I want to be a part of it.

For those of you who didn’t know, I’m in New York City this week for some training and the verdict is in; This city is awesome! There is so much going on, and one of the coolest things is that you can’t smoke in bars. It’s great coming home and not smelling like an ashtray.Have you ever wondered about where the airplanes that fly over your house are headed? I have several times, and now I know. After takeoff Saturday I was looking out the window and noticed a divided highway which I thought was 79 so I tried to see if I could gauge where on 79 it was, and then I noticed the Marriott in Seven Fields, it stood out and from there it was easy to spot my house. On the way into New York we got a great view of the Statue of Liberty and Manhattan was awe inspiring.We took the subway to our hotel and since I didn't know exactly where the hotel was and I didn’t understand the subway system yet, we got off of the train a few exits early because I didn’t want to stay on too long and get stuck or lost. We had to walk nearly a mile to get to our hotel. As we approached the hotel I noticed the throng of people gathered across the street after a few seconds I realized that it was the former World Trade Center site. This is a little something that Hilton neglected to put into the brochure. Our hotel room on the 30th floor overlooks the construction site, it’s a little weird, but it doesn’t stir that much emotion since it just looks like a construction site. Some of the memorials that I have seen were a lot more striking.After we checked in to the hotel we walked around downtown to look around. We walked over to Battery Park where we could see the Statue of Liberty and checked out some of the other sites at the southern end of Manhattan like Wall Street and Trinity Church. For dinner we headed up to the west village to find The Blind Tiger, one of the best beer bars in the city. We found it without too much trouble but they don't serve food so we had to go find some place to eat. We ended up eating at a Spanish/Mexican place that had pretty good food but I don't recall the name. After dinner we went back to The Blind Tiger. The tap selection at The Blind Tiger was out of a dream. They had 5 Imperial Stouts and 5 IPA's. I ordered a Heavyweight Katherine the Great Imperial Stout to start. It was really good. I don't know if it's a Heavyweight one time, one place offering but the only reviews on BA are from the Blind Tiger and from the day that I was there. Next I tried the Dogfish Head Old School which was one of the hoppiest IPA's that I've ever had, it made the Stone Ruination seem tame in comparison.Sunday we got up and went around Times Square, Rockefeller Center, the Empire State Building, Grand Central Station, and the USS Intrepid. Times Square is Insane! My favorite part is the advertising; I can’t believe that it’s worth the money for any company to build such extravagant advertisements. The shopping in Times Square doesn’t do anything for me Rockefeller Center was sort of disappointing, the world famous tree and skating rink really isn’t that exciting in real life. We didn’t go up in the empire state building because it was a 90 minute wait. One word to describe Grand Central Station would be Opulent. Why don’t they build buildings like that anymore? The USS Intrepid museum was pretty cool they had a lot of planes, including a Concorde, and some really cool exhibits. It would have been cool of more of the Carrier was open to see, but the only parts were the bridge, the hangar, and the flight deck. I would have liked to see the galley, infirmary, or the engine room.After the Intrepid we headed out to the East Village to have a few beers with Mike, a friend of mine who lives in New York now. He took be to a few neighborhood bars, including the oldest bar in the city, McSorley’s Ale House where they have two types of beer, Light and Dark and you have to buy two at a time. Interestingly, their beer wasn’t bad. I was expecting it to be pretty crappy but it wasn’t. I think I’m going to skip the bar tonight since its do damn cold outside. Tomorrow I want to check out Spuyten Duyvil which ranks as the best bar in New York according to BA. I’ll be working on some photos next so check that out.