New York City, Day One

Well, our New York adventure began with Geri and I waking at 4am to get to the airport by 6am for a 7am flight. Of course, as is customary, we did not go to bed until 2am having procrastinated in getting ready for the trip. The upside was being able to sleep most of the way to New York. We flew on Jet Blue, which we will not do again (more on that later).

The flight was easy and before we knew it we were landing. We made our way through JFK airport to the taxi line and after a short wait sped off to our apartment on the corner of 37th and 9th, located in the Hells Kitchen area of Manhattan. Now, for those who have not experienced a New York taxi ride please be forewarned, driving in New York City is f@#king nuts. Just make sure that you strap in, shut up and hold on. How the driver can drive at such high speeds and maneuver through a maze of cars all while carrying on a conversation on the phone is amazing and fills me with wonder at the power of the human brain. Cough…anyway, the traffic was pretty bad as we had landed during rush hour. Driving from the airport to the apartment gave us a good sense of the enormity and density of the city, mind blowing. A little over an hour later we arrived at our apartment, paid our flat rate $45, rode the elevator to the tenth floor, opened the door to our apartment and breathed a sigh of relief that we had made it.

Because we had only eaten ‘snacks‘ provided by Jet Blue, Geri and I were starving. So, off we went. We walked towards Times Square and found a place called Carmines. When you are hungry, Italian food is great. It was packed, but we talked the hostess into giving us a table. After reading the menu which was posted on the wall we ordered what turned out to be gargantuan portions of an antipasto, spaghetti with bolognese and a few beers. The food was above average. Carmines is located in the theater district and as the dinner went on we realized that we were eating in a tourist restaurant. We will not let that happen again.

After dinner we headed out for a walk, by this time the sun had gone down. We had no specific plans for the evening so we made our way to Times Square. It’s consumerism overload and, frankly, unimpressive. If you have been to Las Vegas then you know Times Square. We would have rather seen the pimps and hookers.

On our walk back to the apartment we came across a small fire house. Seeing pictures of fallen firefighters that were posted on the doorway brought 9/11 from a cerebral to visceral experience.

Click here for pictures of our first day in New York City…