Following the fun-filled day of walking, it would be a fun-filled day of riding the subway (we'll get to that in a second). Seeing as how it was vacation, though, I slept in until something like 11AM. I'm normally not much of a fan of oversleeping, but man, it felt good to be lazy.
Anyhow, we were going to try to meet up with one of my friend's friends for lunch, so we headed into Chinatown to meet up with them (Canal St. subway station again). Our timing was a bit off, so we caught the tail end of the meal. We did sit down for a bit & I actually met this mythical friend (I was starting to have second thoughts up until that point). Though we didn't really hang out, she did graciously offer us to join her, and some friends, for dinner.
At this point, we still hadn't eaten. So, we jumped on the subway, headed uptown, and found A Salt & Battery. A friend had recommended it, and this seemed as good a time as any to check it out, so there we were. I liked the fish & chips, and I got to try a Holy Grail, so I considered it a successful meal.
Afterward, we had some time to burn. A different friend altogether's birthday happened to fall on Day 2, so we were going to meet up with her sometime that night. Figuring that we'd probably end up farther uptown anyway, we headed to the Met so I could pretend to be cultured. By this point, we'd settled on the evening's plans: after-dinner drinks with the birthday girl, and dinner with the friend from lunch. We walked into the Met at something like 6PM, and as we were waiting in line, we learned that dinner would be at 7PM. Dammit, that wouldn't be enough time to actually see much of the museum. Resolving to come back another day, we trudged back into the (light) rain.
That still left a little bit of time to kill, so we figured we'd check out Central Park. The restaurant was actually supposed to be fairly close to the park anyway, so it made geographic sense. After a bit of that, we noticed the time, and started walking over to the restaurant. The plan would've worked out well, too, had it not been for the text message informing us that dinner was actually at 7:30. Dammit, I could've pretended to be cultured, after all.
We killed a bit of time at a nearby Apple store and FAO Schwarz (that was fun out of sheer nostalgia), then headed over to the restaurant, Sofrito, again. We walked in, told the hostess we were looking for a friend, confidently strolled in, toured the restaurant floor, and realized we didn't see them. A phone call later, it turns out that they were actually at Sazon. Both restaurants are under the same management, so their business card has both addresses, one on the front, and one on the back. Want to guess which of the two addresses we were given? However, this merely proved to be an opportunity to practice our cab-hailing skills.
Once we got there, the meal itself was fine. I got a gigantic portion of pork so big that I couldn't finish it. It was the only meal I didn't finish on the entire trip, it was that big. As we were walking out, though, the doorman wished us a good night, and clapped me on the shoulder. Thinking nothing of it, I kept walking. Not five seconds later, though, this exchange happened:
Friend #1: "whoa, did he just touch you?"
Me: "Um, I guess so. Just said good night, no big deal"
Friend #1: "Not what it looked like, looked inappropriate"
Friend #2: "Yeah, he was hitting on me when we walked in"
Friend #3: "Yeah, me too!" (note, friends #2 and #3 are of different genders)
Me: "..."
Anyhow, we were headed uptown to meet up with the birthday girl. That meant another subway ride (if you're counting, that'd be #4 of the day). My travel companion said we were headed the same way his friend was, so we had some company. What he actually meant, though, was "let's drop off my friend at her destination, to make sure she's all right." And by "same way" he meant, "we'll go the way she's headed, to make sure she gets there safe." See, she was headed downtown on the red line, and we were headed uptown on the red line. We were literally supposed to go in opposite directions. We got on a train headed uptown, and I didn't think anything of it. Except for a stop later, we were discussing how "we" had got on the wrong train. Oh, now I get it.
So, we got off and started subway ride #5, and got to the right subway station. We had to circle a little bit to get to the destination, because directions like "go left after you get off" mean slightly different things depending on which exit you use. Also, the numbering system in that part of town was borderline ridiculous (someone I know described it as "being designed late at night by tipsy engineers"). We did find it eventually, so mission accomplished.
With that done, we embarked on subway ride #6 to meet up with my friend. We got off at the right subway station, but she hadn't gotten back to me about the details. Fortunately, she called me as we were literally walking up the street to her place. We got a quick tour of her place, had a pre-game glass of wine, then headed out to Cabrito for drinks. It was a chill bar, and a good time was had.
After all that, it was probably something like 3AM. We wished my friend a good night, and headed back to the hotel. Being slightly sick of the subway at this point, we called for a car service. It was actually cheaper than a cab, so it worked out well. All in all, not a bad day.
