Trip to NYC

I don't often find myself in New York City, and a work gathering gave me the opportunity to visit Manhattan. I have visited tons of US cities, and I do have to admit, NYC is different.

First, there are people. Many, many people at all hours of the day or night. The sidewalks are busy at all times (although they were not as full as is hyped on television) The streets are a sea of yellow cabs. For a scant five minutes I was alone by myself, when my colleagues decided to go out for a few more hours, and I decided to head back to the hotel.

In Philadelphia, hailing a cab takes a minute or two. In NYC, I headed to an intersection, stuck out my hand, and in ten seconds a cab had swerved to connect with me. I had two insane cab experiences, where I simply could not look out the window at how close the cab cut it when zipping between vehicles. I had one ride that was sane enough that I could enjoy the view.

I experienced Uber for the first time. Nice cars, nice drivers, and no floundering around at the end of the drive paying the driver. The app tells you when they will arrive (usually a scant few minutes), and with an account (colleague accounts, not mine) payment is already arranged. The Uber rides were all sane rides.

My ex would have enjoyed the firehouse across from a restaurant where we ate. They had numerous calls while we were there, and watching them BACK the truck in on the narrow street into an even more narrow firehouse was a joy. Amazing.

In case you ever wondered, NYC dog walkers are in fact exactly like what you see on television, minus a few dogs (in this case):

So that, in a nutshell, was my visit to Manhattan.

As always, I was still happy to get home to my stringlight lit porch, kittens, home brewed coffee and a pot of homemade chili.