In New York you can forget how to sit still

In New York freedom looks like too many choices
In New York I found a friend to drown out the other voices
(New York~U2)

As you now know, I'm back from my trip to New York City. This wasn't my first trip to the city, but my first trip in several years. It definitely won't be several years before I go back. In fact, if my friends Meg and Jack Slate aren't careful with how kind they are to me, they may find a permanent houseguest sleeping on their living room floor.

Wow. The trip was out of this world spectacular. It started off on the wrong foot- our plane was an hour delayed and the turbulence for the first half of the flight was bad. I traveled with a co-worker, so when I say we or our, that's who I'm referencing. We had a vendor meeting us at the airport with plans to take us into the city for dinner and a show. Because our flight was so late and that airport is HUGE and took forever to get out of, we made it into the heart of Manhattan after the curtain had risen. Our vendor gave us a choice... sit in the holding room until intermission to see the rest of the show, or forget about it and explore Times Square. As much as I love broadway, we decided to skip the show and walk the city. Everything got better from here on out.

Our first night we bummed around Times Square:


Our Vendor wanted to take us to Sardi's but it had already closed by the time we got there, so we went to Gallagher's instead. This was the same day as the NYC Marathon, and about 50 of the marathon runners had dinner at the same restaurant. This was quite possibly the best $40 steak that I've ever had. Wait, it's the only $40.00 steak I ever had. Joe Dimaggio had a table there that was always reserved for him, even until he died a few years ago:

The bartender at this place ended up being one of my favorite NYC moments. He took sympathy on us because we had to wait for all of the marathon groups to be seated, so he gave us free drinks to bide our time. He was an older man, full of charisma, funny as can be, and so very New York. I was told that a job as a bartender or a waiter at a restuarant like this is very difficult to come by, they make a good living and don't give up their spots until they're dead.

We walked all over Times Square this night... I got to see so many places like Rockefeller Center:

The Christmas Tree will go behind the flags, up above the golden god, in front of the NBC tower, in two weeks from now.

I was also amazed by St. Patricks Cathedral:

I think I took 40 pictures inside of this place. All of the work and details that have gone into this cathedral are stunning.

At this point my ears were cold and feet were killing me, but I refused to pay attention to that-- how often do I get an all expense paid trip to NYC? Never. We walked until well after midnight before we decided to go to the hotel. I learned that the reputation of 90% of New Yorkers is unjust... eye contact and a genuine smile go a long way with them. Also, traffic signals don't mean all that much. Just be careful of the yellow cabs, because they will kill you.

I'm realizing now that this post is huge and I'm probably losing people at this point. I'll blog more about my next night, probably tomorrow, of course with more pictures (I only took 169 pictures in the 2 nights and 1 afternoon that I spent in the city).

Here are some parting shots, some more of my favorite pics from this first night. I had a cool one of me standing in front of the Ed Sullivan Theater (The Late Show with David Letterman), but I'm having technical issues at the moment: