things that once annoyed me about Nyc. What I once saw as overly crowded streets filled with angry mob people ready to run you over, I now gaze in awe at the beauty of the diverse groups of people from all different cultures and walks of life merged together in a city that never sleeps .

There is literally  always someone willing and waiting to tell you a story.

Finally, after walking a few more blocks and stopping to gaze at this beautiful winter garden, we called it a night.

So that’s the end of the story of the last time I went out socially in 2020. Within the next 2 weeks quarantine happened. Until now, I still haven’t been able to see any of my friends or most of my family. I can’t wait until the next time that we all can meet up again.