3.5 hours sleep later

Up early. 7 A.M.

So tired. We need to Check out & Check back in due to the holiday weekend bookings.

Coffee and bagels from Cafe' 28.

More to follow....

Thursday

Explored Tribeca (TRIangle BElow CAnal) some more.

Lunch at Franklin Station Cafe - French/Mandarin fusion.

Did some shopping. Passed a location shoot.

Jump the train to Chelsea Pier. Went to the Sky Rink. Two rinks on the second floor of a pier over the Hudson River.

Rented skates. A half hour around the ice...

Walk back to the hotel... stopped for a quick pretzel & hot dog...

Made it back to the hotel around 5:30.

Changed...

6:30 - took the subway to Times square. Nederlander Theater. RENT.

Doors not open. Cocktails at the bar next door.

RENT was better than expected...

Mimi dies...applause...encore for applause...

Dash!! from 41st to 44th along Broadway...

to Sardi's for our 11P.M. reservations.

Great meal. Wine & drinks. Last ones to leave @ 1:30 am...

LOOOONNGG subway ride home...

3:30 A.M.

Sleep.

Wednesday's report.

A quick update.

First. There have been requests for more pictures. We understand. More will come later. Sorting and resizing takes time...


Wednesday:

Chinatown. Lunch - Dim Sum, Udon w/Sliced Beef, Jumbo Mango Shrimp. Super-fried-rice.

Buddhist temple. FDNY again...responding to a problem at the Iki Iki store.

Crime Scene - Trademark infringement.

Stop @ the hotel.

Bronx for Red Sox v. Yankees. Sox lost. Bummer.

A guy went for a fly foul-ball a few sections over from us (we were almost in the highest & steepest seats) and lost his footing. He tumbled face-down and head-first, about 15 steps to the steel & cement. He didn't get up. Police and paramedics came, a stretcher was brought out.

We ended up leaving at the end of the eighth, he still hadn't been moved. As we were climbing the stairs to the catch the 6 back to Midtown, an ambulance screamed in and backed up to the stadium doors...

Subway was crammed for the ride back. We stopped at the hotel to use the restroom...

Head back out for a snack. 11P.M.

FDNY. Again.

Taxi on fire. Debbie noticed the flames...we gawked for a minute. You don't see a flaming taxi in NY every day.

Walked a couple of blocks over to the Empire State Building. We were going to go to the top, but the guy there suggested we come around 6:30 in the evening to see it in the day, then sunset and night. We'll do that on the weekend...

Saw Macy's while looking for something to eat.

Found a bagel shop. Sandwich and lox&Bagels at midnight. Back to the hotel.

Eat.Sleep.

6:45 am. NYC

Fire Alarm. Sounds like bad-artsy blippy-electronic music.

Voice on intercom. Possible fire on 2nd floor. We're on 6th.

Open door, Debbie encounters a neighbor, French, says "Danger?!" with thick accent...Debbie responds... "Yes..Take the stairs..." He disappears.

We grab laptops & wallets...hike 6 flights down..everyone is in the lobby...



Apparently a fire? No one knows what's going on...

Thickly French-accented hotel employee says all clear...

FDNY enters from the back of the building... He thinks some one was smoking on the second floor of the adjoining building at the back... everyone begins returning to their rooms..

Another thickly-French-accented employee, she says to wait... more FDNY enter from back...Is everyone French here?

First employee shows FDNY a back room... FDNY exclaims.. "Hey, 'dere is a back-a 'dis building!!" A few FDNYs check it out...


After a few minutes, we're given the all clear.

Debbie heads back to the room...
I go for coffee & bagels around the corner @ Cafe' 28th.

Back at the hotel. Relax.

Day number 3.

Day 3.

Up a bit late. Went to the deli around the corner for coffee and bagels..

Relaxed in the room for a while.


Left around noon. Took the 6 to Union Station...jumped to the 7 line, then switched to the 1 at Times Square to Columbus Circle.

Got something to drink at the concession stand--sat at the fountain for a few minutes.

CNN

Walked over to the Time Warner Building. Nothing exciting, just a mall, really...though a very shiny expensive-looking mall.

