A Bite in (or is it out of?) the Big Apple

It was a blitzkrieg of an evening but I had the chance to go to "the city" in New York.  I happened to be in Queens for some work and had one evening free to do something.  I have a motto to never miss out on an opportunity if at all possible.  I had not been to Queens and asked several people before my trip, during my flight there, and once landed about things to see in Queens.  They all said the same thing, "nothing."  I couldn't believe how unenthusiastic people were - even about their own borough.  When you research Queens interestingly most items are NOT in Queens so maybe Queeners (?) have just accepted the facts.  The two most notable items actually in Queens are Flushing Meadows (1964 World Fair and more famous is a scene from Men In Black) and the Mets stadium.   

Let me back the horse up just a bit speaking of the flight over.  I have flown a million times to Newark and JFK but I had never flown into LaGuardia.  The flight route went from Atlanta to LaGuardia and it was a beautiful sunny day.  The first excitement (after the disappointment of a delayed flight) was the fact that Woody Harrelson was on the flight.  He came in late to the plane in first class but did sign a few autographs for the smaller kids.  My question is...why do smaller kids know Woody Harrelson?  Isn't he in mostly R rated movies?  I guess Hunger Games are for a younger crowd but not this young of kids. 

The approach took us low right over the Statue of Liberty, past Manhattan, the bridges, the Mets stadium and I could have spit on the tower (just for you Dad) in Flushing Meadows.  It was great, although I now had seen everything anyone thought was of interest to Queens and I hadn't even officially arrived. 

Since everyone was ba-humbug about Queens my friend and I decided to not waste a perfectly good evening and run down to "the city" or the Big Apple.  We grabbed a metro card from the hotel (much cheaper this way) and headed out on a blitz adventure.  After taking a bus through Queens to the trains we made it downtown just at dark.

Yep, we just missed the first train into the city...but it was a pretty wait!

First stop...some tasty New York style Pizza near Times Square and the Broadway district.  The place - John's Pizza.  There was a serious wait but that's what you get when you go to a good place, right across from the plays on a Friday night at 7pm.  It was definitely worth the wait however as the pizza was very good.  I love a good pizza.  This place was large with some personality and also 4 brick ovens going at once.  Wow! It was hopping. 

Yum...look at those pizzas

Next stop, now that my tummy was full and we could think better, we walked around the Big Apple seeing all the lights.  There weren't a ton of people around and the weather was half way decent (although the next day it turned FRIGID).  You can definitely tell what movies are going to come out next because of the huge billboards.  A striking observation is that as you look at all the glitz in a truly iconic American place (it is where the ball drops after all) shown around the world and everything you see is NOT American.  Toshiba, Hankook, Xinhua (with symbols and all).  It sort of made me sad. 

It was time for more food!  We hit Ellen's Stardust Diner right off of Time Square.  This is a really family friendly fun place.  They serve real diner food (which is much more American than the signage in Times Square) and all the servers sing.  And I mean sing!  They just continue to rotate through signing Broadway hits in a fun and interactive manner.  They indicated that in just the past year 5 of the servers are now on Broadway singing.   That's cool.  It is really neat to be so close to the performers in a relaxed atmosphere.  You don't have to worry about what your kids hear here either...I think it would be a great place to introduce kids to Broadway.  We had a tasty milkshake before heading back out.

The final stop was a walk to Radio City Music Hall.  I was bummed because the Rockettes didn't start their Christmas shindig for another 3 days (just after I left from my trip).  That would have been neat to see.  But, I did get to see Radio City decked out in Christmas lights.

So, not too bad of a blitz bite in (or out of) the Big Apple. We did that all in about 6 hours!   

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