Lori's Essay

Ok, so here's my write-up on our New Year's trip to New York...it's practically a freakin' novel, so I hope you have some time to kill!

We stayed at the Sheraton Suites on the Hudson in Weehawken, New Jersey..I'd like to know how they came up with that name. But my favorite was, Hoboken, I still can't say it with out giggling. But anywho.. We arrive at the Newark, NJ airport, retrieve our luggage, and just as we are talking about how to get to the hotel a man approaches us and asks if we need a taxi.  Thinking he is just someone that works at the airport to direct people, we say yes.  The man leads us outside and into an elevator, talking to us some, asking routine questions: "Is the your first time to the city?" ( lesson 1, even if it is your first time somewhere, say it isn't) Now we exit the elevator on the top of the parking deck, with no taxis in sight. We end up in a new black Yukon, loaded with leather interior.  But there isn't a taxi meter or any taxi badging anywhere in or on the vehicle.  After we get in, the guy never says another word to us the whole trip...scary, he could have been taking us anywhere, dumping us and taking the luggage.  But we arrived at our hotel 6 miles away, about 30 min later safe and sound with a $60 taxi bill.  It's just kind of weird to trust someone that you don't know to take you someplace, when you have no idea if they are going the right way or not.

About an hour later our friend Al picks us up at the hotel for a tour of the city.  It was cold and rainy out, so it was really nice to see the sights from a nice warm car. Not to mention that I got sick the day before we left for NY, so I was really thankful to not have to walk outside much.  But with the excitement of being in New York City, I almost forgot I was sick our first day there, until later that night. Without Al there to show us around and tell us what things were, I don't think we would have figured it out, at least this way we kind of had an idea about the place. I must say, I thought there would be more horns blowing and police sirens, but there wasn't, although Al did blow the horn a couple times to make me smile, thanks AL!

As Darryl mentioned, we went to the Museum of Natural History, you could spend a week in that place and not see the whole thing. The movie "A Night at the Museum", was set there, but it doesn't do the place justice or show how big it is. We just did a quick run through of the place and saw some highlights, so I'd like to go back when we have more time to spend in there.

Next we went to this little Korean restaurant.  I really liked it, I'm always a little scared to try new foods, but it was great.  The "pancake" as we were calling it, I'll never remember what it was really called, was the best thing there! Also there was a burner in the middle of the table that they would grill the meat on, right in front of you, which was really good also.



We did so much that day and went so many places, it's hard to remember every were we went. While walking around we would duck into stores to look around, but mainly to warm up.  We went into this one really cool store called Evolution.  They had all these animal skeletons and dead bugs, real and fake ones...butterflies, some really huge beetles and spiders. But the one thing that caught my eye was a skeleton of a small dog, about Buddy's size, laying down napping. It was so cute, maybe that's just my morbid sense of humor kicking in. I wanted to bring it home with me so bad, but feared it wouldn't survive the flight and 7 hour drive home.

Lesson # 2 "NO STANDING Allowed" doesn't mean what most people would think. Sitting in traffic we notice a "No Standing Allowed" sign at a bus stop.  Darryl being the smart arse that he is, asked Al, how are you supposed to wait for the bus, if you're not allowed to stand there. After laughing for a minute, Al explained that "Standing", was sitting in your vehicle while it is running. I thought that would be considered parking, but parking is when you leave your vehicle.

After walking around for a little while longer, we've worked up an appetite, so we stop by Lombardi's, for some NY style pizza.  There is a bit of a wait, so we sit outside under a heat element, a very nice touch.  We get inside and there isn't an empty table in sight, so I'm thinking there must be some mistake and we'll be waiting outside a little longer.  But the hostess leads us to the back of the restaurant, through the kitchen and around to another seating area. I must say, I have never been in a place that lets you walk through the kitchen, it was really neat. Darryl and Al split a pizza and I ordered a calzone and boy was it good! So we're now stuffed again and head back out into the cold. We noticed there aren't as many overweight people as there are down south, and discuss that for a bit. Al figures that everyone's sense of fashion is so high in the city, people take better care of themselves. Speaking of fashion, what is with the damn pants in the boots? It seemed like every woman we saw had tall boots, usually furry, with the pants tucked inside. When we got back to the hotel, I tried it. I guess I didn't have the right pants.

After a good night's rest, which was about 2 hours for me due to being sick, we set out to the Javits Convention Center to set up for the IMS show.  The show seemed a little slow for such a big city.  Probably due to the fact that it was New Years and all the locals get the hell out of dodge around that time, from what I've been told. The girls that greet everyone at the front door were dressed in jeans and tank tops, some in t-shirts. Don't get me wrong they looked cute, but I liked the racer girl/umbrella girl outfits they wore a couple years ago.  I didn't see as many booth babe's as I had thought there would be, usually the shows are crawling with them, but not this one. We did have the pleasure of meeting some fellow Gap enthusiasts, thanks to everyone that stopped by to say hi.