Walked around the block..noticed the Trump International Hotel. Not very Trumpish.

Headed up Central Park West to Tavern On The Green.

Lunch with the old-money socialites. Inside.

Fish & Chips. Cob Salad. Waiters & Captains.

Need a pair of sneakers... turn back toward shiny mall, this time through Central Park.

Pigeon in throes. Pedi-cabs don't notice--think we want a ride.

AWhile walking, we're asked if we wanted a ride by a different, very persistent, pedi-cabie w/ african accent...

back to Time-Warner. New York Running store. Brand new Mitsaka Tigers...

back to Central Park.

The Dakota. Strawberry Fields.. imagine all the people...crowding around the place... Kid, BADLY, Loudly, playing guitar through a small, tinny amp... Homeless couple arguing about food, hot meals, broken foot.

Move deeper into the park..exiting Strawberry Fields, see sign that says 'Designated Quiet Zone'...

Wander around with a south-eastern heading.

Run into same persistent pedi-cabbie. HE insisted he give us a free ride. We decline, if he sees us a thrid time, he MUST give us a free ride, he says.

Keep walking. Stop at the sheep field..sit for a bit.

Moving on, we exit the park on the East side...around 66th.

Dip back in to swing by the Central Park Zoo. Zoo closed, snap photo with Geo Cache-Tiger.

Man in Penthouse mansion.

Exit Park @ Central Park South & 5th Ave.

Go South along 5th Ave.

Rush hour. People. Lot's of people.

Apple Store. FAO Schwartz. Tiffany's. Prada. Chanel. Armani.

Trump Tower. Way too much gold. Way too much ego on display. Giant Shower.

Continue south on 5th.

St. Patrick's. Candles. Solemn.

Rockerfeller Center. Tons of people. Salsa dancing. NBC Store--no Hardball.
Radio City.

East to Broadway, turn south. Theater district. Ray's 'original' New York Pizza.
2 square, one white, one cheese. So good.

Times Square. Hollywood Blvd.-LasVegas-Picadilly Square, but much bigger.
So many tourists, no purpose. Jarring. Slightly uncomfortable.

Jump the Subway at Times Sq & 42nd St.

Off at Grand Central. Main Terminal. Amazing. Much cooler than Times Square. Down to the Dining level. Sat for a few minutes. Taking it all in..so many people with purpose, so much food, so much activity, yet calming and relaxing.

Back to the 6 headed downtown to 28th. Duane Reade for some sparkling water...

Return to the Gershwin around 10pm.

Sleep.

NYC. Day 2

Bought coffee from a street-side vendor(very New York).

Took the 6 line to Wall St.


Trinity Church

Orange tree-roots.

NYSE, Doorman in coat & tails, Bull

Bowling Green Park.

Walked around. Battery Park. Statue of Liberty.

Staten Island Ferry launch

Lunch @ Cafe Noon.

Empty when we sat, full of Wall St. types by the time we finished..

Walked to WTC site, stayed brief crowded.

Churchyard. Sat.

Fulton St. and John.Starbucks.

Millenium Hotel.Coctails.Relaxed in the bar..

Century 21.

911 memorial museum. followed Liberty St. to WFC.

Battery Park city Another Starbucks.

Sat in Park by the North Cove Yacht docks.

Walked along Nelson Rockerfeller Park. Irish Famine. Muddy Koy pond.

Cross West Side Highway @ Chambers and into Tribeca.

Dinner @ Mexican Cafe in outdoor seating. Not terribly authentic, but quite good. Tribeca good.

Great old brick buildings tons of charm. Small local markets. Mr. Hooper style.

Walk up W.Broadway through Soho...

got to great little shopping and dining section.

All the stores were closed. Bummer.

Crowd around one store...Paparazzi...
??!?!?
Jessica Simpson. Eww. Move along.

End up by Washington Sq Park & NYU Law Library.

Cut east back to Lafayette... you know..hung out with George Washington, has a street named after him in New York.

Caught the Subway...Green #6 back uptown to 28th St.