Anyhow, we were going to try to meet up with one of my friend's friends for lunch, so we headed into Chinatown to meet up with them (Canal St. subway station again). Our timing was a bit off, so we caught the tail end of the meal. We did sit down for a bit & I actually met this mythical friend (I was starting to have second thoughts up until that point). Though we didn't really hang out, she did graciously offer us to join her, and some friends, for dinner.
At this point, we still hadn't eaten. So, we jumped on the subway, headed uptown, and found A Salt & Battery. A friend had recommended it, and this seemed as good a time as any to check it out, so there we were. I liked the fish & chips, and I got to try a Holy Grail, so I considered it a successful meal.
Afterward, we had some time to burn. A different friend altogether's birthday happened to fall on Day 2, so we were going to meet up with her sometime that night. Figuring that we'd probably end up farther uptown anyway, we headed to the Met so I could pretend to be cultured. By this point, we'd settled on the evening's plans: after-dinner drinks with the birthday girl, and dinner with the friend from lunch. We walked into the Met at something like 6PM, and as we were waiting in line, we learned that dinner would be at 7PM. Dammit, that wouldn't be enough time to actually see much of the museum. Resolving to come back another day, we trudged back into the (light) rain.
That still left a little bit of time to kill, so we figured we'd check out Central Park. The restaurant was actually supposed to be fairly close to the park anyway, so it made geographic sense. After a bit of that, we noticed the time, and started walking over to the restaurant. The plan would've worked out well, too, had it not been for the text message informing us that dinner was actually at 7:30. Dammit, I could've pretended to be cultured, after all.
We killed a bit of time at a nearby Apple store and FAO Schwarz (that was fun out of sheer nostalgia), then headed over to the restaurant, Sofrito, again. We walked in, told the hostess we were looking for a friend, confidently strolled in, toured the restaurant floor, and realized we didn't see them. A phone call later, it turns out that they were actually at Sazon. Both restaurants are under the same management, so their business card has both addresses, one on the front, and one on the back. Want to guess which of the two addresses we were given? However, this merely proved to be an opportunity to practice our cab-hailing skills.
Once we got there, the meal itself was fine. I got a gigantic portion of pork so big that I couldn't finish it. It was the only meal I didn't finish on the entire trip, it was that big. As we were walking out, though, the doorman wished us a good night, and clapped me on the shoulder. Thinking nothing of it, I kept walking. Not five seconds later, though, this exchange happened:
Friend #1: "whoa, did he just touch you?"
Me: "Um, I guess so. Just said good night, no big deal"
Friend #1: "Not what it looked like, looked inappropriate"
Friend #2: "Yeah, he was hitting on me when we walked in"
Friend #3: "Yeah, me too!" (note, friends #2 and #3 are of different genders)
Me: "..."
Anyhow, we were headed uptown to meet up with the birthday girl. That meant another subway ride (if you're counting, that'd be #4 of the day). My travel companion said we were headed the same way his friend was, so we had some company. What he actually meant, though, was "let's drop off my friend at her destination, to make sure she's all right." And by "same way" he meant, "we'll go the way she's headed, to make sure she gets there safe." See, she was headed downtown on the red line, and we were headed uptown on the red line. We were literally supposed to go in opposite directions. We got on a train headed uptown, and I didn't think anything of it. Except for a stop later, we were discussing how "we" had got on the wrong train. Oh, now I get it.
So, we got off and started subway ride #5, and got to the right subway station. We had to circle a little bit to get to the destination, because directions like "go left after you get off" mean slightly different things depending on which exit you use. Also, the numbering system in that part of town was borderline ridiculous (someone I know described it as "being designed late at night by tipsy engineers"). We did find it eventually, so mission accomplished.
With that done, we embarked on subway ride #6 to meet up with my friend. We got off at the right subway station, but she hadn't gotten back to me about the details. Fortunately, she called me as we were literally walking up the street to her place. We got a quick tour of her place, had a pre-game glass of wine, then headed out to Cabrito for drinks. It was a chill bar, and a good time was had.
After all that, it was probably something like 3AM. We wished my friend a good night, and headed back to the hotel. Being slightly sick of the subway at this point, we called for a car service. It was actually cheaper than a cab, so it worked out well. All in all, not a bad day.
Yep, I am the bad guy on this trip. Though, this incident is my fault. I, having a day less of subway experience, honestly thought we were going in the same direction.
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