Friday

On February 7, a week after I turned 50, my buddies took me to New York City to go to the Millrose Games Friday night.  Then we had a great time Saturday touring Manhattan and then home on Sunday.

We drove to Leonia, New Jersey and had a great breakfast  on the way.  The farther we went the harder it snowed.  In New Jersey, snow plowing is not that frequent, and it's a good thing.  They line 7 plows up and stagger them from shoulder to shoulder on the Interstate and drive along about 15 mph.  Only the plow on the right seems to be moving any snow.  Eventually we got around them when they took the left exit and we kept right.

We parked the car and walked to the bus stop.  We waited almost a minute and a half, and paid $2.80 to ride the 166 bus to the Port Authority Bus Terminal in Manhattan.  This ride took us along the Hudson River, but it was snowing too hard to see the skyline.  Then through the tunnel, which costs $6 per car.  And right to the bus terminal.  We walked to our hotel, the Park Central, on 7th avenue near 57th street.  It was cold and there wasn't much traffic.  We found out later that the schools had been closed due to the forecast.  And they did get a couple of inches of snow to justify it all.

After checking in and relaxing a bit, we went for a short run in Central Park, about 3 blocks north of us.  Only taxi traffic is allowed in the park during the week, and no traffic on weekends.  After getting cleaned up, and having a few beers that we bought on the walk back to the hotel, we had supper in the Carnegie deli.  Turns out our hotel was across the avenue from the Carnegie Theatre.  The deli was a few doors down the avenue.  Then we took a taxi to the Garden.

The first thing we saw there were two policemen in riot gear, one holding a shotgun, the other a machine gun.  And they weren't simply slung over their shoulders, they were ready to shoot.  Inside the garden, we found out way to our seats.  We saw the end of the hurdles and the sprints and the rest of the meet.  We saw two American records set, in the women's 60m hurdles (Gail Devers) and the women's pole vault (Stacy Dragila).  There were some terrific high school relays - those kids really were into it.

Afterwards we took the subway back to the hotel and drank another beer before collapsing.

Saturday

We slept in, and then went for a longer run in the Park.  After cleaning up we went across the street for brunch at the Park Cafe.  We had omelettes and French fries.  We stopped in at the Carnegie Hall and looked in the lobby.  Then we walked over to Niketown to shop.  Tom got a hat and we walked to the subway.  It was really cold and windy.  We took the subway to Brooklyn Bridge and walked around City Hall and over to Ground Zero.  There were lots of people taking photos.  The destruction is on a scale hard to describe without seeing it.  The photos do not do it justice.  The surrounding buildings that survived were badly damaged and under repair.

Then we took the subway to Battery Park and looked at a memorial from the WTC.  Then over to South Ferry and took the ferry to Staten Island and back.  It was really cold out on the deck and we had coffee on the way back to warm up.

Then in the subway to the Union Square area and tried to get into McSorley's but there was a line to get in.  We decided to walk around and find someplace else, and discovered the Bleecker Street Bar.  The Guinness was very good, and we hooked up with a group of 5 couples from Wales here to celebrate one of the women's 40th birthday.  5 pints later we toddled to the subway and rode to Chinatown, where we had a terrific supper at Wo Hop.  Then down to Mulberry Street in Little Italy for dessert - cannoli and cappuccino.  Then onto the subway for the hotel.  We walked several blocks and watched the ice skaters at Rockefeller Plaza.  We went in to see about getting into Saturday Night Live, but they were out of tickets.  So we walked to our hotel and watched it on TV, from 3 blocks away, eating Italian cookies and drinking beer.

Sunday

Tom got us up real early to run and then we cleaned up and checked out.  Took the subway back to the bus terminal, and boarded the bus just as it left.  Back at the car, we stopped at a deli for breakfast, and then headed for the Campmor store, but it was closed.  We got back in the afternoon, and it was  a great trip!