New York City Blizzardfest 2005! Part Dos

Alrighty, I'm back working for the man. Time to finish what I started.

Fri. Jan. 21st
Another frigid day begins. First thing in the morning we head out walking south. First thru Chelsea into Greenwich Village. The village seems like a very cool place. When I go back to NYC, I would really like to stay in this part of the city. Cool places to eat and drink. We got to see the Village Vangaurd but we didn't go in. We just kept trucking to Washington Square Park, where we were offered some ganja, of course! I politely declined, knowing he could've been a narc. Remember kids, always know your dealer. Then we passed by NYU. I was hoping to see some paparazzi stalking Mary-Kate and Ashely Olsen but no luck. After making a right on Broadway, we entered Soho. So many shops! I think there was a Banana Republic on every corner. It was also to cool to see Chinatown. McDonalds with Chinese writing? I should've taken a picture but it was too cold to attempt. We finally arrived at Ground Zero. It made me really miss the twin towers. I would've loved to seen the skyline with those mammoth buildings.

After walking so far and wanting to warm up a bit, we stopped at a bar in the financial district called Blarney Stone(there was one in Midtown too). We each ordered an alcoholic beverage and an older gentleman whose name was Tony began a conversation with us. He was a local New Yorker, when he found out that we were from the south, we got into a discussion about the differences between north and south. Apparently, Tony has never been out of the northeast, his geography skills were not that sharp either. We talked about things ranging from politics to the Civil War. I was flattered when he thought I was a school teacher. We wound up having a few more drinks and Tony bought a round as well. It was time to leave Tony and head off to the Staten Island Ferry.

The Staten Island Ferry is the best freebie in town. It took us right by the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island. I took many pictures even though the wind chill outside had to be about -10 below. When we arrived back to Manhattan, we rushed to Battery Park so I could get a good picture of the 9/11 WTC Sphere monument. When I say rushed, I mean we pretty much ran b/c the sun had dropped and so had the temperature. We then hopped on the #6 train back up to midtown.

After resting up, we went to the B.B. King Blues Club & Grill for some good eating and music. I had the ribs(which I highly recommend) and Lynn had calamari. You never can go wrong with ribs and a 3-piece blues band.

Sat. Jan 22nd
And then there was snow! And a lot of it. We watched the news the day before and they had issued a blizzard warning for the northeast. Blizzard warning? Fuck it. I still had to make the trip to the East Village to Rock n' Roll Mecca, otherwise known as the CBGB. We left as the snow started pouring down on the city. Once we got off of the subway, the wind and snow was coming down full force. We could hardly even look up to see what street we were on. Once we walked about a block, I could see the white awning with red letters, CBGB. We weren't sure if it was open or not so we just walked in. I got to see inside and got to see the stage. We asked if they were open and they said no but next door was CB's Gallery(art, bar, little acoustic stage). We sat down and ordered a beer and a hundred dollars worth of t-shirts. The young lady behind the bar bought our beers for buying so many t-shirts. Wasn't that sweet for a tatooed, pierced bartender? We soon left and made our way thru the blinding snow to the subway. We got off of the subway at Grand Central Station. It was very cool to finally see the main entrance. That place is huge! When then walked thru the snow back to the hotel. My legs were so sore from walking the day before, the snow did not help matters at all. I didn't want to walk another step. But I had to if I wanted to eat.

Lynn had a taste for sushi on this night. There was a small sushi place about 3 blocks down from the hotel. It was about as big as a closet but nice. I had some great entertainment watching Lynn ordering sushi, she had never done it before. Adding to the entertainment factor was the Japenese waitress who did not speak very good English. Good times. It was back thru the blizzard to the hotel for sex.(happy Robin?)

Sun. Jan. 23rd
The day we were supposed to leave. Well, we didn't b/c the day before we changed our flight to Monday evening and booked an extra night at the hotel. We tried to move up our flight Sat. morning but everything had already been cancelled. No matter. An extra day in NYC? Hells yeah!

There was still snow everywhere. We decided to go to Macy's. Man, that's a big fucking store! We figured since we were doing the store thing, we might as well head up to 5th Ave. We walked into Tiffany & Co. and looked at things that we will never buy. Walked into Trump Tower. I should've walked up to the doorman and told him, "You're fired" in that sleezy Trump accent. Lynn really wanted to buy something from FAO Schwartz for her son but the rat bastards were closed b/c of a little bit of snow. Well, I think we had enough of looking at all of the 5th Ave types, so we hopped on the subway to take us back to the hotel. While we were waiting for the train to take us back, an annoucement came on stating that there is a fire at one of the stops and all trains were being re-routed. FUCK! That means we would have to walk the rest of the way. I needed a muscle relaxer for my damn legs.

Mon. Jan. 24th
It was time to leave the Big Apple. We got to the airport about 3hrs early but we waited in the security line for about 45min. Once thru security we ate and drank at the Chili's. I needed something to wash down the dramamine. Our flight back was nice, as soon as we got off of the plane at GSP, it felt so much warmer, it was like spring time.

All in all it was a great trip with a great person. I can't wait to get back up there and explore some more. Of course, it'll be summertime next trip.