Wacky Wild New York City Adventure

Beccaboo surprise number one

so it was Sunday in March and I was with my grandma doing a post church puzzle. Every sunday, Errr every other Sunday… Okay okay every once in a while I go to church with Grandma. 

I know, I got busy…

Internal voice: No Vincent you have not been busy….

Moving on

Internal voice: but …..

MOVING ON

On a Sunday with Grandma. I saw at the corner Of my eye the most perfect gift for Boo 

An experience of a lifetime, the boo-est of experiences. 

Vincent : “Grandma, I got to buy tickets. It’s her favorite movie recreated into a broadway show. “

Grandma replies: ” Yeah, Vincent that’s really booy gooy of you, you gotta do it. “

And there it was a broadway remake of Boo’s favorite movie staring at me on the computer and they had one scheduled for her birthday. Should I just do it 

Internal voice: Uhhh, yeah 

Which tickets should I get 

Internal voice: well it’s going to be a pain to get there so get good ones.

Well the price difference between this row and this row isn’t that much. But then again if you gonna pay that much…might as well just pay a bit more and go here. But, it is the Boo and we should just….and so on

And that my friends is how I ended up in the front row for the low low price of … .let’s not talk about that. 

Becca boo surprise 2: 

Some coworker: “Well you could just buy tickets to ride to the top” 

Vincent: “Ohh, that’s cool.” Proceeds to buy tickets 

Yeah that was it…

July 1st

The morning of Boos birthday I planned the hotel, the two Boo surprises and the car full of gas and meticulously planned out the trip times and the timing. 

Boo, we are going to New york for a special surprise 

Boo sputters back: how are we going to get there

We are going to drive to Milford and park there then take the train. 

Boo Objects: “uhhh, we can’t do that you need a parking pass for week days” 

Vincent: “Do’uh”

We drive down to Stamford particularly for the train station and the parking.

 Boo, did not help plan this section

Internal voice: lies 

I never liked driving in NYC so I simply don’t. It makes life a lot easier. Now I can get a hotel near Times Square without worrying about a triple digit parking bill. After negotiating the most confusing parking garage. Then running to the train then boarding without tickets. We then frantically search our phones for the app to buy the tickets we need . The conductor was 4 rows down then. Come on phone, come on… then 3 rows. Why is the phone freezing right now!! Then one . 

Conductor: “tickets “

Vincent: “uhh, hold on” 

Boo: “your in the wrong app”

Vincent: “Noo its the right app”

Conductor: “yeah it’s that app “

Boo: “see”

Vincent: “uh, yeah let me just buy the tickets”

Conductor: “I’ll just come back to you.”

Boo: “I thought you planned this, something something, nag, nag nag naaag nag nag”

As we realize that conductor was much nicer than his uniform. We bought our last minute tickets and proceeded to no longer be freeloaders.

And then we arrived 

 Me: “Okay boo we are on a tight schedule, we can’t deviate at all “

Boo:” but, cupcakes”

Me: “Omg, the cupcakes “

Boo: “we have to stop for the cup cakes” 

Me: “what about the banana pudding.” 

Good thing I planned about 2 hours of free time for the trip. 

We check into the hotel and proceed to Becca boo surprise 2 

We navigate the subway. The hop on the world trade one direct. 

Boo: “where are we going”

Me:…..”it’s a surprise”

Good thing she wasn’t paying attention to the signs.

Then I led her down into the basement of world trade one, into the rocky caves and to the elevators . Yes, those elevators, up to this point I kept Boo in the dark and clueless until.

Some woman escorting a bunch of kids: “Kids this is very special we are going to ride the fastest elevator in the northern hemisphere to the top of World Wrade Center one, tallest tower in the United States” 

My cover was blown, Boo figured it out

I was so close. She wasn’t going to appreciate the fastest elevator ride in the country and something about the tallest view in NYC. 

We get on the elevator

And witness the raw power of an elevator calmly accelerating to the top while watching a video showing the transformation of the Manhattan peninsula from the historic Native Americans to the construction of the city in its current state. All presented on the walls of the elevator.

The observatory has the best view of NYC. The Statue of Liberty looks like a small toy and cars and semi trucks look like ants going about their day. 

After some milling around at the impressive views and some lunch at the top of the tower. 

We get back to the best part. Going down the fastest elevator in the northern hemisphere.

