My Trip To NYC

Or: You CAN Go Home Again, Sort Of

I know taking a week off distressed a few of you, and I'm sorry, but I needed to get the hell away for a while. At least it was only a week, Media Whores Online has gone on vacation again and they'll be gone for over a month! Who are these people and why do they need so much time off? The trip was more for my lovely wife than it was for me, but I needed it, because I was starting to get a little buggy and it was affecting my writing, as you can see by the lack of posts in the week or so leading up to the trip. Both my wife and I were born in the city, but it's been years since either one of us had been back there. Thankfully the trip wasn't expensive, as one plane ticket was paid for already via my friend Alex who had some frequent-flyer miles that he couldn't use, and my sister graciously offered to allow us to stay with her for the week. All in all it was one of the most enjoyable vacations I've ever had, and for my wife Cathy it was the fulfillment of a lifelong dream to see the city.

Day One: Jersey Sucks! (Part One)

We left the apartment at about 7am to catch the plane even though it left at noon, knowing that it would take some time to get down to the airport (for those of you who have never been to the Atlanta area, Alpharetta is about as far north of downtown as the airport is south, a pretty good stretch). Since it's been a while since I traveled by plane, I wanted to be sure we got there in plenty of time. Despite the obviously arduous security precautions, I was amazed at how smoothly everything went: all of our flights left early and arrived early, and we got into Newark airport about twenty minutes ahead of schedule. Yes, Newark. I wanted to get a flight into either JFK or LaGuardia, but that would have cost us a bunch more money, so Newark it was. That's not too bad, actually, and next time we do this we can do the same thing, and catch a nice train into the city right from the airport. But I digress.

We were met by my sister Toni and her boyfriend Billy, and he reminded me of something I had forgotten: New Yorkers hate New Jersey! He let out curses that made even me blush! I got a laugh when my niece (who lives with my sister and who has the same name as my wife) called my sister on her cel phone and asked if we were bringing back something for her. "From Jersey?" my sister said, "what did you want? Toxic waste?" Actually, outside of the area around New York City, New Jersey is a beautiful state, but I have to agree that that area in particular is pretty lousy, very industrial and, to say the least, unpleasant.

The original plan was for us to go to a steakhouse Billy knew about , but since we were early, we decided to try and beat the traffic, get back into Queens, and eat there. Thankfully the trip went smoothly, but I was shocked at how expensive the bridge tolls were: we took the Verrazano Narrows Bridge into the city, and that cost eight bucks! We finally got into Queens, where my sis has a wonderful apartment in a very nice neighborhood. People always think of New York as a dangerous place, and in parts it is, but there are many wonderful neighborhoods, and pretty much everything you need is in walking distance, and that was certainly true here. Even though Queens is part of New York City, traditionally anything outside of Manhattan Island is kind of considered a "suburb", but for NYC, even those are crowded. Remember, we're talking about a city of about 14 million people, that's at least four times more than the entire Atlanta metropolitan area. But unlike these more spread-out communities, NYC is very densely populated, one of the most crowded places on Earth.

One of the things I love about NYC is the fact that they still place an emphasis on smaller, family-run businesses as opposed to the usual Wal-mart/Target crapola that you see in Greater Suburbia. You all know what I mean. Whenever I go into one of these places, I keep getting reminded of what someone once told me about East Germany: "The interesting thing about Communist countries," he said, "was how you can walk into any store anywhere inside the country and see the same products selling at the same prices. There's no need to shop around." Not so in New York. Yeah true they have some of the same crap they have all over the country, but they also have places that sell stuff you can't get anywhere else in the US: specialty shops selling food items from Eastern Europe or Italy, or places with really authentic Chinese or Indian food, gifts and other items from all over the world, there are multitudes of places like that. And all are usually within walking distance, depending on which neighborhood you live in.

We had dinner at a really nice little Italian place called, ironically enough, Joe's Italian Restaurant a few blocks from my sister's place, and it was terrific. We had clams and calamari for appetizers and I had eggplant parmagian and ziti for the main course. It's been a while since I had Italian food that good, and Cathy had never had calamari before (calamari, for those of you who never heard of it, is squid - and get that look off your faces, squid is delicious!). We did a little food shopping afterwards and then went back to my sister's place where we talked and played some cards and rested before bed. My sis surprised my wife and I with a huge coupon book, a nice book of walking tours and other places to see in NYC, but most importantly, two "Metrocards" which allowed us to use the subway and bus system unlimited while we were there! At two bucks a trip, transportation would cost a fortune, this saved us a lot! My sis was exceedingly generous!

Day Two: We're walkin' here!

