Living In Airports: August 2008

Well, it's over...

It was a great few days in New York, the city that in many ways deserves its reputation as the greatest city in the world.

Anyone who gets bored in New York isn't trying very hard. Aside from the Rangers, Islanders, Devils, Yankees, Mets, Giants, Jets (you think there was Brett Favre overkill where you live?), Knicks, Nets, Red Bulls, etc., you've got all kinds of other ways to keep busy and to spend money. We chose Broadway. On our first night we bought half price tickets at TKTS to Monty Python's Spam-a-lot. It was great... John would have loved it. We also saw one of Broadway's biggest hits in Wicked, in a much bigger and more comfortable theater. It was also very well performed. Last night we tried to get cheap tickets to either Boeing Boeing (for the obvious aviation theme) or a number of back up choices. Tickets were available, but the queue was about a block and a half long. We decided it wasn't worth the time for a 3rd show, where, by the time we got to the wicket, may or may not have had tickets for the shows we wanted to see, and even if they had 2 tix, may not have been side by side.

So we spent the money on food instead. Another theme of the week. The restaurants in New York (particularly Maze, La Masseria, and Blue Smoke) were excellent in every way... quality of food, ambiance and service. They make many other restaurants in many other cities look very very ordinary. Can't say enough about Maze. One of the best restaurants we've been to. The experience at the main Gordon Ramsay restaurant there must be even better (but formaller and expensiver). The best deal on a meal was at Oriental Pearl in Chinatown. We had dim sum there. We left full and only paid $17.

Other highlights for us included the American Museum of Natural History (never got to the Met or MoMA... next time), the views from the Staten Island Ferry (with OnBoard Tours... highly recommended), Late Night with David Letterman (and Penelope Cruz and Randy Newman), Top of the Rock, McGee's Pub, and of course Starbucks every day (usually twice thanks to their diabolical scheme offering a cold drink for $2 after 2pm if you bought a coffee earlier in the day). Starbucks was the only chain we allowed ourselves to go to. Sorry Applebees.

The only lowlights... New York is crowded (especially the tourists like us), it's loud (constant noise everywhere... inside and outside... couldn't even hear the thunder during a storm), and it was hot and muggy, worst of all in some of the subway stations where at times it was actually hard to breathe. We never felt unsafe though, despite some interesting characters (like the Mayor of Strawberry Fields; the guy on 8th Ave who strung together random words that almost sounded like sentences; the lady talking to herself near the U.N.; and our favourites, the hooker who got kicked out of a cab and called the driver a racist... serendipity for us... it was raining, it was the post-theater rush, one of us was in heels, cabs were scarce, and he kicked her out right beside us... we yoinked that cab faster than a chihuahua and a Milk Bone).

Celebrity sightings: Drew Lachey (on stage in Spam-a-lot); Jean-Baptiste (Gordon Ramsay's Maitre D'); the Late Show people (those already mentioned plus Biff, Paul et al); Don Cheadle (his doppelganger at least... he was handing out leaflets in a subway station); Lenny Kravitz (ok, again, a guy who looked like him); and the gay guy from My Name Is Earl (probably not him, but kinda looked like him). Actually a little disappointing on the celebrity front... We know we were in the vicinity of Katie Holmes (and Suri), Jay-Z, Mayor Bloomberg, and Lance Armstrong. Oh, and of course Brett Favre. Enough with him already (believe it or not: they even threw a line into Spam-a-lot about him).

And LaGuardia... Not the greatest airport. It certainly has the benefit of location, and as we learned today, some kind and understanding TSA agents, but the place always seems to look tired to me, sort of in a Heathrowian way (like, "I know my appearance isn't great, but I'm so busy with people constantly coming and going, and the changing rules, I just can't keep myself looking good anymore").

Finally, to end on a positive note, the InterContinental Barclay Hotel was fantastic. They knew it was our anniversary and they treated us like gold, including an upgrade to a luxury suite plus a bottle of champagne with strawberries. The hotel's staff were great all around, from check in to bell staff to door men to housekeeping. It's well located (48th at Lexington), but not quite perfect. A few blocks to the subway and not much exciting to do in the immediate vicinity, but maybe that's a good thing. Trains were easy to catch to get to downtown, uptown and even Times Square. Rockefeller Plaza and 5th Ave were easy walks. When I get around to it, I'll upload some very positive reviews on TripAdvisor for the Barclay and some of the attractions.

Right now, it's waiting between flights in Montreal's domestic Maple Leaf Lounge. Kudos to ADM for the easy transborder-to-domestic transfer these days. Even though we were literally at the furthest transborder gate, the experience was still simple, smooth and quick. We had almost zero wait at customs or at domestic security.
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We got extra special anniversary treatment at Gordon Ramsay's restaurant Maze tonight. This shot is from the kitchen tour we received from one of the maitre d's (not Jean-Baptiste from Kitchen Nightmares (not to be confused with Jean-Philippe from Hell's Kitchen), although he (Jean-Baptiste) was there, and seated us).

The food was amazing. It is served in small portions, tapas style. So we got to try a lot of different things, including yellowfin tuna, cod, scallops, and Peking Duck. Plus a peanut butter and jam sandwich for dessert.

Taking nothing away from La Masseria, Maze was the best we've seen in NYC. The choice of restaurants in this city is unbelievable.

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