I had arrived in New York late Thursday night so I could start early on Friday. On the bus and then the train to the Bronx, I ended up in a lengthy conversation with a Panamanian man from Houston and a female filmmaker from San Francisco. We talked about travel, politics, art, and other topics for maybe 90 minutes. Those are just the moments that I walk away from and feeling that I can really connect well with people. Just makes me smile and feel that the world isn't always such a dark place.
So it was Friday morning and I walked over to the Buhre Ave station. When I saw twenty people huddled in the waiting area, I knew something strange was going on. Turns out there was a 45 minute delay because we didn't have a conductor to drive the train towards Manhattan.
It was a long trip to Brooklyn, as I took the 6 to the F, into the Red Hook section of Brooklyn. It's very urbanized, not as rough as it used to be. My grandfather worked there for decades and is known as the birthplace for wrestling legend Taz. I walked past chop shops and dilapidated factory buildings to reach my first destination: Defonte's sandwich shop. When I saw the TV show where Guy Fieri visited this place, I knew I'd be visiting as well. I ordered the rare roast beef, homemade mozzarella, roasted peppers, and fried eggplant. It was one of the absolute best sandwiches ever. But that Italian bread was what made it so memorable. Soft as a pillow on the inside, crunchy on the outside with a heaping of sesame seeds. This is the kind of bread that is just so hard to find outside New York.
As I was wolfing it down along with a bowl of cucumber salad, I got a phone call. My sort of friend Peter asked if I could meet up with him on his work break. So I climbed three escalators, and hopped on the F back into Manhattan near Bryant Park. We walked around for maybe a half hour and he spent most of the time taking about his exploits with women. Apparently, he's currently messaging 26 women. I would have trouble managing six. I know I would be sending messages to women that were intended for someone else.
I explored Grand Central station and their holiday mart with foreign eats and expensive shops. Then, I headed west on 42nd Street to the Mets clubhouse shop. I picked up a few small items, like a car decal and luggage tag. In the mood for dessert, I continued west into Times Square. And there was no other place to go but Junior's for a slice of the world's best cheesecake. I was going to go with blueberry, but I saw they had some pumpkin cheesecake left. I knew that would be my choice. It was really good, but it needed some moisture like whipped cream or caramel. I like the pineapple topping more for that very reason.
While in Times Square, I walked past a breakdancing show. The climax was when one of the guys somersault jumped over five guys. It was cool, but they spent fifteen minutes building up. The line at one points was eight or nine people, so to see him only jump over five people was something of a letdown.
I headed back to Bryant Park to explore their expansive Christmas mart. There were so many shops, dozens to be conservative. One of the most memorable was the one that sold metallic art. The artist had created sculptures made of different pieces of metal, including screws and wires. And the results were remarkable; he had projects ranging from Darth Vader to drummers to golfers. Also, there were shops for puzzles, ornaments, spices, paintings, jewelry, books, and just about anything else imaginable. I took care of my mother's Christmas shopping, as I bought here a foot scrub and foot lotion. I have to admit I felt a little out of my element as I shopped for beauty products, but I thin I may a wise investment. Mom would be expecting a gift certificate from the nail salon, so I think this will surprise her. After shopping and passing by food stands I wanted to try (the fried chicken in the waffle cone and the donut stand looked especially good), I headed over to the bar and ordered a Blue Point toasted lager, which is always a priority when I'm in New York. The highlight of the night was the Christmas tree at Bryant Park would be getting lit up while several famous figure skaters would be performing on the rink. Kimmie Meisner and Johnny Weir were the two most well-known. But I decided to leave. There were most places to explore.
It was starting to get dark out, so I made a visit to the NHL store to stock up on some Rangers merch.
The trip was fruitful as I walked out with a blue Henrik Lundqvist pima cotton T-shirt, a drawstring bag with back support and two zippered compartments, and a commemorative 90th anniversary Rangers hockey puck. Plus since I used my Discover card, I got a 20% discount. In essence, I got the bag for free.
My next planned stop was going to be Rockefeller center, but I took a detour. On my way to see the famous tree, I passed by the Nintendo store, which I had no idea existed. I went inside and it felt like was ten years old again. They had Nintendo systems set up, stuffed animals of famous video game characters, shorts and hats depicting old school game consoles. I'm amazed these stores aren't in a mall in every major city in America. I played a little Mario Kart and cruised to victory as Toad. So then I moved onto Rockefeller center. The Christmas tree looked nothing short of spectacular. I looked for people taking selfies and offered to take their pictures for them. Two ladies took me up on my offer.
As I tried to work through the jammed streets around Rockefeller, I heard loud Chrsitmas music playing and a series of oohs and aahs. It was coming from the light show at Saks Fifth Avenue. They had a light show happening on the front wall that was synchronized with Christmas tunes. I only caught the last five minutes, but it was such a spectacular sight. There truly is nothing quite like Christmas in New York City. I also saw the remarkable sight that is St. Patrick's Cathedral. Despite not being Catholic, I am very much into exploring classic churches so I went inside. Little did I know mass was going on, but there were many people standing in the back of the building and taking pictures.
I got away from the crowds by walking east on 51st Street and I then took the 6 train back to the Bronx. I thought Jimmy and I were going to munch on sausage pizza and watch ROH Final Battle. That was not to be. Gina's alleged hot date fell apart. So I guess Jimmy, Peter, and myself were her consolation prize. We drive into Scarsdale and had Chinese food. I had General Tso's chicken with fried rice. I think it's funny that it came with three pieces of lightly steamed broccoli. I don't know if that qualifies as a vegetable or a garnish. I don't even think I knew that the man who created the dish actually passed away that very day. So General, here's to ya. After that was done, we went back to the house. Peter went to work for his graveyard dishwasher shift and Gina, Jimmy, and I watched Final Battle, even if we missed the first two matches. To see Broken Matt Hardy debut and to then see Kyle O'Reilly win the ROH World title were amazing. And the surprise of the night was the three-way TV title match, considering I'd never seen Marty Scurll, Dragon Lee, or Will Ospreay wrestle before.
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