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Trip report, NYC, June 2008

Hot, hot, hot. Travelled to NYC on the 1st hot weekend of the year. It was a fun packed long weekend. Arrived on the red-eye at 7am, arrived at the hotel at 9am hoping that they could get us a room early. They did! So we slept until 2pm. This wasn't a big deal because we were going to stay on California time for the trip, so this was equivalent to sleeping until 11am. Took the subway down to Washington Square and had lunch at Otto, then walked south to Soho, sitting for a while in Washington Square park to listen to some jazz, and then to the outskirts of Chinatown to buy a keyring (found one marked 6 for $10, tried to get one for $1.50; he said 2 for $3, but otherwise wouldn't move, so moved on. Several stores later, found not quite what I was looking for, but getting tired of looking by this time, so got one for $1.25. Then on the way to the subway station, saw exactly what I wanted (which was the same style as the 1st place): $1. So bought that too. After that, took the subway to the Staten Island Ferry, which we took there and back. It was a nice relaxing round trip. Then, back to the hotel for a little rest, and then a late dinner at Jean-Georges. That was Saturday.

Sunday, slept until a little before noon. Then we planned to go to the "2nd Ave Deli" as listed in the 2002 edition of Lonely Planet, but turns out, it's not at the location listed anymore (listed at 2nd and 10th, but now reopened at 33rd at 3rd), so instead, we got a hot dog at Nathan's. Took the subway down to City Hall, and walked to the 1st tower of the Brooklyn Bridge. Sitting in the breezy shade of the tower was very nice after the long hot walk up to that point. After that, we went to the Garment District (37th and 7/8th Aves) but most of the discount shops were closed. But there were some open. P bought a skirt and sandals and felt much better after changing out of her jeans and shoes. We then walked through Times Square to the Carnegie Deli to get a slice of cheesecake. Late lunch at the Brooklyn Diner on 57th, and then back to the hotel for a short rest, before heading out to see Avenue Q. That was a fun show, with some great songs with beautiful harmonies. After the show, we walked through Times Square after dark and with a huge crowd, to the 42nd st subway, which we took to Chinatown. While we were underground, there was a short, but apparently intense thunderstorm. When we exited the subway on Canal, the rain was just finishing, but lightning was still streaking the skies. We went to a wonton restaurant on Mott St for dinner, then went to the Empire State Building. Probably due to the fact that they had almost certainly closed during the thunderstorm (and apparantly, during the storm, lightning had hit the building), there was no line whatsoever to go up (it was midnight too, so a bit late). But there were quite a lot of people already up there, but not too many to have to wait too long for a space to look out. We did two rounds and then went back to the hotel. That was Sunday.

Monday we got up a bit earlier, 11am. Next door to the hotel was a very interesting building (the Austrian Culture Forum http://www.acfny.com) and we wanted to look inside since they were hosting a show called "Bread and Soccer". There were some interesting exhibits, and we played some foosball too. Then we were off to meet someone I'd met 5 years ago in NY, for lunch. After lunch, we walked around Central Park for a little bit, and needed to cool off, so we went to the MOMA until we got too cold, a couple of hrs later. After a quick bite to eat, it was back to the airport, and the jet back home.

All in all, a very fun and action packed trip. Pictures at flickr

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