Dragontwin Microsmoot Trip Report
for those of you on smarch, a version of this will also likely be posted there. just ignore it. pictures also soon to follow.
now, let's see how much i can actually remember... perhaps Twinnie can help fill in the blanks later.
on friday, i took the 10:30 train down and got into GCT around 12:20. found the Twinnie and parked it downstairs in the foodcourt to plan our day. made our way to MoMA; decided to walk since it wasn't all that far and there was certainly plenty of city to see. tried my damnedest to not be a tourist, but my will was broken and i started taking pictures of all kinds of things right along with Twinnie, including a couple nice shots of St. Patrick's Cathedral.
had a blast at MoMA, esp. when i got around to renaming the art. f'rinstance, that famous Matisse of the five nude women in a circle became "Naked Bitches Playing Ring Around the Rosie." a Picasso of three stout women in ill-fitting garments became "Fat Bitches with their Tits Hanging Out." saw some beloved pieces such as Dali's "The Persistence of Memory," Monet's "Waterlilies" and, of course, Uncle Vinnie ~loff~ communed with "Starry Night" until one of the museum Nazis decided i and the others around me were getting too close. but dammit, van Gogh is as much about the texture as the color. you *have* to get up close.
grew weary of the museum and went off to find a nosh, then the Flatiron building. en route to there, we were stopped by some musicians hawking their CDs. the first one was very good-looking and so of course a bit flirty. we taunted him for a bit before Twinnie finally bought a CD from him. the second came over basically to see if we would buy his CD since the first guy made a sale. the third was out of luck by then, though. in our conversations with them began the stock answer we would come to use during the rest of our trip. "yes, we're sisters. twins, in fact: separated by seven years, three thousand miles and two sets of parents."
the Flatiron building turned out to be directly across the street from the musicians, so we found a good angle and took some pictures in the dusk and fog. the next leg of our trip was in the direction of the Empire State Building, and it was right around this point that a man named Murphy started to tag along and lay down the law.
we had a bit of a time finding the ESB because a thick fog had started to roll in. you couldn't see the top third to half of the building. when we got to it, we were warned by every single person that there was zero visibility tonight and were we sure we wanted to go up? we explained that this was the only night we had set aside to go up, and yes, we were sure. the guide we met at the top of the escalator suggested we go have dinner, maybe wander a bit, then come back; that maybe the fog would let up once it got cooler. so we found a place called Chipotle, which i learned was a chain, and where i got a burrito the size of my head. also got a coke with a lime in it, which prompted me to alternate between taking sips of that and sniffing the coconut lotion i had in my purse... it was just like drinking a Malibu and coke. i think i have a problem lol.
we headed back to ESB and while it wasn't much better out, we were getting tired. it's a long journey up there, with winding corridors and multiple elevators. the journey was made longer by having to hear every single person say "you know there's no visibility tonight. are you sure you want to go up?" there were only a handful of other people visiting. i bet all the workers were super bored lol.
we get to the gift shop just inside the observation deck, and upon looking outside, i saw a guardrail which looked to be covered by a green tarp. we stepped outside and i looked up. there was no tarp, because *everything* was opaque green. we were in the middle of a cloud, cold and stickydamp. when they said zero visibility, they weren't kidding. we cackled at our luck and did a once-around on the deck, then back inside. the gift shop was full of nifties, including little purple-pink Statues of Liberty and tiny ESBs next to giant gorillas. i bought an ESB shot glass. also chatted with the guy at the counter. he was from Africa, named Kofi, and had a great laugh. i kept saying silly shit just to make him laugh more lol.
we headed back to Twinnie's stepbro's place (a mere block from the train station ~joy~) only to enter an empty house. we learned that he was staying at his girlfriend's and his daughter was at a sleepover. good thing, since we both needed to unpack and unwind before actually going to sleep. we stayed up talking, puttering around on the net and getting to know Sasha, the resident feline. very sweet cat indeed.
and i realized as i was unpacking that i didn't have the extra pair of jeans i thought i packed. i was stuck with ONE pair of pants for the whole weekend :|
on saturday, we got up and went to the nearby diner where i had a badass cheese omelet and some of the best diner decaf i've ever had. diner decaf isn't real coffee, it's its own beverage, but there's something about it i love. T's stepbro and his gf met us there. he immediately reminded me of thespos (so much that it was scary) but it took me a good portion of the day to realize that the gf reminded me of my former neighbor, who i used to have a lot of fun with. we went to a couple shops in town, one of which wherein T and i were lovingly mauled by a couple German Shepherd puppies. from there, we went to a huge indoor flea market. i bought an Indian skirt that's midnight blue with rows of big, semi-shiny sequins. it's hard to describe and capture the boho funkiness of it; "sequins" makes it sound tacky/silly. but it's awesome, trust me. T bought a nifty messenger bag. i tried in vain to find a bellyring i liked, much less to find a bargain on the black pearl necklace i've been wanting.