We began the day by getting something I hadn't had in a long time: a NY pizza. What is it that separates a pizza in NYC from pizza anywhere else? There are a lot of theories about that, but the one I think is right is it's because of the water. New York City tap water has a reputation for being among the best in the world, and that helps make the dough as fresh and tasty as it is. I think it also helps that they usually use fresh ingredients. Not counting the toppings, pizza really is only three things: dough, sauce, and cheese. Use good quality ingredients and everything falls into place.

Without a specific plan in mind, my wife and I decided to start by visiting my old high school, Grover Cleveland High School, but I was very disappointed and saddened by what I had seen: at the entrance there were metal detectors and about four cops, and we weren't allowed in to look around. I knew things had gotten bad in the neighborhood but I had no idea they were that bad. A student ahead of us was having to take off his belt and his shoes in order to get in, I was stunned. I had to go through this to get onto the plane, and I put up with it because of the need for safety, but I don't think I'd care to have to do that day in and day out.

But despite that, there was a noticeable difference about New York. It's not the same city I grew up in. People are friendlier and more open than they used to be. Oh sure they still keep to themselves for the most part, and they act a little surprised if you say hi to them, but there were less scowling faces and more smiles than I remember. I don't know if this was a gradual change or if it happened because of 9/11, but it was a great thing to see.

From there we went into Manhattan and visited the Museum of Natural History, which didn't used to charge admission but now charges eleven bucks a head to get in. It was worth it, though, and there's far too much there to see in one day. Afterwards we walked through Central Park and had something else I hadn't had in a long time: a NYC hot dog. Again, I don't know exactly what it is that makes a hot dog in NYC different than in other places, but it was great to taste one again. They weren't as expensive as I expected them to be but a buck and a half is still a lot to pay for a hot dog.

Central Park is big. I remembered that much from when we were kids. I had forgotten about Cleopatra's Needle, which is wearing out more and more every day. The Needle is an obelisk they brought over from Egypt, and the cold, wind and rain in New York City is slowly wearing it away. In fifty years I doubt there'll be any visible hieroglyphs left.

By the way, walking in New York, or in any big city for that matter, is different than walking anywhere else. For example, from where I live in Alpharetta it's about three miles to the closest mall, and it seems like forever to get there. Plus the fact that there are sidewalks only sporadically. Suburbs are not very friendly to pedestrians. But the sidewalks of New York are wide and there's always plenty of things to see while you're walking, and you never get a sense of walking distance even if you've been walking for hours. We walked at least five or six miles a day every day we went, and even though we were tired when we got home, we hardly felt it while we were walking.

Day Three: It's a Zoo, I tells ya!

We got off to a late start because we slept longer than we expected, I guess we were more tired than we thought. Today was the day we planned to go to the Bronx Zoo, and because of this I discovered that the NYC subway system is designed, basically, to get everyone from each borough to Manhattan, not necessarily to get from one borough to another. It's only a hop, skip and a jump from Queens to the Bronx, for example, but if you want to get there by train you have to go from Queens to Manhattan to the Bronx, and that takes forever. We decided to go by bus instead, but we found ourselves enmeshed in traffic, and we didn't get to the Zoo until around 2 p.m. Since it closed at five, we were rushed to see all we could. They had a new exhibit of Siberian Tigers, but the weather was so cold they weren't as visible as they might have been.

The Zoo itself is remarkable: a beautiful area of green grass and animal-friendly environments in the midst of a heavily-populated section of New York. It's been famous for years in part for that but also for the kinds of animals they have, particularly the "World Of Darkness," one of the few places you can actually see bats and other nocturnal creatures. It was in fact the best part of the Zoo for us, as the cold New York spring kept many exhibits cold and most of the animals out of view. It takes a while for your eyes to get used to the dark, but once they are, these night creatures are remarkable to see. We saw not just bats, but some of the smallest primates in the world, tiny, hairless moles, crocodiles and many others. We spent a bunch of time in there, and would have stayed a little longer if we could have.

The other exhibit that was very busy were the aquatic animals: sea lions and penguins in particular. It was feeding time for the penguins and we got a kick out of watching them dive for the fish. We also saw feeding times for the pelicans, who clamored up to the feeding lady as she also tossed fish at them. And then there were ducks. Ducks and peacocks have the run of the park and roam freely throughout it. I saw so many damn ducks, I was wondering if that was who they made the Zoo for. In the World Of Darkness Cathy asked me what a particular animal was and I said it was probably a duck, which earned me a smack in the butt, which isn't much of a punishment really. A peacock came right up to us as well, which was cool, and I got another slap when I asked Cathy if she thought they tasted like chicken.

