In article <[email hidden]>,
(Curly Sue) said:Today there was a planetary harmonic convergence as my visiting nieces
and I were in Manhattan at the same time as Stan. We all met for an
early dinner at Mars 2112, a theme restaurant. You enter the
restaurant after a "trip" in a space ship. The inside of the
restaurant looks like a Martian cavern, the waitstaff is dressed in
space dress uniforms, and aliens walk around and greet the guests
(emphasizing the children of course).
I enjoyed my Marstini and the food, although one niece felt that her
"Angry Planet" pasta was too heavy on the "angry." The desserts were
really yummy.
It's a good-spirited place and I was glad that Stan seemed to enjoy
himself.
Sue's nieces' idea for us to eat dinner at Mars 2112 was a stroke of
genius! The restaurant's Martian atmosphere is a bit corny, but its fun
and nicely done. Unlike some theme restaurants, the noise level at Mars
2112 was not overbearing. For example, at the Rain Forest Cafe, the
theme includes a lot of loud wild animal and natural sounds such as
thunder. When I ate there, I couldn't hear any of my dining companions
talk without shouting. I have no desire to eat at Rain Forest Cafe
again, but I am looking forward to eating at Mars 2112 again, as I had a
great time there, and the company was great too! My entire day in
Manhattan was fun. Spending the day in Manhattan was a great way to ring
in my 44th birthday.
If anyone wants to see the digital photos I took during my visit to
Manhattan, let me know via email. I haven't done any digital processing
on those photos yet, but I hope to do that tonight after work and put
them up on my web server.
My dinner and her nieces was great. The food was reasonably priced and
tasty. The service was first rate too. I also enjoyed the company of Sue
and her nieces. This restaurant has a $2 per person entertainment fee
for each guest. That fee is added to the bill at the end of the meal. My
chicken was delicious. I forget the name of the dish, but it was a
chicken breast seared in a pan with some lemon juice, spices, and white
wine. The chicken was served with some roasted root vegetables cut into
shoe strings and a disk of white rice. The glass of Merlot I ordered was
also very good. Thanks Sue for the wine! The cheesecake with raspberry
sauce I ordered for desert, was awesome; very creamy with just a light
tough of raspberry flavor. The crust was very light too. The chocolate
Oreo desert that Sue shared with her two nieces was pronounced a
success. I shot some photos of our deserts, but those photos didn't turn
out well at all.
After a 90 mile drive on the NJ turnpike yesterday morning while
listening to music on my iPod, I ended up at my favorite camera store,
B&H Photo on 9th Avenue at 11:00. I left my car for the day at a parking
lot on 33rd Street and I walked or took the train to get where I needed
to go the rest of the day. I spent maybe 1.5 hours at the camera store.
I bought a new camera bag there and I transferred my camera gear to it
and put my old bag in my car. I also grabbed a slice of pizza at the
place across from B&H and a bottle of Diet Pepsi for lunch. The pizza
was quite good and only 99 cents a slice!
After my visit to B&H, I walked to the subway by Madison Square Garden
and I took the E train to the 5th Avenue stop to see the Museum of
Modern Art. I wanted to see the Intrepid Aircraft Carrier museum too,
but I decided to skip that. I walked around the 51st Street area for
about an hour shooting photos. I saw a festival that stretched along 6th
Avenue for several blocks, so I bought a beef shish kebob there for a
snack, and another bottle of Diet Pepsi. I tried to shoot some photos of
the Citibank building which I think is on 53rd and Madison Avenue. Just
as I lifted my camera to shoot a photo, a private security guard for the
bank asked me not to do that. She was very polite and she told me that
they had fears of terrorists. Ugh! This kind of interaction makes me
think the terrorists have already won! I asked the security guard for
directions to the MoMA, and she pointed me in the right direction.
I then walked around shooting photos of interesting sites. I found a
homeless man sitting next to a shopping cart. The shopping cart had been
turned into a makeshift cat condo. It held at least four or five young
cats. Each cat was lay in a cardboard box lined with old clothes. One of
the older cats was resting in a little sports bag hanging from the
cart's handles. I shot a few photos of the guy and his cats, and I left
some money in the donation cup he had put on top of the cart.
I finally got to the MoMA around 2:00 and it was crowded, but not too
crowded. I paid the $20 admission price and I walked around and admired
the exhibits for two hours until it was time for me to meet up with Sue
and her nieces. I was surprised that the museum did not prohibit
photography, so I shot several photos there, including a few in the
outdoor sculpture garden. I really enjoyed my visit to the MoMA,
although I feel the admission fee is way too high.
Then I walked over to 51st and Broadway and I arrived at the Mars 2112
restaurant right on time. Sue was there waiting for me. Sue's nieces
showed up a minute or two later. Sue's nieces went to see the American
Museum of Natural History and the wax museum before dinner.
After dinner, we parted company and Sue and her nieces went home. I
decided to walk off my dinner by walking to the Empire State Building.
My plan was to go up to the observation deck at sunset to shoot some
photos. By the time I got there, the line to get into the observation
deck went out the main entrance. Since the sky was heavily overcast and
I was already getting tired from the long walk and humidity, I decided
to walk back to my car and go home. The ride home was fine. It was the
first time I ever remember not having to wait in heavy traffic to get
off Manhattan Island. Usually, I take the Holland Tunnel back to NJ, but
this time I decided to try the Lincoln Tunnel instead. There was hardly
any traffic at all. This was around 8:00pm. I sailed through the tunnel
and I ended up getting home two hours later, with a brief stop at the
rest station around exit 7A on the NJ Turnpike.
So, it was a nice day.
