I'm off to New York City October 1st :)

Goodie. Pig Heaven, Roberta, are you calling it in?
How many do we have?

Joe(I think Thomas is out of town.)Nation

See above. Thomas is a maybe. Waiting to hear.

tsar is back row, 2nd from left...

I'm pretty much a"yes" for any day next week except Monday.

Thank you - who's everyone else? I recognize a couple in there.

Thomas & George are making a tsar sammich.
Littlek is front row, left.

the rest are non-A2k (friends and family)...

Hey, Thomas,

Pig Heaven @7 on the 2nd.....

Joe(I'll have to run in the morning)Nation

It's official. I just added the date and time to my phone calendar.

I'll make a reservation in my name, which is on my e-mail address.

Looking forward to see you guys.

R

Got it, great. Looking forward to this, too

Reg - thank you.

Okay, if you're still reading - a little more advice:

I cancelled our NYC Passes because we don't think we can make good enough use of them; we particularly want to see the neighbourhoods and we can just pay to see the museums, etc. Alex felt a little stressed about having to get into Manhattan so early (he's a late riser like Roberta), so it seemed best. So... advice now, if you please:

Should we get two MetroCards and two Grayline 2-day Hop-On-Hop-Off passes or just the MetroCards? I'm thinking both, but what do you think?

With you going back and forth to Bed-Stuy, yes, get both.

RE: the museums. When you go to purchase your tickets note that it says SUGGESTED Donation (or something like that) so what you do, if it's $25.00 each say, is put Thirty Dollars on the counter, look the cashier in the eye and say "Two, please."
They will give you two tickets.
That doesn't work for the Special exhibits, those everybody, except members, have to pay full price.

You know, you could study the city this weekend, decide what neighborhoods you want to see (Chinatown, The Village, Battery Park, whatever) and you can go to all of them by MetroCard. No bus needed.

We can help....send us a list.
You take the subway to the Museum of Natural History, for example, and then take it further Uptown to the Cloisters. (C train and the C and the A train)
or go downtown to the World Trade Center.
Make a list.

Thank you - that's what I thought - that we didn't need a HOHO pass, just the MetroCard.

I would like to see all the neighbourhoods And I have studied the map and the subway map and I have both on my iPhone. How about if I bring a notebook and take all your suggestions down?

We definitely have to see the Cloisters (I printed out your great directions) - I have been reading about medieval life, including some great medieval mysteries for over 20 years. I had to see what's left of Shrewsbury Abbey when I was there (Brother Cadfael).

Thanks for all your help, Joe (I'm just a helpful guy) Nation

Hey, Mame and Alex, have a neat flight and fine time. I'm happy for youse.

Someone in the gathering have a potsticker/dumpling/similar for me at the Piggy palace.

Hey, have fun!

you are gonna love it girl

have FUN!

I love dumplings. IT won't be too much a challenge to fulfill this wish in your name Osso.

Mame wrote:


Yes. Do that. You could give us the list now so we could prep. It's a well known fact that the Sport with the greatest number of participants is not baseball or football or basketball (close second) but
"HOW THE HELL DO I GET FROM HERE TO THERE THE FASTWAY?"
CHEAP, NO TAXI DIVISION.

List them in order of your interest
Must see
like to see
heard about and, if it's on the way somewhere.

Comfortable shoes, not thongs.....but you knew that.

Remember that Tsarstepan has walked about every block in town.... he's good.

Joe(Is the Highline on your list?)Nation

Hi Joe:

Yes, the Highline is on my list. I have to see the art - Museum Mile is a must; otherwise, I want to wander and absorb all the boroughs and eat and people-watch. The first two days will be doing the art, the rest of it will be doing the latter.

We will likely not do the Empire State Building, Top of the Rock, Statue of Liberty (except perhaps incidentally), seeing the city from a boat, etc., and I have zero interest in shopping. Don't intend to go to the Amer. Museum of Natural History and other museums, except the big arty ones. We don't have enough time for all that since the main thing for me is visiting all the neighbourhoods and getting their vibe. Plus eating the fantastic food, of course.

Advice would be appreciated about places to eat, when to avoid going somewhere, best time of day to do such-and-such, warnings ... insider tips - that kind of thing.

But meeting and getting to know you guys is the purpose of the dinner, not to get tips. I can't believe we'll be doing that tomorrow already. And there's no reason some or all of us can't hook up again.

Today's the day! Have a great time!