Day 30

Monday...

Gotta tell you guys. I'm getting a little tired of writing these. It's mostly just because I have been so tired by the time I actually get to work on them. But I am already behind so I need to just keep cranking away at them. So here we go.

Monday. Monday was easily the most relaxed day of the trip so far. Isaac left last night and Jeff woke up at the crack of dawn to catch his flight. That left Jose and me. And we had sort of plans to get up early but that didn't pan out of course. We ended up sleeping till after ten and didn't leave the hotel till about 11:30. Sure is a good thing we got a hotel with free breakfast, seeing as we missed it just about every day.

The best thing about today is that the 7 line running into Manhattan was open. It was closed all weekend and this was one of the key sources of all our travel difficulty. But now it is open. We got on the 7 and in about ten minutes we were in midtown Manhattan. It was that easy.

We didn't have a whole lot on the agenda. It was mostly just walking around and seeing what we saw. But first we were hungry. We stopped at a place called the Great American Health Bar or something along those lines. Don't let the name throw you. It was really good. I had some sort of pasta with sundried tomatoes, fresh mozzarella, mushrooms, etc. And some great falafel. And a real fruit smoothie!

Next we walked through Central Park. I am actually quite blown away by the sheer magnitude of Central Park. And the fact that it is a sanctuary set in the middle of one of the busiest hubs of humanity in the world is astounding. We only touched the tip of the iceberg in the park, sticking to the southeastern corner. They had a cool little carnival for the kiddies set up on the ice skating rink so that was cool. It is nice that a parent living in a surrounding neighborhood can just up and walk their kids down to the carnival in Central Park. And I bought a map and a postcard from a homeless guy who asked me to take him back to Chicago to take Michael Jordan's place or something of the sort.

Then we walked some more and some more. We passed Radio City Music Hall and came to Rockefeller Plaza. We decided to drop the twenty bucks and take the ride to the top of the Rock. At this point I realized how little I know about John D. Rockefeller (aside from the fact that he died, thus ending his chapter, and that THIS is the guy Sean Carter chose to name his company after.) There was a very small exhibit on his life and the history of the building. He seems like a fascinating individual. I think I am going to read a biography before the summer is over.

The elevator to the top was fun. We got up there in just a few seconds and there was some kind of sensory show on the ceiling of the elevator. And the roof was great. It is open air and it is literally the roof of the building. Unfortunately it was a little hazy out and we couldn't see all that far. But it really put the city in perspective. It also made the park look even more incredible. You can really tell the size of it from up there. It is stunning.

Afterwards we went into the NBC shop. I got to talking to the host. Actually, he got to talking to me. He saw my Cubs shirt and that got him going. He lives in Brooklyn and he showed me on the map. We talked about the Cubs, the Bears, the Bulls, Yankee Stadium, the Coney Island Cyclone, food, WBBM, sporting goods, and on and on like that. It was kind of funny. He was just this kind-of old retired guy who I'm sure does this all the time. At one point in the middle of all this a big black guy in a suit (presumably the manager) walked by and touched him on the arm and he snapped back into work mode, so I'm assuming this is what no out of the usual. His name was Donald. Remember.

Now we were ready to eat again. We ate pizza. It was yummy.

And the 7 was working. So we made it to Shea in about twenty minutes. The subway was sort of crowded with people, including a group of young people from New Zealand. One of the guys was a scary looking fellow with all kind of tattoos and piercings and he kept taking deep sniffs of a newspaper and staring people down on the train. Then we got to talking to them and it turned out they are a Christian rock band. This floored me. Then they got really defensive about how Christian rock is not a genre and Jose got really excited because he tells me that all the time and I don't understand what he is talking about and I still don't. Genres are useless anyway, but Christian rock fits the description of a genre as much as anything. But they were very nice. They were called The Parachute Band.

I found Shea Stadium incredibly relaxing. After the hustle and bustle and stress of Yankee Stadium it was nice to just sit back and enjoy a game with a sparse crowd, leg room, and no lines at the concession stands. And I don't think it is a terrible looking ballpark. It's not that interesting. There is nothing that really makes it stand out. It is the definition of a cookie-cutter park. But there is nothing terrible about it either. I found it a delightful place to watch a ballgame.

The game wasn't terribly exciting. Felix Hernandez, the Mariners' pitcher, hit a grand slam and that was the most eventful thing. Then he got injured, which annoyed me because he is on my fantasy team. The Mariners ended up winning 5-2, but the Mets made it interesting, bringing the tying run to the plate in the bottom of the ninth. So we got the chance to hear the Mets fans make a little noise.

We sat with a father and son who seem to specialize in sports themed vacations. They live on Long Island and are Mets fans. The father seems to have been to practically every stadium in existence. He gave me a few tips on the Washington Nationals' stadium (where I will be tomorrow.) He also says that he will not cry to see Shea go at the end of the year. They were fun, probably among the most enjoyable company I have had at ballgames.

After the game we caught the 7 back. We made it in no time and walked to the hotel. Another day is over. I am going to Washington next.