We took a longer route home via the subway rather than chancing a bus through New York rush hour traffic. I like riding the trains, as long as they don't get too crowded, and I'm an old pro at getting around by subway, so I didn't feel out of place at all. We had a rail map and I knew where some of the cooler stuff was, so it was a blast getting around by one of the most famous transportation systems in the world. And when we got home that evening, my sister and her boyfriend made dinner for us at her apartment: a true Italian meal beginning with an antipasto, or appetizer, of prosciutto e fromaggia (prosciutto is a special kind of ham, a deeply cured ham best eaten by itself in very thin slices...it's a popular appetizer in Italy, and is often served with fromaggia which in this case means fresh mozzarella cheese with a bit of olive oil), with eggplant parmagian as a main course (did I mention I love eggplant?) along with angel hair spaghetti. My sister rocks.

Day Four: Did you ever ride a ferry? No, I'm straight!

We got up earlier today because we had a lot planned. We began by heading to the tip of Manhattan for a special hidden harbor boat tour that was being sponsored by the North River Historic Ship Society. It was the first real ship Cathy had ever been on, and she was thrilled, though it was a bit cold and cloudy. There were several tours, but we only took the one, which took about an hour and a half, and offered some great views of the New York skyline. When the boat docked we walked down the street and took the Staten Island Ferry, but we didn't get off at Staten Island, we just rode it back to Manhattan. The ferry is a part of New York's public transportation system, but they decided it was cheaper to make the ferry free than to put in all the machinery for Metrocards. They don't use tokens anymore, by the way. The ferry passes right in front of the Statue Of Liberty, and it was a great view.

Once we were back in the city, we walked straight up Broadway. We had to meet Toni and Billy at 6:00 at a sushi place in Soho, and we figured we'd use the time to walk up Manhattan. We passed the WTC construction site, but I didn't want to stay there long, I was depressed seeing it. We knew we were in New York for real when we hit Canal Street, and suddenly we could hardly walk because of the crowds. It was the first time we had to deal with that, and we almost got separated! Canal Street and Broadway is west of Chinatown and Little Italy, we needed to go in the opposite direction, into Soho, which is a famous artsy type of neighborhood with lots of fancy galleries and sidewalk cafes. We walked around there for a while soaking up some culture until it was time for dinner.

The sushi place was a real hole-in-the wall restaurant, and must have had a managerial change since Billy was there last, because he said when he was there previously, the food was much better. Not that it was bad, mind you, in fact it was excellent sushi, but I was frank and said we had places in Atlanta which were just as good, and a lot less expensive. When you order sushi, you usually get two pieces, this place only had one piece, and at three twenty-five a pop for tuna (my personal favorite) it just wasn't worth it.

From there we hit Times Square and other famous downtown night spots. Billy was funny as hell, a car tried to cut in front of him as we crossed a street, and he yelled "Hey, I'm walkin' here!" like Dustin Hoffman in Midnight Cowboy. And when we passed some Hare Krishnas singing, he started singing along, only not "Hare Krishna, Hare Krishna," he was singing "Sha na NA na, sha na Na na, hey hey hey, goodbye!" which fit perfectly and got a lot of laughs from other pedestrians. Times Square at night looks like Vegas, there are so many lights and huge video screens. I fought the urge to go into the NY Times building and ask them what they hell they've been doing lately. We also went past the Ed Sullivan Theater where Dave Letterman has his show, and passed by the Radio City Music Hall as well as Rockefeller Center and St. Patrick's Cathedral. We didn't get home until nearly midnight, and we were exhausted from fifteen hours of nonstop activity.

Day Five: It's all relative

We slept in on Sunday, and in the early afternoon Cathy and I walked around close to my old neighborhood, down Myrtle Avenue towards Knickerbocker Avenue, enjoying the shops and stopping at a Mister Softee Ice cream truck for a shake. Mister Softee goes back a long way, and the trucks play a distinctive music. Eddie Murphy had a comedy routine about those trucks that cracks me up because it was so true! The shakes were as delicious as I remembered them to be, not very thick but very tasty. I really miss that sort of soft ice cream, you don't see it as much any more, mainly you see frozen yogurt which sucks.

Later, Toni, Cathy, Cathy and I went over to visit my aunt Lucy, the wife of my late mother's late brother (try saying that three times straight). She's been living in New York with her sister Emily since her husband passed away many years ago. I don't recall ever seeing Emily before, but she said she remembers me when I was very young. Actually, everyone in my family remembers me when I was very young, because I was one of the most outrageous kids in the family, and they love to tell stories about me: mainly the time I put a snake in my aunt Theresa's thermos at a picnic and scared the hell out of her. Both Aunt Lucy and Emily are outspoken women who have reached a point where they don't really care what they say, but Emily is by far the saltiest: according to my sister, she once referred to the Statue Of Liberty as "that bitch with the torch." She was in a great mood too, refusing to be called "aunt Emily" because technically she wasn't, although to an Italian family it would be impolite not to call her that. But, she said, we shouldn't call her aunt Emily: she's not going to go along with any of that "guinea bullshit," which started me laughing, and when the conversation steered towards my aunt Theresa, who had married my mother's other brother, I nearly fell off my chair. We all love aunt Theresa, but never, ever, get her started talking about her grandkids. Just like me with politics. It was funny because they were telling old family stories that unfortunately I'm not at liberty to repeat, suffice to say that I needed a few sodas to clear my throat, I was laughing so hard I was coughing.

