Dora The Explorer (Destination NYC)

[NOTE: If you don't read any of this post, at least scroll down and check out the cat pics!!!]

Boy are my dogs barking. Feet, that is. They are covered with blisters from all the walking I did in New York City. Considering that I also spent $30 on subway fare, I covered a lot of ground!

Thursday
The day was pretty tame, giving me some time to just get settled. The train ride, checking in at the YMCA, and getting a theater ticket for that evening took up the afternoon. I saw Gypsy with Patti Lupone. (I'll post a review in the next few days.) Here's a look down 8th Avenue from Columbus Circle.


Friday
It was rainy but I didn't let that deter me from what I love to do when I travel...get out, walk around, and explore. And if I can brave the rain in London, I figured I could do it in NYC, too. I put on my waterproof jacket and began walking up Columbus Street starting at 63rd. Here is a Chinese Dogwood in bloom.


I wound up at 103rd when the rain started coming down in earnest, so I bopped over to Amsterdam and headed back down. That means I covered 80 blocks, not counting the blocks between avenues, and I was soaked by the time I got back to my room. A nice warm shower helped.

That evening was the first of the blogger events. HK Lounge in Hell's Kitchen. I decided to get there on time at 9 which was a wise decision. Early on the music's volume allowed lots of small talk so I was able to catch up with many of the folks I've already met. I forced myself out of my comfort zone and actually went up to people an introduced myself. The benefit was making new acquaintances and putting faces to blog names.

Saturday
One of my goals was to make it over to the Hudson River and see the new Trump Place development. In a twist of fate, I ran into The Farmboyz on the street at the beginning of my journey and they said to head over to the river at 72nd Street. I did, but turned north instead of south. For some reason, I thought Trump Place was in the high 90s rather than the mid 60s. Here are the subway stations at Broadway and 72nd Street. I ended up walking all the way up to 125th Street!


It was a glorious day and the entire walk was through Riverside Park. That's another thing I enjoy doing when I travel...walking through the parks and botanical gardens. I like looking at the architecture, too.


Along the way, I stumbled across Grant's Tomb, which is something I've never seen before. Who's buried in Grant's tomb? He and his wife.


I had made a poor decision on footwear, opting for my flip flops since the weather was so mild. The bottoms of my feet were covered with blisters and the insteps raw from the straps. I hopped on the A train down to Times Square and got in line at TKTS for another theater ticket. I saw the latest hot play, August: Osage County, which is predicted to win a slew of Tony awards this year. (I'll post a review in the next few days.)

With ticket in hand, I got back on the subway up to 72nd Street and headed into Central Park looking for the blogger gathering at "Bear Hill." I had met most of the crowd the night before so that was good. Rather than mingling, I sat down on the grass to rest my feet and strategically place some Band-Aids. And I shamelessly stole this pic of the group from the Farmboyz. :)


Then it was back to the YMCA for a quick shower, change of clothes, and off to the show. The show was 3.5 hours with two intermissions!

The bloggers were meeting at The Eagle around 11. I debated on whether to go since I was exhausted. I thought of what my ex used to say, "I'll sleep when I'm dead." With that bit of inspiration, I ended up walking there after an hour standing in a line for a taxi.

I was glad I went, having the opportunity to catch up again with new friends. It's been forever since I've been in a leather bar so that was nice in and of itself.

Sunday
I finally figured out that I should have gone south at 72nd Street for Trump Place so I did that Sunday. Up to 72nd, over to the river, then south. Farmboy C had mentioned a nice pier (middle left of the following pic) so I walked to the end of that and took some pics. It was cool and cloudy, but not bad. Kids were out playing on the baseball diamond and I could see the George Washington bridge from the end of the pier.


Trump Place was completely uninspiring. In the second building from the right in the following photo, you can see large banners hanging from the outside announcing availability. One bedrooms in The Avery start at $865,000, two bedrooms at $1,375,000, and three bedrooms from $2,212,500. It is 95% sold.


Since I was on the West Side, I figured I'd head down to 57th and see if I could find where they tape Regis and Kelly and The View along the way. As it turns out, I happened upon on a huge street fair on 9th Ave so I walked that from 57th to 42nd! (My feet are on strike today.) I saw the backside of the Time Warner Center.


It was mostly food and many of the restaurants along 9th had booths out in front of their places. Honestly, I didn't realize there was so many food options there, which I supposed is the whole point of the fair. I had a great chicken pita with some of the most tender chicken I've ever had. Who knew?

Then I spotted a cat moving along above the heads of the crowd. It was the cat as a hat!


The guy was begging asking for money, and since I took his pic, I gave him a couple of bucks. Not so much for him but for the cat. A couple of times I watched him take the cat down off his head to hold it, but the cat was having none of it, and climbed right back to his perch on the guy's noggin. One of the coolest things I've seen in a long time. Parrots on shoulders? Yes. Cats on heads? Never.

I went back to the YMCA, read the New York Times, and headed to Penn Station to catch my train. I was two hours early so exchanged my ticket and boarded immediately. I snoozed most of the way.

All in all, a really great weekend!!!
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