Wednesday 30 March 2011

Saturday - Day 1 NYC

We arrived by a yellow cab (what other kind of cab is there in NYC!) at the Ace Hotel, on West 29th Street & Broadway. 10 mins in New York and already we're getting into the way the street names work.

It was a bit too early to check in, but we were able to ditch the luggage and we headed out into the bright, but cold, sunshiney afternoon.

We thought we were heading towards Times Square, but after about 30 minutes of walking, we checked the map and found we had headed in the opposite direction we had intended!!! By the time we had retraced our steps, it was almost 3pm and we were able to check in....But not before The Beeb being asked by the bellhop if he was a Celtic supporter. Turns out the guy was actually into football.

The record player and selected vinyls
Our room is quite cool. We have a  record player, with some vinyls thrown in for good measure (Visage, Crosby Stills & Nash among them), the mini bar is within a flight case, the iron and hairdryer are both really retro and you need to take a taxi to get from one end of the bed to the other!!!

There are quirky little notices all over, such as the "do not disturb" sign is a magnetic "NOT NOW" you stick on the outside of the door, and the notice in the bathroom re the towels.....



The notice in the bathroom
The only downside is the electric shocks you get everytime you touch the door, lift buttons..... you name it, if it's metal you get a shock!!!! And it's not just us... as we found out from another couple who selected their floor button with such trepidation we had to ask if they had been shocked too!!!!

The lobby is busy with visitors every night, with either DJ's or live music, and the queue for the coffee shop (Stumptown) is the longest we've ever seen and the baristas are really knowledgable about their trade, and make a rather nice leaf design on every cup of coffee they serve. Although, The Beeb got a loveheart on his first cup, from the girl that served him!

We headed out again to find a camera (we had inadvertently put our one in the overnight bag we left in the car after our park and fly hotel night in Heathrow!!). We found one, reasonably priced in Macys, so that ticked one sight to see off the list!

Back at the hotel, a quick shower and change of clothes and we were off to meet two Rats... Frank and Paul from a rather delightful garagy, Merseybeat band, The Beat Rats, we had met last year at Liverpool's IPO. We had a lovely dinner in Cowgirl (Hudson Street) in Greenwich Village. Our waitor was an Alan Alda lookalike, both in looks and humour!

The camera was handed to Alan Alda and we asked him to take a photo. So he did...he sat with the woman at the next table and took one of them both together! He was a funny guy though.


Paul and Frank from The Beat Rats
It was great to have the chance to meet up with the Rats, on their home turf, over a few beers and Margheritas. The conversation was about music and guitars (obviously).

We trundled back to the hotel in a cab, very sleepy having been up for almost 24 hours....

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