{"id":28,"date":"2002-12-29T23:03:42","date_gmt":"2002-12-29T23:03:42","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/walking-ixus.net\/blog\/?p=28"},"modified":"2002-12-29T23:03:42","modified_gmt":"2002-12-29T23:03:42","slug":"tourist_tips","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/walking-ixus.net\/blog\/tourist_tips\/","title":{"rendered":"Tourist Tips"},"content":{"rendered":"

Some advice from my day today.
\nDON\ufffdT GO TO THE EMPIRE STATE BUILDING OBSERVATORY!
\nIt\ufffds not that the view is awful (actually, it\ufffds quite nice) or that the building is ugly (Art Deco is cool), but since the loss of the WTC and the deck on the 110th floor, the ESB is the only game in town. And they\ufffdve taken advantage of it appropriately (as we do with “capitalism”).
\nThey make you queue outside of the building. That\ufffds understandable. After a 30 minute wait, you make it into the lobby. You think, \ufffdwe\ufffdre there!\ufffd and go in.
\nWRONG!
\nThen you go downstairs to buy your \ufffdticket\ufffd. While waiting in the 50 minute queue to buy a ticket from two out of four windows, you are constantly hit with some movie\/virtual ride thing that they are selling that promises no waiting. Some people jump out of line and pay double just so they don\ufffdt\ufffd have to wait. Then, you have to queue AGAIN to go up the lift to the 80th floor. Another 30 minute wait. Then, a short (ha ha ha) 10 minute queue to the top.
\nQueues suck. But the most suckiest part is that there\ufffds a sign inside the ticket queue that says \ufffd2 hour wait\ufffd. Wouldn\ufffdt it make more sense to post that OUTSIDE instead of inside where you are a virtual prisoner? They suck.
\nNYC is something special, but I liked the view from my room at the Grand Hyatt Jin Mao<\/a>. From the 76th Floor, with a view of the Huangpu @ the Bund at your feet.
\nWent to the MoMA in Queens<\/a>. They are open for business here in the old Swingline Stapler factory until their old place on 54th Street is rebuilt. Gotta admit it was a bit of a letdown since my favorite parts, Photography and Industrial Design didn\ufffdt make the move. However, their coffee bar served Illy<\/a> (mmmm Illy…) AND they DID have a 50% off sale on their line of Xmas cards (which are always fun) so it wasn\ufffdt a total wash. Then we endured the hell of the Helmsleys (see opening rant).
\nHad dinner @ the Carnegie Deli on 5th Avenue. Filling but no refills on Diet Coke. Now I know where Jerry\ufffds Famous Deli ripped off the menu and d\ufffdcor from. Jerry\ufffds gives refills tho. This was after a street vendor hot dog\/sausage brunch. It was cool! The street vendor food, that is.
\nThe Hudson<\/a> is a destination place. Go hang out @ the bar, the library, the hallways, it\ufffds all cool. Can\ufffdt say much about the \ufffdgym\ufffd or the knocking of the steam pipes all night in the room tho.
\nTotally cool place, but next time, I\ufffdll choose the Westin @ Times Square <\/a>or the Hyatt at Grand Central Station<\/a>. Campbell\ufffds Apartment <\/a>is there. I like proper beds (not trendy platform beds) with box springs and firmness<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Some advice from my day today. DON\ufffdT GO TO THE EMPIRE STATE BUILDING OBSERVATORY! It\ufffds not that the view is awful (actually, it\ufffds quite nice) or that the building is ugly (Art Deco is cool), but since the loss of the WTC and the deck on the 110th floor, the ESB is the only game … <\/p>\n

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