Project 365 (20) The Weekend Getaway Edition

I've been to a lot of beautiful cities, but I don't think any have been as beautiful as New York. I want to start this off by letting you all know that the last time I was in New York was in High School. We spent the majority of the time at the hotel, with a quick trip to visit a team mates relatives. I did get to ride in a pretty posh (considering I was still in high school, a Lincoln Town Car was pretty posh) vehicle...Correction, I did make a trip into New York while working for the Upward Bound program, but it was only to visit a college...we stayed in Jersey (so that doesn't count).  So now without further ado, here are my best and worst things about my trip.



Best things:

• B&H Photo Super Store - This place is HUGE. It has to span at least half a DC block and rises 3 floors up. I stepped in the store and felt like a kid in a Toys R Us on Christmas. Conveyor belts ran over head processing orders, customers and sales associates talked shopped and there I stood in awe at all of it. I will admit that I was slightly intimidated by all of this simply because I am used to the neatly done website. To see most of the contents of the website sprawled out, in tactile goodness, had me at a loss for words.
• Conway - Conway is like K&G for cheaper. It's the only place I know where I can buy 6 dress shirts for 31 bucks. 
• The bridges - There is something about old metal bridges that I'm drawn to. I don't know what it is, but I find them beautiful. I was literally surrounded by bridges. Bridges to the right, left, in front and behind me. Small bridges, huge bridges. 
• My host family - they gave me a nice (i.e. FREE) place to stay and I am very grateful for them for that. Oh they also let me drive them to Chinatown. More on that in a bit. 
• New York pizza - HUGE and delicious. That is all
• The best thing about my trip to New York is the renewing of the love I have for DC. I was reminded of the wonderful things we have here (Carry outs, go-go, etc) and how lucky I am to live here. 

Now on the things I would have liked to have avoided (in no particular order):

• New York traffic (especially around the shopping district) - Me and traffic don't mix too well. But I had to brave the storm to get to B&H and I'd do it again in a heart beat.
• Parking charges - ya'll have lost your ever loving mind. It has never cost me 24 dollars to park somewhere for an hour. Highway robbery at it's best. I bet they make a killing on tourist daily. You won't catch me again. Next time I'm catching the subway (more on that later)
• The family dog - didn't seem to like me at all. Every time he saw me he would bark his little punk head off. That's ok though. I'm going to get me a dog go back and beat him up. This is raw spelled backwards. 
• New York streets - there are more one ways than a little bit and the high overhead traffic lights make recovering from a bad lane adjustment extremely difficult. Which leads me to my last itme
• Driving the family to Chinatown - Yes I was grateful to have a chance to drive a Lexus truck and take on the mean streets, but I was hindered from really enjoying the ride. Now I'm not a passive driver by any means. The only time I actually use a brake is when I absolutely have to stop, but I found myself chained to the brake most of the drive. Couldn't even get the truck above 60 without getting a slow down from the back seat. Needless to say I declined driving back home...besides there were too many sites to capture to be bothered driving.

Now for the things I wish I could have done while I was there:

• Ride the subway - I've been to New York 3 times before this time and each time (except for 1, but I forgot what it was like plus I had an escort.) I used street level transportation (either a car or on a bus). I really wanted to take a crack at navigating the subway system. 
• Visit Adorama photo store - my quick visit and patience for the traffic didn't afford me enough time to make this store, but I plan on getting there some time soon. 
• Visit some more parks. I did get a chance to run in on one of the parks in Chinatown while the car was being brought out of parking. While on the subject, that brings me to the photo of the day. I took this one of some of the park visitors as they played what looked like a favorite of the park goers (there was a least one game being played on each table) I snapped this just as the guy looking into the camera made a decisive move as you can tell from the expression of the other guy. It made me interested in knowing what this game was and how to play but this was the last pic before I noticed the family making their way to the car.

 More to come.