I Heart NY Part 1
Hey everyone! This weekend I met Cyd in New York City. We've been venturing there together since our days in Arkansas, so it's become something of a tradition. This was the best trip in years. The weather could not have been more perfect, and since NYC is best seen and experienced on foot, good weather is mandatory for a perfect trip. I felt this was much deserved since last year it rained cats and dogs and I returned sick as a dog. This time I returned absolutely refreshed.
My trip did get off to quite the rocky start thanks to a miserable experience at DIA and with United. I was running late from parking at Pikes Peak Shuttle because all the DIA lots were full. Pikes Peak has to be the slowest operation on record so by the time I hit security I was cutting it close. United then flagged me for extra security screening. This has never happened before and I pray it will never happen again. The line was filled with the most innocuous looking people in the entire airport - me, a Chinese businessman, two old ladies and a frat boy. The FAA agents were so busy gossiping and joking about that rummaging through my luggage took an eternity. After a sprint to my gate, I arrive and find that my seat is on the last row. I'm in the midst of the plane, pulling my suitcase, with 10 people behind me when a stewardess starts yelling at me that my bag won't fit. The plane is too full. She tells me to turn around and bring it to the front so it can be checked. This is absolutely impossible - which she of course knew - thanks to the 10 people behind me and the world's narrowest aisles. I finally give up and drag my bag to the back where another stewardess yells at me. At that point I gave her my best glare and welcomed her to take it up front for me and plopped down in my seat. She then stores it in the back with her bags, so no checking for me. I swear United has just gotten worse. Of course I was seated next to a talkative man with the worst BO imaginable. And of course our plane was late. Joy. Luckily, that's where the bad part of my trip ended. I know the last thing the world needs is another airplane story (particularly on the weekend United 93 opened, making mine sound incredibly trite in comparison), but I had to get it out.
The last time Cyd and I got a hotel together, I was in charge and thanks to Orbitz got us a particulary scary room. We're talking holes in the shower. It was above a Subway sandwich shop (still can't eat there) and in the midst of Times Square. Never again was our motto. So we pricelined a nice hotel on Park and 38th street. The room was small but it was clean and in a great location. Friday morning we started out with breakfast downtown at The Cupping Room. A great place for waffles and blueberry pancakes. We were met by Cyd's friend Ashley and the three of us then went shopping. I scored new shoes and a vintagesque Black Sabbath t-shirt that I knew Thomas would adore. In my new shoes, I could have walked forever, which we pretty much did. After grabbing a slice and a coke in an idyllic courtyard, Cyd and I eventually found ourselves wandering about the meatpacking district. They are planning an above ground park there which should be interesting once it's completed. Seems very Jetsons to me. We then paid an afternoon visit to Hogs and Heifers, a country music-playing biker joint that gained fame years ago during the Coyote Ugly craze. There was one waitress who did an impressive jig on the bar and about 8 customers and Cyd and me. Johnny Cash and Willie Nelson were playing on the jukebox and we were bought free drinks by some anonymous person (all the better) due to our status as The Only Girls in The Place. Cyd was surely the only person in the place that knew all the words to every song played.
After that we rushed off to the hotel to change for dinner and a play. We went to Assenzio, a Sardenian joint downtown that is famous for suckling pig and myrtle liqueur. We had a delicious dinner and then went to see Festen, a poorly named play that just arrived on Broadway starring Julianna Margulies (Nurse Hathaway from ER), Ali McGraw and Jeremy Sisto (Crazy Billy from Six Feet Under). The play was based on the Danish Dogma 95 film, The Celebration, a very dark story about a family gathering for the father's 60th birthday only to have a shocking secret from the past revealed. The performances were fabulous, but the material and the set itself were very dark.
It is a truth univerally acknowledged that two girls leaving a Broadway play at 10:30 pm must be in want of a cab. It is also true that there are destined to be no cabs in sight. So we had no choice but to flag down a rickshaw driven by a mad 25 year old Turk named Mahmoud. Careening in a rickshaw, running red lights through Time Square, is an experience I heartily recommend to anyone visiting NYC. Exhilerating does not begin to describe it. We passed yellow cabs, amusing the cabbies but angering their customers. Sure enough though, we arrived safe and sound at our hotel. The perfect end to a perfect day.
