TRS In New York City - Part One

I think I'm going to have to break this NYC recap into two parts due to how much there is to write about, and the sheer volume of photos that ensued from the (only) whole day we spent there. So here we go!

We left the 'Wa around 10am on Friday morning and headed towards the US border. We had all heard so many horror stories about bands getting turned away from the States, and we were fully expecting to get searched and grilled for a while. But when we got there, it was a snap. He looked for a moment in the trunk, and Jeff engaged him in an dialogue about surf music. ("Punk?" "No, surf. Instrumental, 60's stuff, like The Ventures.") He didn't really seem to care, and a minute or two later we were into NY state. We finally got to our hotel in Jersey City around 8pm, after getting stuck in some traffic, and then getting a bit lost in a very dodgy part of Newark when the interstate did something a little odd and I didn't notice. (When you see an abandoned police car parked half on the sidewalk with it's doors open, it's probably best to lock your doors and keep moving. Seriously.) Anyway, the rest of the night can be recapped quickly: Asian dinner next door to the hotel, a bit of a walk to see New York from across the Hudson river, and a few drinks at the hotel, then we crashed out pretty early to have more time the next day.

Saturday, we got to an early start with myself, B and Ashley going swimming in the hotel pool before catching the PATH subway from Jersey City to Manhattan. Our basic plan for the day was to get to 5th Ave, and walk up from 33rd street, stopping at whatever we found interesting on our way to Central Park, where we would inevitably spend the rest of the day we had left in the sun. So we started with the Public Library. After hanging out on the front steps with the lions for a while, we ventured inside. We really just wanted to wander around the library, although we definitely weren't the only tourist types in there. It was also Spiderman Week in NYC, so they had a display of old 60's Spiderman comics out. And B and I accomplished our mission of taking a picture à la opening scene of Ghostbusters, which I think turned out pretty well.


From there, we hit up Grand Central station (since I had never seen it, except in North By Northwest), and took a wander around St. Patrick's cathedral. And then, just as we were approaching Central Park, we were distracted by a large glass structure with an all too familiar logo inside: we had arrived at the Apple Store. So Jeff and I make our way downstairs and proceeded to geek out with their toys for a while. Then we spent some time in F.A.O. Schwarz, the toy store next door. Tons of fun!

And at last, we made it to Central Park. It's amazing, I could seriously spend all my time there if I was a resident New Yorker. It's also hard to get over how immensely huge it is. Our only real goal (and a lofty one at that) was to find Strawberry Fields (the NYC version), which is on the west side of the park, and we made it there after a couple of hours and plenty of roaming around. It was good times hanging out by the bandstand watching random people, including a figure-rollerblading girl, a dude doing bike tricks, and this guy who was rollerblading around in circles waving his arms like a maniac who has been forever immortalized as "This Guy" by Jeff and Bridget. (There are videos somewhere.) Anyway, after that, we decided to grab dinner at a small Italian place in Greenwich Village before jumping on the subway back to the hotel. The pizza there was awesome; Bridget claims it to be the second best pizza she's had in her life. (And she's pretty picky, so that's a rather huge endorsement). I didn't even look to see the name of the restaurant, but from what I can deduce from the internet, I think it was Gaetana's, on the corner of Christopher & Greenwich Streets. Very cool place.

So here's where we're going to conclude Part One of the NYC trip blog. Next edition - Otto's Shrunken Head and TRS's New York City debut!