New York City

My best travel buddy, friend and ex-wife (#1) Vicki and I took our annual trip this past week. We had to reschedule from last month when I twisted my ankle. I twisted it again a couple of days before this trip but was determined to go anyway. I bought a cane and limped my way through the city.

We both flew out from our respective cities, around 5am (Vicki uses the Norfolk Airport) and timed it so we arrived within a few minutes of each other at LaGuardia.  Used some of her frequent flier miles to pay for the tickets. Taxi into Manhattan during rush hour. I'm thinking that the scariest roller coaster in the world would not match the terror of a New York taxi ride.

We arrived at the Hampton Inn on 8th and 51st and left our bags until we could check in that afternoon. We paid for the four nights on Vicki's hotel points. The hotel is in the Midtown West area between Broadway/Times Square and Hell's Kitchen (which in no way is represented by the name). We took that opportunity to walk to the Museum of Modern Art. We spent about 3 hours there looking at some amazing modern art. I far prefer non representational art, so a gallery dedicated to those movements in art, makes me happy. Looking at great art gives me the same emotional experience as listening to music.

Afterwards we checked in, unpacked and rested our little feet until dinner. Nicknaming this trip at the "Poor Tour", both being unemployed this trip, we ate the free breakfast at the hotel each morning. We would skip lunch and have an early dinner.  We used two sources for choosing restaurants for each dinner. A pocket sized Frommers guide and the smartphone app UrbanSpoon. UrbanSpoon lists restaurants by location, using the gps data from the phone to draws a map to where you choose. The first evening we decided to find a Thai restaurant, which was excellent. I had Duck red curry. Vicki had the Shrimp green curry.

The next morning was the American Museum of Natural History. Since Vicki didn't want to take the subway, we took a cab. The heat wave had made it across the midwest and hit hard, upper 90's on Thursday. We saw ancient Egypt, Greece and Rome and special exhibitions of Dinosaurs and the Human Brain. Dinner was suppose to be Mexican but the restaurant was not where we thought so we enjoyed burritos at Chipolte's.

Friday morning we started by taking a trip to Guitar Center where I got to play a $5,000 Gibson "Doves in Flight" Serious Gibson tone with a really narrow neck. Beautiful Inlay. Then a Gibson Songwriter that was very nice. Then the guy in charge of the acoustic guitar room handed me a Taylor G8. A short scale ohm sized guitar with real balls. For a strumming guitar it had power and was pretty loud. I would consider owning one. I think it was about $3000. Then we headed to Metropolitan Museum of Art. Their Modern Art collection is probably the best in the US. The temperature outside had soared to 103F, setting a new record for that day in New York City. After about 3 hours of art we headed back to the hotel to cool off. We decided to celebrate my birthday since we'd missed it in June. We found a highly rated Italian restaurant close to the hotel. Vicki had a seafood dish and I had chicken marsala.

Saturday we decided just to wander around Times Square. Having only brought my 50mm lens and finding it totally inadequate, I bought a cheap Sigma 18-200mm 3.5 - 6.2f. I started shooting with the wide angle to get the buildings and the whole flashing scene. It was fun. I've been meaning to get an all-purpose lens for years, although I was thinking of a better one. But, when in need and all that. We went back twice and found chairs in the middle of the square, which is not square and watched the crowd. Then we found a great pizza restaurant and had the best pizza ever.

Sunday we just took it easy and found a deli and had lunch since we would be traveling until 9pm. We had different flights out of the city and said our goodbyes at the gate, Unfortunately we were not on different flights and Vicki had to scramble to get home. On the way home I watched the clouds out the window and was just happy to be alive.

Today, tired beyond belief.
link to more photos