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Published: March 10th 2007
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Yankee Stadium
View of Yankee Stadium from the press box New York City: born there, went to work with mom and dad there, worked there, took some classes there, lived there, etc. Yet, after spending most of my 34+ years in and around New York, I've taken a lot for granted.
If you ask me to identify my favorite city, I would immediately state New York City without blinking twice. I love the different neighborhoods, quality of cuisine and nightlife, the parks, mass transit, the skyscrapers, etc. There is still SO MUCH I have not seen.
I had planned spending the weekend in the NYC, but because of unforeseen expenses this past Friday morning, I spent Saturday at home and missed out on seeing a cool show (Evil Dead: The Musical) with Alvin and his crew.
At 740am today, I took the 2-minute walk from my house to the Far Hills train station to head into NYC with the intention of exploring new territory. After arriving at New York Penn Station, I had unintentionally toured various subway lines, but none north of 59th St. You see, there was a lot of construction and some lines were temporarily suspended... but, hey, I only paid $7 (!) for MTA's unlimited
ride 1-day pass... a bargain... so this wasn't a big deal. (+$18 for the round-trip fare from NJ)
Finally, I landed at my first stop: Yankee Stadium in the Bronx. I've been here MANY times to watch my beloved Yankees play ball, but I had never taken the Stadium Tour. For only $18 ($6 of which were various service charges), I had reserved a place in a one-hour tour of the Press Box, Clubhouse, Home Dugout, Field, and Monument Park. I had a great time! Did you know Jeter and A-Rod have lockers that are on opposite sides of the room from one another with two columns blocking one from seeing the other??? Quite interesting! We weren't allowed to take pictures in the clubhouse, which was fine, cuz that means you still have to go...
Second stop: Papaya King, Upper East Side. There are two hot dog institutions to consider when visiting Manhattan: PK and Gray's Papaya. The latter is a good value. PK's tastes better (mind you, I have not tried GP yet). PK has another location somewhere, but I opted to visit the flagship location on 3rd Ave and 86th St. It was very cramped inside,
Thurman Munson
O Captain, my Captain! but still managed to find a spot on the counter by the window, where I met and talked to an older black woman... never got her name, but for five minutes, we agreed we "locals" take NYC for granted and, there, she told me the line for Guggenheim around the corner was REALLY long... that was intended to be the 3rd stop, but I'll have to return another time and make the "museum mile" a day in itself. Lunch: $5.35
Third stop: Borough Hall, Brooklyn. I walked around the Brooklyn Heights and Brooklyn Law School area for a solid 30 minutes and was impressed by how SAFE the area appeared to be (I can throw out another unfounded stereotype) as well as the value one can find in a townhouse or apartment in the neighborhood. Hmmm.... anyhow, I went to Borough Hall as this was the first subway stop in Brooklyn after the 4 train crossed the river from Manhattan... with the intention to walk back to NYC by way of the Brooklyn Bridge. I don't think I've ever crossed the Brooklyn Bridge by car alone, with friends, or with family... and, you know what, I don't think I'll
Quick lunch at Papaya King
"Combo" - small papaya soda, hot dog, and potatoes ever do it. Too much traffic! Walking over the bridge took no more than 40 minutes and that's only because I stopped so many times to admire the views and take pictures. View: Priceless
Fourth stop: Ground Zero. No pictures. The city did a nice job with the remembrances posted around the sites and with leaving everyone's "graffiti" alone. I did not personally know anyone who perished during the 9/11 tragedy, but I simply felt it was in bad taste for others to pose in front of the site smiling as if they were standing next to Goofy in Disneyworld. To each their own. Reading all the timeline captions did not bring me any closer to what happened there. As most of you are aware, I was in Paris during 9/11 and didn't even know what happened until my friend Jen and I returned to our hotel in the Latin Quarter after 6PM EST (midnight in Paris).
Fifth stop: Battery Park City. Granted this was a short walk from the old World Trade Center, but I wasn't aware yet another neighborhood was here with its own boardwalk. There, I sat on a park bench for another 20 minutes
reflecting what I saw at Ground Zero and admiring the pretty Jersey City skyline. Pretty? Who knew...
Sixth stop: Grand Central Station. Yup, never had been there before either. The most I saw of GCS was during the movie, The Untouchables, with Mr. Costner. Anyhow, I took inventory of the Dining corridor... Oyster Bar, Junior's, Masa's, Feng Shui, etc. Good god... Grand Central Station is to Penn Station as the Short Hills Mall is to the Livingston Mall. Sad as it is to say, I did not take time to eat or drink there. Perhaps, another time...
Seventh and final stop: Kum Gang San. I've known about this Korean restaurant since it opened at least 10 years ago. Only today did I find out it also served Japanese food. Pfff.... Anyway, great food. I ordered mandoo soup (homemade beef dumplings in broth), gul ti kim appetizer (deep-fried oysters), and kimchi chicken dol sot (chicken with onions and kimchi with spicy sauce over steamed rice in sizzling pot). The meal was preceded by six small bowls of snacks: very spicy kimchee, milder kimchee, bean curd, tofu, shrimp w/broccoli, and roasted potatoes with spicy red pepper sauce. Think of the
egg noodles you get at the Chinese restaurant or the nachos at a Tex-Mex jaunt or the naan at an Indian restaurant. Six different small apps. WOW! Lunch without tip: $24. Bargain!
That's it.
Cheers!
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Andrew Samaniego
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Yankee Stadium
I can't believe you were in that dugout!! If I were you, I would go back with a bag of sunflower seeds and hang out where Torre sits.