5/09/2007

I Love New York - The Place...Not The Skank

Posted by Brandon |

I'm starting to get psyched about our trip to New York next Thursday. We are spending the first weekend upstate in Ithaca for Narnarnarnar's wedding and then we will be in the city from Monday to the Sunday before Memorial Day.

I love Ithaca, it's such a great little town. It is so beautiful and so fun and it brings back a ton of memories from my trips there while Death? was going to school at Cornell and the summer that I spent living there while working for the Elmira Pioneers. The restaurants alone get me excited for the trip. I can't wait to get a Wegmans sub sandwich or some creole cooking at Maxie's Supper Club or some fried tofu at Thai Cuisine. I never went to the world famous Moosewood, but now that I'm not afraid of vegetables, I hope we get a chance to eat there too. Oh yeah, don't forget the Shortstop Deli, The Chapter House, Collegetown Bagels and DP Dough. Not to mention the fact that I'm really excited to see some good friends get married in gorgeous Sage Chapel on Saturday.

As if all of that wasn't enough, we head into New York City on Monday. I haven't been to the city since a quick trip into town for a taping of the Late Show with David Letterman in 2000 and the only substantial time that I have spent there was Thanksgiving weekend in 1999. We are staying right in the middle of midtown near Grand Central Station so we will be right in the heart of it all. I'm going solely as a tourist, I have nothing on my plate. Death? however has a conference to go to for work so I'll get to wander around on my own for a couple days.

We already have a pretty good slate of fun lined up. For our anniversary I bought Death? tickets to see the Phantom of the Opera on Thursday night (excellent seats too!), we have tickets to the Yankees/Angels game on Friday night (who do I root for? I hate both teams), I have a reservation to see Mike Birbiglia in some crazy sounding show at the Upright Citizen's Brigade theater on Wednesday and I'm planning on seeing a New York Liberty WNBA game on Thursday afternoon because I really want to see Madison Square Garden.

We are hoping to get half-price tickets to see Monty Python's Spamalot on Tuesday night. We want to go out to Coney Island one day and we want to do Central Park another (we missed it the first time). Maybe MOMA, maybe the Museum of Natural History, maybe the Empire State Building or the Top of the Rock. I might, if I have a chance, visit Williamsburg and then walk back over the Brooklyn Bridge.

One of the big questions is do I want to see the World Trade Center memorial? I might have to head down there on one of the afternoons that Death? is in her conference and pay my respects. There are a few things I wouldn't mind doing down in that area like the Brooklyn Bridge and the Staten Island Ferry and Wall Street so despite the dread and sadness that I feel just thinking about going there, I think I'll probably go anyway. It's hard not to.

Anything else we should do while we are there? We have excellent guidebooks and we are really thorough tourists, but there is so much to do in New York that is hard to find if you haven't been there often. I know some of you have been there a lot and probably have some good tips. Please feel free to share any that you might have. We would really appreciate it.

Also, I don't anticipate having much of an internet connection while I'm gone so if anybody would like to write a couple of guest posts for either Down With Pants! or The Sports Logo Pundit during that week please let me know.

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

I'll guest post for you if you like. I can make it a snarky one ;).

New York? I wish I could go to NY. You are already focused on The Phantom and food so you have my ideas covered.

Anonymous said...

NY, ya! Hmmm, places to go - things to see...

Sounds like you've got the basics covered. I say walk the Brooklyn Bridge from Manhattan into Brooklyn and then go to Grimaldi's. It's right under the bridge so it's super close. Plus it's the greatest pizza anywhere.

Thats my 2 cents.

Joshua Blevins Peck said...

I like Lombardi's more than Grimaldi's--best pizza in NY is often a heated debate. Lombardi's is a bit different now that they've expanded. I also really recommend Katz's Deli for old style pastrami, corned beef cut by hand in front of you and delivered in heaping portions. If you want to grab a quick breakfast around the flatiron building go check out Eisenberg's. It's like stepping into the '40s in there w/ great egg creams/lime rickeys.

You should check out the museum of tv/radio if you can--you can choose to watch thousands and thousands of different tv shows. I used to go all the time and watch everything Andy Kaufman ever did, favorite episodes of WKRP, random sports events and just anything that was ever on tv.

I used to live down the street from the Museum of Moving Image in Astoria, Queens and that museum is also recommended. I think right now they have a massive Star Trek exhibit which I would LOVE to go to.

Greg said...

Yeesh-- you're doing a whole hell of a lot more than I would... I'd just grab a slice a pizza and then stand around. Enjoy yourself!

Lisa Snider said...

H&H Bagels! Man, I love NY, lucky!

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