A Single Bound

We arrived in NY 5 hours later in the rain. We got solicited from the Black Taxi company who was trying to convince us to skip the line. Super shady, but he was quite nice and the ride back was excellent. Only a little gougey. Though he took us through surface streets through Queens to get to Times Square. We were pretty sure we were going to get mugged.

This was our first view of Times Square

Mom and Dad memorialized checking in to the bucket-list hotel.

Hard to describe how majestic a 40 story indoor atrium is, but there's the best we could capture.

Lightning struck the hotel the day of and shorted out the normal elevators. We had to be shuttled up the service elevator which was it's own sort of entertaining. This was the view from the room on the 42nd floor. :)

We dropped off our stuff and headed out for food. First on the list of restaurants was Carmine's. We were told no reservations and the wait list would probably be an hour to an hour-thirty. We decided to press our luck anyways and walked there figuring we could just waste some time on our phones. The luck panned out however and as soon as we walked up, THEY SAT US AT A TABLE for three. We tried not to gloat to the rest of the patrons.

After a meal overwhelming proportions, we dropped off the extra food to a very gracious hotel worker and then headed out to see more sights. We walked past Radio City Music Hall towards Rockefeller Center.

Everyone was taking pictures of the giant tree, of course.

And at the end of the plaza, there was a projection mapping show every 5 mins. Amazing bit of work and here's the video

On the way back, we walked past the theater showing First Date a client of Bruce's and saw Zachary Levi from Chuck fame. Then heading through the Lion King tunnel, we saw Delroy Lindo taking a picture of his kids in front of the marquee. I argued with Dad for 20 mins upon getting back to the hotel that it was Keith David. Got one more photo in Times square.

That was the extent of our wandering for the night.

Day 2

We grabbed breakfast at the hotel and this time I had the random small world connection. We sat next to someone I play volleyball with. Turns out he's the manager for El Dasa. A wildly famous Latin American singer. I had to look him up. He was performing live in Times Square for the festivities on Univision.

Afterwards we took the cab to the 9/11 memorial. Loved the fountains and the new building, but it was very macabre seeing all these people taking smiling photos of the nations worst tradgedy memorial.

We then walked to the wall street area because Dad wanted to find the Bull. We wandered past the Trinity Church and a giant monument for Alexander Hamilton. I also saw the first rat of the trip.

We found the bull penned in and weren't able to pet him. We did get a picture however.

After the bull we grabbed a cab to the Empire state building. The Express pass is worth its weight in gold here. We walked past every single line, breezed through security where I lost one of my tickets and then were on the elevator to the top within 5 mins. The view was spectacular and freezing and breathtaking. Managed to get there at sunset.

The last sightseeing item on the agenda for today was getting Mom to see Mood. Project Runway's favorite fabric store. She was pleased as you can imagine.

We then raced back to the hotel to change and grabbed food at a BBQ place recommended by Bill from Naked Voices. Delicious meal and then we walked to the Spiderman Musical. The show itself was entertaining enough, but the music was terrible. Flight rigging, sets, voices were all superb though. Came back late that night and despite the hour, we decided it was a good idea to watch a movie. I brought The Lone Ranger on my tablet and it took long enough, but I figured out how to stream it to Chromecast on the hotel TV.

Day 3

People lined up super early and they were packing the streets. Took us 20 mins to move one block.

But we made it to our 2pm lunch at Del Frisco's steakhouse. The food was exquisite and we rushed back to the room lest we get hassled by the police at the barricades. On the way back, we were treated to a brief snowstorm.

This was how we wiled away the time waiting for the stream to begin at 6. Pirates and Men in Black and crowds and lots of soda.

Hotel staff brought extra goodness.

And amongst hourly fireworks, we finished the Sunday LA Times Crossword, which was quite the accomplishment for someone so out of practice. However, we failed at ordering room service. By the time we called, they were 300 orders behind and no longer accepting. Brief panic ensued, but we finally decided on proper NY pizza and ordered from a place outside the barricades.

Pizza in hand, we headed back past the crowds thanks to our magic hotel key.

And relished our luck over food.

Hard to explain how amazing it is to see the New York New Years Festivities from 40 floors above, but it was a once in a lifetime experience and for Mom, a dream come true. The ball dropped to the cheers of the crowds below and 2014 was rung in to champagne and fireworks and yes, those were chocolate covered strawberries.

But we're terrible at selfies. We went down afterward to see if we could pick up any of the free swag at the event, but were muscled out by the police. The one bright side was the cop knew about League and yelled at Captain Teemo to get out. :)

Day 4

We woke at 11 and checked out and dumped the luggage with the bellhop and took a taxi to the Guggenheim. The only redeeming art was the impressionist exhibit with a bunch of Van Gogh, Picasso and Monets. I found some merit in other pieces however.

And of course the building itself was incredible.

Then just to get the full NY experience we walked past the MET and took a stroll around central park. Notable sights included a bunch of fat squirrels, an Alice in Wonderland statue and a frozen lake. After getting cold enough on the walk, Dad successfully hailed a cab and we grabbed a quick bite at Junior's Deli. Their Corned Beef sandwich stands up to Canter's. Trying to see as much as possible, we blitzed our way over to MoMA and caught a bunch of amazing art. Starry Night alone was worth the price of admission.

But there was plenty more goodness including some live action video presentation above us during our exit. We should have probably dedicated more time to this one.

After MoMa, we again walked quickly back to the hotel to grab the cab home. THere were some nice lighting displays on the way back. Including a bunch of kitties on the Cartier building.

Pressing our luck again, we opted into the 1 drink minimum at the rotating restaurant on top of our hotel. Amid a view of the overcast city, we enjoyed an alcoholic milk chocolate martini and some fruity concoctions for the parents.

And said goodbye to New York. The flight back was long and uneventful. And it was an excellent way to spend a week off.