went back to stepbro's apartment for a bit, then made plans to pick up his daughter and go to Dave & Busters. swung by Walgreen's on the way, by which time we had gotten good and silly in the car (things like how if the daughter's 60 gig iPod was the granddaddy, then my 1 gig shuffle was a fetus, upon which stepbro corrected me, saying it was the afterbirth). as we pulled up, stepbro said "these poor people have no idea what they're in for."
the prescription line took a good part of forever, and then T had to wait for her script, so we wandered around the store and basically played for a while. there was a plush pig that squealed when you pulled its tail and danced around singing "I'm Too Sexy." we put it in the middle of the floor, set it off and danced around it. we ate chocolate, sampled perfume, browsed makeup and generally giggled at things.
made our way to D&B's, which, btw, i'm now obsessed with. had a Philly cheese steak that was good, if a bit salty, a nicely strong Malibu and coke... and then the daughter mentioned seeing something called Over&Under shots on the menu once. (go here http://www.daveandbusters.com/drinks/menu.aspx and change the selection to Over&Under). there wasn't much on that menu i was interested in trying, mostly because of either vodka or Red Bull. i tried to get them to sub in vanilla rum in the Cheesecake shot, but they didn't have it, so i decided to suck it up and get the Blushing Bull, hoping that the raspberry taste would overpower the bubblegum taste. it didn't, alas, but it wasn't too awful, either. i thought about, and now wish i had, gotten a second one to see if i could drink it hands-free. it's an awful big lot of liquid to down all at once, even for someone with a mouth as big as mine.
after we finished eating, we headed into the arcade. i played lots of games and won way too many tickets considering there wasn't much in the prize shop that i liked, but i did get a shot glass. that's a mini-story in itself. first, the guy at the side where they count your tickets was a dick. you have to buy a card to charge your game tokens to, but i didn't know you could put your ticket winnings on your card, too. i was trying to ask how cashing in my tickets worked, and he couldn't give me a straight answer. i figured it out on my own when he took my card from me. 'scuse me for being a new customer.
i browsed the booth and didn't see much besides Mardi beads, which were overpriced. i did see lots of glassware, including shot glasses. but they only had those in the display case, none on the shelf. tried to ask mr. i-hate-my-job ticket counter if that meant they were totally out of them and i got a "god, i fucking hate customers" look and a slight nod. went over to the guy where you charge out, behind whom was the display case, and said, "before i bother to get in line... you're out of those shot glasses out on the floor; can i get the one in the case?" he said sure. before i go on... this guy looked like Waldo and talked like Fez. it was great.
i got on line, and when i got to the counter, he said "hey, you look familiar!" and took the two remaining shot glasses out of the case, locked it firmly back up, and turned to the counter. apologetically, i said "sorry... i only wanted the one glass." he gave me a deadpan and feigned a nervous tic, to which i cackled. he locked the unwanted glass back up, swiped my card.... and the computer locked up. he tried for a few minutes to get it to unjam, but had to reboot. and of course he had to call over mr. pleasant, apparently a manager, to log him back in. i couldn't hear everything WaldoFez was saying to me after that, noisy place that it is, but i swear he was flirting. *snort* i had to find T after that and point out the WaldoFez resemblance.
the remainder of our evening was spent on the Daytona racing game. i never liked racing games before because, well, i didn't know wtf i was doing. playing it now, i kicked all kinds of ass. i didn't want to stop! but alas, it was getting late. we went back home to get ready for the next day.