Tomorrow: Wrap up of NYC and Tribeca Film Festival.
-sunday
My trip did get off to quite the rocky start thanks to a miserable experience at DIA and with United. I was running late from parking at Pikes Peak Shuttle because all the DIA lots were full. Pikes Peak has to be the slowest operation on record so by the time I hit security I was cutting it close. United then flagged me for extra security screening. This has never happened before and I pray it will never happen again. The line was filled with the most innocuous looking people in the entire airport - me, a Chinese businessman, two old ladies and a frat boy. The FAA agents were so busy gossiping and joking about that rummaging through my luggage took an eternity. After a sprint to my gate, I arrive and find that my seat is on the last row. I'm in the midst of the plane, pulling my suitcase, with 10 people behind me when a stewardess starts yelling at me that my bag won't fit. The plane is too full. She tells me to turn around and bring it to the front so it can be checked. This is absolutely impossible - which she of course knew - thanks to the 10 people behind me and the world's narrowest aisles. I finally give up and drag my bag to the back where another stewardess yells at me. At that point I gave her my best glare and welcomed her to take it up front for me and plopped down in my seat. She then stores it in the back with her bags, so no checking for me. I swear United has just gotten worse. Of course I was seated next to a talkative man with the worst BO imaginable. And of course our plane was late. Joy. Luckily, that's where the bad part of my trip ended. I know the last thing the world needs is another airplane story (particularly on the weekend United 93 opened, making mine sound incredibly trite in comparison), but I had to get it out.
The last time Cyd and I got a hotel together, I was in charge and thanks to Orbitz got us a particulary scary room. We're talking holes in the shower. It was above a Subway sandwich shop (still can't eat there) and in the midst of Times Square. Never again was our motto. So we pricelined a nice hotel on Park and 38th street. The room was small but it was clean and in a great location. Friday morning we started out with breakfast downtown at The Cupping Room. A great place for waffles and blueberry pancakes. We were met by Cyd's friend Ashley and the three of us then went shopping. I scored new shoes and a vintagesque Black Sabbath t-shirt that I knew Thomas would adore. In my new shoes, I could have walked forever, which we pretty much did. After grabbing a slice and a coke in an idyllic courtyard, Cyd and I eventually found ourselves wandering about the meatpacking district. They are planning an above ground park there which should be interesting once it's completed. Seems very Jetsons to me. We then paid an afternoon visit to Hogs and Heifers, a country music-playing biker joint that gained fame years ago during the Coyote Ugly craze. There was one waitress who did an impressive jig on the bar and about 8 customers and Cyd and me. Johnny Cash and Willie Nelson were playing on the jukebox and we were bought free drinks by some anonymous person (all the better) due to our status as The Only Girls in The Place. Cyd was surely the only person in the place that knew all the words to every song played.
After that we rushed off to the hotel to change for dinner and a play. We went to Assenzio, a Sardenian joint downtown that is famous for suckling pig and myrtle liqueur. We had a delicious dinner and then went to see Festen, a poorly named play that just arrived on Broadway starring Julianna Margulies (Nurse Hathaway from ER), Ali McGraw and Jeremy Sisto (Crazy Billy from Six Feet Under). The play was based on the Danish Dogma 95 film, The Celebration, a very dark story about a family gathering for the father's 60th birthday only to have a shocking secret from the past revealed. The performances were fabulous, but the material and the set itself were very dark.
It is a truth univerally acknowledged that two girls leaving a Broadway play at 10:30 pm must be in want of a cab. It is also true that there are destined to be no cabs in sight. So we had no choice but to flag down a rickshaw driven by a mad 25 year old Turk named Mahmoud. Careening in a rickshaw, running red lights through Time Square, is an experience I heartily recommend to anyone visiting NYC. Exhilerating does not begin to describe it. We passed yellow cabs, amusing the cabbies but angering their customers. Sure enough though, we arrived safe and sound at our hotel. The perfect end to a perfect day.
Tomorrow: Wrap up of NYC and Tribeca Film Festival.
-sunday
posted by Sunday at
10:56 AM
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