We got to the Dream Hotel around 9AM, talked with a nice lady at the front desk and found that our room was not booked for that night, it had been booked for the previous week and we had been charged for a "no show"(I had booked it separately, long story), and the nice lady at the front desk was NOT being helpful. She told us she could do nothing unless we had a conformation number (which I had left at home). We checked our bags and went to breakfast at the Stage Deli... way too much food. Luckily while we were there Kristina found the conformation number (bless her!) and we wrote it on a napkin. We walked back to the Hotel with food in our stomachs and a new attitude. I told the very nice, very unhelpful woman at the front desk, that this was not our fault it was their's and that it needed to be fixed. She found us a King room and told us that if we wanted to stay in that room and not be moved to the smaller room that we had booked for the rest of the trip that it would be an extra $60 + tax per night, I said that considering the confusion that she could upgrade us for the rest of our stay, she said the manager would never go for it, I said let me talk with her then, back and forth till finally an angel named Fabia saved us. She said she had talked with the manager and that we would be upgraded, she even threw in breakfast the next morning.
We got our bags brushed our teeth and made our way to the spa on the lower level. The Chopra Center & Spa, it was incredible. First we had a steam where we rubbed three different kinds of mud on ourselves, then a very nice massage, then a bath in a great big tub with jets and blue lights, (we felt like rock stars). We finally went back to the front desk got our room key and rested ahhh!
After some rest we ventured out on the town. We walked to the park, stopped at the Time Warner Center and Mall. The mall was like nothing I'd ever seen (I'm not much of a mall rat), but this mall had art, good art and a Whole Foods in the basement! We saw the corner of the park from "Ferris Bueller's Day Off" (my best NY resource). Then we walked down to Time Square, the lights are pretty but there are too many people to try and get through, and it smells a little like ass. So we walked back and found a place to eat "Azalea" it was nice but I'm not sure I'd go back (too many great places to eat).
We went back to the Hotel (after grabbing a bottle of wine and a bottle opener... and some chocolate) and basically passed out in our cushy king size bed.
Tuesday 12th Anniversary Day
Slept in till 8:30 or so, 5:30 our time feeling MUCH better. Went to the Starbucks (sorry we had a gift card from Christmas) then walked toward the park, stopped in at the Time Warner mall and got a piece of quiche at Bouchan Bakery to eat in the park. We worked up an appetite for breakfast, then went down to the restaurant Serifina for an outdoor carte blanche breakfast, I have never eaten so much bacon.
Well I needed to walk off some of the bacon so we decided to walk to the Guggenheim, it was a beautiful day! We walked and walked and walked some more... on the way we stopped at Cafe Boulud were we had hoped to get reservations for that night (it's fairly close to the Guggenheim). We walked in and I talked with the front desk. I said "We have a friend who has eaten all over the world and he says that this is his favorite place, we would like to eat here for our 12th anniversary tonight, say 7:30 or 8." They found us a table at 7:30. We left the restaurant triumphant... then I realized that I had left the City Passes back at the hotel. So we took a cab back, on that cab ride my phone tag with John for The David Letterman show finally ended and I had to answer the trivia question if I wanted to get on the show... "where does Rupert work?", for the life of me I could not remember the name "Hello Deli", so he gave me an easy one... The instrument that Paul Shaffer plays is the keyboard. YEA I WIN! We'll go to the Wednesday show. Once at the hotel I picked up the City Passes and we headed back out, we decided to be brave and catch the Green Line (subway) to the Guggenheim. I was feeling proud of us when we finally go on a packed train. We were congratulating ourselves on our fine job boarding when the nice older man with his face in my armpit informed us that we were going the wrong way. We exited the train at Grand Central Station, ok we messed up... but we did get to see Grand Central Station. We did finally get to the Guggenheim. Once there we found out that they closed at 5:30 that day and that only gave us a few hours, at the time we didn't know that their permanent collection was closed for renovation and that a few hours would have been ok to see everything (oh well). We walked to the Metropolitan Museum of Art.
