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Penguins take Manhattan!
The wedding last night was wonderful. Helen was radiant, Howard had a grin that you couldn't get rid of with a chisel, and everybody had a great time. Nice to see ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
rosefox again. We went to the ceremony in a stretch limo, and thank Ghu for that since traffic and the weather were horrid.
The ceremony was touching, mixing Jewish tradition with other elements to produce a nice mixture. Brigid and Alexa were darling flower girls, and Howard's son Gregory served as best man while looking like an extra from the Sopranos.
After the ceremony, we had a brief cocktail hour, where I chatted with some interesting folks, and then the reception started. As usual, the DJ forgot that people, especially families, like to talk when gathered together. He had the music a little loud, in my opinion. Also as usual, it was the little kids doing the bulk of the dancing. Which was cute, I must admit. I was seated with the gamers and SCAdians, so we had plenty to talk about.
And the Penguin Lies Down on Broadway
Today started early. Knowing I would be meeting people at around 1000, and not knowing the MTA that well, I was out at the Q27 stop early. I had a bus within three minutes. Once at the Flushing Main station, my 7 train left within ten minutes of my boarding. This is why I always bring a book.
Things spotted on the way in:
- Shea Stadium
- The US Open site.
- Unisphere and the New York State Pavilion from the 1939 and 63 World Fairs
- The Queensboro Bridge (aka the 59th St Bridge)
- and of course, that famous skyline.
I made it to Grand Central about 40 minutes early, and settled down to wait. After explaining three times that Falun Gong just wasn't my thing, Jeff (freetrav) showed up, and we were off. He proved to be a fountain of information on the New York transit system, and I learned a great deal from him, including some interesting little tidbits about station design.
The first thing we did was go up so I could see the "real" Grand Central Station. Great Ghu, that thing is impressive! That it's all marble just blew my little brain. Beautiful place. But back into the bowels of the Earth to meet up with Fred (no lj yet) Ramen over at the Times Square station. It took a few minutes for him to show, and then back onto a train uptown to the American Museum of Natural History. Entering at the Rose Space Center entrance, I immediately noticed the impressive sphere that is the Hayden Planetarium. Along with being an excellent planetarium, the sphere is used as part of an exhibit showing the relative size of things. Really great space center.
For the Traveller geeks among my readers: The sphere of the Hayden Planetarium displaces close to 800 tons, making it the size of a Broadsword-class Mercenary Cruiser.
Forging onward, we explored the rest of the museum. African tribal artifacts, Mesoamerican statues, yadda, yadda, yadda.. we found the important stuff:
Penguins and dinosaurs.
They have an incredible collection of dinosaurs and other megafauna. We really enjoy those galleries. It was around this time that Fred's wife Alison joined our crew. We were briefly separated as I was buying a planetarium t-shirt, but reunited and went in search of food.
New York is great in that walking is made easy by the transit system. Since you can always duck down to take a train, walking several blocks isn't that heart-stopping a concept. After leaving the museum, we walked to a great pizza place at 74th and Columbus. I had pepperoni, sausage, and garlic. Very, very good.
Then came the time to go to the Compleat Strategist. Alison wasn't interested, so the three geeks made the pilgrimage. Along the way, I practically walked by the Empire State Building without noticing! This was my major "d'oh!" moment of the day. The store was small, cramped, and gamer heaven. They have everything. Jeff grabbed some foreign Monopoly sets (he collects them), Fred bought GURPS Traveller, including Ground Forces which I happily autographed, and I picked up Chez Grunt and the G4e Ref's screen.
At that point, Fred had to bow out, leaving Jeff and me to ponder our next move. It was decided that Rockefeller Center was a worthy goal. Back down the rabbit hole and onto a train.
Actually getting to the skating rink at RC was impossible. There was some event being set up, and you couldn't get close. I snapped one picture, and don't really expect it to turn out all that well. By this time it was getting dark, beginning to rain, and I was tiring, so we called it a night. We got back on the sub..
Whoops!
Suspicious package had been found in the station, so half the NYPD was on the scene. So we walked a few blocks to get to an open station. Jeff and I said our goodbyes, and I came back out to Queens.
Things I saw but didn't really check out or go into..
- Harald Square
- Radio City Music Hall
Tomorrow, I'm taking the Grey Line tour, and hopefully the Staten Island Ferry (if the weather is nicer, we got a few lightning cells moving through right now.) I've also been ordered to buy a hot dog from a sidewalk cart, and given the address of the best place to get a slice in the city.
I'm still not sure if I want to go to the WTC site. Part of me wants to, but I'm not sure how I will react.
