More Tales From The City!

Okay, I know it's been a few days since my last post and I apologize for the delay in finishing up my New York experience. Anyway, Stefanie and I awoke from our "nap" at 2:30am so we could catch a cab to the Brentwood Station at 3:30am. As usual I called the cab company ahead of time and sure enough our cab was right on time. One problem though....it was once again Mr. Child Molester. I couldn't believe our luck, two cab rides and each one with the same driver! He already freaked me out and here we were dealing with him again.

Anyhow, our train into the city was uneventful. Prior to embarking on this trip Stefanie and I decided it would be really cool if we went to The Today Show...hence the reason why we got up so darn early. We arrived at Rockefeller Center at 5am and we were fourth in line! I was so excited, but we were also so cold. That was probably one of the coldest days I've experienced all year. Anyhow, there was a gentleman outside selling cardboard and markers so Stefanie and I decided to make one of those cheesy signs you see on the show. We couldn't think of what to put on the sign, so we put "Hi Mom". I know it sounds boring but it was 5am and we only had two hours of sleep so we couldn't think clearly at that point.

We had a wonderful time on the show. It was nice to view some of the behind the scenes stuff and Stefanie and I did make it on TV a few times, however, nobody saw us. Jim was suppose to tape it but by the time he woke up in the morning the show was over. Mom didn't tape it and neither did Mark so we were out of luck.

After we were through with the cold weather...and our bodies were numb from the waist down, we decided to warm up at Dean & Decula. Stefanie had some coffee and I had some hot tea. From there we went across the street to the NBC Experience store. On a whim we decided to do the NBC Studio Tour. We were able to see the studios for NBC Nightly News, Conan O'Brien, and we finished the tour in a mock studio where we participated in a mock broadcast and mock weather report.

After Rockefeller Center we hopped on the subway and went to the Empire State Building. At the Empire State Building we went to the 86th floor observation room. I have a hard time with heights and really wasn't able to look over the edge and down. I have no problems looking out, providing I'm not very close to the edge, but I can't look down. It was even colder on the 86th floor then the 1st floor so I think we were only out there for maybe 15 minutes.

I believe after the Empire State Building we made our way to Chinatown and had lunch. We found a really cute place that specialized in dumplings (sorry I can't remember the name) that was packed and the food was awesome!

We sat at the dumpling place for a little while warming up before deciding to go to Ground Zero. You still really can't see anything but they do have the names up, a timeline of events, and plans for a memorial. It's still a rather somber place and unfortunately the mood is ruined when you look around and see protesters. I can't believe it's been over 6 years and people are still protesting that 9/11 was an inside job. I personally think these people need to get over it and move on with their lives...what's done is done, let people mourn in peace!

Here's a picture of St. Paul's Cathedral located near Ground Zero.

Once we were done with Ground Zero we made our way up to SoHo to walk around and see the shops. We went into a few shops but we were both tired and very cold at this point. Finally we made our way to Little Italy. Walter (my business associate) had told me about a fantastic Italian Restaurant called Benito II. All I needed to do was throw around a few names of contacts and we were told that "we would be taken care of". And taken care of we were, Stefanie and I originally had plans to split an appetizer and have a dessert (we had lunch just two hours before and neither of us was really hungry). Instead we got no menus, but we did get lots of food placed in front of us. By the time we walked out we were absolutely stuffed! We also decided that the food was good, but we would have preferred to order from the menu.

Cold, tired, and physically exhausted we made our way back to the subway and back to the train to Long Island. Once again while on the train, I called the same cab company to pick us up at Brentwood. It looked as if we had the same Mr. Child Molester again as a driver but luckily it was someone different. Once back at the hotel Stefanie and I crashed, and we crashed hard! She slept till after 11:30 sometime and I slept till after 10:30....very unprecedented of me.

So that was our trip to New York City! We felt like we saw just about everything in one day...it was almost overwhelming.