So, I just got back from a great weekend in NYC. I went to my friends Simon & Tamara’s wedding which was on a beautiful sunny day at the Bryant Park Grill next to the New York public library in Manhattan. This is one of those weekends where you fly in and see a bunch of friends and relatives and have a blast staying up drinking, chatting and eating.
While researching hotels in midtown that have good deals and seemed cool ( we wanted to stay somewhere new this time for fun), I came across a hotel promising to be the best nights sleep you will ever have in New York (The Benjamin Hotel). That is a loaded statement! I figured if you think you can promise me that or my money back then I am definitely in! Then I noticed that they had a Sleep Concierge and…wait for it…. a complimentary Pillow Menu with 12 different kinds of pillows you could chose from to make you as comfortable as possible…what???? And, you can swap your pillows anytime you want or add pillows…you can try them all. They also have double paned glass and the softest sheets and plush beds. I was sold! I thought about this place for months in advance.
When we checked in I was so hoping that the hotel didn’t disappoint us. At the front desk they asked if we would prefer to upgrade to a king since we currently had a queen for an extra $90 for the weekend, but we opted to check out the room first to see if we thought it was worth it. We got to the room and it was very nice, and large by NY standards so we decided to stay. I immediately went to the Pillow Menu, then I realized we needed a King Bed. Both Mark and I ordered the Body Pillows which are 5 feet each and felt like they came with a body in them…. they were awesome. When we eventually got into bed we had both sides flanked with the 5 ft body pillows, 4 down pillows and 2 temperpedics. I couldn’t move but I didn’t care. I assumed Mark was on the other side of my fort but because I was sunk so deeply into my lovely sheets and in my pillow cocoon I couldn’t hear or feel him breathing or moving. The only time I questioned our choice was when I rolled over and the body pillow fell to the ground with such a thud that I thought it was an actual body.
I was so proud of our hotel choice that when some friends asked why we weren’t staying at the hotel the bride and groom suggested, I was pleased to have the story of the pillow menu to tell them about. Well, I was pleased until I found out later that night that the wedding hotel (The Bryant Park Hotel) supposedly had a Sex Toy Menu! Really? I mean I wasn’t expecting to be upstaged by that. We were in the rockingly loud bar of the Bryant Hotel, shouting over the music, trying to have normal conversations and not feel old by yelling ” what?” over and over again when they told me about this hotel’s menu. I wasn’t sure if I made the right choice with the Benjamin Hotel or if I now felt like I was missing out. Then I started to think about this new menu…I mean what kinds of stuff did they have and what did one do with it once they ordered it…do you keep it, do you return it (gross) and most importantly how much do you tip the guy that brings that stuff to your room? I could just picture how that phone request would go and you know I would have to do it because there is no way Mark was going to make that phone call. ” Um, ya hi, this is room 1201, we’d like to order a few things. Let’s see, how about the flavored body oil, but do you it in anything besides strawberry as I’m allergic? Also, does the chocolate body paint come in non-fat or sugar free? And, are the handcuffs the hard metal kind or the ones with the soft pink feathers as I don’t see a picture here?”
(BTW, I never saw the menu so I’ve no idea what was on it, this is just what I’m making up for effect and my friends had a great time at The Bryant Park Hotel.)
I entertained the idea of switching hotels for about 10 seconds and then went back to my cocktail and conversation figuring it would all workout. When we got back to the hotel, I ordered the Upper Body Pillow, the Water-Filled Pillow and the Magnetic Pillow and had an even better nights sleep than the night before. I’ve put the first 2 pillows on my GeezeIt List and not the Magnetic pillow beacause after all the pillows in the bed I never actually got to the lay on that one:>( But the other 2 were so great I want them in my own bed at home!
After a few late nights of stumbling back and collapsing into our pillow filled bed for the 3 hours of sleep we would get before having to get up and do it all over again, I think we made the right choice in hotels. And, I’m pretty sure that when I drifted off to sleep surrounded by plush, soft, supportive and perfectly positioned pillows that Mark really was on the other side of them.
Nothing says good time or party more than a Martini…well, for me at least. If the evenings conversation is slow and boring then they go down like water and they barely have time to kick it in my glass. But, if I actually like the people I’m hanging out with then I tend to drink a bit slower and sometimes my delicious martini gets warm and diluted.