The Met has a great collection of art, and it's HUGE, so we really had to pick and choose what we wanted to see. We spent most of our time with the expressionists and Picasso, but we saw lots of incredible stuff, even had a very quick jaunt through Egyptian art. Our time was over quickly and Janet asked me if I wanted to get a cab back to the hotel before dinner, I said no we can just walk around till then (the restaurant was close), well we walked through the park. We stopped and sat in front of a 3,500 year old Egyptian obelisk. We met a dog walker with a thick Italian accent, he was nice and Janet got another dog fix. We walked and walked and by the time we git back to 5th Ave. I had officially wimped out. "Ok let's get a cab back to the hotel." Had a quick shower, changed, rested for a few minutes and caught a cab back to the upper-east-side. On the way we saw a cool looking little French place, with tables outside.
Cafe Boulud was everything and more than we had hoped for. We ordered a nice but reasonable Australian Shiraz, 2 appetizers, I had the duck breast and Janet had the gnocchi with seafood, it was all fantastic. Our server had a thick French accent, and she made the "bunny face" every chance she got, but it was a sincere "bunny face" so we forgave her. Everyone down to the guy who makes sure that we had the right knife a fork (they have several different kinds, depending on what you order) knew it was our anniversary. When Ms. Bunny Face came to ask if we would like to see a dessert menu we both belched at her (just kidding), we were stuffed. She the brought us the cutest slice of cake with a scoop of ice cream, and Happy Anniversary in script, and a candle stuck to the plate. SO SWEET! It had to have been the nicest dining experience that we had ever had.
We felt so good that we were ready to walk again, or rather stroll back towards the hotel. We walked back by that cool looking French place and decided to ask if we could sit outside and have a glass of wine, Janet went to use the facilities, so I ordered two glasses of whatever the waiter suggested for a very nice evening, after an exceptional meal. This is probably the first time in my life that I did not ask how much it would cost ($16 a glass, by the way). The wine was ok, I prefer Californian wines to French (say la vie). It was worth the experience.
We started walking again and got pretty close to our hotel when it began to POUR! With my newly found "rockstar cab hailing skills" I grabbed a cab within seconds of the first few drops. We spent the rest of the evening in our cozy room, and then we slept like dead people.
Wednesday (a good day to be inside)
So we fully intended get bikes and ride around Central Park, but after getting coffee and walking down to the corner of the park we knew it was too cold and windy to even think about it. We picked up a cab to the Museum of Natural History, we had carried our bread from the night before to feed the pigeons, but they were too smart to be out on a day like this. We deposited all our bread on a ledge and proceeded to the museum front door. They didn't open for another half hour and the nice security guard wouldn't let Janet use the facilities, but did direct us to the places around the block. We jogged for warmth. Found a coffee and bagel place with a bathroom split a bagel sandwich and a juice and stood till someone left and we could sit down. Every time the door opened a gale force wind would blow all the litter in the surrounding neighborhood inside. It reminded me of a Saturday Night Live sketch (my other NY reference).
We jogged back to the museum, luckily we got in through the back. COLD! Once in we found that while the temperature was pleasing, the place was overrun by bus-loads of kids (oh well). We got our tickets (thanks again City Pass) and decided to do the 11am planetarium show. After checking our coats and deciding what we wanted to see we made our way slowly and roundaboutly to the gem area, I highly recommend it. We were dumbfounded by the extensive collection of gems and minerals. Janet will spend hours in rock shops or gem and mineral shows, but this was something else entirely. I asked "what time is it?", she said "almost 11", I said @&^%#! that's when our show is! We asked the nice Indian guard (dot not feather) if we could make it, he said "sure", and gave us directions, then he said "you may want to walk fast". So we ran and got lost much faster than if we had simply just walked fast. We did finally make it, after the 11am show had already started. Luckily one of the female guards had pity on us and traded out our tickets for the 11:30 show (I think it helped that we weren't kids). She even put us in a private elevator and we dodged around the large group of little beasties. It felt like Disneyland with a FAST PASS. The show was a nice place to sleep (I couldn't help it) with the reclining chairs, and the voice of Robert Redford (Orfius) gently lulling me to sleep. Where were you Mr. Redford on the flight over here? Feeling refreshed we went back to finish our tour of gems. We went up to were they keep their old bones and we saw mastodons, giant armadillos, and dinosaurs of many different sizes. Got into a rousing discussion with one of the museum volunteers about whether T-Rex was a hunter or a scavenger (he thought both) I told him he was an idiot (just kidding). We meandered around the native American and Pacific islander displays and tried to avoid the dead animal displays until we were ready to leave. Got our jackets, the jacket checker couldn't take a tip (not allowed) what is this country coming to.