on sunday, we went back into the city to see the Tenement Museum and to do the Circle Line cruise we had tickets for. before heading to the train, we went to a deli for breakfast, wherein they advertized a breakfast buffet. it wasn't really set up buffet style, but rather they cooked it for you as you went. i had no luck here. they were out of pancakes... the cook didn't like the look of the egg bagels, so they wouldn't serve it to me... same for the fruit... the woman behind the counter felt awful and gave me a free brownie to take with me (dry as hell). T asked for another egg and sausage and they ended up bringing one for me, too. i felt bad, because i was stuffed for one, and for two knew it already wasn't going to agree with my tummy, but i ended up having to trash it. but to their credit, while their everything bagel was nothing more than poppyseed with a couple sesame seeds thrown on for color, it was still a damn good bagel. T couldn't finish hers, said it was too much bread. i told her she'll never be a NYer. ::shakes head sadly::
headed into the city and found the museum. i honestly didn't know what to expect, but soon learned that it was a tour of an actual apartment (300-odd square feet) where a family of seven once lived, and where a girl was acting as though she were Turkish, 14 years old and living in 1916. the family that had lived there was Sephardic, and one of the families on the tour with us was as well. the husband's father had himself been born in one of the nearby tenements. T told me later she heard him telling his restless daughter, "you must listen; this is our history."
we started to head to the Circle Line, but realized we weren't going to make it; just as well as T had forgotten her ticket... so we went shopping instead. found Mecca the Container Store where i found some treasures, including a little trash can (that fits perfectly in Rupert's cup holder, huzzah!) and some more goldfish magents (on clearance! hah-hah-huzzah!)
Twinnie, correct me if i'm wrong (i'm surprised i remembered this much) i think this was when we found the D&B in Times Square? they didn't have shot glasses, just as well as i didn't have my card full of tickets, but we did play the Daytona game some more. also had an adorable but rather gay Korean waiter with bad blond hair; ate a light dinner and no drinks.
hit some tourist crap shops as well, and mildly terrorized a Starbucks. scored a Cinnabon while we waited forever for our train out of Penn. actually, i really shouldn't call that waiting forever when i think about how long we had to wait for our train from Babylon out to stepbro's. out in the cold and dark and damp with at least one rather questionable character... remember the bum with the pickle jar from In Living Color? slightly better dressed, sans jar, but pretty much the same. there was another guy who apparently knew him from the trains, older, nicer-dressed... he talked about his retirement and tore the other guy a new one about how he needed to get his act together. i was glad to get on the train.
on monday, bustled around getting ready, packing up. stepbro got us sammiches for breffix to save us time and then dropped us off to the train. while getting our tickets, T realized she'd forgotten her boat ticket again *facepalm* called stepbro, swung back to the apartment, and got back to the train in time to see it pull away. turned out not to be a bad thing in the end, though, because i'd left things at the apartment! oops :)
on our way to the Guggenheim, we met up with an Aussie couple who, it turned out, were on their way there as well. the wife smiled and said, "oh! we'll just follow you, then." chatted with her along the way; the husband was a bit aloof. part of our chat consisted of how much we loved the look of the museum itself... and when we got there, it was covered in scaffolding for a renovation *sigh* bigger sigh when we got inside and found out that you couldn't take pictures there :( T managed to sneak a few, but i had some good renames there, like "The KKK Re-enacts the Last Supper." i shoulda took notes on artists and titles so i could find them on the net, because unfortunately, the gift shop didn't have most of my favorites as postcards.
took a cab to the Circle Line and got there with ample time. wandered off to find lunch. ended up in a sammich shop, but found a pizza place on the way back. i told T that besides the bagel, one thing she MUST have before leaving was some NY pizza. she agreed.
the boatride was an experience, to put it politely. there was a group of German tourists sitting behind us who seemed to think that just because they weren't speaking a language everyone could understand, it wasn't rude to talk out loud while the tour guide was talking. later on, a rather numerous Spanish family sat in front of us, and they seemed to hold the same philosophy as the German people. they also decided to ignore the instruction from the beginning to not let children go all over the boat and constantly up and down the stairs. had some nice views but no luck with my camera. i didn't see too many of T's, but she'd gone out on the bow and took some without the obstruction of dirty windows.
had one nifty moment, though... i knew about where NJB's dad's apartment building was, and i pointed it out to T... just then, the tour guide pointed to the same area and named the street, citing something of importance that happened there, and i knew for sure i was right. heee :)
the pier is right at 42nd street, so we just walked straight down toward GCT. passed through Times Square
and hit some crap shops, found good pizza, and took more pictures. @NJB, the Hilton has sculpture by the same guy who did all the critters and giant pennies from the park you took me to.
just made the next train back upstate and had to say goodbye in like two seconds :( had a bitch of a time finding a seat... went all the way to the last car and was still crowded in. end ed up being able to get an empty seat when i was halfway home, then stretched out with Percival. got home just before 9.
am still zausted today, but i'm apparently not in a hurry to get to bed lol. i'm watching CSI and playing an online crossword with my mom. had gone out for Thai with a co-worker earlier and had wanted to go shopping, but then i found out House was new this week, so i'll go shopping tomorrow lol.
