I'm in love with a city.

I just got back from my 7th trip to New York City.
Every time I go, its like hooking up with an old flame.
When I arrive, the street noise, vibe, and attitude embrace me.
I've never lived there.
I've never called it home.
There's just some pull it has on me.
And every time I leave, it makes me sad.
Slightly heartbroken.

Friday we checked into our hotel and got settled. Took a weary traveler nap, then bundled up and headed out. Had lunch at Playwright's. Then I took Matt around a few blocks pointing out some of the places I'd been before. We got to Rockefeller Plaza just in time to see the last few minutes of the christmas tree before they started tearing it down. Saw Keith Olbermann's back in the window while he was reading his teleprompter and Matthew was unimpressed. We wandered back over to Sombrero to warm up and partake of some margaritas. The margaritas and sweet potato soup were really good. The cheese dip was crap. We wandered around a little bit more and grabbed some beer before calling it a night.
The next morning we hopped a train down to Chinatown for some dim sum at Dim Sum Go Go. Buns and dumplings rule. We left there and walked up the street and stopped at a bakery for an egg custard and then wandered around for a little while getting hounded to buy knock-off bags. "Miss? Bags, purse?" about every 10ft. I overheard one tourist ask, "Why are they so expensive if they're fake?" We headed up to Little Italy to warm up again and grabbed a coffee and some biscotti, then off to the WTC site so Matt could see Ground Zero. "That's it?" he asked as we approached. From the angle we came up on it, the big empty space was deceiving. We walked over a pedestrian bridge for a better view then headed towards the Hudson for a look at the lady Liberty. Since it was snowing (had started when we were in Chinatown) there was no clear view - she was a grey stripe across the water. We made tracks in the snow and snapped a few pictures. Walked towards Wall St. and stopped at a cathedral and walked through a graveyard to check out dates on tombstones. When we got to Wall St. Matthew kept muttering "Fuck those guys.", then we grabbed a cab and headed towards 28th & Park to grab lunch at Les Halles. Matt got steak tartare. It was about a lb of raw ground meat and quite tasty. I had a flatiron steak. Their fries do rock but I don't know if I'd say they were the best I've ever had. Afterwards we went to the Museum of Sex which was very informative and we got yelled at for touching things. After that we walked through a square where there was a drained pond that had snow angels in it. We headed toward some neon lights - tell-tale signs of a nearby bar. It was called Live Bait and they had $3 horribly bad tasting shots that gave us a good buzz. After we were lubed up, we hopped a train and went back down to Canal St. to grab a slice in Little Italy. We ended up at La Mela and ordered some mozzerella & tomatoes and a couple of Peronis. "That's it...?" our waiter was confused that we weren't ordering more. Mangia, mangia. There were 2 birthdays and a bachelorette party being celebrated with suggestive shaped banana desserts and a sausage lamp that looked like a cock-n-balls over their table. We finished up light bites there and walked up the street for pizza. When we finished up we hopped another train and headed back to our room.
Sunday morning we grabbed breakfast at the diner downstairs and then walked down to the tkts booth to see what tickets we could get. We waited in line for about 45 mins and listened to people's opinions of different shows and got 2 tix to Danielle Radcliffe and Richard Griffiths in "Equus". We'd planned on catching the Man U game at an Irish pub close to our hotel but it was a $10 cover (boo.) so we walked down to the MOMA and wandered around there for a bit. Modern art is amusing. Who thought a piece of string hooked to the wall and floor in a trapezoid shape or a cable strung with compacted Marlboro packs was art? We saw Picaso, Pollock, Bacon, Batiste, Warhol, and lots others and it was all amazing and thought provoking. Afterwards we headed down to stand in line for Equus. A block down there was some protest or march but we couldn't tell what for without losing our place. Into the theater we went and the douchebag behind the bar muttered something about Daniel Radcliffe not being there that day and threw out a vodka tonic instead of floating us a dollar (cash only). Not only was he wrong about Harry Potter but he was a wasteful cheap little twit. The play was incredible. Radcliffe and Griffiths work so well together and Daniel looks great naked. He even had chub and no one in the theater giggled - atleast not that we could hear. His acting was so intense, his character even made Matt fidgety. When we were done there, we headed up to the Carnegie Deli for a big ass sammich. We grabbed some beer and muchies and chilled in our room for the rest of the evening - staying warm and watched VH1 and read and went through our pictures.
The next morning we packed up and headed out for a final wandering. Had a cappuccino and panini at this little italian cafe close to Central Park and then went strolling through the zoo and over to Woolman Rink. Matt had spoken to his folks the other day and his dad mentioned having had an apt at 888 8th so we walked through the west side, past Julliard and the Lincoln Ctr and back down towards their old building to snap a quick pic for them. Had just enough time for a final beer before checking out and heading to the airport.

I'll miss you, City.
Until next time....