Unfortunately, aunt Theresa lives out on Long Island, and we didn't feel inclined to make a trip out there to see her or my uncle Vito (yes, I have an uncle Vito). When I return I'll make it a point to go out and visit her, perhaps along with my other relatives. I'll remember not to ask her about her grandkids.

Day Six: On The Boardwalk

We started the day by visiting my aunt Ann, who is my father's sister. Family on my father's side is a bit saner than on my mother's side. I hadn't seen aunt Ann in a long time and Brooklyn was certainly a lot closer than Long Island, and it was nice seeing her again. From there we went over to Coney Island, not too far from her place. The subway lets you out right by Nathan's, where you can get probably the best hot dogs in the world. Cathy and I had a hot dog and some French fries and I had forgotten how good those fries were. Cathy said it was the best hot dog and fries she had ever had. I also remember those red plastic forks they gave you to eat the fries with, as a lot of people smother them with ketchup. Cathy puts ketchup on her hot dog, for which I jokingly call her a Communist ("You put ketchup on a hot dog? What are you, a Communist?"), same if I see someone putting mustard on a burger. Like an idiot, I forgot to keep the fork.

This is an interesting thing about New Yorkers, by the way: most of them rarely go to the places that make New York famous. For example, I have never been to the top of the Empire State Building even though I lived in NYC for fifteen years, and I can recall only going to the Statue of Liberty (yes, that bitch with the torch again) just once, on a school field trip. When I later told Billy I had gone to Coney Island, he remarked that he hadn't been there in ages. Granted, you want to avoid the place on the weekends, but if you get the chance to go down during the week it's a lot better.

The weather was beautiful, and Cathy and I spent the rest of the day walking up and down the boardwalk enjoying the sunshine and listening to the ocean. We walked up Steeplechase pier and watched the ocean and watched the people fishing. There's a minor league baseball team that plays in Coney Island now, the first pro team in Brooklyn since the Dodgers left. The Dodgers left so many years ago, in fact, that some people can't believe they ever played anywhere but Los Angeles, and that the Giants ever played anywhere but San Francisco! The team that plays at Coney Island is called, appropriately enough, the Cyclones, after the famous roller coaster that's still there.

My niece Cathy made dinner for us that evening, chicken parmagian with more spaghetti, nearly everyone in my family can cook!

Day Seven: And then they rested

It was Cathy's last day in New York, but we had been running around so much we were both exhausted, and we only went out a short while, to walk around the neighborhood and grab some pizza and Carvel ice cream. Also the weather turned crappy so it was better to have stayed in.

Days Eight and Nine: Jersey Sucks! (Part Two)

Due to circumstances too wacky to relay here, Cathy had to leave today, and since Billy had a day off, he drove us to the Newark airport. Since no one but passengers can go past the ticket area I hugged Cathy goodbye. The weather was miserable, foggy, wet, and cold, which is just as well, because we were back in New Jersey, and as I mentioned before, Billy hates Jersey! Traffic going back into the city was horrible, so Billy decided to drive north up the Jersey coast and cross over at the George Washington Bridge rather than the Verrazano. We had to drive over the Pulaski skyway, which is as ugly as it sounds. To make matter worse, we had to stop for gas, and get an even closer look at some of the uglier neighborhoods in the country. I'm not kidding. Jersey at this place is an ugly industrial wasteland that makes Cleveland look fashionable. It's all dumps and metalworks and old ports with rusting cargo containers, nothing even remotely pleasant. Looks like the kind of world Ayn Rand would like, because there wasn't a living, growing thing to be seen that wasn't sludge-colored.

We crossed "the George" as Billy called it, went over Manhattan and right back to Queens, where, considering the lousy weather and the fact that Cathy was on her way home, I just took a nap until Cathy (my niece) came home. We ordered Chinese takeout and watched TV. I came home the next day, later than I was scheduled to because US Airways had overbooked the flight and I volunteered to give up my seat in exchange for a free round-trip ticket anywhere in the country. That will be useful later on.

I don't recall having a better week than that last week in New York, and neither can Cathy. It was a much-needed respite from what's been going on with us, a time I needed to clear my head. I feel more refreshed than ever and hopefully that will translate into more regular updates on the blog. My next post will be an important one, so look out for it.