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Philly-NYC Trip, Day 1
Sep. 4th, 2022 11:59 pmSUNDAY
It took a while to get parked at the gate, and since we were in the far back of the plane we were treated to an extended view of the ground crew offloading more frozen fish than luggage. One of the cargo handlers was a hot, swarthy bear with curly black hair, matching beard, and a big nose - Gary thought he might be Lebanese. When we finally deplaned we made a beeline for the restroom, and I spotted the cubby dude from the waiting room at Sea-Tac using the sink.
We took the Airtrain to Jamaica Station and Gary purchased combination tickets for the Airtrain and Long Island Railroad with the assistance of a customer service representative. The train to Penn Station left simultaneously with an adjacent train to Atlantic Terminal, and I got about 4 seconds of video of the apparent race before the conductor arrived to punch our tickets. The train stopped briefly at Kew Gardens and Forest Hills (the latter being the original location of the US Open tennis tournament) before arriving at Penn Station.
We walked down the platform until we reached the elevator to the Moynihan Train Hall, which was built inside the old Post Office building on 8th Avenue. We first verified there is no checked baggage service on our train, then grabbed BJ Burritos with bacon at Burger Joint, one of the few eateries open in the Food Hall at that hour on a Sunday. We took our food and baggage to the Ticketed Waiting Room under the Post Office steps. It was crowded when we entered, but a few trains left and the place cleared out considerably. A white-bearded fellow in a camouflage sweatshirt and cap with a deep bass voice sat across from me. Gary reminded me: No. Later a very tall dude arrived with his wife and daughter; the daughter was catching the train to Vermont for college. Gary suggested if the father were about a hundred pounds heavier they would pass for Tony, Carmela, and Meadow Soprano. I managed to fall asleep in the waiting room. Later an Amtrak employee (nice looking bald black dude with a thick beard) escorted an elderly man with a bag of groceries to a nearby seat in the waiting room, as they were finishing an interesting conversation about factory farming, feed lots, and slaughterhouses. I also noticed a big, balding, brown-haired bear with a similarly sized lady, both wearing Washington Capitols T-shirts; they left for the Acela train to Washington DC. Also spotted a lean young dude in black with a thick curly black beard, complex monochrome ink on both forearms, and a gray ball cap escorting a woman who appeared to be of an age to be his mother. We left the waiting room around quarter after noon to pick up snacks and a copy of the New York Times. Next door to the newsstand was Vesuvio Bakery so I picked up a slice of cheesecake and a mocha each for us.
Soon after we finished eating, it was time to board the train for Philly. A muscular young dude with a trim, stubbly beard and mustache, wearing a Nike cap and accompanied by a young lady, was seated two rows forward on the opposite side of the train. An older lady came down the aisle speaking rapidly in Spanish to a somewhat younger lady behind her; the other lady responded just as she passed our seats. The train stopped just outside of Secaucus; there was no immediate announcement of the reason, but Gary suspected a drawbridge was involved, which was confirmed several minutes after the train began moving again. We stopped at Newark Penn Station, then passed by North Elizabeth and Elizabeth, which prompted Gary to do his best Redd Foxx impression. I also noticed a dude I hadn't seen board was seated across the aisle one row forward, so all I could see was his tanned, lean, furry legs in gray/white Nike sneaks and gray shorts.
When we arrived at 30th Street Station there were a few minor snafus. First, the Market Street doors to the station were closed for construction; second, the closest entrance to the subway station was stairs only, which made luggage handling difficult; and last, the fare dispenser apparently charged Gary's card $5 and didn't produce any tickets. Grrr... But we entered the station without further incident and caught the train east to the hotel. A nice-looking young dude was seated facing us on the train, and when he left at the station before ours, Gary reminded me: No. There was a sign cum sculpture across the street from the 5th/Independence Hall station that read, in bright yellow, "YO." So Gary yelled it after me as I crossed the street. I was a little rattled at first but quickly got the joke and LOLed.
It wasn't far to the hotel and we checked in and stripped down without incident, watching the Seattle Storm game at home against the Las Vegas Aces and relaxing. I set an alarm for 7:30 PM (it was just after four) and tried to catch up on sleep. For a moment while watching the news I thought we would get right up and have dinner, and then Gary fell asleep in front of the TV so I followed, rolling over on the 7:30 alarm and rising about 8:30. We decided to have dinner at the hotel bar and grill. A family reunion occupied part of the restaurant space. An attendee was overheard saying "You can take the girl out of the 'hood, but you can't take the 'hood out of the girl." I had the Caprese chicken (topped with tomato and mozzarella slices) with potatoes and collard greens and Gary had mushroom ravioli in what looked like a vodka sauce. I had an Angry Orchard with the meal; Gary stuck with water. For dessert we had tiramisu (🎶 like the deserts miss the rain... 🎶). We decided to skip our planned visit to the Bike Stop bar and try again tomorrow.
