I considered keeping a journal. Instead, I kept my receipts and picked up business cards along the way. I'm going to try to retrace my steps of my recent vacation to New York City. This is more for me than it is for you. I want to be able to pull this up someday and remember...although I don't think I'll forget. I hope I don't forget.
Have you ever taken one of those trips where everything goes so perfectly fine that you wonder if it can possibly continue? For me, this was that trip. I had no trouble parking at the airport. My flight was on time. Even when I arrived at LaGuardia and discovered that I'd be waiting an extra couple hours for my friend, Jacque, I wasn't concerned. There were plenty of seats to be had. Sure, my cellphone battery was nearly drained, but I could turn the silly thing off and read a book. I was on vacation. As I'd learned the previous week in Jamaica, "No problem."
(Psssttt!!! Here's where I insert the part about how wonderful everyone I came across was in NYC. Next time someone tells you it's a rude/dirty/mean city, just remember what I said. Most friendly, outgoing, "no problem" people I've ever met.) As the time for Jacque's arrival neared, I fired up my phone and received her text message. Her plane had landed. I moved to the Delta baggage claim area to wait, and leaned against a wall - on my way dodging the dozen or so town car drivers who were offering me their services. I watched travelers coming and going and noticed a sharply dressed man stepping onto the Up escalator toward Departures. He must have felt my gaze because he turned and looked at me as he rode all the way to the top. I smiled. What else would I do? Mr. Man smiled back and proceeded to immediately step onto the Down escalator and approach me. We were still exchanging, um, information when Jacque walked up.
Well, it was time to catch a cab and see the city. I bade goodbye to the escalator man and our New York adventure began. After collecting Jacque's bag, we got on line for a taxi. The ride in was fun and exciting. It didn't take us long to pull out our cameras and start acting like the tourists we were. We arrived at our hotel in Times Square, checked in, brushed our teeth, waited for our bags to make it to the room and we were out and exploring within an hour. Big Night! Times Square was overwhelming and exciting, exactly like I'd seen on television and the movies only more. The weather was perfect and it seemed like everyone was in a good mood. I was eating it up!
Night one: We stumbled our away around. We started walking and fell into places we thought we'd like to see and yes, we liked them. We found the pizza place next to the studio used for Late Show With David Letterman. We ordered a thin crust pie with pepperoni at Angelo's and it was delicious. We found Rockefeller Center, Radio City Music Hall, and we also stumbled into a crowd of people who were obviously waiting for something...what? We didn't know but it seemed like it must be important. There was a police barricade and reporters, photographers, news people. We fell into the crowd and pulled out our cameras. Turns out it was premier night for Evita, starring Ricky Martin. Word was that Mr. Martin, himself, was about to arrive. Gosh! We decided to wait. We never saw him but we saw Barbara Walters, Kathy Griffin, and David Hyde Pierce. Close, right? When it became clear that the celebrity parade was done passing before us, we decided to move on. Can I tell you where these tired and hungry women grabbed a late-night snack in NYC the first night? Yeah, we ate at McDonalds. (This is me, hanging my head in shame.) We walked around a little more and capped the night off by visiting Toys R Us and taking our picture in the photo booth in the upstairs arcade.
Day Two:
We slept later than we wanted to but we got up and got going. Yay for thinking ahead and having granola bars with me. And double yah (YAY!YAY!) for the coffee maker at the Hilton Times Square. (We gave that little thing a workout, even stashing the packets of coffee in the drawers so that housekeeping would think we were out of coffee and leave us extra. We grew to LOVE those afternoon pick-me-ups.) The subway is easier to figure out than one might think. We did it, after going waaaaaaay north once, changing trains and then finally getting to Central Park. (That whole, "Just act like you know where you're going", doesn't
actually get you where you're going.) Central Park? I only want to move there. Seriously, I really want to run there. Next trip - and you better believe there will be another trip to NYC soon - I'm taking my running shoes. My son suggested I see the Guggenheim Museum. Wonderful suggestion. Let me tell you about the Guggenheim: The design of the rotunda is absolutely beautiful and absolutely deceiving. You will think you're near the top and there will be two or three more levels to explore. Do it. You won't be sorry. I was thrilled to see several paintings by Camille Pissarro, who is my favorite impressionist. After working our way through the museum we had a hot dog. At a cart. It was just OK.
Night Two: Dinner prior to the theatre at our hotel because we were dead, dog tired. We thought we'd just have drinks and appetizers. We sat at a table and ordered a little more than that. It was a decent meal. I thought they did a great job on the scallops and the bartender made a delicious Sidecar. Being novice New York theatre-goers, we thought our waiter was slow and I think he was slightly amused at our wanting to get out of there a little quicker than he was moving. One very nice thing he did for us was package up the leftovers and order a mini-fridge for our room. We moved on to the Shubert Theatre for "Memphis". Now, know that this was my first Broadway show. On. Broadway. I'm proud of myself for not gushing over the fact that I was there. Well, maybe I did just a teensy bit. We settled into our seats, I bought a five dollar bottle of water (dang!) and the house lights went down. Heaven! We had excellent seats, orchestra level, on the aisle. The cast, music, performance, EVERYTHING was super. I felt like crying when it was over.
