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New York Visit
I finally landed in La Guardia at 2am Saturday night (March 8th) and I took a $40 cab ride to Kristen’s apartment on the west side of Manhattan. We slept late that morning and got moving around 10am. It was really rainy and cold Saturday so we couldn’t go to too many places. We went to the Museum of Natural History and the shops at Columbus Circle. Later we came back to the apartment because it was sooo cold and nasty outside. That night for dinner we took a cab to Lombardi’s and had some AMAZING pizza as usual. Afterwards we went to Billy’s Bakery which was really awesome and got two slices of cake. We came home and were lazy the rest of the night.
This morning (March 9th) we woke up and took the train to the South Street Seaport and walked over the Brooklyn Bridge! After we got to Brooklyn, we walked over and ate more amazing pizza at Grimaldi’s. We didn’t have money and it was cash only so I was frantically on the phone with my American Express people trying to get my card setup so I could use it as an ATM. Luckily for us the couple next to us realized what was happening and paid for our meal. Kristen wrote them a check and we thanked them, and they were on their way.
We took the A Train back to Manhattan and Kristen and I walked through Central Park. After that we went to Rockefeller center to take up some time. We had dinner reservations at the restaurant that Sarah works at for 7pm. The restaurant is Ruby Foo’s and it was excellent as well. Since Sarah worked there we got some discounts and the bill didn’t break the bank. After that Sarah came home with us and we’ve been sitting around being lazy.
We got some hunger pangs from our light dinner so we walked down the street to a 24 Deli and got some desert. We were going to go out but it is so bitterly cold we couldn’t bring ourselves to go back out again.
That next morning I was feeling the roast beef sandwich from the night before and laid around until my stomach cleared up. Around noon we walked over to Times Square and wandered with the tourists. At around 3pm we had to come back to the apartment to get ready for my birthday suprise. Kristen handed me a card that said we were going to be “Dancing in the Dark” in the “Spirit of the Night” tonight with Bruce Springsteen! We caught the train from Manhattan to Westbury and got there around 5:45. We caught a cab and headed to the Nassau Coliseum. Springsteen and the E Street Band started playing around 8:45pm. The show was great and when they played Jungleland the crowd went nuts.
After the show we waited around for the 1:39am train that ran back into the city. It had to have been 30 degrees while we waited for the train. Finally it showed up and we thawed out on the way back to Penn Station. We got back to the apartment around 4am and promptly passed out.
The next day (March 11th) Kristen and I woke up and headed down to Burger Joint for my normal burger before I flew out. Kristen watched me inhale it… but I do remember it being delicious. Afterwards I had to pack up my crap and hit the airport. Kristen and I had our goodbye and I rode back to La Guardia. After a two hour delay I finally got on the plane.
Back in Dallas I rushed to make my connecting flight and missed it by 5 minutes. No luck in getting a comped hotel room for the night but the lady told me I was welcome to sleep in the airport… great. Here’s my breakdown of my night in the airport, as per e-mail to Kristen:
Chateau ‘de DFW
As you can see from the pictures, the Chateau ‘de DFW has only the finest meals, facilities and sleeping arrangements.For dinner we had a marvelous turkey sandwich with parmesan cheese, served luke-warm wrapped in cellophane. As a side, stale Doritos fished from the vending machine after hassling the lady vacuuming to trade me dollars so the machine would take it. For a beverage, a $1.75 bottle of Green Tea from a vending machine that took credit cards.
For the facilities, I enjoyed a wet paper towel shower in the men’s room of section B16 in the airport. I brushed my teeth in sweet silence with the occasional drip drip drip noise from some unknown leaky faucet. Balancing on my shoes while I changed proved to be quite a challenge as to not to step on the many puddles of water on the floor.
And finally to lay my weary body to rest, I had a four star bedroom waiting for me behind the ticket counter and the wall next to the runway. The cot I slept on had minor urine stains and was only slightly wobbly, assuring a long nights rest await me. I dreamed of my travels over the hum of vacuuming from 2am-5am and was greeting in the morning by the 6:30am wake-up call by a startled ticket agent.
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Overall, I’d rate this hotel 2 stars out of 10
Pros : The price is right… $0.00
Cons: The only time I sleep on a cot with urine stains; I’d prefer they’d be my own
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