Saturday night I returned from vacation. It was incredible. I went to New York City, and had the time of my life.
I flew out of DFW Airport at 6:22 A.M. (Thanks Crissy!) The flight from DFW to Memphis was pretty average; nothing exciting happened. We landed in Memphis at 8:05, and I had a connecting flight leaving at 8:28. No big deal. When I walk out of the jetway, I was a little surprised to see the size of Memphis International. For a city of about 600,000, it was pretty big. Well over 60 gates. Anyway, I found my gate and got in line. I noticed something was wrong when it was 8:32, and only about 20 people were on the plane. Apparently NWA’s scanning system was down, so they had to manually input each boarding pass. It took forever. We get on the plane, push back, and taxi out to the runway. As we make the final turn to takeoff… the engines power down. Boo. “This is your captain speaking. Because of some heavy rain in the New York area, they are having some traffic trouble a La Guardia. We probably won’t be able to take off for about an hour.” Double boo. I have not mentioned that I had a ticket to see the Mets play the Pirates at 1:10. Our flight is supposed to land at 12:13. Do the math. So, frustrated, yet resigned, I pull out my iPod. (Thanks Danielle!) I made it through one song when a commotion from the front of the plane caught my attention. A man, of unknown mental stability, was trying to JUMP OFF THE PLANE. The flight attendants subdue him, using quite a lot of physical force, and restrain him against the wall. As they have him pinned, he starts having a seizure. The pilot zooms into action and rushes us back to the gate. An hour and a half later, after much luggage drama from that party, refueling, and another 45 minute New York area ground stop, we are in the air headed for the Big Apple.
Flight lands, I hop on a bus and race (figure of speech. What bus actually races?) to Shea Stadium, home of the Amazin’ Mets (until next season when they will move into the lovely, yet typicaly post-modern CitiField). I get in and find my seat. This is the moment I have been waiting for... to be thoroughly grossed out. Shea is in bad shape. The seats are tiny, the ground is dirty, the concourses are cramped. I could go on for hours. I was still excited because I love those Mets. Who lost. To the Pittsburgh Pirates. Suckiest team ever. Dumb Mets… It was cool. The fans are pretty intense. The umpire made a questionable call, and I seriously thought that everyone who was on the first base side was about to jump on the field. As a fan next to me said, “These fans treat these players like sacrificial lambs.” No joke.
After retrieving my luggage (which I left at the airport) I went to Enobong’s. We had dinner and went to Times Square. It’s big, it’s bright, and it’s busy. We went to Coldstone where I ordered a coffee caramel milkshake. The girl looked at me like I had just ordered a lobster dinner. She consulted the recipe book, and (mind you, it is sitting right in front of her) instead of using coffee ice cream, she used sweet cream ice cream. I gently corrected her (again, like I ordered a lobster dinner) and 10 minutes later, I had my shake. A lot of the excitement was gone by that time.
The next morning we went to Central Park. The zoo wasn’t bad, but unfortunately they were doing a lot of renovation (much like the ENTIRE city) so they only had cold weather animals (penguins, seals, sea lions, polar bears etc.). We went to lunch at Serendipity 3. Yes, like the movie. I have not seen the movie, but I was assured by several people and a wall plaque, that this was where a portion of the movie was filmed. The food was good. They had a mean raisin-pumpernickel. Their dessert was even better. Word to the wise: bring your wallet. Not exactly a low budget affair. Not extravagant, but not the most affordable joint either.
On to the Met. I was impressed with the size of the Metropolitan Museum of Art. It’s big. Really, really, really, really big. Gargantuan even. I looked for the Kincaid children, but apparently they were hanging out at the Frankweiler’s. Kidding. But seriously, it’s huge. Word to the photographers: don’t use flash.
We tried to win the lottery to get into a Broadway show, well, two. Wicked and Rent. We didn’t win. Boo. These people from Scotland were next to us at the Rent theatre, and they won six. Lame Scotland. It started pouring, so we went home. We had some amazing New York pizza, which, did I tell you was amazing? It was amazing.
Wednesday, I adventured out on my own. I went to Battery Park, and waited for 30 minutes to pick up my ticket to go to the Statue of Liberty. Word to the smart: buy your ticket online. EARLY. I strolled around the park while waiting on my ferry. I had a hot dog, and some Snapple. I LOVE SNAPPLE. If you want to ever give me something, give me Peach Tea Snapple. Better than (I shudder in admission of truth) Dr Pepper. Digression aside. As I walked around, I noticed the Korean War memorial. As I read the inscription, I found myself choking up a bit. All those people gave their lives for what? The UN? Please. I know, it was for South Korea, but really, it was just an effort to stop the spread of communism. Political gripes aside. The monument was cool. It had the silhouette of a soldier, with the inscription, “The Universal Soldier”, which I thought was really powerful. It didn’t matter what nation they were from, they were all there for the same reason. No one country was glorified above another. I finally got onto the ferry, and sailed (or ferried) away to Liberty Island. I walked around the island for a little while before I went into the statue. Once I waited through a really long security line (complete with air puffing) I entered the pedestal. The original torch was set in the foyer, which I was very impressed with. The walk up the stairs to the top of the pedestal was really steep. I was a little winded when I got to the top. (BTDub, you can’t go inside the crown anymore. The highest you can get it the base of the statue itself) I thought the view from the roof of Fort Wood (the statue sits atop it) was the best.
The tour of Ellis Island is beyond words. When you walk into the Great Hall, you are first taken by the immense size of the room. Then when you think about all the millions of people who streamed through there, it’s… Well, beyond words. There is a huge exhibit on the third floor, documenting everything that new arrivals went through. That was cool.
That evening I went to the Brooklyn Bridge. As many of you know, I am quite terrified of bridges. I don’t like being on them, yet I love them. Walking across was not the easiest thing to do, but it was worth it. The idea that such a massive project was conceived and completed without any modern technological assistance was inspiring. To see those 125 year old cable stays… Thursday-Saturday’s adventures to come…
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