revjim.net

I woke up this morning to the sounds of city buses and cars honking 10 floors below my hotel window on 7th Ave and 55th St in Midtown Manhattan. Today is the beginning of our third day here. I'm able to walk, this morning, about as well as Bambi did at his first appearance in that famous same-titled film.

Sunday we drove to Newark, NJ from Syracuse, NY, and then took a PATH train into the city. That was a mistake. The drive was beautiful. Despite being really foggy first thing in the morning and not really the season for looking at much of anything by upstate New York standards, Jess and had a great time "ooh"ing and "aah"ing with our fingers pressed against the windows. Once we made it to Newark, however, the trip got considerably worse.

The idea, as I menioned, was to park in Newark, near Newark Penn Station, and take the PATH train to the World Trade Center stop, transfer trains, and end up almost on the front steps of our hotel. Parking alone was more trouble than I care to repeat. I had scouted out several lots and managed to drive straight to them almost without issue. However, the lots were unmanned, the gates to them wide open. I couldn't figure out who to pay, or where to pay, let alone to ask questions like "is it okay if I park here over night or will my car be towed". You know, silly questions.

Eventually, Jess found someone in a booth and ran through the urine saturated streets to ask these questions while I got honked at repeatedly for being stopped in the oh so sacred Taxi line. The parking attendant informed Jess that overnight parking was available in one lot only, just on the other side of the road. We drove there and met another parking attendant who answered my questions with mumbles and gurgle that almost resembled human speech. I decided to just park and deal with it later if my car got towed. So, for $21/day (instead of the $9/day I had planned on) we're parked in some random parking lot in Newark that I hope I can find when I get back. I will realize several hours later on the cold streets of Brooklyn at night that, in my frustration, I also managed to leave my jacket in the car.

The PATH train was the next fiasco. That "World Trade Center" stop I mentioned. Well, if you'll remember correctly, two planes hit the World Trade Center a few years ago and that stop was demolished along with the buildings. At the cost of $323 million a temporary PATH station has been built nearby. This is actually where the World Trade Center stop is now. Furthermore, the connection to the "1″ train that I intended to make is no longer there since the station isn't where it used to be. Even if it was, the station that the "1″ train leaves from has also been demolished and has not found a temporary home. So, in other words, getting from the PATH to the "1″ at the "World Train Center" stop is not as easy as the PATH map made it out to be. Thankfully, I figured all of this out in a panic the morning we were leaving and planned an alternate route.

The alternate route wasn't so bad. Took 15 minutes extra and we had to walk up two flights of stairs and then back down two flights of stairs all the while lugging around our large heavy suitcases. Next time, I'll remember to pack my belongings in a duffel that I can sling over my back when needed. Eventually, we made it to our hotel, crashed in the room, shuffled stuff from bag to bag, and prepared ourselves to take on the city.

we spent the first few hours just walking around. I pushed Jess through Times Square as she craned her neck toward the sky with her mouth wide open. As much as I hate being a "tourist" it's the one thing that I thing needs to be seen only because it represents a large part of the culture of this part of Manhattan.

That night, we took a train into Brooklyn and met a friend of mine for dinner at a wonderful french restaurant called "Juliette's". I had a Hangar steak, which I'd never had before, which was delicious. We shared a few appetizers and a few drinks, and then headed back to their place grabbing a cup of coffee along the way. We played card games and chatted for a bit, and then decided to head back to the hotel.

It was at this moment that I noticed my missing jacket the most. Thankfully, we found a better route home that involved more sitting and waiting in the subway station for the very infrequent night trains, but less walking on the streets where the wind was blowing right through me.

Monday morning, we got up, went the the Grey Dog for coffee and breakfast, and then spent the morning sight seeing and shopping. Mostly, I was looking for street bags and Jess was looking for clothes. I found an interesting bag store but opted not to commit to another $100 bag just yet. We walked around some more and Jess found a few beautiful scarves. Then we walked up Delancy to the top of the Williamsburg bridge (crying "hey man, well this is Babylon") and back down. We found great Vietnamese restaurant for lunch that was surprisingly cheap, even at Dallas standards, and quite good.

We tried to find FAO Schwartz because I thought Jess would enjoy it, but where Google Maps said it was is a big fat lie. I think I remember it being somewhere near Washington Square, though, so we'll try again today.
Eventually we ended up back at the hotel around 4pm. I ran some clothes for today's event out to the cleaners, we bummed around for a bit, and then headed downtown again. I'd decided to purchase a bag after all. We went to a differnt place and, after 15 minutes of deliberation, I walked out with what I hope will be the best street bag I've ever owned thus ending the eternal quest for the street bag.

Afterwards we found an Italian place in Little Italy called La Mela which was quite good. No nonsense. Large portions, decent service, great food, and whole ingredients. That's how it should be. Afterwards we walked up Broadway through SOHO (now realizing that our jaunt through SOHO earlier in the day wasn't really SOHO at all), eventually found a train, and made it back to the hotel just before 10pm where we both collapsed.

This morning, if I can get Jess out of bed, we have to pack up all of our stuff and get it prepared to switch hotels to the Waldorf this evening. Then, we'll set out for breakfast and a stroll through Central Park. Then we'll check out of our hotel, spurge on a cab to the Waldorf, and then hope that they'll either give us a room early, or that the concierge will hold our bags until later. Then we'll have about 4 more hours to kill. I'm hoping to find FAO Schwartz and visit the Brooklyn bridge, at least.

Around 3 or 4pm, we'll stop by the cleaners and pick up my clothes. The ticket says "5pm" but the lady there said it should be ready by 3pm. I hope so, because I need the shirt and pants for the event this evening which starts around 6pm. Then we'll attend the event which will include dinner, drinks, dancing, and, of course, the awards ceremony. It'll probably last all evening and represent us spending the least amount of time on our feet on this trip so far.

Wednesday morning, there will be little to no time for fun. My goal is to check into my hotel in Syracuse at 2pm and be at work for a short day around 3pm. Of course, This means we need to get up at 7am, get ready, and head out to make it there in time. Of course, I've built a little leeway into the plans, but not much.

So, really, this is our last day in the city. I'm quite saddened by that. There's so much more I want to do and see. However, we've had a really good time, Jess has really started to get a grasp on navigating the subway system, and, I'm quite certain we'll be back; especially if we move to Syracuse.