I spent the greater part of this week in Newark, NJ where we have two offices – the other in Jersey City on The Hudson River. It was my first time to New Jersey and I got the opportunity to visit Manhattan for another first. I was prepared for more dangers than actually existed. The days of Newark noogies and Manhattan manhandling must be mostly over. My Spidey Sense didn’t tingle in the city much at all – I’m generally on heightened alert around homeless people, but that isn’t much different from Atlanta.
For those of you considering venturing forth into the Big Apple, I must recommend Casa Bella’s “little ears” pasta. It was fantastic! We also had some sushi from Sushi Samba 7 that stood for a new bar which all others must compare. While expensive, I can honestly say the taste was worth it. Between major meals, we managed to grab smaller meals of Grey’s Papayas (hot dogs) and Ray’s Pizza. All things I can easily recommend to anyone.
Something I recommend you avoiding in Newark is pushing a truck for 7 blocks late at night. A co-worker faced some great embarrassment when he promptly ran out of gas after offering a ride to our hotel. In appropriate southern hospitality, another co-worker and I offered to push to the nearest gas station. That was the most exhausting excercise I’ve experienced in quite some time. I thought my legs would fail me. Not only did we make it, but we spent the rest of the night walking through Manhattan after a quick clean-up.
While I had a good time watching people and eating great food, I would love to get the family out there and enjoy the more touristy aspects of the city with them. One thing I did that could only have happened with my co-workers was to sit in a 152 year-old bar while they gulped round after round of beer. The bar is an amazing slice of history for the New York City area and I was pleased to have experienced that.
At least you didn’s get lost in Harlem at dusk, like I did. The only reason I survived is that the Harlemites all thought I was loony. I kept smiling and nodding politely to them all, whether in the gutters or on the streetlight. Nice people!