NYC Markets, episode 4. In which I yada yada.

I feel comfortably at home in New York City although I was born and raised in a small community 30 miles north, along the Hudson.  The proximity of the City and the relative ease of my 1970s-1980s (my younger and more vulnerable years) childhood perspective always made me comfortable with New York.  During the summer between 7th and 8th grade, I commuted alone for eight Wednesdays to the Evelyn Wood Speed-Reading course offered at a since-forgotten location on 5th Avenue.  Walking from and to Grand Central Station (one of the great "musts" for any traveler, especially fans of 1991's The Fisher King), this 12-year-old speedily-avid reader crammed as much of midtown Manhattan into his brain as possible.  As a married adult, I cram as many experiences and sights as possible into a three (sometimes a luxurious four!) day weekend getaway.

Instead of rushing off to our next flea, I thought I would take a step back and be a tourist for a little blog bit.  Hope you don't mind.

It all started while watching Seinfeld reruns one afternoon... Okay, maybe we've seen the 1995 Soup Nazi episode more than twice, but here is the alleged inspiration on West 55th (between Broadway & 8th)!  For serious Seinfeldians (and lovers of good soup) this is a must.  Lobster bisque and clam chowder for me. (Don't worry:  no-fear ordering.)

It's always fun (and relatively easy) to track down film and TV locations when you are in New York.  In fact, it has become an industry.  There are entire websites and tours devoted to such fantasy-meets-reality experiences, but it's perhaps a little more fun to stumble upon familiar scenes on your own.  (Without Kramer or a hearty helping of Beefarino, why bother with a guided tour anyway?)

Tea at The Plaza still remains unchecked near the top of our list, but dinner at the Russian Tea Room was expunged a few visits back--followed by the very touristy (and TOTALLY AWESOME) Radio City Christmas Spectacular which I had not seen since I was a kid.

Don't be intimidated about visiting famous locations.  Just make a reservation and/or buy tickets in advance if you can, but what makes great cities great is great people and great tourists so go where you want, see what you want, and eat what you want.

Don't forget

the souvenirs!

All of that said (and mentally filed away), you can't do everything in one visit and you can't do everything from your list every time you go to New York (believe me).

When we are not fleamarketing on Saturdays and Sundays from 9:00 AM to 6:00 PM, we are walking and people-watching and eating and shopping and musical/play-watching and photographing and (obviously) not spending much time at all in our hotel room.  As my wife learned a long time ago, my (compulsive?) travel lists mean taking advantage of every opportunity when we make the effort to travel, especially for such a limited time as a weekend.  You can rest when you get home--Mamita or (insert name of pet here) will have kept the mattress lofty and warm while you were away.

Of course, you can also enjoy an "event" trip and New York City is always bustling with events.  One of my favorite journeys was to the Macy's Thanksgiving Parade, a quintessentially New York event I had watched on TV every year just like millions of kids across America had, but like most of them, I never attended in person despite my physical proximity.  Call it a bucket list (detestable term) item if you will, but it was something I had always wanted to do.  With Mari's enthusiastic encouragement, we decided to go for it back in 2008.

Visit Macy's own site for

excellent planning information.

social.macys.com/parade

That's Snoopy (my favorite!) floating past my frozen head up there.  I loved that Thanksgiving, but...  You know I'm a planner, right?  Look at the evidence.
I packed a scarf and head wrap even though it was probably 80 degrees back at home.  I plan. Here's my best advice for anyone planning to visit New York for the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade: get up early (I mean EARLY) and good luck.  Did I say get up early?

I love New Yorkers but tourists are a whole other species.

Just good luck, that's all.

We had planned on hoofing it up to Sylvia's in Harlem for a hearty Thanksgiving meal slash biscuit festival just as Santa made his parade-ending appearance on the upper West side about 11:00 AM, but we somehow got corralled into Central Park and ended up standing in a serpentine line outside Tavern on the Green (an oft-listed but not-yet-visited trip destination that has itself appeared as a movie locale numerous times) and figured, "Why not?"  A later, sensible inspection of our MasterCard bill just before Christmas provided a clear answer to that query, but no matter how you say it (even if you detest the term as much as I do), bucket list is bucket list is bucket list.  (Yada yada yada.)

There I am smiling at Mari and smiling back across the table at me is the amazing (and surprisingly still in love with me?) wife whose ever-trusting response to my constant queries of "Shall we visit such and such?" or "Should we put such and such on our list?" is always, "I'll go where you go; just tell me what to pack."
Go figure.  Beautifully bedecked for forthcoming holidays, the iconic restaurant and its stunning Central Park views were well (well, maybe not "well") worth the touristy Thanksgiving tumult (and superfluous surcharges).

There was even a surcharge for the view!

We enjoy an occasional dallying detour from our tried-and-true comfort zone, but always return to our listed (sensible?) favorites.  Next time, we spend a fleamarketably perfect New York Sunday exploring the indoor/outdoor GreenFlea.