NYC Wrap-up

Yikes! good thing we left NY when we did judging from what we see about Hurricane Irene's punch on the East Coast. Last Saturday's wedding event that was at DUMBO and the park under the bridge this weekend is in Zone 1 under water.

It is difficult to even comprehend shutting down the largest subway system with all the people who rely on it for public transportation. We did the subway twice and found it to be a quick and cheap way to get somewhere if you have exact directions on how to use it. I thought it was interesting to note in Sunday's paper that their transit system won't open till at least Monday to remove waters from flooded subway systems. But even on a dry day, 13 to 15 million gallons of water are removed from the tunnels deep underground. Wow that is a lot of water each day!

Often our group found ourselves short on time, in a different place in the city and needed to be somewhere else. That's when we discovered car service. The cost was a bit higher but with five people to split the cost it was not much more than a regular cab. Besides we found out that a NYC cab with 5 people is automatically $5.00 more.

On Day One just by chance calling this car service we found our savior who then remained by our side the entire trip. All he asked was a call 30 to 40 minutes before he was needed and he would be there. And yes... he was dependable each time.

On Day Two he rescued us from midtown Manhattan when two cabs would not take us to Brooklyn. He then drove us to our hotel, came back an hour later to take us to the wedding and returned later in the evening to pick us up. We used his car services several times after that and he took each sibling to the airport as we all left on different days. I guess this cab driver really seemed to enjoy our company. Or perhaps he gets tired of talking to New Yorkers and midwesterners are a novelty ??? My daughter and I knew on the last day he could not take us to airport and he even apologized that he was not available. Well much to my surprise as we were back in the Twin Cities I get a cell phone call from him wondering how our return trip went and if we got home safely. Now that is what I call service!!!!

Last Sunday was a beautiful day to be in Central Park. After several hours here are some things we discovered people do in the park: in line skating to music on a basketball court, a young man was deep into painting a table scene he had created in a grassy section, a lovely lake for boating, an outdoor stadium, an observation tower, walking paths, rock climbing, playing basketball, walking dogs, pushing strollers and The Metropolitan Museum of Art which was a nearby site not to miss. We really needed more time there.

We decided New York must have the most concentrated number of restaurants than any other city. They were everywhere but "Where were the bathrooms?" I know this can be a delicate subject for some but we were all over the city and Brooklyn and could never find public restrooms. Stores had signs: no public restrooms and if you went a restaurant or coffee shop you had to be a paying customer and then there was only ONE bathroom and a line. It was a real mystery to us with all the New Yorkers and tourists, "Where do they all go for bathrooms/restrooms?"

On our last night we went to Cirque du Solieil's performance Zarkana (its an acrobatic rock opera) at Radio City. We waited in early afternoon for two hours to get half price tickets but well worth the wait. Especially when our seats were only 16 rows back and and we got a glimpse of the real Donald Trump and his family as they were leaving the performance. If only my sister had been with us to see him since she is an avid Celebrity Apprentice fan.

This NYC trip was quite an adventure but like Dorothy from Wizard of Oz says, "There is no place like home."

My next posting will have 4 cupcake decorating ideas and some answers to the question from a Caribou Coffee Shop What are some things you stay awake for?