Category: Random

Hey,

And we’re up to Monday!

I have really enjoyed seeing so much of NYC over the last 3 days, but I must say I’ve done so much that my brain has fried in the process. Tomorrow is a bit of rest before things begin.

Today I did what I’d recommend to every tourist – take the 3-hour Circle Line boat tour around the island. It’s a great way to get some photos, learn about the city, see the different areas, and have a great time. Some photos from today are below – note I have tons more pics but these were with my cell phone:

Ellis Island:

Statue of Liberty:

Following that great 3-hour adventure, we went to Katz deli in the Village. Wow. Best pastrami EVER. And they do mail order. I may have to look into this! And for those of you movie buffs, this was the diner where they filmed the famous scene in “When Harry Met Sally” – the one where Meg Ryan screams in ecstasy to make a point…and afterward a waiter asks another customer what she wants and the woman replies, “I’ll have what she’s having.”

St. Patrick’s Cathedral on 5th Avenue – gorgeous church, designed by the same man who designed much of the Smithsonian in Wash DC.

Here is an earlier shot of Times Square:

Some more posts to come – there’s a lot of things I’ve been thinking about this week in terms of how differently our misconceptions are about others compared to what we really experience for ourselves. But meanwhile, have a great week and I’ll be learning lots at a conference!

Elaine

Did something different Sunday and went to the Upper West Side for brunch at a little place called French Roast. This was my first venture into this area, and I must say I liked it. Maybe because it feels roomier and the streets aren’t as crowded as other areas of the city. Maybe it was the people. But either way, I liked this part of town. After breakfast, we went down Riverside Drive and saw Riverside Park; another large area of greenery around the New York that I’d heard was a concrete jungle.

Sunday afternoon was spent at the Metropolitan Museum of Art (aka The MET) to see the Egypt exhibit, along with a few other areas. It’s almost impossible to see everything in there, so we focused on specific areas. See photo below:

The main thing that struck me was how much the Egyptians communicated. Symbols and stories of their lives were engraved into everything—walls, tombs, doorways, etc. As a writer, I’m intrigued by their impassioned desire to communicate stories in so many ways, for so many reasons. Another note was how much the Ankh (symbol of life or life force) was prevalent in their statues and symbols. One intriguing statue in particular had a lion sitting on a throne, clasping the Ankh tight in its hand, almost as if to cling to whatever life it could.

Dinner was at Chez Josephine, where (I’m embarrassed to admit) I went against my better judgment and tried one tiny bite of escargot. But hey, this is NYC and it’s a city for new sights, new sounds, and the creativity and thrill of being here must have affected my brain because I ate one bite.

Ahem. YUCK. Never again, but at least I tried it.

After dinner, friends and I decided to do something incredibly foolish: go to the top of the Empire State Building. We weren’t foolish for wanting to do such a thing, after all, it’s a standard tourist activity. We just should have picked a better time to go – we picked close to sunset.

The line was deceptively brief, enough for us to comment how easy this venture was going to be. Ahem. Not. For those of you who haven’t been here or may want to visit the top of it, go first thing in the morning when it opens. Or go at 1 a.m. because it closes at 2 a.m.

We got in a line for security. Then we got into a line to get tickets. Then we go around a long hallway where we are in another line.

Then we finally get into an elevator and wow, we’re going up to the 80^th floor! Exciting, right? We are on our way! The ride going up kind of freaked me out because it does go 80 stories high…and of course thoughts of plummeting to the basement kept creeping into my mind. Fortunately, the worst thing that happened on the ride was that my ears kept popping.

When the light said 80^th floor, I stepped out. This was it. I was going to see the whole city from way up high. Yay, this is terrific, right?

No. There’s another line. This one is to go to a different set of elevators to the 86^th floor, where the *real* observatory is. Great. So kill another 20 minutes. FINALLY we got to the top. It is an incredible view, we caught the last few minutes of sunset before the view turned to tiny twinkling lights in every direction. It’s the city that never sleeps. Boy is that ever right. Even at 1 a.m., streets are crowded like it’s rush hour in Atlanta. Who knew?

Photo:

I guess it took us about an hour to get up to the top, and we spent about 20 minutes up there. Not terrible, but I’d do it at 8 a.m. next time, not sunset. So we go back in, figuring it’s going to be a lot easier to get down than it was waiting to come up. Right?

Nope. You guessed it. There’s another series of lines. Same as coming up. Oy! Oy Vey!

Needless to say, I came back to the hotel and crashed.

Hey all,

Well, I meant to blog every 24 hours but exhaustion and lack of working Internet got in the way. Oh, and did I mention exhaustion? Seeing so much in so little time has been terrific (as I’ve really come to sense the flavor of the city and its many areas) but it’s also exhausting.

So, below follows a big gob of travel updates and general notes of seeing NYC in 3 days:

Saturday

Took a brief walk through Central Park, for the day was humid and I only wanted to catch a couple of sights. We saw “Strawberry Fields” the area appropriately named for the John Lennon mosaic memorial. Unfortunately there were such crowds taking photos of themselves with this mosaic that I couldn’t get a shot of just the iconic piece. Here’s a link showing what it looks like.