ok... bed now.
now, let's see how much i can actually remember... perhaps Twinnie can help fill in the blanks later.
on friday, i took the 10:30 train down and got into GCT around 12:20. found the Twinnie and parked it downstairs in the foodcourt to plan our day. made our way to MoMA; decided to walk since it wasn't all that far and there was certainly plenty of city to see. tried my damnedest to not be a tourist, but my will was broken and i started taking pictures of all kinds of things right along with Twinnie, including a couple nice shots of St. Patrick's Cathedral.
had a blast at MoMA, esp. when i got around to renaming the art. f'rinstance, that famous Matisse of the five nude women in a circle became "Naked Bitches Playing Ring Around the Rosie." a Picasso of three stout women in ill-fitting garments became "Fat Bitches with their Tits Hanging Out." saw some beloved pieces such as Dali's "The Persistence of Memory," Monet's "Waterlilies" and, of course, Uncle Vinnie ~loff~ communed with "Starry Night" until one of the museum Nazis decided i and the others around me were getting too close. but dammit, van Gogh is as much about the texture as the color. you *have* to get up close.
grew weary of the museum and went off to find a nosh, then the Flatiron building. en route to there, we were stopped by some musicians hawking their CDs. the first one was very good-looking and so of course a bit flirty. we taunted him for a bit before Twinnie finally bought a CD from him. the second came over basically to see if we would buy his CD since the first guy made a sale. the third was out of luck by then, though. in our conversations with them began the stock answer we would come to use during the rest of our trip. "yes, we're sisters. twins, in fact: separated by seven years, three thousand miles and two sets of parents."
the Flatiron building turned out to be directly across the street from the musicians, so we found a good angle and took some pictures in the dusk and fog. the next leg of our trip was in the direction of the Empire State Building, and it was right around this point that a man named Murphy started to tag along and lay down the law.
we had a bit of a time finding the ESB because a thick fog had started to roll in. you couldn't see the top third to half of the building. when we got to it, we were warned by every single person that there was zero visibility tonight and were we sure we wanted to go up? we explained that this was the only night we had set aside to go up, and yes, we were sure. the guide we met at the top of the escalator suggested we go have dinner, maybe wander a bit, then come back; that maybe the fog would let up once it got cooler. so we found a place called Chipotle, which i learned was a chain, and where i got a burrito the size of my head. also got a coke with a lime in it, which prompted me to alternate between taking sips of that and sniffing the coconut lotion i had in my purse... it was just like drinking a Malibu and coke. i think i have a problem lol.
we headed back to ESB and while it wasn't much better out, we were getting tired. it's a long journey up there, with winding corridors and multiple elevators. the journey was made longer by having to hear every single person say "you know there's no visibility tonight. are you sure you want to go up?" there were only a handful of other people visiting. i bet all the workers were super bored lol.
we get to the gift shop just inside the observation deck, and upon looking outside, i saw a guardrail which looked to be covered by a green tarp. we stepped outside and i looked up. there was no tarp, because *everything* was opaque green. we were in the middle of a cloud, cold and stickydamp. when they said zero visibility, they weren't kidding. we cackled at our luck and did a once-around on the deck, then back inside. the gift shop was full of nifties, including little purple-pink Statues of Liberty and tiny ESBs next to giant gorillas. i bought an ESB shot glass. also chatted with the guy at the counter. he was from Africa, named Kofi, and had a great laugh. i kept saying silly shit just to make him laugh more lol.
we headed back to Twinnie's stepbro's place (a mere block from the train station ~joy~) only to enter an empty house. we learned that he was staying at his girlfriend's and his daughter was at a sleepover. good thing, since we both needed to unpack and unwind before actually going to sleep. we stayed up talking, puttering around on the net and getting to know Sasha, the resident feline. very sweet cat indeed.
and i realized as i was unpacking that i didn't have the extra pair of jeans i thought i packed. i was stuck with ONE pair of pants for the whole weekend :|
on saturday, we got up and went to the nearby diner where i had a badass cheese omelet and some of the best diner decaf i've ever had. diner decaf isn't real coffee, it's its own beverage, but there's something about it i love. T's stepbro and his gf met us there. he immediately reminded me of thespos (so much that it was scary) but it took me a good portion of the day to realize that the gf reminded me of my former neighbor, who i used to have a lot of fun with. we went to a couple shops in town, one of which wherein T and i were lovingly mauled by a couple German Shepherd puppies. from there, we went to a huge indoor flea market. i bought an Indian skirt that's midnight blue with rows of big, semi-shiny sequins. it's hard to describe and capture the boho funkiness of it; "sequins" makes it sound tacky/silly. but it's awesome, trust me. T bought a nifty messenger bag. i tried in vain to find a bellyring i liked, much less to find a bargain on the black pearl necklace i've been wanting.
