In between my morning meeting and my afternoon meeting, I needed to have lunch, and because I cleverly scheduled a large gap of time in order to take a food tour of New York—specifically the “Original Greenwich Village Food Tasting and Cultural Walking Tour.” For twice the price of a nice lunch out, I got an educational three hour walking tour and enough food to satiate my lunchtime appetite.
I also got, by incredible random luck, Curt as my tour guide.
The split second he materialized at the designated tour meeting spot, I swooned—much like last May when I met Swoon Boy at the birthday party in Weimar. He is a tall (taller than me) red head with an adorable smile and perky personality—and it only got better because he was, without a doubt, one of the finest tour guides I have ever had—comparing favorably to tour guides in London, Berlin, and Amsterdam.
Not only did he know his stuff, but he was enthusiastic and excited to share his knowledge with us as we wandered the streets of Greenwich Village noshing on Pizza, sampling Olive Oil, having this incredible rice-ball thing, a terrific chocolate chip cookie, another pizza, a variety of cheeses, and closing out with a canolli.
One of Curt’s most impressive skills was his ability to learn names on the spot. Before the tour even started he had learned most of the names correctly—save for mixing up a couple of the ladies from Kentucky, but they were straightened out in no time and we were off.
Every once in awhile I was able to catch up with him and ask some questions—discovering along the way that he had moved from Vancouver to The City because he is an aspiring stand-up comic. I was of course a bit surprised, given that my trip to Vancouver was an advertisement to move there, but as he pointed out, Vancouver isn’t the place to start a stand-up career. Additionally, before becoming a tour guide, he had worked as a waiter at Home—which is one of my favorite restaurants in The City.
At one of the last stops, he mentioned that he has videos of interviews with famous people on YouTube, so for your entertainment, you can see him below; and if you’re in New York City, I recommend the Foods of New York Tours. I doubt it is possible to specify which tour guide you want to have guiding your tour, but if you figure it out, ask for Curt.
He’s that good.
Curt is Cute! with a capitol Q! I don’t know why you don’t like him? I didn’t watch the whole Video my dinosaur komputer from 1984 would take 3 hours or more to download 6 minutes. Couldn’t you just eat him up?
I want Curt. I want Curt bad. I want Curt and will show him all the wonderful things CQ can do for and to him. *growl*
Curt’s pretty damn yummy…
I totally need to do one of these tours next time I’m in The City!
I stumbled over your blog via some other expat site and realized you live right in the area where I come from; Thuringia. Have a nice weekend!
ed, cq, b: while curt is definitely cute and piping hot, he is gay (sorry B), and taken (sorry ed, cq, me).
Antje: where in Thuringen do you come from? I’m glad to have you reading my blog!
I was looking for great things to do during my recent trip to NY, so I took Curt’s tour and loved it! He is totally hot! He kept us laughing for three hours. I love the youtube show too. thanks for turning me onto this guy. I am a fan for life.
Thank you so much for the kind words, I am thrilled that you had such a good time on the tour. Where are you located? I love that a you are also giving a link to the “icurts”. I am going to be doing a reading of a play I just completed, “Liberty Club”, in the new year, and would like to keep you posted. (It is a one man show) Hope to hear from you and again thank you so much. curt
Dear Adam, Thank you so much for the kind words, and I am thrilled that you had a good time on the tour. For me its a great job that leaves me time to persue my ambitions. I also want to thank you for posting the link to my “icurts”. My partner and I are working on many more. I have just completed a ome man play “Liberty Club” and wil be staging a reading for after the holidays. Hope to hear from you Curt
@najib: I’m glad you enjoyed your tour–getting Curt is lucky!
@Curt: You were, hands down, one of the very best tour guides I’ve had the pleasure of having–anywhere in the world. I wish I were passing through The City, for if I were, I would try to see it. Unfortunately I don’t even have the remote prospect of a trip to The City on my calendar right now.