We sat at the base of the tower reminiscing about the significance of what we saw

Vincent: “ alright, Boo hurry up and find something to eat we are on a tight schedule”

Knowing Boo I planned plenty of time to taste whatever she finds on her phone. This is what Boo loves to do, not actually eating, just scrolling on her phone for something to eat, reading the reviews and looking at the dishes. In fact I sat down and got comfortable and proceeded to watch her scroll and scroll for something to eat…..We were in fact surrounded by restaurants. But, she had to find a truffle pasta made to her liking. 

Specifically a truffle pasta at an old Italian restaurant with no air conditioning … .in July . They must’ve had some really good photos.

The pasta was ok, Its the scrolling that counts. 

We proceeded to nap off the carbs at our hotel and now for Becca Boo surprise 1. 

Vincent: “Up up, Boo we gotta go” 

Boo: “Where are we going?”

Vincent: “We gotta go , Boo we gotta go”

The hotel was close to the surprise so we simply walked. 

Fearing she will figured it out, I walked quicker and pulled her along. After some navigating and fighting the crowds, there it was The Note book on Broad way 

I had my tickets and we entered Boo to ask to look at where we are seated.

I knew where we were seated. Exactly where the location was. My visa card reminded me.

” Front and center” the visa credit card said to me ( it was actually the stage worker)

If you watch the movie you would know it brings tears to your eyes. This Broadway show turned the average leaky faucet moviegoer to a newsworthy broken water main.

Boo: “did you cry? Boo”

Me : “Boo, I need to drink more water because I ran out of tears”. 

I am a man and I never cry. I tell myself.

Internal voice: lies!!!

The show was great. Go ahead and read the book, the movie or my favorite, the Broadway play. 

And then we wanted noodles. 

Boo, got a bit lost in the highly simple grid system that is New York so I took control the guidance. After a bit of walking we got off of time square to avoid some walking traffic. While I was appreciating the brickwork of a building.

SMACK, a sucker punch from nowhere. I was on the ground when I came too and I see Boo running after the perp, I give chase to Boo as I am not motivated to deal with two black eyes spread between the both of us. 

Boo, and I kept an eye on him in the crowd and being so close to time square it was easy to find an officer and even easier since he thought we lost him in the crowd, we did not. And even easier that he was walking towards me with an officer in tow…. 

“Yeah, it was him he totally just sucker punched me. Look what he did to my face” 

The officer approached him and I went to Boo.

Last I saw him, he was in handcuffs

An ambulance was called, bit overkill but the people were nice and I got checked out. 

While standing around Boo and I pieced together what happened. A passerby for whatever reason decided to issue a sucker punch. A very nice night ruined by a degenerate. We go to the hotel, with no noodles, not a noodle in sight. 

The next day:

Boo, and I wandered NYC for breakfast, which wasn’t hard. 

I stumbled upon a posh Italian sandwich from an European inspired establishment. Boo, went for the finest 99¢ pizza… I was jealous of the pizza. Onward to Bryant park where we coordinated a meetup with two of our cutest cousins and there parents.  We had lunch with Scotty and Jenifer. We were convinced into dinner in the penthouse they were having a work vacation in …..Okay, I didn’t need much convincing.

Anyways, we took the train to kill some time in central park to see some animals at the zoo, then proceeded to go back to the penthouse for dinner. We did a great job at killing time as we were a tad late.

We struggled to find the building, then we finally found the street side entrance and the bellhop. He gets confused so I simply call Jennifer and we get in the elevator she calls us up and the elevator opens to a single door. Just a door as the elevator opened and there was only a door. I was surprise, no hallway, room etc. Only a door.

After some knocking and a muffled sound from the other side. We open the mysterious door to kind Scotty and Jennifer preparing dinner in the kitchen, across the living room in the penthouse.

I never actually been in something so fancy, especially in NYC. The apartment had large panoramic windows of New York City and a patio surrounding it. Along with a modern kitchen with dark colors and stainless steel accents optimized for looks and conversation. We explored around imagining a life without budgets before returning to conversation with family and friends.

The dinner was splendid and the conversation interesting. 

Vincent: “so , Yeah Stephen and I are going to bike from Pittsburgh to Washington DC”

Scotty: “Wow, how far is that “

Vincent: “It’s about 333 miles, oh, gosh look at the time I better get going”

Tune in Next week for Stephen and Vinny’s Bike trip