First and foremost, I want to thank Meredith for being such a wonderful and gracious hostess. That blowup mattress on your living room floor was a very welcoming site every evening upon our return to Weehawken.
Tina is such a wonderful travel companion. She is tireless. We met at DFW airport. Our flight had about 1.5 hour delay. It was going to be late when we arrived, so the extra 1.5 hours was no big deal. It did allow me and Tina to enjoy a couple of margaritas each and wrap sandwich for lunch. I had hired a limosine to pick us up and deliver us to Meredith's. It was nice to know that they were tracking our flight and already knew we were arriving late.
We arrived at Meredith's about midnight NY time. After introductions were made, we sat around and talked for an hour or so. Meredith told us she had to be in the city early. We were very certain that our first day in NYC we would have to find our own way there. After we went to bed, I could not go to sleep. It was late, so I did not take my normal sleep aid. It seemed I did not go to sleep at all, but I must have because I had the most vivid dreams. What made them seem real is that they took place on that blowup mattress in Meredith's living room. First, I dreamed that Meredith woke up, got ready for work, said her good-byes and left the apartment. I informed the dream Meredith that I had not gone to sleep yet. Then, while dreaming, I was struggling for sleep and by the front door, two stuffed bears appeared, except one of them might have been a giant grey rat. They rushed me on the blowup mattress. They were about a foot tall, so they were kind of cute and just a little bit intimidating. I think we had a conversation. It was about that time that Meredith's bedroom door opened and out-stepped Meredith. I was very surprized because I thought she had already left. And although I did not feel like I had slept, I know I must have because I had these very bizarre dreams. I told Tina and Meredith about my dreams and they both made fun of me and the dreams.
We finally got up and readied ourselves for our first venture into the city. It was really the first venture for Tina. It was miserable outside, cold, windy, and rainy. We walked to the bus stop and waited what felt like an eternity for the bus. The rain was pouring, the wind was gusting and it was so freaking cold.
Our first night there we went to see Wicked. Meredith scored us wonderful seats to the show. They were about 7 rows back from the stage and in the center. The show was excellent. We were sitting next to a very pretty 10 year old. During intermission her dad (who was really attractive) left the auditorium. His daughter and Tina and I got involved in a very lively conversation. She was a seasoned theatre goer. She informed us this was her 9th Broadway Show. She also told us that she was involved in theatre and singing and such. She even sang the National Anthem at a Rangers Ice Hockey game. This beautiful little girls name was Rita. And she told me that her friends said it would be funny if her last name was book. Get it?
While we were in the city that day we went to eat lunch at a restaurant we passed, Zoe. We had the featured three course lunch. It was wonderful. I asked our wait person if anyone famous had dined there. He informed us that just the day before Jon Bon Jovi ate lunch there. He also said that Kathy Bates and Christopher Cooper were also regulars. Tina and I had our picture taken perched on the same chair that Bon Jovi had eaten lunch. Before our departure, both Tina and I visited the ladies room. As I lined the seat with toilet paper, I found myself wondering if my naked butt was on the same seat that Kathy Bates had occupied.
On Saturday night, we made plans to dine in Little Italy. This was one of the many things to do on Tina's list. A friend of Meredith's, Sharin (sp) joined us. Sharin is very exotic and absolutely movie star beautiful. Additionally, she was a delightful dinner companion. Sharin and Meredith were chatting with each other, while Tina and I were chatting with each other. Soon, a couple of Delta Airline Pilots were seated at the table next to ours. Rusty and Mike proved to be entertaining fellows. We finished our meals and paid our tabs at about the same time that they did. We invited them to join us at our next stop. It was a gay sing-a-long bar. We had a good time there, but they were not playing many tunes that I knew the words...so we went across the street to a jazz bar. We had a lovely evening and at about 2:30AM we had to call it a night and said our good-byes. I was not at all sleepy. Also, as a side note, Sharin left us after the Italian restaurant. As we were departing, I mentioned Wichita Falls and she informed me that her dad owned the IHOPs in Wichita Falls and that is where he lived.
We also went to the Statue of Liberty, which was amazing. I had been there, but did not go into the museum and base. That was a very cool experience. I took pictures which are still in my camera. I hope they turned out okay.
We had a couple of moments in the subway. We met a lady, Josephine McMahon, who told us she was an archetect that had just been hired by an archetect firm working on 7 World Trade Center. She invited us to take a tour at 8:30AM on Monday morning. Meredith convinced us that it was bogus and convinced us that we should not go...which was probably moot, because we were still sound asleep at 8:30 on monday morning.
It has been almost a week since our return. I am sure there are things I have forgotten to mention. If something of import comes to mind, I will emend this entry.