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Originally Posted by Arkan
Zone, where on Long Island will you be?
As for what to do in NYC....
To do alot in a single day, get a one day metro card and ride the subway. Divide the city in 3 parts (upper, midtown, lower) Do some research now on sights you want to visit (Empire State building, Central park, Rockerfella plaza, Times square, South Street Seaport.....blah blah) and travel accordingly. I recommend visiting "Little Italy" and "China town". If you go to Little Italy, try Cafe' Napoli (on the corner of Mulberry St. and Hester St), get some Italian pastries at "La Bella Ferrara" and a cigar from one of the street vendors.
If you find yourself near Times Square and are in the mood for BBQ, stop at "Virgil's BBQ" (152 West 44th street) for some great food and beer.
Tips on traveling in NYC:
Don't buy from sidewalk vendors (except that cigar dude in little Italy) Hot dog vendors are fine....just stay away from the flea market corner vendor.
If someone tries to stop you to ask for something, just hold your hand up and keep walking (no need for verbal gestures)
It's ok to take pictures....everyone else does
Good luck on your trip...wish i knew sooner, i would've joined you for the day.
.....don't forget to tell me where on Long Island you'll be.
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Shit. I didn't see this before I left...had a good time anyway!
So, we headed out last Tuesday morning at 7:30AM. We promptly got a speeding ticket at a toll bridge just before the border. The cop was cool about it and let us off with a lesser fine. We were off to a great start!
We drove down through NY State, through Syracuse, Binghamton, and other non-descript places that looked terribly boring. I tell ya, the drive down is not the most exciting in the way of scenery.
We stopped off at a Ponderosa on the way just because I had to. The Ponderosa in NY had a lot more fried crap than the one on Topsail Road in St. John's. In the buffet they had fried chicken, fried chicken wings, big greasy meatballs, big greasy meatloaf...it just went on and on. And they wonder why everyone's cholesterol is through the roof! I steered clear for the most part (I had 3 wings...), but I saw one feller, big as a barrel, waltz over to the buffet, pile 4-5 pieces of fried chicken on his plate and slopped a big ladle of gravy over the works. Attaboy...
So, we hit traffic about 30 mins outside of NYC. Up until then it was pretty smooth. Trying to get to the Lincoln Tunnel was the first obstacle. We made a wrong turn somewhere and ended up in Harrison, NJ. Now, it ended up that we weren't too far off the path we wanted, but it seemed like we were 100% shagged. I figured we were shagged, anyway. We went into a pharmacy to ask for directions and buy a decent map, when in strolls Mr. New Jersey State Trooper. The nicest feller, he was! He showed us exactly where we needed to go to get to the Lincoln Tunnel and we were off again.
Now, the only way I can explain to you the madness of trying to get into the Lincoln Tunnel at 6:00PM is to put it like this; imagine trying to get 1500 marbles into a funnel at one time. There was ONE tube. One. Once inside the tunnel, it wasn't too bad and we emerged into Manhattan.
Manhattan is simply surreal. You see it in the movies and it's pretty much exactly like that. Crosstown traffic is an absolute zoo, but it does move, I'll give it that. As we were driving past Times Square, I couldn't help but crane my neck skyward through the sunroof and gawk at the huge buildings and electronic billboards. Just amazing.
Our hotel was in Queens...Long Island City to be exact. Now, Queens is not like Manhattan, with its ritzy hotels and fancy restaurants. The place we stayed looks a lot like the places you'd see on the Sopranos where they make shady construction deals or dump bodies. Well, it's not THAT bad but it's pretty industrial to say the least.
The Comfort Inn NY (and I use the word "Comfort" loosely) is a no-frills kinda place. My room was about the size of a normal guest bedroom, I s'pose. The door almost hit the bed on the way in. The rooms we had were on the 1st floor...a floor BELOW the lobby. I looked out my window and I saw people's feet.
We headed back to Manhattan Thursday afternoon to do some more looking around. We found a place that was showing the hockey game ...naturally.
We did the NBC Tour at 30 Rockefeller Center and we got to see Darryl Hammond and Molly Shannon rehearsing a sketch on the SNL stage. Mind you we were behind glass, but it was cool nonetheless. I got my pic taken with Rupert at Hello Deli (made famous by Letterman). I'll post the pic when I can. I didn't see any other celebs...ah well.
Our escape from NY was relatively clean and we got home on Saturday. I'll go back to NYC for sure. Good times.
05-07-2007, 11:01 PM
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