We rode the ferry across the Hudson everyday to get to Manhattan and it would drop us right behind the Javits Center, very convenient.



I hadn't been feeling well, so Darryl let me sleep in on Sunday and join him at the show later. So I had to ride the shuttle from the hotel to the ferry, about a mile away, ride the ferry across and walk the mile around the Javits Center to the front door alone. I was really kind of scared to be walking out there alone, but it wasn't bad at all. Growing up in a small town, you kind of get this fear of big cities instilled in you from childhood, plus TV and movies don't make it any better. I think you've just got to put on the game face, walk like you know where you're going and don't look like a tourist. Basically just be smart about it.  I made it to the front door without a hitch, stopping to take a photo of all the bikes out front. [Looking like a huge tourist! -Darryl]



I was surprised that so many people had ridden that day!

Monday (New Year's Eve) rolls around and we have the day to ourselves. I had done the touristy thing and picked up every brochure along the way at the ferry station and hotel. The one that really caught my eye was the Bodies Exhibition.  I had first heard about this exhibit while in Chicago a couple years ago, but wasn't able to make it.  They advertised it with this really cool picture of a horse and rider.



After returning home I watched a show about it and just knew it was something I wanted to see. By the name you can guess that it has to do with the body.  The Exhibition uses real human bodies that are preserved in a way that prevents them from decaying.

From the Bodies Exhibition website:
"A human specimen is first preserved according to standard mortuary science. The specimen is then dissected to show whatever it is that someone wants to display. Once dissected, the specimen is immersed in acetone, which eliminates all body water. The specimen is then placed in a large bath of silicone, or polymer, and sealed in a vacuum chamber. Under vacuum, acetone leaves the body in the form of gas and the polymer replaces it, entering each cell and body tissue. A catalyst is then applied to the specimen, hardening it and completing the process."

They didn't have the horse and rider I wanted to see at this one, but it was still really cool. Photography wasn't allowed on the inside, so we don't have any of our own photos...but you gotta love Google Image Search!





Almost all of them were males though, and they don't hide anything. I've seen enough dingalings to last a lifetime!

While we were in the Financial district we found our way over the the World Trade Center site.  After wandering around the train station there for a while we go back up to the street to get a taxi.  Some of the taxi's are really cool, they have a screen with GPS in the back, so you can see where you are, it also plays the local news....duh, like they would be playing Atlanta's news in a NYC taxi. ;)



We tell the driver to take us to Time Square. The police had already blocked some of the streets off, so he gets us as close as he can. After walking around, just following the crowd, we finally get around the barriers and into the Time Square area. Everyone was crowding up on the sidewalks and we realized the streets were blocked off from car traffic, so we could just walk down the street!



The closer we got of course, the more packed it was.



By this point we were getting kind of hungry and that didn't help the frustration of being in the middle of that many people. After deciding that the crowd of a million people wasn't the thing for us, we started making our way back to the ferry port.  We booked a midnight cruise with one of the tour companies and headed to the hotel for an hour nap.

We get in line to board the tour boat and just as we are getting on, there are these two girls that have apparently already been hitting a bottle of tequila.  We were about the last people on the boat so we had to sit outside for a while. And out of all the places to be on the boat, guess who ends up right behind us, you guessed it the really loud girl ( a tall blond with a piercing voice) and her little sidekick ( a shorter girl with dark hair), who wasn't as loud. When we get near the Statue of Liberty the tall blond starts yelling, " Would you look at that F***ing Statue of Liberty! She is so F***ing beautiful! LOOK at her!" and this goes on close to 10 minutes, which seemed like forever! Did I mention that there was 3 open bars on there?

After exploring the boat, we find that there is room inside on the bottom floor of the boat for us to hang out.  Plus it was in front of where all the food was coming out. ( lesson # 3, being nice to someone can go a long way )  There were guys and girls bringing trays of food around for the guest on the boat to pick from. Well a little smile and compliments go along way, we made friends with one of the guy servers, so he would come to us first when he got a new tray of food. He let me take quite a few of the pigs in a blanket from the tray :D

So, midnight rolls around and all the fireworks are going to be visible from one side of the boat. Well, 250 people all on one side of the boat was scary!!! I stayed inside to watch the show out of the window with another lady. We both noticed that the water was a lot closer to the window and the more people that went to that side, the more it leaned. I kind of got worried when all the staff started gathering on the upper side of the boat and I thought about doing the same.  Still, watching the fireworks from the water was a much better option for us.

After the show was over we headed back and had to catch the ferry one last time. While we were boarding, there was some poor girl hanging her head over the railing, lettin' it fly. I felt so sorry for her. Not the best way to start the new year.

So I guess that about sums up our trip to New York City. If I had to do it all over again, I'd get accommodations right in Time Square and watch everything from the warmth of my own room...in my underwear.