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NYC – Taking in the Sights

by Stephanie Casher on June 7, 2007

Well as much fun as I was having at the BEA, I am not a naturally social person (I’m actually more of a reclusive, lone-wolf type), so I function best with periodic breaks from the schmoozing. Downtime if you will. It was so nice to spend the entire day hard on the hustle, and then get to switch gears in the evenings and explore more of what New York had to offer from a tourist perspective.

And New York has so much to offer!

First off, I gotta give props to the New York subway system. Quite simply, it Rocks. You can get damn near anywhere on the subway, and I found it to be fairly easy to navigate, efficient, and most importantly, cheap. James and I were in Manhattan for five days and we only took a cab twice. I used to have a totally irrational phobia about underground public transportation, but I think New York cured me of that. I am so sold on the subway…

Alright, now on with the adventures… The island of Manhattan is freaking huge, and I wanted to make sure we ventured out of our little neighborhood to soak up some of the culture different parts of the City had to offer. As I said in the BEA blog, one of the receptions brought us up to Harlem. That was cool. Turns out I have quite the presence in Harlem…
LOL. That’s right – it’s all about seeing your name in lights ;-)

The reception in Harlem ended kinda early (in New York, 11pm is early… we were getting in after 3am almost every night), so we decided to cruise through Times Square to see what that was all about. And it was just like it looks in the movies, lol.

Bright lights, large crowds, tons of activity. That felt very “New York” to me. Then, serendipitously (as only it could), James and I ended up hooking up with my good friend Omar for a late dinner at the Bubba Gump Shrimp Company. So Much Fun. James, Omar and I all met last summer at the Black Writers Conference in Dallas, and Omar is one of my all-time favorite writer friends. A Kindred, if you will :-) He was in town for BEA too (flew all the way from Brazil!), and had a very successful pitching session earlier that day, so we had lots to celebrate. It was so great to sit in a restaurant overlooking Times Square, eating shrimp, with two of my all-time favorite guys, talking about our books, writing, and commiserating about the ups and downs of the Biz… It was a phatty writer bonding session and I am so glad I have these two in my corner. I can’t wait until we’re all sitting around drinking wine in my NY Penthouse apartment, arguing about who just jumped who on the NY Times Bestsellers list ;-) I love you guys.

I was having so much fun by this point, that I really didn’t think it could get much better. I was so wrong! The following night we decided to head into the East Village for dinner, which turned out to be a GREAT idea. I found this awesome little hole-in-the-wall Italian Restaurant (Frank’s on 2nd Ave btw 5th & 6th – go there!) where we drank wine and had a lovely meal in a scene ripped right out of the movies. Seriously, the setting was perfect — dim lights, amazing ambience, me dressed up cause we were going to the club later – it was so much fun! I can’t even tell you how nice it was to stroll down the tree-lined streets of the East Village in a sundress, on a perfect 70 degree night, full moon and all, marveling at how GOOD life is. Freaking surreal. Then, on a recommendation from Ahna-Kristen (thank you Ahna-Kristin!!!) we stopped at Veniero’s (342 E. 11th, btw 1st & 2nd – go there!) for the most amazing cheesecake and pastries. Oh my God, I consider myself a cheesecake connoisseur of sorts, and that slice from Veniero’s put anything I’ve ever had at the Cheesecake Factory to SHAME! Stupid Good! We ate cheesecake on the subway on our way to Shadow Nightclub :-) It was so cheesy perfect, lol. (pun intended)

The next day, since I was battling a wicked hangover (free cognac is the main ingredient in a recipe for disaster ya’ll, lol), we kept things pretty low-key. After spending the day at BEA, instead of doing anything strenuous, we sought out a sports bar in Times Square where we could get dinner and watch the Cleveland Cavaliers try to pull of an upset in the Eastern Conference Finals (They won!). We ended up at the bar at Planet Hollywood, right in front of a plasma TV and it was Perfect. Called it a night relatively early around midnight…

On our last day, before heading to the airport, we decided to head down to Ground Zero. The whole scene at Ground Zero was very… strange. All I could think about was how many people had lost their lives there. I’m glad the City of New York thought to put signs up reminding folks that this is not a tourist attraction. That said, it is very surreal to visit the site of such a historic and tragic event. I mean, I can’t even count the number of times I’ve watched the loop of the Towers falling. But to actually see the hole in the ground where the World Trade Center used to be… I don’t know, Ground Zero will always be a mass grave to me, no matter what they build on top of it. My heart goes out to all the New Yorkers who had to witness and endure such unimaginable horror. I haven’t forgotten…

We rounded out our New York trip by hopping on the ferry and heading over to the Statue of Liberty… Yes, it’s cheesy and cliche, but like the Grand Canyon, it just has to be done :-) It was so nice to take in the Manhattan skyline from afar – it was just as I’d imagined it…

And of course the Statue of Liberty. She really is awe-inspiring…
We did so much, but there is still so much more I’d like to do. It will probably take me four trips to NYC before I’m able to see and do all that I want to see and do. But for my grand initiation, the Big Apple did not disappoint. Somewhere along the way, I managed to fall in love… With New York, of course. :-)

Full set of pics are now available on Flickr!

There is one more installment of my New York adventures to come, and that is my eagerly-anticipated RENT night. I Love RENT. So freaking much. Card-carrying RENT-head over here! Yeah Baby! And I finally, got to see the musical on Broadway. Finally. And it was freaking Incredible But that’s another blog :-) Check back!

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