NYC: It rained. I walked.

The weather was beautiful on Saturday when I arrived. Once I had checked in to the hotel and changed clothes I went out for a walk – I walked East Houston Street westwards to Broadway and then followed Broadway all the way up to Union Square, and then back south past NYU. I had the most HEAVENLY burger at Knickerbocker Steak House somewhere around the university – I was starving and exhausted and that burger was so tasty and simply perfect. Then I stumbled back to the hotel which was at E Houston and Allen Street.

The next day it had started to rain, but I braved the weather and went out for another walk. I walked through NoLita and SoHo, got an umbrella and other essentials at the lovely pharmacy Avignone on Bleecker, then continued up through Greenwich Village… not quite sure where I walked, but I know that I walked a long way and when I recognized Washington Square Park (where I had been the day before) I felt like i was almost back at the hotel.
Then Deb  and Joe picked me up at noon and took me around town in their car. We went for lunch at The Riviera in Greenwich Village (lovely!!) and then drove through town, I got a glimpse of Central Park and we went in to St Patrick’s Cathedral and… well, around town. We managed to see a lot!

The next day was my course. It was still raining. After the course I went on a shopping spree and then I realized that I had to get another bag so that I could bring everything back home, so off I went to K-Mart to get a bag. Had dinner at Cozy’s but that wasn’t a hit – it wasn’t bad, but not memorable either.

Tuesday came next. I packed my bags and checked out from the hotel. I had found a luggage storage place on West 46th street, so I took a cab there. Well, no luggage storage in sight. Instead I ended up carrying/dragging my two bags around town (again in the rain). I went to Times Square (Sephora, Toys R’Us, Hard Rock Cafe), Hell’s Kitchen, back to Times Square, up and down and up and down until I ended up at a restaurant on 46th/1st Ave. GOOD food and excellent service, don’t remember the name of the restaurant right now but it’s on my credit card bill…

After that adventure I was cold and tired and couldn’t wait to go to the airport, so that’s what I did. At 2 pm I took the bus back to Newark from Grand Central.

When I came home I was sick, and after one day I was put in quarantine – they took all kinds of tests to determine whether or not I had gotten the swine flu and until the lab results came in I was not allowed to leave my house. Thankfully I was cleared yesterday – they had found lots of viruses but no swine flu virus, just regular cold viruses. Whew!

Now… now everything is back to normal again except that I still haven’t unpacked my bags.

Now I want to go to Italy.