We spent most of this past week in New York City for the kids' Spring Break. I can say first-hand that reports of the Big Apple's transformation into a crime-infested hellhole are greatly exaggerated. It did not seem any different this time than any of the other dozen times I've visited over the past twenty years.* I heart NYC. It's got an energy like no other city I've been to in the world. I wish I had lived there at some point in my life. We kinda, sorta, maybe briefly entertained it back when S was at the UN. But the timing was bad, and it's an expensive place to raise a family. I mean, DC is expensive too, but it's not New York expensive.
*Although, I shouldn't be too glib. Recent reports have shown that some crimes, particularly shoplifting, have skyrocketed, causing consternation to business owners and residents in certain areas. Repeat offenses -- which some leaders, like mayor Eric Adams, say are a result of the state's relatively lax bail laws -- are a huge part of the problem. A topic for a different post.
Just visiting is expensive. You can't really get dinner for four at a restaurant for cheaper than $100, and the Subway fares add up when each ride is $11 for the family.* We can't complain too much about prices this time though, since we got lodging for free. S's sister Sw hooked us up big time. Her place of work owns (or somehow has some business with) hostels in NYC, and one of these hostels has a "penthouse" (a big apartment) that's reserved for employees. Sw was able to book if for us this week. S and the boys and I took the train up Tuesday, and then Sw came up on the bus on Thursday, and then we all took the train back yesterday. Also, my friend DK came into town from Hartford and stayed with us Friday night. It was super fun, but it was also exhausting. I started this post last night, but I quit after a few sentences because I realized I was typing a word and then reading it over and over again, forgetting I was supposed to finish my thought. That's when you know you are too tired: When you can't remember why you are awake.
*It doesn't help when you swipe your card at the wrong gate because the conventions of the DC Metro are different than the NYC subway. For example, in DC you can access all trains in all directions of a station regardless of which gate you use to enter it. This is not so for the NYC subway. When went into the Rector Street stop to take the 1-train, only to realize we could only access the R-train. So, we left and dipped into the station for the 1-train... in the wrong direction. There was nowhere in the station to cross to the other side, so we had to leave and buy entry yet again. A trip that should have cost $11 cost $33. A Lyft would have been cheaper.
Anyway, here's a day-by-day recap of our trip.
Tuesday
We took the Amtrak, which is my preferred method of travel from NYC to DC. It can be expensive, but we got a good deal because we booked way in advance and left on a Tuesday afternoon. The main problem with the train is that it's kinda depressing to see what's become of Union Station. It used to be this super vibrant hub of DC, with tons of boutiques and bookstores and restaurants, but it's been gradually deteriorating as more and more people work remotely and more and more goods are purchased online, and then the pandemic came and sent this decline into hyperdrive. It's not totally dead -- there's still a little food court and a few shops -- but it's a shell of what it once was. There are a ton of shuttered retail spaces, and it looks kinda dingy and depressing.
I've heard tell of a massive renovation project (it's discuss in the linked article), which would be great, but it's only going to last if it's done in a way that doesn't require the levels of daily foot-traffic it used to see, because that's probably never coming back. I'd like to see something not too ambitious: A nice, clean, safe, train station. That's it. Just focus on that and the business will naturally establish themselves if you succeed.
My train movie was Tár, if you are wondering. Big thumbs up from me.
We got into NYC on the later side, so we just went to dinner and called it a night. We ate at an Italian restaurant, which is a rarity. S doesn't eat bread, pasta, red meat, or seafood (so she basically doesn't eat Italian food), and I like other types of food better than Italian food, anyway. But it is still nice as a change-up. I got this black noodle seafood dish, and it was quite tasty. The only problem is that I stained my shirt eating it. I should have done like those old Italian men in mob movies and stuck a napkin under my collar. Oh well, it was an old shirt.