Stopped at the Kabob shop, grabbed some water & soda...

back to the Gershwin...crash...

foreigners arguing in an unclear language about 3 am...

sleep...

NYC. Monday 8:25 am.

Our first morning in New York city. The sounds of the city are much more layered and varied (and constant) than home.

The flight out, yesterday, was fairly uneventful, the landing could have been smoother, but we made it onto the runway.

We met our driver at Passenger pick-up 1, and he proceeded to take us from Newark to Manhattan. It rained for part of the way, fairly heavy for about 10 minutes.

Traffic was horrible. It took us almost two hours to get to the hotel. There was a hefty back-up heading into the Lincoln Tunnel. Once we got into the tunnel, traffic picked up, our top speed reaching maybe 35 mph.

Debbie pointed out some city buses that had a advert on the side in text reading "Yippy Kiy Yea Mo.. - John 6:27" a reference to the upcoming Die Hard movie.

We arrived at the hotel around 6:30, it looks much like it does on the Website, www.gershwinhotel.com, but in person you can feel much more of its history. We wanted to choose a place that had more of a "New York of old" feel, and we hit the jackpot there.

The Gershwin, located on East 27th @ 5th has sort of bohemian-boutique-motel6-Tin Pan Alley charm.

Debbie noted that New York city, as a whole is much cleaner than she thought it would be, and I have to agree that it is much cleaner than I remember it--of course I haven't been here since about 1985. Rudy really cleaned up the place.

After getting our things settled in the room, we took a walk from the hotel over to Chelsea to get some dinner. We moved a couple of blocks south to Madison Square park, across from the Flatiron building, which has a great looking little place called the Shake Shack. Our first impulse was to get something to eat there, but the line was way too long for our hunger to stand.

We made the decision to continue over to Chelsea, turning west to 8th St.

A great area for our first stop. Tons of charm, bustling with people, more restaurants than one could eat at in a month. Flower shops on every corner, small boutique shops, a few of which we stopped detoured into.

All of the buildings were incredible, such history and style to the buildings that can only be achieved by the passage of time. San Diego tears down too many places like this.

Our focus soon turned to food, we decided to pick a spot. On the corner of 19th(?) and 8th Ave, there was a string of three interesting restaurants.

Seafood Mare (seafood sea?), a Cuban place and one with a sign that read "The best Italian in Chelsea"...we stood on the corner for a second to decide on which had the most intriguing look.

At this point Debbie noticed a Steak House just down the side street, so we too a walk towards it. She stopped in front of the menu, and thought it may be a good choice, I took a few steps further and peeked into the place.

I turned to her and said, "This place looks weird, let's eat here."

Upon seeing it, she agreed.

The entire dining room was no more than 500 square feet. All done in early 20th century woodwork, the walls were adorned with (vegetarians beware) mounted "trophy" animals. Steer, deer and bear, quail and pheasant on shelves, a lion and a freaky-looking-teeth-bearing raccoon.

We were seated in a corner, directly under a giant moose-head.

As is our routine, we ordered a bottle of sparkling water, a glass of wine each, and an appetizer of fried calamari. It was quite good, and seemed a bit plumper than we've been served on the West coast. The sauce that accompanied it was thinner and less marinara than usual but had a nice smoky taste.

We ordered the lamb chops w/ bernaise sauce and a sirloin with wild mushroom sauce.

We wrapped up the evening with a walk...south along 8th Avenue. There were tons of cool looking buildings and shops the whole way. We headed into Greenwhich Village and decided to begin heading back. We kept going a little bit until Christopher St., where we turned east.

Christopher St. had many cool restaurants, just as we had been seeing, though this time we had the added addition of "boy-toy and leather" shops.

We kept along until we got to the Christopher St. park, where we sat down for a bit. Debbie made a phone call and I jotted a few notes in my sketchbook.

After a short time sitting in the park, we followed 7th Ave., north, from Christopher St. up to 23rd St. and continued east until we hit 5th Ave.

Most of the store were closed, though there was a short stretch of 7th that had a few interesting restaurants.

We eventually made it back to Madison Square park, the Flatiron district and our hotel, where we settled in after long day of traveling.