Continued from I don't love NY (Part III A: The Manhattan Experience) , Wednesday, June 23, 2010
Double Decker Tour
The double decker hop on and off is a good choice to get around the Manhattan Island. The only problem is that if the weather isn't nice enough, you can get a good splash. On my occasion, I can't really tell whether it's a bit of a drizzle (very cloudy that day) or just water sprayed out from the air conditioning from the tall buildings.
Talk about old buildings! These high rise babies are older than I am. Wonder if they are still safe to experience a 6.0 earthquake.
The distance of the trip is not long, but the traffic sure is horrible. And talk about pollution, it is somewhat serious if you're stuck bumper to bumper and have to inhale the carbon monoxide.
Ah! The empire state building! Takes a few minutes to get to the top. Who in the world wants to live here? Gotta be very healthy in case of power shortages cause a long walk up the stairs would be required. According to the tour guide, there are 50 something elevators in this building, each with its own Postal Code.
The next most visited site seeing place, Central Park. Known to be the breathing lungs of New York. Note, the Apple Store is somewhere around the corner here. To be honest, I'm not too impressed at this site, cause it's dirty and smelly, at least, outside of the Park.
Talking about romantic carriage rides? Big bucks and oxygen masks needed. It costs about USD50 for 15~20 minutes of ride. And because animals do sxxt, they have this bag behind the horse's behind where their manure can drop in. So if you do take the ride, and trying to feel romantic, you won't, because the constant manure smell will breeze to your face, hair, and clothing. After being "smoked by horse manure for 15~20 minutes, it's guaranteed that you'll be smelling rather shitty after the ride.
As the saying goes, Times Square is not a square but an area. But whatever the case, it is rather small and crowded. Can't imagine being squeezed into this section of town for the countdown for every new year. There are two towers opposites of each other with huge LED ads, Samsung and Toshiba.
Lots of cabbies, but not enough vacant ones. On other occasions, I did have the chance to take the local city cab and I sure don't like it. Three main reasons: (1) No air conditioning. Have to take the ride with open windows, sucking in the carbon monoxide emissions from the traffic. (2) What is this thing with tips? The drivers can get rather rude if you don't give tips. How come I don't get tips? (3) The drivers sure know how to use time. They can read the papers, text, or be on the phone when they are driving. For this, it's a -10 points for NY cabs, bringing the total count to -30points!
One particular thing on the double decker, DON'T stand up when the bus is moving. If you do notice the traffic lights, you'll know what I'm talking about. The bus is about 2.5M tall, the lights are about 3M from the road, which means if you stand up, you'll get a free trip to the local hospital and a free head wrap. I'm not sure whether insurance covers for this type of suicidal action since the guide constantly screams "sit down, senarse por favor!"
Food
In US, eat as the US do! I got the location of this place from a cab driver. I asked for a restaurant with good rib servings, thinking of trying out the Soul Food in NY. But there must have been some form of miscommunication because he took us to this posh place a couple of paces from the Empire State Building. As we were starving, we didn't want to go try to find another restaurant, so, we stepped into Capital Grille. We had to wait around 15 minutes before we got seated. During the wait, we noticed something on their billboard that says they are rated Michelin 3 stars, which would be better than great since I love food.
On the overall, the reception area was nice and cozy. The whole place had this aroma of "high class" dining. We couldn't wait to try out the food!
To start off, we ordered a good bottle of wine, selected by one of our friends in our group, a certified wine taster. And, this is a good wine if you disregard the price (USD75).
Then came the selection of soup. I got my clam chowder with oyster crackers, which to my palate, was a bit salty. But I kept my silence as I didn't want the chef to come at me with his kitchen knife. My smoked salmon (USD15) for starters was also only ok.
The below soup was another selection. The bread was great though!
Just as when I was thinking about the Michelin 3 stars, my main course came, a 10oz sirloin steak (USD26). My other friends had lobster and crab cake (USD19), 8oz fillet mignon (USD27), and 1/2 Chicken (USD16).
