Dreama Astrid's Journal

My employer has a major office near Grand Central in NYC and this past week I attended an internal on-site for my, er, division or whatever, I don't know how the hierarchy is categorized.

I'm more used to Newark than JFK so I came into Newark then took NJ Transit to Penn Station, which I'm used to from taking Amtrak from Boston, etc. Perhaps a lucky choice, given what shadowkat mentions about current signage in Grand Central. Just as the rail link to Paris wasn't working when I last wanted to get in from the airport, this time the little "air train" thing from the station to the terminals wasn't in service, to get to the airport proper we were jammed onto unsuitable shuttle buses: too many in each, without decent luggage storage. I realized that the secret is probably just to get off at the first terminal one reaches, go through security, then use the airside shuttle to the right terminal, those seem to remain pleasant and appropriate. The NJ Transit return train was rather better than the outbound, which was vaguely labeled New York, didn't have any next station display I could hear; the next station was, I think, uttered unintelligibly over an awful public address system.

Being flown by United was maybe the more disappointing economy experience I've had for some time. It's years since I used a US carrier but, goodness, I had so little room after the guy in front reclined their seat and the food was about the worst I've had in economy for a long time.

I don't know why but I continue to feel much more at home in the US, though more so in the kind of place mindstalk wouldn't encourage: central Ohio was about perfect for me in being open, sprawling, easy to drive around and park among. That's, er, not NYC. It was easy enough to navigate Midtown Manhattan on foot, everywhere I ate (almost all Asian) was good, but goodness the smells, and the lack of view with the tall buildings surrounding. My hotel room was quite decent indeed, though required some investigation to figure how to operate each light. I discovered the mini-refrigerator only on the last morning when doing my thorough pre-checkout search of the room.

As reported by shadowkat, there are some excellent metal tiles set into both sides of 41st, Library Way near the public library, each with quotes and such, my favorites were probably by Kate Chopin and Garson Kanin so I shall have to find out who those are. Bryant Park was less park than I had hoped for.

The weather was generally lovely, plenty of warm sunshine, I never needed my coat. I headed out of Manhattan sooner than necessary: it had gotten overly hot for a sensible stroll with luggage, and I wanted to get clear of Penn Station before the crowds and security descended for the Knicks game nearby, for which ticket prices became sky-high.