NYC - A world of its own
NYC was interesting. I don't really know how else to explain it. Of course, it fit the stereotypes of fast-paced, yellow taxis everywhere, bad traffic and the inevitable rude person from time to time. Overall though, it's never as bad as it's made out to be... just like any place put in a negative light.
We went to a couple of nice restaurants during the weekend. The first was called Cesca (Chess kuh), a country Italian joint. I don't think I could have selected a better place to eat. I know NYC has its share of magnificent eateries, but this place was simply amazing. The wait staff was probably among the best I have ever had. My glass didn't ever go empty. My food was awesome.. (Lobster meat in a pasta with farva beans in a scrumptious sauce) I thought it was funny that my parents froze when I ordered a glass of Merlot. I just wanted to see their reaction honestly... they actually excused it, although they are basically from the Prohibition era. I was mildly shocked. Anyway, the bill ran us about $240 with a $50 tip making it almost 300... but it was worth it. I'd rather drop 60 a person at this place than spend $20-30 at some dump. NYC definitely redefines my opinion on what makes a restaurant great. The second place we went was a quaint, dark-lit, pocket-sized steakhouse in uptown. It was cool but the food wasn't quite as good as Cesca. It cost us $400 with tip included and I thought it was mildly overpriced. The main reason probably being I'm not a big steak fan anyway and so the meat, no matter how well its cooked, isn't that great to me. We got to order a $10 bottle of sparking water and a $130 steak... yeah $130. It was 44 oz in size. We were stuffed but our wallets were empty. This place was more luxury setting. The first place I have seen with a bread crum remover gadget.
We spend the rest of our time at all the sites. Liberty of course, NBC studios with a tour of SNL set, brooklyn bridge, times square, dusk cruise around manhattan, the Bronx Zoo (the only time we nearly got rained out in NY), all of downtown (ChinaTown, Financial District, Little Italy etc...) parts of uptown and all the museums included, Central Park (although short lived due to time constraints and rain). The rest is kinda boring to talk about though. I did have one funny story about taxis though. My parents and my lil bro took a taxi to a museum about 1.2 miles away. My brother and I tried to get one but they kept passing us by... then one picked us up only to kick us out after we got in because he was "late for another passenger in Queens". So... we jogged... thru midtown NYC. It stunk because we had to wait for every dang red light.. we ran about 7-8 crosstown blocks total. We only made it 10 min after my family... so we just told them the taxi was a little bit slow and that he was lost. We made up a story and played it out until we got tired of fibbing. One more cool thing was the Empire State Building.. even though we couldn't see anything due to overcast skies that never left, we went up and got to walk thru the cloud deck. It was a first for me to walk thru clouds watching them pass thru us.
One more tip... if you want to visit NYC or Boston, have some $$$$$$. Parking cost no less than $25/day in NYC, sometimes up to $40. The food obviously cost a lot. The hotel cost $160/night in Boston and the one I got in Newark was the cheapest good hotel there was @ $110/night.
We spent over 2/3 of all our money in NY/Boston. If you want a cheap vacation go to D. C. Almost everything is free with the expection of somewhat expensive hotels (We got a Days Inn @ $110/night that was 2 miles from everything)
Anyway, time to get back to work again. I'll write one more little spiel about D.C., then I finished with my vacation.
We went to a couple of nice restaurants during the weekend. The first was called Cesca (Chess kuh), a country Italian joint. I don't think I could have selected a better place to eat. I know NYC has its share of magnificent eateries, but this place was simply amazing. The wait staff was probably among the best I have ever had. My glass didn't ever go empty. My food was awesome.. (Lobster meat in a pasta with farva beans in a scrumptious sauce) I thought it was funny that my parents froze when I ordered a glass of Merlot. I just wanted to see their reaction honestly... they actually excused it, although they are basically from the Prohibition era. I was mildly shocked. Anyway, the bill ran us about $240 with a $50 tip making it almost 300... but it was worth it. I'd rather drop 60 a person at this place than spend $20-30 at some dump. NYC definitely redefines my opinion on what makes a restaurant great. The second place we went was a quaint, dark-lit, pocket-sized steakhouse in uptown. It was cool but the food wasn't quite as good as Cesca. It cost us $400 with tip included and I thought it was mildly overpriced. The main reason probably being I'm not a big steak fan anyway and so the meat, no matter how well its cooked, isn't that great to me. We got to order a $10 bottle of sparking water and a $130 steak... yeah $130. It was 44 oz in size. We were stuffed but our wallets were empty. This place was more luxury setting. The first place I have seen with a bread crum remover gadget.
We spend the rest of our time at all the sites. Liberty of course, NBC studios with a tour of SNL set, brooklyn bridge, times square, dusk cruise around manhattan, the Bronx Zoo (the only time we nearly got rained out in NY), all of downtown (ChinaTown, Financial District, Little Italy etc...) parts of uptown and all the museums included, Central Park (although short lived due to time constraints and rain). The rest is kinda boring to talk about though. I did have one funny story about taxis though. My parents and my lil bro took a taxi to a museum about 1.2 miles away. My brother and I tried to get one but they kept passing us by... then one picked us up only to kick us out after we got in because he was "late for another passenger in Queens". So... we jogged... thru midtown NYC. It stunk because we had to wait for every dang red light.. we ran about 7-8 crosstown blocks total. We only made it 10 min after my family... so we just told them the taxi was a little bit slow and that he was lost. We made up a story and played it out until we got tired of fibbing. One more cool thing was the Empire State Building.. even though we couldn't see anything due to overcast skies that never left, we went up and got to walk thru the cloud deck. It was a first for me to walk thru clouds watching them pass thru us.
One more tip... if you want to visit NYC or Boston, have some $$$$$$. Parking cost no less than $25/day in NYC, sometimes up to $40. The food obviously cost a lot. The hotel cost $160/night in Boston and the one I got in Newark was the cheapest good hotel there was @ $110/night.
We spent over 2/3 of all our money in NY/Boston. If you want a cheap vacation go to D. C. Almost everything is free with the expection of somewhat expensive hotels (We got a Days Inn @ $110/night that was 2 miles from everything)
Anyway, time to get back to work again. I'll write one more little spiel about D.C., then I finished with my vacation.
posted by Benjamin K at 7/18/2006 03:25:00 PM
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