The thing that never ceases to amaze me about NYC is how so many people go through its transit system (bus, subway, car, taxi, plane, boat, etc) and it doesn't get terribly clogged up to the point of being impotent. Unless there's something like a blackout.

The other interesting observation I had this time is that if you do not have a specific place in mind to eat, then you will never find one. Wandering around will not find you much of anything other than hot dogs and day-old pizza.

Oh! This must be new, also. I don't remember this the last times I have been there. I started buying clothes and found no sales tax on the receipt. What's up with that? Any clothing item under $110 is tax free. Woooo! This is an instant 10% discount compared to shopping in Alabama.

Thursday night, Barclays had a client dinner at Sparks. One of the guys I talked to said that anyone who makes over $60K inside the city pays an occupational tax (city) of around 4%. So I was complaining about 1/2%? It still sucks, but not THAT bad. So, that's who is paying the taxes not being collected on clothing sales.

Sparks: Apparently still a Mafia hangout. Lots of Italian men kissing each other on both cheeks. Not much was good there, other than the steak, which was very good. I ate most of a huge filet mignon, cooked medium, with no fat on it anywhere, and about 2 inches thick.

We sought out good ethnic food. I didn't do good research on Thai, since the place we ate was mediocre. The Indian food was exceptionally good, though. Vietnamese was same as what I get at home, though even cheaper. Two people: dinner in NYC: $14 check.

Every time I saw a Dean and Deluca, I had to go in there and gawk at the food. So that was around 4 or 5 times. Their sushi was very good, and the creme brulee was to die for.

We found this bakery called Sugar Sweet Sunshine (Lower East Side, I think?) that sells delicious cupcakes for $1.50 each. We bought six to take home and they made it, though a bit weary looking after so much travel.

Another thing that causes me to be jealous and pissed off: Pomegranates in Chinatown: $1.50 each. Asian pears: $1.25 each. You people suck. I pay $2+ for a tiny little Asian pear, and there are no pomegranates in Birmingham. I've looked. Everywhere. Including Whole Foods. For three months, I've looked, and found none.

Ice cream. We had some at Chinatown Ice Cream Factory and I wasn't impressed. But also we had some in Brooklyn (also Ice Cream Factory) and it was very good.

Pizza. We went to Coney Island for a few hours, taking the subway above ground until we reached the coast. After walking around for a while, we found Totonno's Pizzeria Napolitano. Coney Island Beach is for the general public, so we saw some interesting folks, like one man walking around in his too-large, stained tightie whities. It reminds me a bit of the beach at Gulfport, MS next to the Grand Casino, which is littered with garbage, both literal and living. It disgusts me. But Coney Island was more endearing. I suppose because I appreciated getting away from city noise for a while and hearing the sound of the waves. And it was a bit surreal, with the high rise apartment buildings (which reminded me of communist Moscow), Cyclones baseball field, and numerous carnival rides and the Wonder Wheel, which are now shut down for winter and possibly forever.
The boardwalk was interesting as well, and still lively with people milling about. It's hard to fathom such a close merge between urban and coastal for someone who has spent her beach days on the Florida panhandle.

Back to the Pizza Straight from God. This Totonno's had a small menu. Two sizes of pie with 6-8 toppings. We ordered a pepperoni and watched the dude make it. They cook it in a coal-fired brick oven, which is clearly the Secret to good pizza, and there is no such thing in Birmingham. It's a thin crust pizza with crispy edges and hand-cut pepperoni. And it was delicious (did I mention that?)

The other discovery I made was Jamba Juice. I had heard all this hooplah about it so I stopped in and paid for my $5 smoothie. Yeah, okay. It was really freaking good. I wanted another the next day but we couldn't find one (of course). So a couple of days later we stumbled on one, then waited 30 minutes for a Razzmatazz.

Hairspray: The Broadway play was fantastic and a lot better than I was expecting. So much talent. Even Lance Bass. But maybe not that ditzy blonde chick who tried out on TV for Sandy in Grease and somehow unfortunately was cast in Hairspray.

One thing about NYC: you will wait in many lines. I am usually not interested in such a thing in B'ham, but there is no other option in NYC. Generally, people did things quickly and lines moved quickly. Not so at home, where lines usually form due to someone being a stupid idiot, instead of mass quantities of people existing in one place.

Subway: I have always liked trains. Some tourists are scared of other people, weird people, dirty places, dark places, things they can't control, and crowded places. But I like the subway. I wish I could ride the subway at home, so that I could read while in transit instead of sitting in a car at a red light. We rode the subway around 1 am one night, and it was just as safe as 1 pm.

Taxis: This one car driver managed to get us to Brooklyn at Friday rush hour in less than an hour. The amount of car traffic is amazing. Cars everywhere, honking all the time and getting about 2 inches from each other when changing lanes. People don't seem to be bothered by their cars having a lot of exterior damage, which is a nice respite from home, where people freak out if they hit a bug and GASP it might mess up the paint job!!!! FOR THE LOVE!!! Hey, it's just a car. New Yorkers know that.

Please and thank you: There are no pleasantries exchanged, and it is refreshing not to have to say thank you all the time. Why should I thank someone who rang up my purchase? Isn't that their job to ring up purchases? Did they do some kind of special favor for me by ringing up my purchase? No, not unless they decided to give me the purchase for free. So, I didn't have to thank anyone, and they didn't have to thank me, either.

Hills: Riding a bike in NYC would suck. There are no hills. Well, Brooklyn has some "slopes". It would be hard to train for bike racing without loving your trainer very, very much.

Stores that sell fancy dog clothing: Why?

Weather: 75 degrees in NYC = 85 degrees. I planned for 65 degrees when packing. I went to H&M and bought some short sleeved tops to wear the rest of the weekend. I fried, I was so hot.

Clothing: People in NYC are all about breaking every fashion rule in the book. If you are wearing a dull brown shirt, by all means, accessorize with a red and white polka dot scarf and royal blue hat.
The thing that baffled me, though, was how people were wearing WINTER COATS in 75 degree weather (which felt like 85 degree weather). If not coats, then long sleeve sweaters and scarves. Yo people, it's hot outside. I don't care if it's October. It's 95 in the subway. It sucks to be unnecessarily hot.

Chinatown: Skinned ducks cooking in the window are disgusting. Also, I do not want to buy a DVD.

People: Are nice. Several offered us directions voluntarily. Only two people were asshats and one of them was at the airport so he probably isn't from NYC.

Cell phones: In NY, you don't have problems with cell phone drivers so much as cell phone walkers. These people speed up and slow down at random intervals while talking or typing out text messages. They are clueless about their surroundings but can't find it within themselves to pull off the sidewalk and finish their business, then join the traffic flow once they've joined reality again.

Brooklyn: Park Slope is a nice little hood. We stayed with a friend on a street that was almost as quiet, if not quieter, then the street I live on in B'ham. It was one of those 2.5 story brownstones like you see in Sesame Street.

Smoking: It was exciting and wonderful when smoking was banned indoors. Then everyone went out on the street and smoked twice as much. Throw the secondhand smoke in with massive quantities of exhaust fumes, and midtown manhattan stinks. My observation: NYC must have the largest percentage of smokers in the U.S. It isn't that common in B'ham.

I am sure there are a million other things I forgot to talk about, but this is what came to mind tonight.