We cabbed it back to the Time Warner Center for lunch at Ye Olde Whole Foods Market in the basement of the mall. Too many choices at the food bar, I decided on mostly Indian (dot not feather). The line for checkout snaked all the way through the market, and when we got to the front it was set up like Fry's Electronics checkout, with a traffic person directing you to the next available checker (unbelievable). No tables available in the store so we took our booty, and utensils across the street to Columbus Circle and ate outside, still windy but a little warmer. We needed to be at the Ed Sullivan Theater around 2:30, so we headed back towards the hotel.
The nice thing about having our hotel a half a block from The David Letterman show was that we cold longe around for a little while before we headed over. We stood in line for a short while, then headed in, ID's in hand and we told the lady the magic special words "John's Gold List", and she gave us tickets and told us to wait over there. After a small group congregated "over there", a guy came out and told us when to come back and to line up by number. About this time Janet started getting excited, I guess she didn't really think we would be on the show till then. We went around the corner to the Hello Deli and I bought a shirt from Rupert, and asked him if being a celebrity was good or bad. He said "mostly good", I asked him if he got any crazy stalkers, he said no and looked at me like I could be the first. So we went back across the street to the hotel, rested for a few minutes, then got back in line. I ran across the street and got some coffee and we stood there and talked with a nice couple from Kansas City and the staffers. We got fluffed by the Late Show fluffers, when to laugh, how loud, noises that are strictly forbidden etc. Then we filed in to our seats in the back, even seats in the back are good seats (the theater is dinky). The fluff comedian came on a told us that we lucked out... George Clooney and Nora Jones were the guests. All in all it was a good show, with only one incident when security though Janet had "called out", thankfully they didn't kick us out.
After the show we tried to get a cab back to the upper east side to have dinner with Neil at his place of business, this was the only time that rock star cab skills failed me, it seemed like every single cab had a fair. We finally got one after we had walked half way. Neil had started to worry, but we made it and soon after were having a very good pizza half prosciutto and arugula, half garlic and fresh mozzarella, and drinks. After dinner we walked a few blocks to the water front (nice view). We walked around the upper east side for a while, then got a cab back to the hotel, showed Neil our room. Went to the wine store, and left Neil to walk around Time Square. Janet and I rounded out the night with a nightcap in the penthouse bar, the bar was pretty cheesy, but after we were done with our drinks, we went to the roof (very nice). Back to our room to pass out once again.
Thursday (Flowbee 101)
Got up, stumbled down to the coffee place and brought back some coffee. Wakey-wakey, got it together and headed down to the Empire State Building. Needed some breakfast and found a nice little bagel place (cheap), had a very quick bite to eat. Shoved our way through the tour hucksters, up to the second floor of the Empire State Building to find ourselves in a long line, one in which we did not have time to wait. We needed to be at the Circle Line to leave on the 11:30 full island (3 hour) tour (a three hour tour), so we hopped in a cab and got there with time to spare. Neil was heading down to meet us, he almost didn't make it (his train was delayed). We eventually all made it on to the ship and set off around the island. I got some nice shots of the city and learned some to boot.