Day Three: Room Service breakfast in the room - the most expensive basket of stale rolls we'd ever seen or eaten. We got a good laugh out of it and enjoyed the coffee and juice. I had a good part of the day to myself so I walked through the Fashion District to Macy's and their flower show and then decided to see the Museum of Modern Art. I took my time getting there, enjoying the sights along the way and upon arrival enjoyed a light lunch and sweet tea in the Museum Terrace Cafe. While I ate (and eavesdropped on the ladies at the next table), I took time to plan my viewing of the museum. I had specific targets to see: Jaspar Johns, Paul Cezanne and Pablo Picasso. The Johns Flag was worth the entire visit for me. So many have attempted to copy what he did. I haven't seen anyone accomplish it. One can only be first at a first, right? Jacque and I met up again late afternoon and made a mad dash for H&M. We hoofed it back to our hotel (but being wiser by 48 New York hours stopped at a deli for the next day's breakfast yogurt) and got cleaned up and headed out the door to our dinner reservation at Joe Allen.
Night Three: Dinner at Joe Allen, on 46th Street, otherwise known as Restaurant Row. This is a quiet, dark steakhouse that serves a good steak, a great roasted chicken, and a damned good martini. I have no idea if it's a tourist trap or a hangout for theatre people. I've read that it's both. All I know is that we had a very good meal and it felt great to sit down and take time to enjoy the evening. We saw zero recognizable celebrities but the table next to us carried on a constant patter of conversation about production value and the like and we tuned them out almost immediately. We passed on the dessert menu, deciding to find a place in Times Square. We stopped at Roxy Deli and ordered a massive slice of strawberry cheesecake to go. By the time we arrived back at the hotel we were wiped out and we put the thing in the mini-fridge where it stayed for most of the next day.
Day Four: Easter Sunday. We enjoyed our breakfast of yogurt and muffins, congratulating ourselves on our frugality, then it was time to make our way to 5th Avenue for the Easter Parade. It was what I'd hoped for, completely chaotic and gorgeous, with smiling and friendly people. We took a few pictures and then hailed a cab for the ride to Battery Park. We had a lot to do this day and it was too far to walk. We'd already discussed the sad, sore state of our aching feet. We were springing for cab fare. After checking out the long line for the Ellis Island tour, we decided the Staten Island Ferry was the way to go - it was the original plan for seeing the Statue of Liberty. We made our way to the Ferry Terminal (which was spotlessly clean) and waited to board. I was so impressed with the organization and precision of the Ferry operation. We had a great ride over and back and got some wonderful pictures. From there we walked to the 911 Memorial site. I'd reserved spots for the tour and we were hours early. What would we do while we waited? We were allowed to enter. The Memorial Pools are perfect, from my perspective. I was deeply moved and again, saddened. There are not enough words. We walked away from the area mostly quiet and allowed each other to process what we'd seen.
Jacque and I decided to keep walking, rather than take a cab right away. We pulled out our map and regrouped, realizing we were close to the Woolworth Building and City Hall so off we went. Then came the Brooklyn Bridge and then...Chinatown. We stopped for a meal at Pho Viet Huong. I had Pho Ga, what else? Jacque had Ginger Chicken. It was a little hole-in-the-wall place. The price was right, the food was fair. We shopped a little. I found a great hippy bag that's already getting me compliments in Houston. I had to have it for it's "Peace & Love" on the side. We kept walking and made our way down Canal Street and eventually into Little Italy. We heard some salsa music coming from a place (what?). We ducked in and found ourselves in a CubanItalian bar/restaurant. A little wine, a lot of mambo. Why not?
Night Four: Back to our hotel. Freshen up a little. Back to see what's going on outside. Another slice of pizza? Sure. This time stuffed.
Day Five: My wonderful traveling companion had a morning flight. I had to bid her farewell. I had the day to explore. I decided to see and photograph Grand Central Station and the Chrysler Building. It was a short walk for me and the weather was STILL beautiful. I grabbed a salad at Juniors in the Food Court at Grand Central and then walked all the way up 5th Avenue to Tiffany's. I looked at some beautiful diamond earrings and although the helpful salesman advised me that "treating myself" was the best thing I could do that day, I decided to save my $2800 for another vacation. I walked back to my hotel, detouring through the diamond district. I guess I wanted to make sure they didn't have those earrings for less. They didn't. The helpful bellman at the Hilton retrieved my bag for me and called my cab. I was off to LaGuardia where my plane departed as scheduled for Houston and arrived right on time. There were no luggage problems. My car was in the lot where I'd left it.
When I arrived home, there were no surprises, no catastrophes. My coworkers even missed me. The only thing "wrong" is this desire to be "there" again. New York, I kind of love you.
