Wandering through Gotham

No, NYC hasn’t gone underwater…yet. Give global warming a couple of years to melt down the rest of the icecaps and then I’ll be diving through the Penn Station Coral Reefs, and doing the “MTA Metro Swim Throughs”!
In NYC on a vacation/business trip, my vacation, business for my wife. You’re saying “Wait, you just got back from Fiji, that was a vacation!” No, sorry, even though it looked like a vacation, and sounded like a vacation, that was actually work for me, hard.difficult.work….God, I love my job!
We’re staying at the Marrakech Hotel a really nice, and cheap (at least for a nice hotel in NYC) boutique hotel. It’s basically a room with a bathroom, a small wardrobe and a flat screen tv (which you’ll hear about in more detail below) It’s Moroccan inspired, the staff is helpful, and the best part is, since we’re on the bottom floor and near the front office, the WiFi works in our room!
Anyways, got in last night, just as the last of a storm was leaving the city, we did get caught in the rain as we walked to our friend’s, Sophia, apartment, but no worries, we caught a cab..you know, you can’t hurt iron, but Mrs. Reynoso isn’t made of iron, more like some exotic, Swedish precious metal that doesn’t like getting wet. So into an infamous NYC cab that charged us $12 for going 15 blocks!(Just wait until they’re underwater!)
Today was easy, took the train down to Houston (pronounced “How-sten” though it should be pronounced “Hue-sten”, though thats an argument for another time.) and we walked through some of our old neighborhood haunts in SOHO and the Village. Maria immediately went into shopping mode and, not only reached her budget, but shattered through it like a jet shattering through the sound barrier! I got myself a shirt and a new hat, tired of wearing baseball caps, Fedora’s make one look like an “Indiana Jones” Fan boy and don’t really go with jeans and t-shirts, and those Kangol caps make my thin, long face look like a mushroom. I found a “newsboy” cap that fits my face and makes me look pretty “jaunty”…yes, damn it, I just said jaunty! Anyways, 10 seconds later I found a stand that was selling shemags and got myself an olive one, just like the ones I had while in the Gulf back in 1991 (before you give me any crap, I served in our U.S. Navy and went through the First Gulf War, so I can wear whatever I damn well please! Plus, we live in AMERICA, where one has the FREEDOM to wear whatever they want, so boycott this!um…how do you flip the bird online?) Think I like the look and will probably get a few more – I tend to collect looks I like, hence my 26 Target ringed t-shirts in different colors. Makes dressing so easy!
We had a nice Indian dinner at the Calcutta Cafe which we both agree had to be some of the best Indian food we’ve had in awhile. Order their Garlic naan and their Tandoori Chicken, you won’t regret it!
We got back to the room and tried to watch the Olympics, I say tried, because it seemed that our television was being controlled by another guest’s remote and he was attempting to buy “Indiana Jones and the Crystal Skulls”, so every couple of seconds, usually right in the middle of an exciting race, the tv would be filled with Indiana’s face. We saw it in the theater, and as much as I liked it, we didn’t really want to see it again. After a few trips to the front desk, and an offer of $20 from my own pocket if he would just watch the Olympics (I almost gave away the ending of the movie, but I’m not that big of an ass) we finally got to watch the Olympics.
Yep, a pretty uneventful day, we’re just PARTY animals, aren’t we? The rest of the week will be better I promise, tomorrow we’re going to Aquavit a Swedish Restaurant that’s holding a Crayfish Festival this weekand my wife being Swedish…really Swedish, like she was BORN there, not that “Oh, my great,great,great grandfather was 18th Swedish, which is why I have this Viking tattoo” Swedish, we have to go and participate. For $25 we’ll each get a pound of crayfish with garlic bread, boiled potatoes and Jarlsberg Cheese…hmmm, an entry on upset stomaches? Monday we’re going to go see Les Paul play at the Iridium, and I’ve bought the tickets!!!! If you’re not a guitar music fan, you probably don’t know who I’m talking about, I’ll try and shoot some vid when I’m there. We’ll also be going to see Chicago…the musical, not the city… and, even though we lived in NYC 9 years ago, we’ve decide to do the tourist thing and take one of those double decker bus tours! I love being a tourist!!!

Tags: Indian food, New York City, newsboy cap, Shemag, SOHO