New York City

[RallyEX]

As some of you may be aware, I am on vacation with my wife in new york city. While she's taking a nap before we go to NBC studios for a Late Night w/ Conan taping this evening, I thought I'd show everyone a few pics of where we've been the past few days.

{EDIT} Be gentle with picture critiques, these were low quality captures from my MiniDV camera straight off of iMovie.

[Feedman]

I see you are making all the stops...

Keep the pics coming..... 8)

[xjoewhitex]

sounds like your also having a good time... get some more pictures of the city. hehe ive never been to new york but plan to go sometime... 8)

[Jay]

:cry: no fair! I miss NYC

[RallyEX]

Just a quick update, more pics to come when I get back...

Recap of the last few days.

Monday: Arrive in NJ at our crappy hotel, day shot to hell because the place was a dive, so we got our money back and found a nicer hotel up the road for only a few extra bucks a night. We decided to venture in to the city in the Civic to see if I could get rear ended by a Taxi. While stressful, the drive was super fun and gave me a new appreciation for the lack of traffic in the mid ohio valley.

Tuesday: Walking tour of many sights including ground zero and many touristy type places nearby. Spent a lot of time (and money, coincidentally) in Times Square and Rockefeller Plaza. Arrived at the Rainbow Room for our seats during Late Night w/ Conan. Guests were Tim Allen, Eddie Izzard and Chingy.

Wednesday: Woke up at 5AM because my wife wanted to go to the Today show and stand with the crowd in front of the cameras. Not much else to say about that except that Matt Lauer is skinny, Katie Couric is short, and Al Roker has a really bad limp. Checked out the Apple Store in the old NY post office. Rode the subway back to Broadway and 53rd to get our seats at the Late Show with David Letterman. We arrived very early, so we got 4th row seats and a great view of Dave and guest Renee Zellweiger (sp?). Renee is very good looking, but her skin is about the color of mayonnaise, shoulda wore my sunglasses.

Well, that's about it for now. We've taken about 60 minutes worth of video footage and about 30 or 40 pics. Tomorrow we will use a lot more video footage and pics as we are taking a boat crouse around the city, and maybe the overly-tourist double decker bus thingy.

A few "car related" side notes... saw a Mercedes Benz body shop today.. Just a guess, but they had nearly $1 million in Benzes lined up in the alley beside the shop and some of them had crazy damage... wasn't able to get a pic but I did see a few very custom AMG's with heavy damage.. poor cars....

Also, apparently rice is universal. Aluminum wings are less prevalent here... see more of them in a day in parkersburg.. however, there is still a lot of rice in this city and I ain't talking about chinatown...

[RobbieNelson]

Tim,

Steph and I will be taking a trip to NY in a couple of weeks. How do you get tickets to those Late Night shows? Any suggestions for the trip? Hotel suggestions?

[swallace]

I suggest you stay with Scott and Missy or even better Tom Kessler. Make sure that you tell Tom that you are coming. I always wanted to meet a Vice-President of HP. That and stay at their 7500 sq ft home.

Why are you going to the city?

[RobbieNelson]

I suggest you stay with Scott and Missy or even better Tom Kessler. Make sure that you tell Tom that you are coming. I always wanted to meet a Vice-President of HP. That and stay at their 7500 sq ft home.

Why are you going to the city?

Why not? I have 4 1/2 days of vacation left that I have to use before years end. Plus... every time I see Grand Central Station or Times Square on TV... I say "I've been there"... followed by her saying "but you won't take me." Just something to do.

I had plans to visit Scott, Missy and Fat Tart, but I had forgotten about Tom. I'll shot him an Email. Thanks for the reminder.

[BLUEVOVIII]

-->off topic...


Who in the hell is Renee Zellwedger???? :lol:





Chapelle show....

[swallace]

The girl in Bridget Jones Diary movie.

BIG BOOBS!

[swallace]

Here are some pics...no very good, but it was a 2 second search.

[swallace]

Back on topic...have you guys gone to the Hard Rock Cafe?

[RallyEX]

Tim,

Steph and I will be taking a trip to NY in a couple of weeks. How do you get tickets to those Late Night shows? Any suggestions for the trip? Hotel suggestions?

You can apply for tickets on the websites for the shows. Letterman seems to be easier to get, especially since you are from out of town. Conan will usually just call you back and say "You got tickets." Letterman, you will probably have to answer a trivia question. The trivia question will be guaged after they ask you how often you watch the show. PM me for more tips on that if you need.

Suggestions for the trip:

As I found out very quickly, 5 days is not nearly enough time to hit all the great sights, but you can get a LOT in...

1. Take the 3 hour boat tour that takes you around manhattan. Costs $26 apiece and hits ALL the high points with the comfort of a heated cabin and the view of an outdoor deck... and you don't have to walk at all. The company is called Circle Line Tours. For a closer view, check out the Gray Line Bus Tours... They have open-top double decker buses that can taxi you around for a decent price, and you can hop on and off at a lot of major tourist sights and spend all the time you want at each one.

2. Buy a daily $7 fun pass from any metro-card machine in the subway or at the port authority bus terminal. It allows you to ride the subway AND all buses for seven bucks. Each ride on the subway is 2 bucks. Do the math. You WILL do a lot of walking (even if riding the bus and subway a lot), unless you drive in to the city (do it once to say you did it, then ride the subway and buses the rest of the time, parking is upwards of 40 bucks for an 8 hour day)

3. If you don't have a friend in town that can guide you all day, buy the DK Eyewitness Travel Guide book for New York City (Waldenbooks in the mall should have a few left). The book is pricy for its size, 25 bucks... but it is a priceless tool to help you get your bearings and decide where you want to go. Oh yea... BUY A SUBWAY MAP. I can't tell you how many tourists we saw looking like lost puppies because they couldn't figure the subway out. I was at a bit of an advantage because NYC's subway is somewhat similar to DC's subway (which I'm pretty familiar with), but not as clean...

4. Take your wife to Central Park and walk around, she'll love it. Also, whip out 40 bucks and take her for a horse drawn carriage ride around central park. Sounds stupid, but it'll pay off later that night, trust me... And it's really not as embarrassing as it may seem.

Hotel Suggestions: If you can't stay with a friend, find a cheap dive hotel in Secaucus NJ (right across the hudson river from NYC). We found a hotel for 60 a night that had fenced in parking and a decent sized room. The price was right and the premises was secure. You can ride the NJ Transit bus through the lincoln tunnel from secaucus for $2.10

I'll give you a call this weekend, maybe my wife and I can swing by and give you a few pointers. I've got a spare subway map and a few other things to help you out.