Sorry if this rambled a bit, I'm pretty tired.
Two days and I get my Kiri again, yay!
rosefox again. We went to the ceremony in a stretch limo, and thank Ghu for that since traffic and the weather were horrid.The ceremony was touching, mixing Jewish tradition with other elements to produce a nice mixture. Brigid and Alexa were darling flower girls, and Howard's son Gregory served as best man while looking like an extra from the Sopranos.
After the ceremony, we had a brief cocktail hour, where I chatted with some interesting folks, and then the reception started. As usual, the DJ forgot that people, especially families, like to talk when gathered together. He had the music a little loud, in my opinion. Also as usual, it was the little kids doing the bulk of the dancing. Which was cute, I must admit. I was seated with the gamers and SCAdians, so we had plenty to talk about.
And the Penguin Lies Down on Broadway
Today started early. Knowing I would be meeting people at around 1000, and not knowing the MTA that well, I was out at the Q27 stop early. I had a bus within three minutes. Once at the Flushing Main station, my 7 train left within ten minutes of my boarding. This is why I always bring a book.
Things spotted on the way in:
- Shea Stadium
- The US Open site.
- Unisphere and the New York State Pavilion from the 1939 and 63 World Fairs
- The Queensboro Bridge (aka the 59th St Bridge)
- and of course, that famous skyline.
I made it to Grand Central about 40 minutes early, and settled down to wait. After explaining three times that Falun Gong just wasn't my thing, Jeff (
freetrav) showed up, and we were off. He proved to be a fountain of information on the New York transit system, and I learned a great deal from him, including some interesting little tidbits about station design.The first thing we did was go up so I could see the "real" Grand Central Station. Great Ghu, that thing is impressive! That it's all marble just blew my little brain. Beautiful place. But back into the bowels of the Earth to meet up with Fred (no lj yet) Ramen over at the Times Square station. It took a few minutes for him to show, and then back onto a train uptown to the American Museum of Natural History. Entering at the Rose Space Center entrance, I immediately noticed the impressive sphere that is the Hayden Planetarium. Along with being an excellent planetarium, the sphere is used as part of an exhibit showing the relative size of things. Really great space center.
For the Traveller geeks among my readers: The sphere of the Hayden Planetarium displaces close to 800 tons, making it the size of a Broadsword-class Mercenary Cruiser.
Forging onward, we explored the rest of the museum. African tribal artifacts, Mesoamerican statues, yadda, yadda, yadda.. we found the important stuff:
Penguins and dinosaurs.
They have an incredible collection of dinosaurs and other megafauna. We really enjoy those galleries. It was around this time that Fred's wife Alison joined our crew. We were briefly separated as I was buying a planetarium t-shirt, but reunited and went in search of food.
New York is great in that walking is made easy by the transit system. Since you can always duck down to take a train, walking several blocks isn't that heart-stopping a concept. After leaving the museum, we walked to a great pizza place at 74th and Columbus. I had pepperoni, sausage, and garlic. Very, very good.
Then came the time to go to the Compleat Strategist. Alison wasn't interested, so the three geeks made the pilgrimage. Along the way, I practically walked by the Empire State Building without noticing! This was my major "d'oh!" moment of the day. The store was small, cramped, and gamer heaven. They have everything. Jeff grabbed some foreign Monopoly sets (he collects them), Fred bought GURPS Traveller, including Ground Forces which I happily autographed, and I picked up Chez Grunt and the G4e Ref's screen.
At that point, Fred had to bow out, leaving Jeff and me to ponder our next move. It was decided that Rockefeller Center was a worthy goal. Back down the rabbit hole and onto a train.
Actually getting to the skating rink at RC was impossible. There was some event being set up, and you couldn't get close. I snapped one picture, and don't really expect it to turn out all that well. By this time it was getting dark, beginning to rain, and I was tiring, so we called it a night. We got back on the sub..
Whoops!
Suspicious package had been found in the station, so half the NYPD was on the scene. So we walked a few blocks to get to an open station. Jeff and I said our goodbyes, and I came back out to Queens.
Things I saw but didn't really check out or go into..
- Harald Square
- Radio City Music Hall
Tomorrow, I'm taking the Grey Line tour, and hopefully the Staten Island Ferry (if the weather is nicer, we got a few lightning cells moving through right now.) I've also been ordered to buy a hot dog from a sidewalk cart, and given the address of the best place to get a slice in the city.
I'm still not sure if I want to go to the WTC site. Part of me wants to, but I'm not sure how I will react.
Sorry if this rambled a bit, I'm pretty tired.
Two days and I get my Kiri again, yay!
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