trip update 3: New York minute

Originally, the plan for December 28th was to get up early, have breakfast, and be on the road by 8AM.

Yeah…just try to coordinate it so six adults and two kids will be ready to leave on time. Not gonna happen. It was more like 9AM by the time we hit the road, and Padre was none too thrilled. “That damn parking garage is going to be full by the time we get there, and I will NOT be happy,” he groused.

The ride to New York City was unmemorable…literally, because I fell asleep for most of it. I did wake up minutes before we went through the Lincoln Tunnel. In general, I’m not claustrophobic, but I have to admit that made me a little nervous, and I was glad when we made it through to the other side.

Well, at least I was glad until Padre exploded.

“Dammit!” he yelled. “The damn parking garage is full! Now what the hell do we do?”

“Dad, chill, there are other places to park in New York City,” A said.

“I know that, but I wanted to park here because it’s fairly cheap and it’s closest to the route I want to take! Now I have to change the whole damn plan.”

At the word “plan”, G turned and gave me a knowing look. He had warned me that going anywhere with his father involves a plan that cannot be deviated from in any way. I believe this may be the root of his travelphobia. Fortunately, we didn’t have to go much farther to find a parking lot, although I cringed when I saw the price list.

As we walked, Padre said, “C, I know you were really looking forward to Serendipity, but I called and found out that even with reservations, it would be about a three-hour wait for lunch. We can still do that if you want, but since we only have the one day here, I wasn’t sure if you’d rather be doing something else during that time.”

“Oh, definitely,” I said. “I appreciate you checking, but I would much rather spend the time walking around and sightseeing, not standing in line.”

Sigh…no frozen hot chocolate.

Our first stop was Rockefeller Center. I’ve always loved seeing the pictures of the huge tree, the ice rink, and the gold statue, and now I finally got to see it in person!









Next, we walked to Saks Fifth Avenue to check out the beautiful window displays. Unfortunately, the crowds were so thick that I wasn’t able to get a good picture from my vantage point, and I didn’t want to stand in the endless line just to get closer.

And…uh…crap. Now I can’t remember whether we actually saw Times Square first, or if it came after Rockefeller Center; the New Yorkers among you must forgive my ignorance. Anyway, here are pictures from Times Square:







(I took the above picture mainly because I think Jennifer Aniston looks so sinister in it. “LIEKOMGIEATYOURHEAD!!11!”)

We had lunch at a restaurant called Mangia (which I mistyped as “mangina” at first), and Padre said, “So, what do you think so far?”

“Oh, I love New York City,” I said. “I was here in 1997 for a long weekend, and I just love the energy. But where are all the celebrities? Gawker makes it sound like there’s a celebrity sighting on every corner!”

“I’ll see what I can do,” he chuckled, and damn if we didn’t almost literally run into Jackie Mason when we left the restaurant. No one in our party dared to approach him because he looked really unhappy, and he was with a woman who looked even unhappier than he did, plus it’s not like I know much about him aside from the fact that he voiced Krusty the Klown’s father on “The Simpsons”.

Random picture:





And we stopped in Trump Tower because D is absolutely obsessed with "The Apprentice". That kid is going to be a millionaire by the time he's 21, mark my words.

Central Park:







We also went to the Metropolitan Museum of Art, but we only had two hours before they closed, so unfortunately we didn’t get to see much, aside from the armor and Egyptian exhibits. I took a few pictures, but they didn’t come out very well, so meh.

When we left the museum, our party managed to snag two cabs, and we headed to our next destination: a swanky Italian restaurant. The traffic was unholy, as you can imagine, and Padre finally told the cab driver to let us off and we’d hoof it the rest of the way. Dinner was excellent; three of us (including me) had margherita pizza and everyone else got some sort of fancy-ass pasta or fish. We didn’t order dessert because we were planning on making the Magnolia Bakery our final stop, plus A and J had to leave as they were going to a play called “Doubt” and then spending the night and the next day in NYC.

After saying goodbye to A and J, the rest of us went back to the car and Padre drove us to Bleecker Street. He managed to find a parking spot on a side street, right next to a tree that had this amusing marker in front of it:





I practically skipped down the sidewalk. Yay, Magnolia Bakery! Home of red velvet cupcakes with cream cheese icing! Home of---

“They’re CLOSED!” Madre said.

::vinyl scratch::

Huh????

Yes, sure enough, there was a sign in the window saying that they were closed through January 3rd for the holidays. Bastards! Evil, rotten bastards! My shoulders slumped with disappointment.

We made a brief detour into a café so the kids could use the bathroom, and then we returned to the car and found that someone had double-parked next to us so we couldn’t get out.

“Great,” G grumbled.

Padre was unfazed. He opened the driver’s side door of his car and laid on the horn. A man emerged from a brownstone and said, “What’s with the horn, huh?”

“Is this your car?”

“Yeah.”

“Well, you’re blocking me in! Move your car and you can have this space.”

“Christamighty,” the man said, and went back inside and closed the door. Padre looked fit to burst, but the man returned wearing a jacket and jingling car keys. He moved his car, and then we were off to New Jersey.

So yeah, no frozen hot chocolate at Serendipity and no cupcakes at friggin’ Magnolia Bakery, but hey, I had a huge slab of Madre’s cheesecake, so all was well.