"What's a vacation without rain, anyway?"

B spoke these words of wisdom on Saturday afternoon as the skies opened up in the West Village. Probably the skies opened up all over the island of Manhattan and in the surrounding areas, but we have only definitive proof for the area between the West Village and mid-town.

Other than the showers--or rather, despite the showers--we had a great minibreak in the city. I'll start with Day 1.

Thanks to a very early wake-up on Saturday, we were in mid-town by 10 AM. We checked into our hotel and--amazingly--they had a room for us, and they were willing to give us a 4 PM checkout for the next day. Our spirits were somewhat lowered when the bellman opened the door to our room, which was teeny. The emergency evacuation map on the back of the door confirmed that we did indeed have the smallest room on the floor.

B's status with the hotel chain usually ensures that we have the best, or at least one of the best, rooms in the hotel. Perhaps the woman at checkin assumed that we'd rather have the room that was available then rather than the better room that would be available later. No matter--we decided that we could deal with minimal living space for a single night, and how much time would we spend in the room, anyway.

We stopped in at the restaurant downstairs for breakfast, which was free because B used to get coupons for a free breakfast and would never use them, so he has an impressive collection that will feed us for many NY trips in the future. With bellies full of eggs, hash browns, bacon, and toast, we were ready to conquer the island.

We hopped the subway and rode all the way down to Brooklyn Heights so that we could follow a walking tour. I had never been to Brooklyn but was pleasantly surprised by the architecture, ambience, and views. The borough felt more low-key and family-oriented than most of Manhattan, and the views of the Manhattan skyline were fabulous.

We wandered by Grimaldi's, apparently a famous pizza place, but the line for a table was nearly a block long, and they don't sell individual slices (why not??). We decided to pass. Instead, we took perhaps the longest possible route to get to the walking path for the Brooklyn Bridge and walked to Manhattan. We were going against most of the foot traffic but enjoyed a better skyline view than those heading in the opposite direction.

We wandered up through SoHo and grabbed hot dogs for lunch. Two hot dogs and two small cups of juice were less than $4--bargain. We ate standing up, European style, and were quickly on our way.

Next we moved on to the Greenwich Village/West Village area, stopping en route at the first threat of rain at Pinkberry, which was fantastic but not at all like ice cream. It's sour, like yogurt, but smooth, like soft serve, and very, very cold. You can get it on its own or with two toppings, and there are only three flavors (original, green tea, and a seasonal flavor which is currently pomegranate). I got pomegranate with bing cherries (pitted) and white chocolate shavings. B got green tea with Cap'n Crunch cereal and crushed Oreos. Our two Pinkberry swirls were nearly $10--more than twice the cost of our lunch--but were excellent, if you like the sour yogurt flavor.

After yogurt, I bought a new pair of socks and in one of my less classy moments, changed into them on a park bench. Emergencies call for quick responses, and I had chosen bad socks that day, to the point that walking was painful. My new socks gave me the mental fortitude to go on.

We started our walk in the West Village, and then the rain started, a small sprinkle at first, though it quickly worked its way up to a downpour. We finished our walk and headed over to Magnolia Bakery for a wait outside in the rain for some treats.

We each picked out a cupcake and also got blueberry crisp. I asked the girl who was helping us for her favorite, and she said banana pudding, which sounded strange to me but I was willing to trust her expertise--and I am glad I did. Bananas, banana bread, and an amazing cream were our rewards, and we ate the snack right outside the bakery.

Despite our sweet reward, we decided that we couldn't go on and needed to give our aching legs a little rest. We grabbed a cab (unfortunately not the Cash Cab), headed up to our hotel, and rested until later that evening, when we wandered out to a nearby cafe for dinner and then collapsed in our little hotel room.

More later...