After the cruise we were all ready to eat, so we all got in a cab and headed to Chinatown. Neil's friend Mark lives in an apartment on the fifth floor (walk up) in Chinatown that is huge I think by New York standards. As soon as I walked into Marks place I could tell he was a fan of good food, down to the picture of Anthony Bourdain hanging in his kitchen. Sure enough, aside from owning Right On Futon in Chicago, Mark is a caterer, and teaches pizza making classes. We embarked on a gastronomic journey that included 4 stops in Chinatown, food and drinks all around, a really cool discount candy store, a trip to Mark's cheesemonger friend's little cheese store, and finally a cab ride over to Les Halles after a deluxe Flowbee haircut. Our first stop was a little place right by Marks apartment were we ate cuttlefish, and two kinds of pork (roasted and BBQ'd) and a few beers, they had a great garlic & ginger sauce for dipping, it was there that I was informed that the food is better in New York Chinatown than it is in San Francisco Chinatown (who am I to argue). We stopped in at a little hole in the wall for a taro cake (woo tua koh) to go, it was good and different from the ones I'd had before. We went to a place that specializes in wok fried pancakes as big as pizzas, that they cut up and make sandwiches in (you'd have to see it), we had tuna, sounds strange but they were excellent. Stopped in at Economy Candy a candy wonderland in the lower east side, bought a bunch of the stuff. Oh I forgot to mention that Neil had his big bag on, so he was our sherpa. Mark brought us to his friend Anne's cheese market, a tiny place in a city owned indoor market (very cool idea) called Saxelby Cheesemongers. She specializes in local, farmstead cheeses, and she was sparkly, (you could tell she loves her work) she let us sample several cheeses in her collection. We bought a few slivers to have with our wine. Mark bought much more for a pizza gig he was doing on Saturday, he stashed it in his refrigerated backpack. Next stop, Congee Village, worth the stop if nothing else just to see the place (click on the link). Janet and I had the martinis, Mark and Neil had Long Islands (go figure). Food hits your table one minute after ordering, but drinks take a while... luckily Mark knew this and we ordered accordingly. We had razor clams with blackbean sauce and regular clams with blackbean sauce, both good.
A few more drinks and back over to Marks place, and a few more drinks and we were ready to Flowbee my head. DO NOT TRY THIS AT HOME! Mark is a trained professional... we all gave it a try, except Neil, he was too busy laughing, and drinking. If you would like to download a copy of the album from the band that Neil discovered from the subway station The Stumblebum Brass Band click HERE.At this point Mark said that we could go see more Chinatown or we could do whatever we wanted. We decided to get a cab over to Les Halles, the French brasserie that Anthony Bourdain was somehow affiliated (he was I think the executive chef). We had a bucket of mussels, fries, and a bottle of wine. Very dark with candles, I started to feel almost French (just kidding). We had a great time, Mark is a good host, and a competent barber (I've ordered a Flowbee of my very own). We said our goodbyes, jumped in a cab, and scooted back to our hotel, were we again fell fast asleep.
Friday SoHo much fun
Up pretty early, more coffee and a few Starbucks treats. Enjoyed the cozy room's amenities. Got it together and grabbed a cab to the Guggenheim. The permanent collection was closed for remodel so it was a much shorter excursion than we had planned. The main exhibit was Cai Guo-Qiang (I Want to Believe). He is an artist after my own heart, in that he mainly likes blowing stuff up or sticking arrows in it. The faux tigers (with lots of arrows in them) and wolves are a little hard to handle, but it was a good show.
After the show we went back to The Empire State Building, this time no waiting (YIPPY)! The reason was because it was totally socked in. It was funny to watch the few tourist that were with us taking their pictures in front of the fog.
After The Empire State Building we got a cab over to Greenwich Village. First things first, we needed to eat so we looked at a few posted menus (too many choices). We went across the street to the "Gourmet Garage" just to look around. I asked the deli guy if he knew of a good place to have a nice "sit down" lunch. He actually went outside with us so he could point out the good places, he told us if we went north up to the triangle that there was a place that was supposed to be really good, and this time of day (around 2) we could probably walk in and be seated, the name of the place started with an M. He also said that the rumor was that Mario Batali was a silent partner. The place was called Morandi and our server denied that the place had any ties with Mario. The food was great, we had a small bottle of wine, bread with excellent olive oil, grilled asparagus with goat cheese, clams with pasta and a mixed seafood grill (very nice). We left feeling groovy, went to some shops, found a jewelry place that Janet liked.