One area I wanted to see was Bethesda Fountain, which was featured in the movie “Godspell” made many years ago with a young Victor Garber. For those who saw the film, this was the baptism fountain. See photo below:

Saturday evening was a first: not dinner and a movie, but dinner and a Broadway show. Something to note for those who may not want to see a show – people go to 6pm dinner, 8pm shows. So if you want to enjoy a nice dinner but don’t want to do the whole Broadway show thing, make reservations for 8:05 pm. You’ll have no trouble getting in. We ate Italian at a place called 44 Southwest; it’s a quaint al-fresco place run by very kind, Nordic-looking women. Based on their blonde hair and blue eyes, I expected them to be from Sweden or Finland. They were from Northern Italy. Little did I know the women are all blonde and blue-eyed from Italy – guess we learn new things every day!

Saw “The Addams Family” at the Fontaine Theater – a hilarious play about Wednesday turning 18 and falling in love with a boy from (gasp!) the Midwest, of all places. Not only that, she’s singing happy songs and smelling the flowers. Seeing as how she’s an Addams, this distresses the family—and chaos ensues. It was hilarious! The set, the beautiful red curtain, the way the Broadway show was handled—all first rate and impressive.

With the mounds of people pouring out of theater houses at 10 pm, you can imagine the difficulty in getting a taxi without waiting forever. I’m thrilled to say that this is my hidden talent. In just a few short days I’ve gone from an awkward, “What do I do? Stand and wave and yell Taxi?” to taking an assertive step out into the street, giving the signal, and hailing down cabs that even my friends can’t get to stop. Guess if the economy gets worse, I know where my hidden talent lies J

Went for dessert and coffee in the East Village after the play. A great Saturday!

hey all

Hey all,

Well, as I did for the trip to San Francisco years ago, I’m blogging day by day. There are 2 reasons for this. One, I love to share information, and two, this helps ME remember all the tidbits about the trip.

So, let’s start with the flight in. I’m sitting next to a guy who was flying to NYC to see family, he looks out the window and points out Rikers Island to me. This is the first NY thing I see…the prison. Oh well. Now at least I know what area they’re talking about when they mention it on Law & Order.

Cut to me meeting friends at the airport, and we go stand in line for a taxi to get to Midtown where my hotel is. The taxi driver of the car we were getting into was distracted because another taxi driver was yelling at him. The two of them mouthed off to each other for several moments, as I’m standing there with jaw dropped wondering if there will be a fist fight before our cab ride. My friend points out to me, “Welcome to New York.” Apparently that’s the way cabbies do it here, so no biggie.

Moments later we’re riding though various areas and crossing gorgeous bridges. I know NY is an island, I’ve certainly heard of the Brooklyn Bridge, but I never knew how many bridges were in NYC. Beautiful architecture on every one. That’s one surprise I’m experiencing here…I had no idea how beautiful the ornate architecture was.

I get to the hotel and apparently “the lipstick building” which basically looks like a large reddish purple cake in its shape, is right out my window view. I don’t really think much of this until my buddy points out that it was where Bernie Madoff worked. Oh! Lovely. But seriously, the view and the area of Midtown East is wonderful.

Everything is within walking distance – and when people say it’s 6 blocks, what the rest of us not living in NYC don’t realize is – it’s a really short 6 blocks. It would be like walking through my subdivision which is small. So we walk to dinner, which winds up being an incredible steak place called Smith & Willensky (the grill side, so we didn’t have to dress up). Great service, great people, and I begin to wonder why New Yorkers have such an abrasive reputation down South because all I’m seeing is some really nice people.

After dinner we walk up Broadway, see the lights. WOW. It’s like these New Yorkers have found a way to capture daylight in a bottle. It was 9pm, but the lights are bright on Broadway. There’s a large and crowded area (along w/bleachers) for tourists to sit and watch all the bright and neon signs. Then we walk up to Times Square.

Hmmm…Times Square. While this will be where I eventually stay for the conference, I must say this is not my main cup of tea. It’s packed with people, everyone walking in one big glob from one corner to the next, and it was hot and humid. The lights were great, I’m glad I saw it, and I’m sure once I’m in the conference hotel, in air conditioning, and LOOKING at the lights out the window, things may seem nicer. But for now, Times Square is my least favorite part.

Moving on to a great area this morning – Greenwich Village. Or more specifically, the West Village. To a fabulous little restaurant that serves amazing omelets and has an eclectic group of people as their clientele and for their staff. This is where I look around and realize the local life and its flavor. So many characters, so many different kinds of people. We walk around for a bit after and then go to Central Park. We get off the city bus at 73rd and Broadway, and there is the most beautiful and ornate building there. I stare up for about 5 minutes.

Want to know something odd? Even the post office is beautiful here. How many cities can you say that about? It has majestic pillars, ornate sculptured designs, and the mission of mail carriers inscribed in big letters across the top.

Central Park is beautiful, though my feet were so tired by that point that we went in, saw the Strawberry Fields area and the John Lennon memorial mosaic, then we went to Bethesda Fountain which I’d seen in Godspell. I have pics, I hope to share them soon. It was beautiful. Oh, and another interesting tidbit – Central Park has tons of Bedrock throughout. Bedrock. I expected Fred Flintstone to pop out at any moment, but no, no old style cars, just lots of pretty gray rocks everywhere.

Then it was lunch in a cool pizza joint in the Village and back to Midtown to rest. And I’m so pumped up that I can’t rest. I have to blog. I want to write down and remember all this so I come back with all these rich and vibrant images in my mind :)

Tonight is dinner and a show. Not sure which one, my friends are surprising me. Stay tuned for the next 24 hours…

thx!
Elaine