In New York

Arrived in NYC with my daughter Shaina. I checked her out of camp this morning, and we drove down. She's attending a five day intensive dance program in the city, and I'm chaperoning. Will probably blog a few details over the next few days. Here are just a few first impressions of this trip by a returning New York ex-pat.

First, I'm not impressed with my hotel. The Park Central. Great location in midtown. Walk from Carnegie Hall to Carnegie deli on 7th Avenue and you can't miss it. But apart from that, so far there's little to recommend. No Internet access in the room. Apparently that's only available on the Concierge Level floors. I can see the wireless network of the Hotel Wellington, which is across the street, but I can't exactly have them bill the daily fee to my room here in the Park Central :-(

But lack of Internet access isn't the worst of it, really, because at least I was forewarned about that. The real problem is that despite having reserved months in advance, there was no room for us when we tried to check in at 3 PM. We had to wait about an hour and a half before they had located and prepped a room Not much choice about it since the valet had already absconded with the car. And when we finally did get into the room, it wasn't well prepped at all :-( No ice bucket. No drinking cups. All the special function buttons on the phone are inoperative. And the mattress on one of the two beds was visibly sagging.

Second, the aforementioned Carnegie deli... overpriced and surly service, even by New York City standards. I suppose it's part of the "charm" of the place.

Third, seats in Yankee Stadium.... way up in the stratosphere, but still a very good view. Sure, it didn't compare to the one time I sat three rows behind the home dugout, but lots of fun. Concession prices were outrageous, of course, but given the diet that I'm on there wasn't much to buy anyhow, for myself anyway. A big part of the fun was the fellow with the booming voice who always sits directly behind home plate so that the broadcasting microphones will pick up all his cheers and catcalls? Generically speaking of course, this fellow is at every ballgame ever played in any ciity. I'm sure you've heard him a million times. At tonight's Yankee game he was sitting right next to us, and he was a riot! High-fiving everyone within reach whenever something good happened. Leading the crowd in various cheers every few minutes. His vocal cords must be made of iron. He was, to my great surprise, totally sober. He didn't buy a single beer during the game. And oh, by the way: the Yankees won (which they didn't on that night long ago when I sat three rows behind the dugout).

Fourth, what is it about New York that, even on a not particulary hot or humid day, makes me perspire twice as much as I do anywhere else?