For Crying Out Loud

Heidi and I drove (well, actually, Heidi did all the driving) to New Jersey on Thursday, and spent the night at her brother and sister in law's house. The next morning we drove in to The City. That whole New York traffic thing is real! As in Real Scary! Glad it was Heidi driving and not me. I would have spent the rest of the day laying on the bed with a cold damp cloth on my head trying to recover.

After we checked into our nice hotel, we ventured out. We took the Metro (or maybe, it is called the subway here) up to Central Park. We were headed to the Tavern on the Green for lunch, but, well, it was just a bit much for us. Heidi took a few pictures , and I used their bathroom, snagging a couple of boxes of matches. (Notice how, since no one smokes anymore, you never have matches to light candles on birthday cakes?)

We hardly saw even a small corner of Central Park. They were preparing for the Marathon, which we totally didn't know was going to be that weekend. Since the Park was crowded with bleachers, we left and went to . . . somewhere else. I think it was a mall type thing. There were shops and we had a nice lunch at Whole Foods. And Heidi took this picture. She was much better with her camera than I was. After a late lunch, we took a taxi to a yarn shop we had read about. What a ride! At one point, I looked out my window at the car next to me and thought, "I can't get this close to the ATM machine." It was an adventure. Stop, start, stop, start. Left, right, wedge, shove. We never actually touched another car, but it was . . . different. And after all that, the yarn shop was a bit of a disappointment, not as good as the one in Rocky River Heidi and I go to.

We took the subway back to the hotel, which was very easy and we totally could have skipped the taxi, but that was part of the ride, no? We had trouble deciding where to eat and settled on Mint, an Indian restaurant within easy walking distance of the hotel. It was a Friday night and we didn't make reservations, but they fit us in anyway. We got there at 7:30, and didn't realize we would be ahead of the dinner crowd. It was almost empty when we sat down, but got very full. No wonder they had to 'squeeze' us in.

Saturday, having wandered around on Friday and familiarizing ourselves a bit, we decided to take a more organized approach. We started with a trip around the corner to the oldest 'Chemist' in the country. Then off to the Guggenheim. Only we really wanted the MoMA. We didn't actually 'do' the Guggenheim; we just visited the gift shop and the bathroom. (Are we beginning to see a theme here?) From there we walked to La Maison du Chocolat. We didn't technically have lunch there, because what they serve doesn't qualify as 'lunch food.' But there was no way we could have eaten anything after our litte soujourn there. Tres yummy. Then we just walked 'around the neighborhood.' And a very charming neighborhood it was, too.

Off to the garment district. I needed some buttons for my rain coat. I have had the coat for about 10 years and it looks great (okay, maybe it doesn't look 'great', but I'm not going to get a new one), except the buttons have started to break in half. Makes me cranky. I did buy an apple so I could have some 'nutrition.' We found a store that was a) large and b) filled with any kind of embellishment you could dream of. And I did manage to find some buttons. Now I have to sew them on.

Our next stop was an off, off Broadway show that we had arranged through the concierge at the hotel. It was in an intimate theater matinee, which was fine. Used the bathroom again. You have to take advantage when you can. The rest of the package included dinner. Very good, but by now, I was starting to feel slightly stuffed. It seemed as though everymeal we ate was Too Much. (The one at Whole Foods was the most reasonable. And I brought my own breakfasts.)

Since we were at Rockefeller Square, we poked around, missed the Metropolitian Museum Store, but took in the fashions and got photos of the skaters. (Yes, I know they are blurry. That's on purpose -- it's supposed to be 'artistic.')

We inquired about the subway back to the hotel (maybe 6 blocks). We got a strange look and were told, well, you could walk. Like who would take the subway for a six block walk? Two tired, overstuffed, middle-aged women from Ohio, that's who. So I suggested we take a rickshaw ride back. I am sorry to say, we didn't take any pictures. More's the pity. It was a total hoot! The driving technique was the same as the taxi's, but instead of having metal between you and the cars, all we had was a piece of canvas. By the time we made it through the six blocks, we were laughing so hard we could barely get out of the thing. It was great.

The next morning (Sunday and the actual day of the Marathon), we wanted to do more in the City, but not spend the whole day. We were parked next to the hotel at the tune of $32/day. If we stayed three hours over our check-in time, we would be charged for a whole day. No. Not going to happen, but we wanted to spend more time. So, at the suggestion of the desk clerk, we went about 3 blocks east and found a parking garage for only $10 for the whole day. So, we re-parked the car and took off, this time to the Waldorf-Astoria to catch the sight seeing bus. We hopped off in Soho to warm up with a cup of coffee/tea, use the bathroom and street shop. Then back on until Battery Park, were we got off to see theStatue of Liberty. It was a tad disappointing, so we decided to take the Staten Island Ferry across to get a better view. It's free and, though it doesn't get off at the Statue of Liberty, it does give you a better view. We also spotted the Queen Mary 2. Really.

And as we were walking through the terminal, a woman said to her daughter, "Look, twins!" I now wish I has asked her to take a picture of us, so you could judge for yourself. I love it. Heidi is (one of) the sister(s) I never had. We did manage to take this series of pictures. Stick with it. (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7) I thought it was funny to look at the whole process of us figuring out how to take our own pictures. We had lunch, which turned out to be dinner, at a street vendor'. We walked all over and his smelled the best (sauteing onions), so we came back to him before hopping back on the bus. By the time we got back to our car, the 3 hours we had given ourselves to do this had become closer to 8. It would have been a good investment to get a ticket when we got there because it is good for unlimited off and on for 48 hours and goes the places tourists want to see.

But anyway, now it was dark and we needed to make our way out of New York after the Marathon. At least, that may have been the reason the traffic was so heavy, but then, that might just be New York. So we were following the map. Up 87, looking for 86. I'm reading the map by the dome light and there is something above the 86, but I can't quite make it out. We drive. And drive. We are well out of the city an into wilderness. I see a sign for Poughkeepsee. Not a good sign. Turns out the little letters above 86 are FUT. That means 'Future'. Yes, you got that right. There is a road on the map that isn't on the road. Very frustrating. So, we turn around and drive another hour and a half back to where we could have turned. All this is in the dark because we spent so much time touring the city. Not that I regret it, but grrrrrrr.

We found a Best Western and crashed. Once you get out of New York City, New York State is a very rural state, with few amenities, like hotels. When we got up Monday morning, we easily figured out the lay of the land. To the north of the hotel (within viewing/walking distance) was a motor speedway. The the south was a pizza parlor and Tilly's. Well, not the reason we stopped, but glad they were there. We had a good breakfast and were on our way. Even though I was cranky about the detour and having to 'waste' our day driving, it was lovely. The weather was beautiful and the countryside lovely.

Around lunch time, we got to Corning and the Corning Glass Museum. I totally recommend this relatively small museum. It is beautiful and fascinating. We left there, exhausted, around 5 and got home by 9. Not too bad. A good trip. Hope you enjoyed it as much as I did.