5/25/09

Happy Memorial Day from New York City!


It's a sunny and hot day in Times Square's new pedestrian plaza which opens today. NYC Mayor Bloomberg, in an attempt to reduce traffic at the popular tourist attraction approved a plan to permanently block vehicle traffic, allowing pedestrians to stroll freely down Broadway, 47th to 42nd street. However, there is something else... Are those lawn chairs? The kind you would see in an old movie where people sit in a desolate impoverished scene with no hope? This will never do! But, it turns out it's only temporary until permanent more suitable and modern seating areas will be placed so people can lazy-it-up surrounded by the marketing frenzy of lights that are the wonder of Times Square (but, I'm still skeptical). On the corner of 45ST Hebrew National is giving away 45,000 hot dogs in celebration of the plaza's opening and what's Memorial day without a hot dog? People sure seem to be enjoying them. Earlier, Virgil's barbecue was giving away free BBQ ribs too. Yummy! A few avenues down, on Madison Avenue there is a street fair. These pop-up all over the city this time of year and people tend to flock to them enjoying the different kiosks and booths selling everything from jewelry, to t-shirts and bed sheets. And, lets not forget the lemonade and arepas. Afterwards, hungry but to tired to walk another step, I flag down a pedicab (bicycled Rickshaw) at Central Park to take me across the park to the Upper West Side to have dinner at Cafe Con Leche, a Cuban restaurant where I enjoyed a Bistec Empanizado (breaded and fried steak) with white rice, black beans and tostones (fried green plantains). The food is not as authentic as I am accustomed to eating in Miami but, It'll do for now. Memorial Day is a wrap and it was not bad at all.

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