Library Hotel
I’m in Paris right now, swooning over every street corner, market, and bistro, but this time last week I was in New York, swooning over my husband and the Library Hotel on Valentine’s Day.
Located on Library Way in the midst of midtown’s crazy commuter bustle, the Library Hotel is just down the street from the main branch of the New York Public Library (how’s that for a million uses of ‘library’ in a single sentence?) Bronze plaques of book quotes dot the route from library to hotel like beautiful breadcrumbs.
The Library Hotel really leans into its literary theme – the check-in desk is backed by a card catalog, walls of books line every public space, and rooms are labeled according to the Dewey decimal system (we stayed in room 1200.004 on the Religions floor.)
Our visit was the first New York staycation we’ve ever taken, and it was a strange sensation – packing a suitcase to spend the night in your own city. Together, we took advantage of the free wine & cheese happy hour, picked the most idiosyncratic books we could find off the hotel’s bookshelves (Jesse Ventura’s autobiography! A book about how CD-ROMs are the future!), and snooped around the hotel’s shuttered rooftop bar. It was a great night – great company, great vibes, and all just a quick subway ride away.
Now I’m going back from the city that never sleeps to the city of lights. Watch out for Paris posts in a few weeks!