went back to stepbro's apartment for a bit, then made plans to pick up his daughter and go to Dave & Busters. swung by Walgreen's on the way, by which time we had gotten good and silly in the car (things like how if the daughter's 60 gig iPod was the granddaddy, then my 1 gig shuffle was a fetus, upon which stepbro corrected me, saying it was the afterbirth). as we pulled up, stepbro said "these poor people have no idea what they're in for."
the prescription line took a good part of forever, and then T had to wait for her script, so we wandered around the store and basically played for a while. there was a plush pig that squealed when you pulled its tail and danced around singing "I'm Too Sexy." we put it in the middle of the floor, set it off and danced around it. we ate chocolate, sampled perfume, browsed makeup and generally giggled at things.
made our way to D&B's, which, btw, i'm now obsessed with. had a Philly cheese steak that was good, if a bit salty, a nicely strong Malibu and coke... and then the daughter mentioned seeing something called Over&Under shots on the menu once. (go here http://www.daveandbusters.com/drinks/menu.aspx and change the selection to Over&Under). there wasn't much on that menu i was interested in trying, mostly because of either vodka or Red Bull. i tried to get them to sub in vanilla rum in the Cheesecake shot, but they didn't have it, so i decided to suck it up and get the Blushing Bull, hoping that the raspberry taste would overpower the bubblegum taste. it didn't, alas, but it wasn't too awful, either. i thought about, and now wish i had, gotten a second one to see if i could drink it hands-free. it's an awful big lot of liquid to down all at once, even for someone with a mouth as big as mine.
after we finished eating, we headed into the arcade. i played lots of games and won way too many tickets considering there wasn't much in the prize shop that i liked, but i did get a shot glass. that's a mini-story in itself. first, the guy at the side where they count your tickets was a dick. you have to buy a card to charge your game tokens to, but i didn't know you could put your ticket winnings on your card, too. i was trying to ask how cashing in my tickets worked, and he couldn't give me a straight answer. i figured it out on my own when he took my card from me. 'scuse me for being a new customer.
i browsed the booth and didn't see much besides Mardi beads, which were overpriced. i did see lots of glassware, including shot glasses. but they only had those in the display case, none on the shelf. tried to ask mr. i-hate-my-job ticket counter if that meant they were totally out of them and i got a "god, i fucking hate customers" look and a slight nod. went over to the guy where you charge out, behind whom was the display case, and said, "before i bother to get in line... you're out of those shot glasses out on the floor; can i get the one in the case?" he said sure. before i go on... this guy looked like Waldo and talked like Fez. it was great.
i got on line, and when i got to the counter, he said "hey, you look familiar!" and took the two remaining shot glasses out of the case, locked it firmly back up, and turned to the counter. apologetically, i said "sorry... i only wanted the one glass." he gave me a deadpan and feigned a nervous tic, to which i cackled. he locked the unwanted glass back up, swiped my card.... and the computer locked up. he tried for a few minutes to get it to unjam, but had to reboot. and of course he had to call over mr. pleasant, apparently a manager, to log him back in. i couldn't hear everything WaldoFez was saying to me after that, noisy place that it is, but i swear he was flirting. *snort* i had to find T after that and point out the WaldoFez resemblance.
the remainder of our evening was spent on the Daytona racing game. i never liked racing games before because, well, i didn't know wtf i was doing. playing it now, i kicked all kinds of ass. i didn't want to stop! but alas, it was getting late. we went back home to get ready for the next day.
on sunday, we went back into the city to see the Tenement Museum and to do the Circle Line cruise we had tickets for. before heading to the train, we went to a deli for breakfast, wherein they advertized a breakfast buffet. it wasn't really set up buffet style, but rather they cooked it for you as you went. i had no luck here. they were out of pancakes... the cook didn't like the look of the egg bagels, so they wouldn't serve it to me... same for the fruit... the woman behind the counter felt awful and gave me a free brownie to take with me (dry as hell). T asked for another egg and sausage and they ended up bringing one for me, too. i felt bad, because i was stuffed for one, and for two knew it already wasn't going to agree with my tummy, but i ended up having to trash it. but to their credit, while their everything bagel was nothing more than poppyseed with a couple sesame seeds thrown on for color, it was still a damn good bagel. T couldn't finish hers, said it was too much bread. i told her she'll never be a NYer. ::shakes head sadly::
headed into the city and found the museum. i honestly didn't know what to expect, but soon learned that it was a tour of an actual apartment (300-odd square feet) where a family of seven once lived, and where a girl was acting as though she were Turkish, 14 years old and living in 1916. the family that had lived there was Sephardic, and one of the families on the tour with us was as well. the husband's father had himself been born in one of the nearby tenements. T told me later she heard him telling his restless daughter, "you must listen; this is our history."
