3/9/05---Day 2 & out come the FREEEEEAKS!

So our 2nd day begins with us getting up early and heading down to breakfast in the little cafe that's on the first floor of the hotel.  We walk into the lobby and no lie---I thought we were in Moscow.  Lots of people named Yuri, Dmitri, Oleg, Pavel & Sergei.  And it wasn't a meeting of the NHL Players Association.  It was just another day in the lobby of the Radisson.  We go into the little cafe and attempt (key phrase) to squeeze into a space slightly smaller than a microwave which the people there have dubbed a "table".  The breakfast is allegedly free--compliments of the Radisson--we are told that the free breakfast means we can choose "two items" on the approximately 30 things on the menu.  That means our choices consisted of---uh,
scrambled eggs and sausage, juice & toast.  Then, my wife....greedy little minx that she is....had the audacity to ask for a glass of milk.
That would be $3 for that glass of milk Mrs. Bowdren.  Welcome to New York.
2) So next we risk our very lives by going into the New York City subway system.
Now, before our trip a good friend of mine had told that I would see more weirdos in New York than anywhere else in the world.  I said, oh contraire!  I work at the courthouse!  Do you really think I'm going to see someone weirder than what I see on a daily basis?  Ahem.....point to Ms. Lavigne.
We turned a corner and HELLOOOOO.  This drooling, bearded, uh....subway dweller appeared in front of us.  Seriously, it was all I could do to not be a total wuss and cry out.  Again, welcome to New York.  We get on the subway, and all I'm thinking is---don't make eye contact with anyone!!---and finally we get off down by the entrance to the Brooklyn Bridge and begin to walk towards:
3) The World Trade Center.  Have you ever heard the expression that...."there was no there--there?"  I suppose that since I never actually got to witness the twin towers up close and personal, it lessened the impact of seeing a giant hole in the ground.
Granted, its an almost sacred site.  But I'm sure it means more to someone who was a native of the Big Apple to see what is no longer there.  They're in the process of rebuilding at least part of it...and I hope they do.  After that we made our way too:
4) Battery Park.  Now this is an interesting place to visit.  You've got your artists, your photographers, your protesters of one thing or another (this week's hot topic is the torture of Chinese practioners of the Falun Gong religion--gruesome photos) and then finally....hehehe.....your salesman of the Louie V handbags & "Rolex" watches.
Now, for those of you retail experts out there....these aren't really Louie V handbags.  There what some would call "a knockoff".  Unlike the real McCoy, which I hear goes for like $800, this Louie V handbag goes for anywhere from $25 to $80.  What a bargain!  So we walk by these...um...."vendors" and I hear:
"I gotta da Rolex...I gotta DVD's....I gotta da Louie V's....I gotta da Coach".
So begins the negotiation dance.  And I walked away with an "authentic" purse (for parties unknown--please!  Would you have me reveal who I was buying for?) for $40.  Meanwhile, the chisler I bought it for tells me I should've badgered him down to $25.  Some people you just can't make happy.  Afterwards we went up to:
5) Wall Street.  Seriously.  Its this big building in this little narrow alley.  Very unimpressive actually.  From there we walked until we got to---Oh my!----
6) Chinatown.  This was one of the highlites (from a strictly depraved point of view) of the trip.  This is like walking into Dodge City circa 1880.  I mean, its like the wild west except without horses.  Everything is for sale, and the wife--who earlier in the week talked about wanting to have an authentic Chinese dinner in Chinatown--walks past a couple of restaurants that had dead ducks hanging by the neck in the window and decides....uh...let's go to Little Italy for lunch.  I mean, but Chinatown is just one giant freak show.  And if I may be allowed....as a married man....holy cripes are there some great looking women in Chinatown.  Not that my wife saw me looking of course....I'm very slick with the quick glance and only get caught...you know...every once in awhile. So I'm in the middle of shopping on one of the busiest streets in the world when my phone rings.  Its my old buddy Bob McKeon.
"Hey man....I'm at the Coral Square mall.  I was wondering if I could stop by for a second and drop something off?"
"Well, uh....Bob....I'm not at home.  I'm in the middle of Chinatown in New York City, so chances are I won't be home....."

We ended up buying Andy & Kellie a hand painted & designed painting with their nameson it.  Very nice and finally Kellie will have something with the correct spelling of her name.  She gets crazy about the fact that everything in a gift shop is spelled "Kelly" or "Kelly" instead of the way she spells it.  We then went towards:
7) Little Italy.  I emphasize that we went "towards" Little Italy because we kept looking around for it....and uh.....(ahem)....couldn't find it.  No, not that it had disappeared....we just, sorta....kinda....were on the wrong street.  I'd like to emphasize at this point that my wife had the map and was the acting navigator.  So finally we find an Italian place to eat lunch at and sit down at:
8) Lombardi's.  Kim wanted an authentic (there's that word again) New York pizza and we sat down to have a pie.  Good stuff and some nice atmosphere.  One of those places where when they moved in the space was sorta limited, so when you go into the bathroom, there's a giant pole (Hey!  No jokes here!) in the middle of the room.  Kim said when you....ya know...sit down on the toilet that you had to situate your legs around the pole (I said no jokes thank you very much!).  That's the kind of ambiance you just can't buy!  So after lunch we headed back towards--
9) Canal Street.  More "I got DVD's & watches"....only 10 times as much as Battery Park.  Just an insane amount of free enterprise going on.  Again, pretty much anything you can think of is for sale---and stuff you can't think of is probably for sale, only not on the street.  Finally we arrived....after a long walk......at:
10) Union Square.  Since it was the weekend, they were having a huge food market, and again--I can't stress this enough--pretty much anything you can imagine is for sale.  We ended up buying some really good cookies and some home-made pretzels.  My oh my.  Aren't we quite the gourmets, aren't we?  Back to the Hotel for a brief rest and then.....
11) Gallagher's Steak House.  Kim had picked this one out of our AAA book, as it was "right in the middle of the theatre district".  Very nice place, although, like seemingly every other restaurant in New York---everything on the menu is ala carte.
Translated---$$$$.  We ended up sitting next to a couple who let us in on what might have been the cause for our problems at the Radisson.  They told us that anyone who books a hotel online---gets the worse roomin the hotel.  If you book it directly through the hotel itself, you're going to get a better room.  They serve one freakin huge steak at Gallagher's.  Mine must have been 20 to 24 ounces, easy.
I couldn't even finish it.  (I hear your jokes and right back at ya)  After dinner we went for a nice evening stroll (temperature around 34 degrees with a  lovely 30 mile an hour wind) through....
12) The theater district.  This and Times Square are truly amazing.  You know that image you get every New Year's Eve when the giant ball is dropping?  Doesn't do justice to the spectacle of lights that is Times Square.  Only thing close is Vegas at night.  Really, really amazing.  And all the furs were out getting ready to go to one or another Broadway productions....its just wall to wall people.  Later we went back to the sauna room that was our room--complete with the smell o' Chinese food again....
we were getting frustrated.

Next up.....our very own....."3 hour tour".
Later,
Jeff