NYC Final Thoughts

Prior to our trip, when I told people where we were taking vacation the most common response was “Why are you going there?” NYC has a reputation of being dirty with stinky subways and rude people, and many folks believe it’s true without ever stepped foot there.

Manhattan was dirty, it was covered in years of dirt and soot. I thought everything could use a good power washing. Lack of alleys meant no dumpsters so trash from the businesses piles up on the sidewalks until the garbage trucks come by late at night. Those bags can get smelly, but it was the upscale neighborhoods on the Upper East side that were most offensive. People with dogs failed to clean up after their pooch, there was stray poop and when passing trees, signs and meters they reeked of pee. This smelled far worse than the subway ever did.

In fact, the subway was my best experience with the public on public transit in any city I’ve visited. People aren't rude, even the beggars are really polite. New Yorkers are no nonsense, they give it to you straight and don't have time for chit-chat. Most trains were filled with tourists and commuters, we were rarely bothered by the homeless, and they were never smelly and always kind.

I loved the subway at first. It was my first time seeing subway tiles outside of a kitchen. I admired the different stations when we’d pass through. It was tough to get our bearings underground and we had no help of google maps since there were no cell signals in underground. After, three or four days were we comfortable and became familiar with the different platforms. It was about then, I was tired of the labyrinth of tunnels and stairways that led you to the trains. Aside from time spent sleeping, we spent half of our trip underground. I do not know how people do it day in, day out. I need fresh air and sunshine.

The people of Manhattan are thin and in shape. I fully understand why. It’s all those stairs and all that walking. It amazed me how many folks commuted in style. It was the most stylish collection of people I’ve seen in any city. Men or women, it made no difference. I will say that I bet the woman of Manhattan have the greatest legs in the country, if not the world. And they’ve earned them by gallivanting around city blocks and subway platforms. I would suspect gym memberships would be low, but all those we seen were packed.

New York City tap water is fantastic! Who knew?

I had this notion that delis and pizza shops littered the streets of NYC. This was not the case. They exist, sure, but they’re few and far between, and more expensive that I thought. As a whole, we were really disappointed by the food. Our expectations were way too high. We spent a small fortune on entertainment and accomodations. We only planned on one splurge meal and eating on the cheap the rest of the time to stay within budget. Cheap is relative. Coming from Las Vegas, home of the highest restaurant tabs, we are usually pleased with food prices during our travels. NYC must be neck in neck with us, most things were pricey. Our cheaper meals we’re $40 for two. When we ate on the run, it was usually $10 per person.

I had never realized how many NYC restaurants are also in Las Vegas. We refused to dine any place we could have at home. This narrowed our options greatly. We also avoided pricey restaurants. Again, our pool of options shrunk. Then, we eliminated chains. And finally, we caught on to the ratings from the Health Department. All those poor grades left us with even fewer contenders. We ate numerous times a day to taste as much as we can, just like we do in other cities. NYC, however, gave us our greatest collection of disappointments. I had recommendations from New Yorkers, friends and family. I used other resources like Yelp, Zagat and The Best Thing I Ever Ate when making my lists. Usually, it works out. This time, however, I was let down.

That’s not to say all was bad. We did enjoy wd50 and I’d recommend Bleeker Street Pizza, Patzeria Perfect Pizza, L & B Spumoni Gardens, Katz’s Deli and Levain Bakery.

I can’t possibly love every place I visit, but I’m always happy for the experience.

Here's a last bunch of photos that never fit elsewhere.

No place like home

Tuesday, we had been in New York a week and we were ready to go home. Our flight out wasn’t until 5pm so we had time to spare. We gathered our stuff and took one last look around before checking out and storing our bags.





We planned for one last meal at Katz’s Deli, when we reached the subway we quickly learned that our Metrocards had expired. We had to load up more funds. The ride to Katz cost us $5 each. This made the unlimited pass seem like a deal of a lifetime. We definitely got our monies worth out of that. On the way to Katz’s Deli we stopped at Ray’s Original for one last slice.



The crust was really good, it was crisp and chewy, it held the toppings, but it was the sauce that was the weak link. It had that cheap acidic tomato taste that I do not like one bit.

At Katz’s we ordered the three meat platter. Now, this was the way to go! We had corned beef, pastrami and salami. We made our own sandwiches. It was really good.



