We went off to Starbucks again for some fast T-Mobile action, and then Robert and Barb dropped Bonnie, Rona, ‘n’ me off at the train station. We headed on in to Penn Station about 70 minutes later, and after the requisite Amtrak station toidy break we hit the subway with our ex-native guide (Bonnie lived in NYC for a year). We took the subway to Greenwich Village, and I gotta tell ya, it was much much faster than walking! No wonder they all take the subway. I wouldn’t take my pregnant wife on the subway if it wasn’t the middle of a weekday, but it wasn’t bad.
Once in the village it was lunchtime, so we headed off toward the neighborhood where Bonnie used to live. There is a street there (actual street name to follow when I find it) with about 20 Indian restaurants all in a row. Bonnie’s goal when she lived nearby was to eat in all of them. She made it to the first one and liked it so much that she never stopped by the others. We figured that would be a guaranteed hit, so we decided to check it out. Of course, upon arriving on the mystical all-Indian restaurant row, we discovered that Bonnie’s favorite place had closed. With an unexpected and rather daunting array of almost identical choices laid out before us, we had to figure out which one to go to. After going into one empty place with covered buffet trays lined up near the front door, we retreated, picked one a few doors down with an awning, asked if they had AC, and went on in.
It turned out that if they had AC it was on in the back. They politely sat us in the front of the place near the open door, so that passersby might pick the establishment with people in it. It wasn’t too bad, but it certainly failed the Refreshing Air Conditioning Test. The food was pretty good (I think I ordered chicken tikka masala) but you could tell that it was in Manhattan–they just can’t get fresh food like we’re lucky to have in Seattle.
Bellies full and ready for a nap, we trudged back out into the city to check stuff out. We walked to SoHo (short for “South Houston,” so one might think it should be called SowHew) and went to some outrageously expensive shops adorned with carefully painted graffiti art, catering to teenage girls with AmEx cards. Saw lots of hightops with super tall spike heels, but neither Bonnie nor Rona wanted to get any. They didn’t have my size.
By this time I was of course ready for more coffee, and Rona was in need of a bathroom and a chair, so we left Bonnie to her shopping and headed to a SoHo Starbucks. The walls therein were sporting cool art pieces, all by the same artist, featuring things like board game parts glued (artistically) to a big board. It was pretty unique for Starbucks art, and seemed to mesh the store with the neighborhood.
Once we hooked up with Bon again we headed off to Penn Station to miss the Ronkonkoma express. Once in Central Islip again we all went to Evalynne and Larry’s for some pizza.
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