I'm leavin' today.....

My stay in New York so far has been pretty awesome. First, I'd like to thank the big guy up there for making my job at my client easier that I thought it would be. That's a lot of stress off my back!

Next, I'd like to thank my awesome local tour guides, Jaygee, Doug and Rich for taking me around and showing me a good time. On Monday, we all met up at 'Slate', a swanky restaurant with pool tables in the basement and heavy metal hits playing in the background. After some pretty weird service (3 of the things we wanted on the menu were no longer available, the water kept on taking Doug's water glass away, etc.) we had a really great meal with some good laughs. It was a bit awkward at first, since this is the first time I've met Doug, and I haven't seen Rich in about 6 years. We both went to U of I together, and iin high school I almost (but not really) dated his brother. Jaygee's my best friend, so it's not like there was anything awkward there at all. After a bit, though, we were laughing and at east with each other, which made it really comfortable for me...

After dinner, we went for a walk around Union Park, then ended up at The Coffee Shop, where they told me all the beautiful people worked. It really didn't look like it that night, but there WAS a pretty bartender. Something I've noticed about New York is that people are up all hours of the night. We were there at about 11:30, and the place was still packed, on a Monday - just a regular restaurant (with a bar).

On Tuesday, I had dinner with Jaygee at Lombardi's, which is supposedly the first pizza joint in the city. The pizza was tasty (had a meatball pizza) but it doesn't beat Chicago deep dish pizza! Since the wait was so long for Lombardi's, before dinner we stopped at some place where they made gourmet rice pudding, Rice to Riches. We had hazelnut and vanilla flavored pudding, and it was DAMN good!

We then went to this place called Magnolia's, which had one of the best cupcakes I've ever had. It better - the line was pretty long, just to get a cupcake! Rich met up with us at the park and we just chilled out for a bit, stuffing our faces with the sugary goodness that is Magnolia's.

To end the night (which really didn't end it, since it was a chunk of the night), Rich gave us a driving tour of NYC. It's nice to have a car in the city! We passed by Ground Zero, Central Park, Times Square, and a whole bunch of other landmarks around the city. For someone who's only lived in the city for a couple years, Rich knew it really well! Jaygee gave her input on the places that she knew of. It was nice to just relax and cruise all around Manhattan.

I had a great time hanging out with the transplanted Chicagoans out in New York. It's good to know that if ever I'm in town again, I'll have people to hang out with and take me around....

Thanks guys! I had a ball!

Pictures to come tomorrow...for now, here are my lovely, super-awesome tour guides:

You guys rock! I love U of I people!

Posted by Yano at August 3, 2005 02:19 AM

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