When we left Katz’s it began to pour, time to dig out the umbrella... We rode back to the UWS and went to the Natural History Museum. The entrance from the subway seemed convenient until we got stuck in a hellish line for tickets (this was the last admission included in our City Pass). The door man here was an even bigger dick than the one at Rockefeller Center. We waited eons but finally got our tickets for admission. We were told the Planetarium show would begin at 1:00. We weren’t too sure if we wanted to waste time with it, but we were urged to check it out “it’s really neat.” We went, I lasted about 3 minutes before falling asleep.

We wandered the museum a bit, but we were turned away at every interesting exhibit. Each one had an extra entrance fee. It was nutty. We walked through a couple areas we could view and it was plastic animals we’ve seen at San Diego zoo, replicas of ruins and other things we’ve experienced in Mexico. We were over it. Fortunately, the rain let up and we left to head over to Levain Bakery.

Levain Bakery is a small little place that could be easily missed if not specifically seeking it out. It has been featured on dozens of TV shows and it’s the most copycatted recipe I’ve seen on food blogs. I had to try the original myself. We got the classic chocolate chip walnut cookie and the dark chocolate peanut butter, and a big ole cup of milk to wash them down.



The fuss over these cookies is warranted. At $4 each they are pricey, but they are very good. The classic was my favorite. The dark chocolate was rich and chewy more like a brownie than a cookie, an outrageously delicious brownie.

Our time was up and fortunately we ended our trip on a good note. We walked back to the hotel to collect our bags and we hailed a cab to LaGuardia. It was worth every cent of the $40 fare. While sitting at the gate, we learned that our flight would be delayed. We had a short window to catch our connection in Baltimore so I was concerned that we wouldn’t make it. We began to search options… there were no more flights to LAS from BWI. If we missed our connection we would be stuck in Baltimore for the night. SW won’t put you up in a hotel so I called a friend to see if she’d mind having us. She was game even with the moment’s notice. That was awesome! I told her we’d check other options and I’d keep her posted with our plans. We frantically checked flights all over, searching for any that would get us home. We found one thru Chicago, it provided us with the best chance of making it home to sleep in our beds. Worst case, if we missed that connection, too, we had family nearby. Frank exchanged our tickets. I called Amy to say thanks, but no thanks. Then, we sat and waited another two hours for our flight to Chicago to depart. We made the right call; we would not have made it to Baltimore in time. We would’ve arrived 45 minutes after our flight left to LAS.

We boarded the plane to MDW. It was on time, thankfully. But then, we were stuck on the tarmac for nearly an hour. I’ve never experienced such a thing. I’ve since learned that it’s a common occurrence at LGA. I thought it was JFK that had those issues. Now, I know Newark provides your best chance for on-time arrivals/departures and with the train it is likely get you to your destination faster.

Our layover in Chicago was short and sweet. The flight had few passengers so we knew it’d be a roomy ride home. We didn’t except to score the first seats on the plane, but we did. Frank had so much leg room it could have been first class. Our plane touched down just before midnight. Our hearts were beating and our stomachs were a flutter just like our first trips out to Las Vegas. We were home. We cabbed it back to MGM. We enjoyed the warm air while we waited for our car at valet. Our car. Oh, how I missed thee. It was wonderful to travel above ground and ride without strangers. I’m no city girl, nor am I a country girl. I belong in the suburbs. No doubt about it. We were happy to experience New York City, but it never did grow on us.

Nearing the end

We were happy to welcome Monday, it meant express trains and getting around a little easier. Plus, our trip was winding down; home was on the horizon. We were burnt out, but we kept on since we had sights left to see, and eats to seek out.

We took one last recommendation from a New Yorker and tried Vezzo pizza in Midtown. We ordered cheesy garlic bread to start. It was thick and much different than I expected.





Our Margherita pizza followed, it was exceptionally thin. The crust was crisp, but almost non-existent. Ingredients were fresh. It should have been a winner, but it reminded me of pizzas I make at home with Flat Out flatbread. This was flat bread, not pizza. This was only the second place we were served fountain soda (the first was at Spumoni Gardens) it came as a surprise that we were charged for a refill. We should’ve stuck with the delicious free NYC tap water, but whatever…

Moving on, our next stop was the Top of the Rock, which is the observation deck at Rockefeller Center. The halls to get there from the subway made me nauseous. It reeked of greasy fast food and Subway bread. We couldn’t get to the ticket outlet fast enough. Admission was included in our City Pass. Getting our tickets was quick and painless. However, it was never mentioned that we had to wait until 1:30 to enter. We had 45-minutes to kill. Waiting around is not something either of us wanted to do, but we sucked it up and waited. Outside. I couldn’t stand the food court smells in those halls.

