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Published: July 29th 2008
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We apologize for being a day late on our update. We’re staying at a hotel without free internet in the rooms, and since we’re there two nights we decided we would post two days worth on the second night (all to save 10 bucks). And we apologize again because today was the longest day of our lives. Fabulous, but long. So here is yesterday’s experience at the Mets game, tomorrow we will write about our jam packed day ending in Yankee Stadium and post it then.
Today (Sunday) was an interesting day. We left New Jersey at 8:30 a.m. and drove to New York. We passed through Delaware on the way, so we can add that to our list of states. Today’s game was a day game, and we were prepared for some warm weather. We arrived at Shea Stadium by about 11:00, with plenty of time to look around before the 1:00 game.
Only problem is, there is nothing to look at at Shea. This place is truly pathetic.
For lunch we had the recommended sandwich (of course), which was a turkey, gravy, mozzarella on white roll. It was okay, kind of like thanksgiving on a bun
with cheese. Jill never said, “now that’s a sandwich” about this one, but it wasn’t too bad. We bought some yummy looking pretzels that turned out to be not so yummy (think they were rye pretzels, which we weren’t expecting).
Our seats were on the loge level, which we took as a good sign. Not. They were row L, which seemed not too bad, only 12 rows up. They turned out to be the LAST row of the level. Looking behind you you could see the concourse below, and the lines for the concession stands. Looking up, you were about two feet from the concrete of the level above you. Looking out you saw . . . the field. Only the field. You could not see the top of the outfield wall. You could not see the scoreboard, the screen, nothing. You could not see the ball when it was hit, you had to wait for it to come down and see if someone caught it. You had no idea of the batter, the count, the score, nothing. You really couldn’t even hear the announcer very well. It’s not only hard to believe that this stadium was ever built
like this, it’s hard to believe people would continue to watch a game from these seats (which were all full), let alone pay $25 apiece for this privilege.
We will say that the fans were into every pitch of the game. Not too many people up and walking around, probably because (a) there is nothing to walk to, and (b) their vendors walk the aisles with everything you might want. Hot dogs, popcorn, beer, pretzels, you name it. They scream out, “Hey, pretzel!” like they are calling out to someone named Pretzel. “Hey, Pretzel! Pretzel! Yo, Pretzel!”
The place is falling apart at the seams. There are no fans in the world more deserving of a new stadium than these loyal New Yorkers. One fan we visited with told us that they were hoping that when Yankee Stadium came down, all the good karma would come down with it and shift to the Mets. We hope so, too.
Have to say everyone was really into the game, and following every pitch. They are good fans, but their stadium stinks.
As we sat waiting for the game to start, the skies opened up and it must have rained
an inch in about 40 minutes. Jill was excited to get to see the tarp rolled out for the first time. Thunder and lightning and lots and lots of rain, and no one batted an eye. By the time the game started, it had stopped raining and we were home free until the end of the game, when it started raining just as long as it took us to get back to the bus.
The new stadium is right next to the old, about 50 feet from the outfield. It looks like it will be great, and maybe someday we’ll come back and see it. Let’s just hope we’ll be able to see the game from our seats.
After the game we went to Manhattan to wander Times Square for a couple of hours. It was so fun to be there with the rest of the three billion people who decided to take the same stroll. We had about three hours to roam around before we got on the bus to head to our hotel. We got lots of souvenir shopping done in the all-Yankees-all-the-time store (it was hard for us… ) and in the little “I love
NY” shops. After avoiding all the restaurants in the middle of time square that had two hour waits, we headed to a four story TGI Fridays, where a bacon cheeseburger was $17.95. Wow. We are glad we don’t have to eat in Manhattan very often.
We are very, very glad to be in our hotel tonight, because believe it or not we get to stay here not just one, but two whole nights! We gladly welcome the chance to not repack for at least one morning. Tomorrow we head to Manhattan again and are having dinner at Mickey Mantle’s Restaurant (yay) and then to Yankee Stadium.
(We actually went to Yankee Stadium today, but that will be a story told tomorrow!)
We are having a wonderful time. We just can’t believe we are seeing all of these places, not just the stadiums. The cities, historical sites, experiencing the people and places is all something we would probably never have done otherwise without this tour. We are doing our best to not be too tired, no time to be and too much to do and see. We love and miss you all!
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