New York 2008: Day 5: Midtown and Astoria
Wandering Midtown. Finally went to the Macy's at Herald Square and saw the famed wooden escalators inside the world's largest Macys. Wandered up to Rockefeller Center by way of Times Square next, since I'd never been to Rockefeller Center. Oops. Still haven't been up to the Empire State Building, but I'll get to that some other trip!
Rockefeller Center wasn't quite as neat as I was hoping, although paying money for the view probably would have helped. A little. I'm not sure how much. Being fairly early on a Saturday didn't help either. The underground mall was still mostly closed and while the outdoors display of flags was very stately, it wasn't all that interesting.
Headed to Astoria next, to the Bohemian Beer Garden for an Ars Technica forums meet. Yaotl, Dr. Jay, and quite a few others made it, and it was an awesome day to sit outside and drink beer. Much to my surprise they had decent beer, unlike Alpine Village in Torrance... plus Astoria, when the sun is shining and you're not under the railroad tracks, actually has some character. Brick apartments managed much more cheer than Chicago, but to be fair this was summer in New York vs. winter when I visited Chicago. Maria eventually wandered over to the Beer Garden to be surrounded by geeks and nerds, although she got lost on the way. (first time the day before was me being 2 blocks off on the address, so that was my fault. This time it wasn't me! Honest!) I figured if even I could survive in Astoria without a map of any sort, she'd be fine... oops!
After drinking for a couple of hours, it was time to head back to Long Island to meet up with Joel and his classmates to... *drumroll* drink some more! Made it to the Marriot in Garden City, then to a bar called RC Dugan's where Jaegermiester shots were $3 and they had a punching bag machine... somehow we made it back to Joel's place, where we finished off the beer and the pizza and were pretty much too intoxicated to go anywhere else the rest of the night. Parker and Jessica hit another party, but... nah. (beer. and pizza. no DD = stay home!)