I enjoyed the fresh air, but it didn’t take long for my feet to grow weary. I took a seat on the planter, careful not to disturb the freshly planted flowers. Relief lasted about 5 minutes, and then the doorman scolded me. As we waited, he scolded another dozen people who also grew tired waiting to enter. Finally, time passed and we entered the doors only to be scolded by the doorman again. He insisted it wasn’t time, yet. We pointed to the clock. He had no choice but to waive us on.

We were herded like cattle to wait for the elevators to take us near the top. Then, we were forced to watch a short film about the building before being herded again to be taken up to the observation floors. The first two floors are obnoxious with the big glass panels obstructing the views. The top deck is where it’s at. It is open. Had I realized, I wouldn’t have wasted time on the first two trying to snap photos between each glass panel. Visibility wasn’t great, it was incredibly hazy, but we hung around about an hour taking photos and trying to make out the different buildings.



















Leaving was no easy task. Once again, we hurried just wait while we were herded into elevators. I’ve been up on many observation decks and none were as much of a clusterfuck as this one.

Afterwards, we went back to Katz’s Deli. This time we had corned beef and pastrami.



The pastrami is so good. It was the best thing I ate in NYC. We left a little room for dessert so we sought out Sugar Sweet Sunshine bakery, which came highly recommended for cupcakes. We ordered two: Sexy red velvet and pistachio. Both had ” the moose” aka satin buttercream, which seemed to be their signature icing.



They weren’t the most attractive cupcakes, but I don’t mind as long as they taste yummy. We each dug in and gave each other the same look. “Ick.” These were among the worst cupcakes we ever tried; I can only recall those we had in Vancouver being worse. The cake was dry. The icing was bland only leaving a strange artificial taste. It was very odd, I’ve never considered myself a great baker, but I can make a better cupcake. I swear this place is highly rated because it’s fairly cheap, only $1.75 per cupcake.

Next we went to the Metropolitan Museum; again, admission was part of our City Pass. We walked around admiring the artifacts, but I grew tired of it early on. Still, we pressed on absorbing all that could. But in all honesty, I liked the building itself better than the items that make up the museum.





The arched-windows, the columns, the arcs of the ceiling and wood floors were really lovely. I appreciated the experience for a much different reason than most, I suspect.

Wall Street was our next destination. We enjoyed seeing this area of the financial district. It’s the heart of America, if not the world.













We went to Fraunces Tavern, which claims to be Manhattan’s oldest standing building built in 1719. George Washington bid farewell to his officers of the Continental Army there after the revolution. We had a sampler of beers: Strubbe Pils, Victory Prima Pils and Erdinger. The Strubbe was a favorite. It was a great bar; we soaked up its history and wished the walls could talk. I’m really happy we made this stop. It was a highlight.

We walked over to the Staten Island ferry, it was already boarding so we had perfect timing. The views were nice as we pulled away from Manhattan and it was nice to catch another look at the Statue of Liberty.





We hopped on the train when we docked and rode it to the end of the line. From there we walked and took a bus to see the Atlantic Ocean. We saw it, but that’s about it, it was a residential neighborhood and the gardens that butted up to the ocean were closed under lock and key. We rode back to Manhattan admiring the city lights at night.





We made it to all five boroughs; we can honestly say we experienced NYC. Brooklyn was our favorite, if you were curious.

Our last adventure was to find that ultimate pizza slice. I had two more popular pizza places on my list; both were in the West Village. It was one neighborhood we had not yet visited. It was young and happening. It was bustling, I liked the feel. Our first stop was Bleecker St Pizza. We tried a few slices.



Their Nonna Maria, like Margherita, was my favorite. Excellent! It was my favorite slice I had in NYC. It was crisp and topped with flavorful sauce and gooey cheese. The white pie was really good, too. Even the Sicilian was a winner. Ahh! Bleecker Street why did I not find you sooner? It was priced right, too. Slices were $3. Second, we were off to find Joe’s Pizza. They only had cheese and Sicilian slices when we arrived, we tried one of each.



This was bad pizza. It was flavorless and dry. We didn’t even finish either slice. It was that bad.

