NYC
Kim & Stuart
August 27 - 29, 2004

Maiden Lane at South Street Seaport	Brooklyn Bridge
Colombian Chicken in Jackson Heights, Queens	Jackson Heights, Queens...street view
our hotel, the Essex House, as seen from Central Park	another hotel view; you can see the Essex House behind Stuart
the surface of this apple is covered with pennies	going on the Staten Island Ferry (it's FREE!!)
on the Staten Island Ferry
view of Ellis Island from ferry	Statue of Liberty from ferry

We left for NYC on a Friday morning and were all checked into the Essex House by 11am. We drove to New Haven and took the train in which makes for a nice break in the trip and allows a relaxed trip to the city. Not to mention, assures you avoid the Sunday traffic on rt. 95 North which we have encountered before and can really ruin a trip.

At any rate, after dropping our things at the hotel we immediately took a cab to Chinatown where we had some delicious Dim Sum. After that we walked down to the tip of Manhattan and took the free ride on the Staten Island Ferry. It was great! We had amazing views of Manhattan from the water and also of the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island. It was about a 20 minute trip in each direction...a perfect ride on a gorgeous day.

After the ferry ride, we hoofed it up to the South Street Seaport and walked on Maiden Lane and checked out some of the stores there (mostly just to cool off in air conditioning for a while). The picture above of Stuart sitting in front of the Brooklyn Bridge was taken from the top floor of the shops and we spent a while there relaxing and enjoying the view. From the seaport we walked and walked and walked some more up through SoHo and other little neighborhoods. By this time it was getting to be dinner and we were at Houston Street so we walked down to the famous Katz Deli on Houston in the Jewish Quarter and had dinner there. Stuart had the most amazing pastrami sandwich and I had an open faced turkey sandwich with all the fixings. Mmmmmm.

We walked some more and then when our feet finally gave out took a cab ride back to the hotel to rinse off the city's grime. Can you believe that the two of us were asleep by 9pm, completely zonked from getting up early and having such a full day in the hot sun.

Saturday morning we took the subway to Jackson Heights in Queens and walked around that neighborhood for a while. You can see the picture of me above with the subway rising above the main thoroughfare in Jackson Heights which made it very noisy. We walked up and down Roosevelt Avenue which is all Hispanic and then made our way two blocks to 37th Ave which abruptly turned to all Indian. We had the most amazing Indian Buffet lunch before heading back to Manhattan to spend a little time at the Met.

After the Met, we strolled through Central Park all the way back down (25 blocks worth of strolling) to our hotel. The hotel we booked last minute on Hotwire.com and it was an amazingly swanky 4 1/2 star hotel right on Central Park South for a steal!!! What a location!!!

So back at the hotel room we had to hose ourselves off. It was 90 degrees out there and humid as the day is long and we were drenched. By the time we got all cleaned up...lo and behold...it was time for dinner. You'll think we're crazy, but we hopped the subway back to Jackson Heights for some Hispanic fare. We stood and ate tacos and nachos at a street taco bar before heading for Colombian chicken, a sit down meal. The food in the ethnic neighborhoods of Jackson Heights is more tasty than you can imagine! After dinner we took the subway to Times Square and walked around there and then back up to our hotel.

So Sunday morning we woke up still full from gorging ourselves on Saturday, but that didn't stop us from heading to the Brooklyn Diner (not in Brooklyn, but right around the corner from our hotel), a cool place with pecan French Toast. After that we spent a couple of hours walking off the calories in the upper west side before taking the 2:07pm train out of the city. The city had been pretty empty all weekend, but was getting quite busy on Sunday at this time because of the Republican National Convention. We left before it really got bad.

The diet starts tomorrow!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!