For the third time we survived a weekend in NYC. The first time was in October of Y2K. Our daughter was doing her surgical residency at St. Vincent's Hospital and lived on west 12th st between 6th ave and 7th ave. That neighborhood was populated by a lot of starving artist types and a lot of not so big names in show biz. TV soap stars and sit come actors etc. Did see Sigourney Weaver. Quite a handsome woman. But then I've always loved the tall chicks. 
The second time was in 2010. By then Robyn had come back to Texas for short stint in Dallas but eventually went back to NYC. This time she lived on West 57th in Mid-Town. Depending upon what you like to do in Manhattan I guess its kind of the center of things.
This time we stayed Down Town at the Wall St. Inn On S William just off Wall street. Saturday we walked over and saw Battery Park and the 9-11 memorial. I have heard a lot about that but you have know idea if you haven't been there and been through it. It's a powerful and emotional experience and no one can tell you about it. Ya gotta go there and feel it for yourself.
We had our daughters 50th birthday party in a party room on the top floor of a 58 story building just around the corner from our hotel. A great view of The statue of liberty and Ellis Island and the new World Trade building. Spec-freakin'-tacular!!
Three sides of the room was floor to ceiling glass and you could go outside and walk around the rim. I don't really have a problem with heights but it didn't take me long to get all I needed of that.
Our plane left the big airport in Houston at 10:15 it was just under a 3 hour flight. We went in to La Guardia and had to wait for an hour and a half for a shuttle bus.
Do yourself a favor and NEVER EVER do that unless you want to spend 2 hours touring Queens and Brooklyn.
We did get to see some of the row houses like where the tv show All in the Family was taped.
Our bus had 6 stops to make and guess who got to be last.....all the others were in the Mid-Town area. Traffic was so bad it took us an hour to get to that part of town. We did go by The Tonight Show, Radio City, Rockefeller Center, Bergdorf's etc but it still took a hour to get to all 5 stops in that area.
I cant describe the traffic. Every time we turned a corner the first thing to fill your eyes is the flashing red lights of police cars, fire trucks and/or ambulances. It took us 45 minutes to get from Mid-Town to Down Town and our hotel. If I wasn't already bald headed I would have happily pulled out all my hair by the roots.
I wanted to do 3 things: Take a bath, eat and get drunk. I did all 3 and in that order. I almost had to take Pam to the emergency room. But I tucked her in for a nap and I had a nice soak in a hot bath. I then went out and walked around until I found a smoke house/bar named Rout 66, and headed on in.
The menu had two things on it I never would have guessed. Pulled pork sandwich and Shiner Bock on tap. That's a Texas beer and just about my favorite. I took a chance on the pulled pork and was pleasantly surprised. I've had better here in Texas but I thought it was pretty dang good for New York. They must have thought it was pretty good too...they charged 16 bux for it.
Anyway that sandwich and 6 mugs of Shiner Bock and I was pretty well set up. All my pent up hostilities were released and I felt like myself again.
Up early Saturday and continental breakfast in the hotel lobby with most of our groop then we all met for a real breakfast later on. After that is when we did our walking tour of the area. And later Robyn's birthday party. Had a great turn out and the food was awesome. The food in New York is as good as you can get anywhere in the World.
Sunday we had a nice brunch in a Mexican food place and I had steak and eggs. Unbelievable! The steak was skirt steak and for breakfast that was a new one on me...and excellent. The eggs were garnished with a tasty salsa and the potatoes were seasoned with something I couldn't identify but it was special. The bloody Marys have Habanjero (SP) salt on the rim with limes and olives and celery.
Then it's back to the hotel to pick up our luggage and on to the airport. We just took a regular cab and made it in 30 minutes. Our flight took an hour longer because we had to fly around some bad weather. Our cab from the big airport pulled into our driveway at 11:20 PM last night. We took the time to throw a little fresh food and water on the cats and then it was lights out.
Now we are back in our routine and happy to have survived it all one more time.
The second time was in 2010. By then Robyn had come back to Texas for short stint in Dallas but eventually went back to NYC. This time she lived on West 57th in Mid-Town. Depending upon what you like to do in Manhattan I guess its kind of the center of things.
This time we stayed Down Town at the Wall St. Inn On S William just off Wall street. Saturday we walked over and saw Battery Park and the 9-11 memorial. I have heard a lot about that but you have know idea if you haven't been there and been through it. It's a powerful and emotional experience and no one can tell you about it. Ya gotta go there and feel it for yourself.
We had our daughters 50th birthday party in a party room on the top floor of a 58 story building just around the corner from our hotel. A great view of The statue of liberty and Ellis Island and the new World Trade building. Spec-freakin'-tacular!!
Three sides of the room was floor to ceiling glass and you could go outside and walk around the rim. I don't really have a problem with heights but it didn't take me long to get all I needed of that. Our plane left the big airport in Houston at 10:15 it was just under a 3 hour flight. We went in to La Guardia and had to wait for an hour and a half for a shuttle bus.
Do yourself a favor and NEVER EVER do that unless you want to spend 2 hours touring Queens and Brooklyn.
We did get to see some of the row houses like where the tv show All in the Family was taped.Our bus had 6 stops to make and guess who got to be last.....all the others were in the Mid-Town area. Traffic was so bad it took us an hour to get to that part of town. We did go by The Tonight Show, Radio City, Rockefeller Center, Bergdorf's etc but it still took a hour to get to all 5 stops in that area.
I cant describe the traffic. Every time we turned a corner the first thing to fill your eyes is the flashing red lights of police cars, fire trucks and/or ambulances. It took us 45 minutes to get from Mid-Town to Down Town and our hotel. If I wasn't already bald headed I would have happily pulled out all my hair by the roots.
I wanted to do 3 things: Take a bath, eat and get drunk. I did all 3 and in that order. I almost had to take Pam to the emergency room. But I tucked her in for a nap and I had a nice soak in a hot bath. I then went out and walked around until I found a smoke house/bar named Rout 66, and headed on in.
The menu had two things on it I never would have guessed. Pulled pork sandwich and Shiner Bock on tap. That's a Texas beer and just about my favorite. I took a chance on the pulled pork and was pleasantly surprised. I've had better here in Texas but I thought it was pretty dang good for New York. They must have thought it was pretty good too...they charged 16 bux for it.
Anyway that sandwich and 6 mugs of Shiner Bock and I was pretty well set up. All my pent up hostilities were released and I felt like myself again.
Up early Saturday and continental breakfast in the hotel lobby with most of our groop then we all met for a real breakfast later on. After that is when we did our walking tour of the area. And later Robyn's birthday party. Had a great turn out and the food was awesome. The food in New York is as good as you can get anywhere in the World.
Sunday we had a nice brunch in a Mexican food place and I had steak and eggs. Unbelievable! The steak was skirt steak and for breakfast that was a new one on me...and excellent. The eggs were garnished with a tasty salsa and the potatoes were seasoned with something I couldn't identify but it was special. The bloody Marys have Habanjero (SP) salt on the rim with limes and olives and celery.
Then it's back to the hotel to pick up our luggage and on to the airport. We just took a regular cab and made it in 30 minutes. Our flight took an hour longer because we had to fly around some bad weather. Our cab from the big airport pulled into our driveway at 11:20 PM last night. We took the time to throw a little fresh food and water on the cats and then it was lights out.
Now we are back in our routine and happy to have survived it all one more time.