We walked down to Soho, Janet found a t-shirt she liked... Obama is my homeboy. It was pretty cool but luckily we felt the decal before we bought it (did not look sturdy). We got some nice gifts for our real homies. We tried to find CBGB's asked the nice young kids smoking cigarettes, they were helpful but not much help. We asked an aging rocker and got a good story (he had played there), but not very good directions. Finally I settled for a t-shirt. I heard later that they moving the place brick by brick to Las Vegas! (too funny). We made a full circle back to were we started, saw a whole fence full of 911 decorated tiles (kids from across the country made them), bought a necklace for Janet, took a peek in a little doggy boutique, finally found ourselves in front of a couple of martinis looking down on the passers by in Greenwich Village.
Alas it was time to get another cab, this time to the Japanese Restaurant Inagiku, in the Waldorf Astoria Hotel. Why you might ask did we choose such a location, plenty of other places to have Japanese food? Well because my Sifu (Grandmaster Look) designed the place in the early 70's. Once inside we made our way to the host's counter, and told him that my Sifu had designed this place in the early 70's, he informed me that they had gutted the place about ten years ago and redesigned it. Well we were in the mood for Japanese food anyway so we got a table and had a pretty decent meal, Sterling Merlot, miso, seafood cakes, and an eel roll. We leisurely strolled through the lobby of the Waldorf, feeling like members of the upper crust.
So we sauntered back towards our hotel down 50th and just happen to stumble upon Rockefeller Center (nice surprise). We watched the ice skaters for a bit, then it hit me, a few people had told me that the view from the top of Rockefeller Center was better than the Empire State Building. So up we went, sure enough it was a clear and beautiful view of the city lights. We even got to see the Empire State Building, something that's hard to do from the top of the Empire State Building. Funny how things work out.
We made our way back out into the night. I wanted to find a good cannoli, first we asked at the Stage Deli were we had started our culinary adventure, they were insulted by our request. Then we saw a deli with cannoli in the window. Went in, sat down asked the waitress about the cannoli, she told us that everything else was great but not the cannoli (I had to admire her honesty, but we left anyway). We ended up getting one from a bakery, along with a fruit-tart for Janet (we ended up saving them for breakfast). Made it back to the hotel and for our last night we passed out on our comfy bed.
Saturday to the MoMa then HoMa
Brought back coffee, and had our little pastries. I used the concierge's computer to print out our boarding passes. Went back to the room, packed our bags and decided to ship our dirty cloths back to save room for the few trinkets we had picked up. So we got our things together, said goodbye to our room, went down to the front desk and checked out. We checked our bags and took our dirty clothes down to the UPS store. That done we made our way down to the MoMa.
The MoMa has an incredible collection of art, again you have to pick and choose what you want to see. They have big, important pieces, it's like an art history class in just a few hours. The cafeteria at the MoMa is like a fine dining experience, but by the time we left I was hungry.
We stopped in at a French place close to our hotel (just so so). We wandered back to our hotel, got our bags, and freshened up. The door guy had got us a Lincoln for the ride to the airport (much more relaxing). We got checked in and through security, no problem. Had a drink at the bar, (medicinal purposes) to prepare for the flight. By the time we had sat down by the terminal, I discovered that I had left my ipod in the room safe. I called the hotel and they put me through to housekeeping who had indeed found it, they shipped it home for me for free (very nice).
The flight back was alright, I even managed to doze a little. Popped off the plane and straight to the shuttle to longterm parking (thanks to no checked bags). Got the car out of hock, headed to Mueller to pick up Bessie. Nice to be home, the dogs were beside themselves. I think that this was about the best Christmas present ever. Thanks Janet. Next year Spain?