We set out in the morning for a trip to Liberty Island and Ellis Island, and it was very cold. The sun hadn't real come out yet and the winds were swirling. One good thing about New York, though, is that you'll be thinking to yourself God, I wish I had a beanie cap right now. And then you'll look over your shoulder and see somebody at a stand selling beanie caps right next to you -- best $15 I've ever spent. S bought one on the ferry for $5, but waiting in line (or "on line," as New Yorkers say) to get onto the ferry was the most brutal part of the trip.
The islands were pretty much as you would expect. I'll post some pics below.
At night, we met a few of S's old friends who live in the area for dinner. I got a fried chicken sandwich that was covered in pickles and sweet-hot sauce. It was so good, but the portions were too big. I ate about three-fours of it and felt like chicken sandwich was oozing out of my pores for the rest of the night. It's like, can you knock 25% off the price and just give me half as much?
Thursday
Speaking of meals and prices, we had a super expensive dinner Wednesday evening. We met up with S's and Sw's childhood friend N at a very chichi Mexican tapas restaurant and really ran up the tab. Now, there were six of us, but it was only the four adults who ate. The boys didn't like anything on the menu. S kept trying to coax them into eating things, but I was like Why? Why have them choke down expensive food they won't enjoy, when we're just going to end up buying them mac n' cheese and croissants at the market when get back to the apartment anyway? Come to think of it, they did have a few mini tortillas and Lil' S2 ate some (delicious) steak, but that was about it. They also couldn't be bothered to eat because we let them bring their Nintendos. Unlimited screen time in exchange for adult conversation without being bothered every ten seconds -- it's a deal you sometimes have to make.
Before dinner, S and the kids met some of our DC friends who happened to be in the area at the museum in Night at the Museum. I met everybody at Central Park afterward, and we bummed around a bit. I noticed that of our friends it was just the husband with his kids, so we had the following conversation.
Me: What are you guys doing in the area?
Him: Visiting my mother in Jersey.
Me: Oh, where's L?
Him: She doesn't like my mother.
Me: Fair enough.
I made everybody go to Strawberry Fields, which couldn't have been less interesting for the kids -- or the other adults, for that matter -- but I wanted to see the IMAGINE star. It really is crazy how the Beatles still resonate with the public over 50 years after they broke up. I mean, John Lennon died in 1980 and people are still memorializing him on a daily basis. On a random Thursday in April, there was a crowd of people paying respects, putting flowers on the star, buying art featuring his likeness, playing and singing his songs. It's more surreal than yellow matter custard, dripping out a dead dog's eye.
Friday
During the day we took the boys to the Museum of Mathematics, which was much more exciting for the kids than it was for me. I was thinking it was going to be a real museum of math, in which I would see old text books and learn about old mathematicians and stuff like that. But instead it was a lot of games and activities tangentially related to math. See if you can walk this maze without making any left turns. It reminded me of a place I used to go as a child in Seattle called the Pacific Science Center. It was fine.
At night, I met DK at Yankee Stadium, and we took in a ballgame. (Nosebleed seats -- they were the cheapest thing I purchased all week.) This is the first game I've been to since the institution of the pitch clock, and I gotta say, I love it. The game goes by at such a better pace, and you can attend a game and get home before midnight. We even had time afterward to take the train back to Manhattan and watch the end of the Knicks game at a sports bar, which was fun, as the city is nuts for the Knicks right now. Also, I got some Korean barbecue tacos, and they were delicious.
It was really nice to see DK and catch up. We don't live that far away, but we only see each other like once every two years. He's got three kids, at least two of whom, I've never met. I kinda botched it on this trip. If I had been more on top of things, we could've stayed one more night, and he could have brought his family, and we could have spent Saturday together. Actually, come to think of it, what happened is, I originally wasn't going to go on this trip at all -- it was just going to be S and her sister and the kids -- so I wasn't initially part of the plan. I came in later; I didn't really botch it.
Saturday
I must say, however, it was very nice to come back on Saturday and not Sunday. I'm all about the buffer day. No movie on the train this time for me. I didn't sleep well in the apartment (even with earplugs and white noise New York is a loud city), so I spent most the ride laid back with my hat over my eyes. I wasn't really sleeping, but it still felt good.
Until next time...
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