we started to head to the Circle Line, but realized we weren't going to make it; just as well as T had forgotten her ticket... so we went shopping instead. found Mecca the Container Store where i found some treasures, including a little trash can (that fits perfectly in Rupert's cup holder, huzzah!) and some more goldfish magents (on clearance! hah-hah-huzzah!)
Twinnie, correct me if i'm wrong (i'm surprised i remembered this much) i think this was when we found the D&B in Times Square? they didn't have shot glasses, just as well as i didn't have my card full of tickets, but we did play the Daytona game some more. also had an adorable but rather gay Korean waiter with bad blond hair; ate a light dinner and no drinks.
hit some tourist crap shops as well, and mildly terrorized a Starbucks. scored a Cinnabon while we waited forever for our train out of Penn. actually, i really shouldn't call that waiting forever when i think about how long we had to wait for our train from Babylon out to stepbro's. out in the cold and dark and damp with at least one rather questionable character... remember the bum with the pickle jar from In Living Color? slightly better dressed, sans jar, but pretty much the same. there was another guy who apparently knew him from the trains, older, nicer-dressed... he talked about his retirement and tore the other guy a new one about how he needed to get his act together. i was glad to get on the train.
on monday, bustled around getting ready, packing up. stepbro got us sammiches for breffix to save us time and then dropped us off to the train. while getting our tickets, T realized she'd forgotten her boat ticket again *facepalm* called stepbro, swung back to the apartment, and got back to the train in time to see it pull away. turned out not to be a bad thing in the end, though, because i'd left things at the apartment! oops :)
on our way to the Guggenheim, we met up with an Aussie couple who, it turned out, were on their way there as well. the wife smiled and said, "oh! we'll just follow you, then." chatted with her along the way; the husband was a bit aloof. part of our chat consisted of how much we loved the look of the museum itself... and when we got there, it was covered in scaffolding for a renovation *sigh* bigger sigh when we got inside and found out that you couldn't take pictures there :( T managed to sneak a few, but i had some good renames there, like "The KKK Re-enacts the Last Supper." i shoulda took notes on artists and titles so i could find them on the net, because unfortunately, the gift shop didn't have most of my favorites as postcards.
took a cab to the Circle Line and got there with ample time. wandered off to find lunch. ended up in a sammich shop, but found a pizza place on the way back. i told T that besides the bagel, one thing she MUST have before leaving was some NY pizza. she agreed.
the boatride was an experience, to put it politely. there was a group of German tourists sitting behind us who seemed to think that just because they weren't speaking a language everyone could understand, it wasn't rude to talk out loud while the tour guide was talking. later on, a rather numerous Spanish family sat in front of us, and they seemed to hold the same philosophy as the German people. they also decided to ignore the instruction from the beginning to not let children go all over the boat and constantly up and down the stairs. had some nice views but no luck with my camera. i didn't see too many of T's, but she'd gone out on the bow and took some without the obstruction of dirty windows.
had one nifty moment, though... i knew about where NJB's dad's apartment building was, and i pointed it out to T... just then, the tour guide pointed to the same area and named the street, citing something of importance that happened there, and i knew for sure i was right. heee :)
the pier is right at 42nd street, so we just walked straight down toward GCT. passed through Times Square
and hit some crap shops, found good pizza, and took more pictures. @NJB, the Hilton has sculpture by the same guy who did all the critters and giant pennies from the park you took me to.
just made the next train back upstate and had to say goodbye in like two seconds :( had a bitch of a time finding a seat... went all the way to the last car and was still crowded in. end ed up being able to get an empty seat when i was halfway home, then stretched out with Percival. got home just before 9.
am still zausted today, but i'm apparently not in a hurry to get to bed lol. i'm watching CSI and playing an online crossword with my mom. had gone out for Thai with a co-worker earlier and had wanted to go shopping, but then i found out House was new this week, so i'll go shopping tomorrow lol.
ok... bed now.