We were in desperate need to recharge our batteries so we headed back to the UWS. Frank stopped at New Pizza Town and ordered a calzone to go. I wasn’t the least bit hungry so I didn’t order a thing. Back at the hotel Frank ate his Calzone which was very good, while I packed our stuff. Then, I fell into bed and promptly crashed.

One Speed, Go!

We woke Sunday, giving NYC a chance to grow on us. We headed to Nolita to try Lombardi’s and a sandwich shop. The latter was closed. Lombardi’s was our sole destination. We grabbed beers at the bar. Frank had some cream ale, and I had Yuengling, my new found favorite. We were seated in the basement. We looked around and saw that the Margherita and White pizzas were popular. Majority ruled, and we got half & half, too.



The white pizza was not very good. The crust couldn’t hold the ricotta and I thought the ricotta was overpowering, you couldn't taste anything else. The Margherita, on the other hand, was good. It could have been better if it had a crisper crust.

Next, we sought out Cheesecake. Rice to Riches turned up in a search, it was close by, and we walked over. Only to find it is a Rice Pudding shop. They only had cheesecake flavored rice pudding. I’ve never liked rice pudding so we left and tried Eileen’s Special Cheesecake instead.





Frank got a small cheesecake and a few cookies (3 were cheaper than 1). It was a bit pricey, but very good. The cheesecake was light and fluffy and not overly sweet. We liked the peanut butter and chocolate chip cookies best, the white chocolate macadamia nut was dry and cloying.

We thought we’d check out MoMA next. We searched for directions; unknowingly Google led us to the MoMa design store in SoHo. We came across Dean & DeLuca, and Balthazar so I thought it could be a happy accident. Frank loves French onion soup and I thought we could grab a bowl at Balthazar. There was a line just to wait to be seated. We tried to find seats at the bar, but struck out. We explained that we were only looking to grab soup and run. They seemed like they were going to work something out for us, but instead the put us aside and had us waiting for a table to become available. There was no way we were waiting 40 minutes for soup.

We left, and found directions to the actual MoMA museum. Ironically, it was directly across from Il Gattopardo, the Italian restaurant we dined a few nights earlier. Anyway, admission was included in our City Pass. The museum had some great pieces and some odd ones.









Overall, despite its larger size it reminded me of my experiences at the Art Institute in Chicago. Next, we were off to the Lower East Side, Katz’s Deli was our destination. It was mobbed, Frank waited in line why I secured us a table. He ordered corned beef reuben, corned beef sandwich and an order of potato pancakes. He only intended on the reuben, but there was confusion and he was left with both sandwiches.





We weren’t terribly hungry but we polished it all off. Finally, we had a meal that met our expectations. We thought delis like Katz’s were on every corner. They are not, but finally we knew where to grab a yummy delicious bite. We felt like we had turned a page.

We had tickets to Charlie Sheen at 8:00pm so we rested back at the hotel a short bit before heading to Radio City Music Hall. The 20-minute ride to rest 30-minutes just to take another 15-minute ride seemed to make little sense, but we needed it. Radio City is a great venue. We suspected, even if Charlie was a train wreck, it would be a neat experience. And it was. Charlie was even amusing. The show could’ve been better if the audience asked better questions when they were given a chance to ask anything… Do you like Canada? C’mon, really? More lame questions followed. Charlie answered each one. He even gave a guy $100 when he asked for it. James Lipton and Darryl Strawberry were in attendance; both took the stage and asked a question.





It wasn’t the greatest show ever, but it was better than he’s been given credit for. I’m happy we saw the show to form our own opinion, rather than those that are spewed as part of the media circus.

Frank wanted to try another Italian restaurant, we came upon Trattoria Trecolori. We hemmed and hawed a bit before entering, but we gave it a try. Frank ordered veal with eggplant and mozzarella and I had minestrone soup.





The veal was extremely tender; it was good, just under seasoned. My soup was different than minestrones I’ve had before (it had peas), it was decent, but not worth $8. After dinner, we walked over to Roxy's for cheesecake. Perplexed by the options Frank asked the hostess which flavor was her favorite, "Snickers" she said.



We got one expensive slice and did the touristy thing. We sat at the little red tables in Times Square and ate our cheesecake. It was good, better than we both expected. It left us wishing we had tried the original. Afterwards, we returned to the hotel to rest up for our last full day.