New York Ramblings

Kim, Matt, me and Hannah at Gravy New York

I am just now able to blog because our hotel wanted to charge $11 a day for internet. Welcome to New York!

Since surviving the 22-hour train ride - by the way, changing underwear and putting in contacts in a tiny and jostling bathroom is such entertainment - I have started rambling around the city. Straight from the train, I went with a small group to the Empire State Building observatory. The view was like a forest of architecture.

After wondering around the city - including a pit stop at Toys R Us where Kelley showed me a toy bed bug because of my fear of finding the creatures in our hotel rooms - we sat on the red stage steps at Times Square and watched the unusual folks who come out to play in the big city. One woman was rocking and cuddling a fake baby. Another guy was listening to music and playing an unrelated tune on a harmonica repeatedly. Several foreigners seemed to have found access to a Bedazzler and went dazzle delirious.

Today we meant to hit the stores none of us can afford to pronounce much less shop in but a jogger knocked down a grandmother in our group at Central Park and she broke her wrist. Sampieri and our security, Deputy Mike Boyles, and I ended up doing some brisk walking through the park looking for the "big rock" as the group of students with the jogger victim kept telling us by phone. We did have time to grab burgers before making it to see "Wicked."

Afterward, I survived a short subway trip to meet Matt, my friend from elementary school and our old Tot Town Daycare days, and my friend from college, Kim. We ate at a Southern, yes Southern, restaurant called Gravy New York. I had something called the bog which had various seafood. It was tasty.

I am spending the night with Kim, Hannah and Oliver and then taking the subway in the morning to meet up with the band at Times Square. Kim and Matt have trained me on my "mean face" so no one messes with me on the subway.