It took a while to get parked at the gate, and since we were in the far back of the plane we were treated to an extended view of the ground crew offloading more frozen fish than luggage. One of the cargo handlers was a hot, swarthy bear with curly black hair, matching beard, and a big nose - Gary thought he might be Lebanese. When we finally deplaned we made a beeline for the restroom, and I spotted the cubby dude from the waiting room at Sea-Tac using the sink.
We took the Airtrain to Jamaica Station and Gary purchased combination tickets for the Airtrain and Long Island Railroad with the assistance of a customer service representative. The train to Penn Station left simultaneously with an adjacent train to Atlantic Terminal, and I got about 4 seconds of video of the apparent race before the conductor arrived to punch our tickets. The train stopped briefly at Kew Gardens and Forest Hills (the latter being the original location of the US Open tennis tournament) before arriving at Penn Station.
We walked down the platform until we reached the elevator to the Moynihan Train Hall, which was built inside the old Post Office building on 8th Avenue. We first verified there is no checked baggage service on our train, then grabbed BJ Burritos with bacon at Burger Joint, one of the few eateries open in the Food Hall at that hour on a Sunday. We took our food and baggage to the Ticketed Waiting Room under the Post Office steps. It was crowded when we entered, but a few trains left and the place cleared out considerably. A white-bearded fellow in a camouflage sweatshirt and cap with a deep bass voice sat across from me. Gary reminded me: No. Later a very tall dude arrived with his wife and daughter; the daughter was catching the train to Vermont for college. Gary suggested if the father were about a hundred pounds heavier they would pass for Tony, Carmela, and Meadow Soprano. I managed to fall asleep in the waiting room. Later an Amtrak employee (nice looking bald black dude with a thick beard) escorted an elderly man with a bag of groceries to a nearby seat in the waiting room, as they were finishing an interesting conversation about factory farming, feed lots, and slaughterhouses. I also noticed a big, balding, brown-haired bear with a similarly sized lady, both wearing Washington Capitols T-shirts; they left for the Acela train to Washington DC. Also spotted a lean young dude in black with a thick curly black beard, complex monochrome ink on both forearms, and a gray ball cap escorting a woman who appeared to be of an age to be his mother. We left the waiting room around quarter after noon to pick up snacks and a copy of the New York Times. Next door to the newsstand was Vesuvio Bakery so I picked up a slice of cheesecake and a mocha each for us.
Soon after we finished eating, it was time to board the train for Philly. A muscular young dude with a trim, stubbly beard and mustache, wearing a Nike cap and accompanied by a young lady, was seated two rows forward on the opposite side of the train. An older lady came down the aisle speaking rapidly in Spanish to a somewhat younger lady behind her; the other lady responded just as she passed our seats. The train stopped just outside of Secaucus; there was no immediate announcement of the reason, but Gary suspected a drawbridge was involved, which was confirmed several minutes after the train began moving again. We stopped at Newark Penn Station, then passed by North Elizabeth and Elizabeth, which prompted Gary to do his best Redd Foxx impression. I also noticed a dude I hadn't seen board was seated across the aisle one row forward, so all I could see was his tanned, lean, furry legs in gray/white Nike sneaks and gray shorts.
When we arrived at 30th Street Station there were a few minor snafus. First, the Market Street doors to the station were closed for construction; second, the closest entrance to the subway station was stairs only, which made luggage handling difficult; and last, the fare dispenser apparently charged Gary's card $5 and didn't produce any tickets. Grrr... But we entered the station without further incident and caught the train east to the hotel. A nice-looking young dude was seated facing us on the train, and when he left at the station before ours, Gary reminded me: No. There was a sign cum sculpture across the street from the 5th/Independence Hall station that read, in bright yellow, "YO." So Gary yelled it after me as I crossed the street. I was a little rattled at first but quickly got the joke and LOLed.
It wasn't far to the hotel and we checked in and stripped down without incident, watching the Seattle Storm game at home against the Las Vegas Aces and relaxing. I set an alarm for 7:30 PM (it was just after four) and tried to catch up on sleep. For a moment while watching the news I thought we would get right up and have dinner, and then Gary fell asleep in front of the TV so I followed, rolling over on the 7:30 alarm and rising about 8:30. We decided to have dinner at the hotel bar and grill. A family reunion occupied part of the restaurant space. An attendee was overheard saying "You can take the girl out of the 'hood, but you can't take the 'hood out of the girl." I had the Caprese chicken (topped with tomato and mozzarella slices) with potatoes and collard greens and Gary had mushroom ravioli in what looked like a vodka sauce. I had an Angry Orchard with the meal; Gary stuck with water. For dessert we had tiramisu (🎶 like the deserts miss the rain... 🎶). We decided to skip our planned visit to the Bike Stop bar and try again tomorrow.