3/14/07--Day #2 in NYC

So on Day #2, we get up early for our visit to a local college....Stevens Institute.  Here was a case where my wife's totally anal quality of wanting to be early EVERYWHERE came in handy.  Now, the mapquest said that it would take us "11 minutes" to go from our hotel to the college.  Of course, that's a rough estimate--very rough.  What they don't mention is that right along the route they recomend to get to the college is the entrance to the Lincoln Tunnel--ya know, the gateway from New Jersey to NYC.
Yeah, just a wee bit o' traffic at that location, don't ya think?  But what was truly amazing was that once you got past the entrance tot he tunnel and head into downtown Hoboken, NJ (hometown of Francis Albert Sinatra--thank you very much, they call him "The Chairman of the Board") it really comes off as a nice town (how woulda thunk it?).
We then turned onto the campus of the Stevens Institute, where we were quickly escorted for a tour around campus by a young student who was just way too peppy.
We were a little surprised that Andy came away from the visit really impressed by the school.  Now it wasn't that we were surprised by the school, just Andy's reaction to it.
We thought, like a lot of things, that Andy would say it was "okay"--which is Andy-speak for "I don't know what you want me to say".  But he was (for Andy at least) fairly effusive in his praise for the school, going so far as to say that the distance from home and the weather wouldn't be a factor in his choice of schools.  Hey, who knew?
We then drove our rental car back to the airport, returned it, and looked for a way to get into Manhattan--and before anyone decides they know the best way, anyway you look at it, you're going to pay--or you take the subway and drag a bunch of luggage around with you. 
So we forked over the (COUGH!) $70 for a cab ride into the city.  I had warned the kids that the ride would be at the bare minimum the equal to some of the roller coaster rides they had taken previously.  We weren't disappointed....I was pretty sure that we went up on 2 wheels on at least 47 occasions.  We managed to arrive alive though, and checked into our Doubletree Suites on 51st & Lexington...Nice hotel, much better than the Radisson we stayed at a couple of years ago...but don't go to NYC and expect to get a hotel rooms that are close to being "normal sized".  I've seen closets that were bigger.  We took the kids down to Times Square where Kellie was thrilled by her visit to the MTV store (remember when they showed videos?) and all the action going on around.  We walked uptown a bit and stopped to eat at a place called "Good Enough to Eat"--really small place, maybe 12 to 15 tables...but at least the heat was working.
Folks, it was getting cold outside.....and I don't mean Florida cold either....I mean New York cold--and there is a difference.
Well, despite a Zagat recommendation, we weren't all that thrilled by our dinner, but I will say that the dessert, which was a slice of cake....was out of this world.  Check it out:  Banana-chocolate chip with a peanut butter frosting.  OMAN.  I didn't even finish, and it sure wasn't because it wasn't good enough....the cake was awesome.  Back to the hotel afterwards and the next day, we were going down to Battery Park to search for bootleg merch and take the kids to Ground Zero.

Later,
Jeff