Day 2 & 3: Bulls, Beauty, Brews, and Buses

Our second day in the City had us sleeping in a little bit later nursing our pains from the first day. We planned to go to a local bakery around the corner from the hotel but got distracted by the idea of dulce de leche pancakes at a diner across the street. Unfortunately, they weren't that good. Next time, I think we'll stick to a bakery. 

After, I dragged Ryan to the Charging Bull in Bowling Green. It's right in the heart of the Financial District and I had been dying to get a picture with it. Why? I couldn't tell you. The guy was huge! While I was taking a picture with his head, other people were taking a picture with his other anatomical parts. 

A couple of metro trains uptown and a brisk walk outside brought us to the Met! The bull wasn't the only big thing that day. Have you ever seen a map for that? It's massive! We spent about three hours there and only got through a couple exhibits. We saw the magic of Rodin, the finesse of Degas, the rolling landscapes of Dahl, and the unique carvings and metal work of armor and arms. 

We took a lovely walk through Central Park to travel back downtown while we waited for Ryan's friend Josh. Josh lives in Yonkers so he took the metro north in to meet us for dinner. My mom had given us a gift certificate to Heartland Brewery while we were down in the City. After Josh checked out our swanky hotel room at Club Quarters, we traveled to Union Square to hit up the Brewery. The food was pretty decent but nothing that you couldn't find at any burger joint. As per Ryan, the beer was nothing special. 

We parted ways with Josh and headed back to the hotel to wait for my mom got back to the NYC. I made it through our weekly Sunday night show and then promptly feel asleep. So much for a big night out. 

Monday, our third and final day, was much too short. We packed and got ready to head back home. I dragged Ryan to the Container Store where I begged for glass containers, much like this one. After another slice of mediocre pizza we picked up our bags and then picked up our bus home in this part of town.

There's a reason I had always heard it referred to as the Chinatown bus. 

Happy Pi Day!

Yep, today's Pi Day. Or if you're uncultured swine "Geek Day." Or if you're oblivious it's Friday.

As today marks the beginning of the hubbs's spring break, and I took Monday off, we're headed down to New York City where a free hotel room awaits us. Free hotel room you ask? Yes, free. But more on that later.

Let's focus on the "head down" portion of that last sentence. Now, normally, we take the train. But it's a little expensive, around $72 a person roundtrip. So, at the suggestion of Ryan's friend, we're taking the bus. The GoTo bus direct from Albany to NYC, which is $25 per person roundtrip. I want to start by saying this was a poor, poor choice. This post is coming from the road and I feel like I'm in the fiery depths of hell right about now. Surrounded by fifty or so sweaty, smelly people, the driver feels the need to crank the heat so that it's about 98° in here. And yes, smelly. Like BO, baby powder, and marijuana. It's a heady combination. In the future, besides our already paid for return trip, I believe we'll be skipping this option and either paying for the train or a different bus company.

So back to the free part? Well, as a side note, my mom works for a telephone company in Albany. But, because of the superstorm Sandy, NYC has had a backlog of technician work. So the local teams either sign up to go down at a time convenient to them and work or are forced to go sometime during the year. Yes, Sandy was a while ago but the aftereffects are so large. So right now my mom's completing her first week down there with other techs who volunteered to go this early. But some techs have vacation planned, or go home for the weekend. Enter the free hotel rooms. One of the techs my mom knows is going to Colorado for a week and offered us her room so we didnt have to stay with my mom. Which we would have been more than happy to do. Because, again, hello, free room.

So, we're going to be in the city until Monday bumming in a free hotel room, saving tons of money on this shitty bus, with discounted tickets to both The Met and the Wax Museum, hitting up Brooklyn Brewery. And hopefully, maybe, just maybe eating some awesome pizza and wading in sea of green.

What are your plans for this weekend? Any St. Patty's Day parties?