First time in New York City

[280plus]

BTW, I only just NOW clicked on vodka's link to Virgils. That's the place alright!  Now I"M hungry.

I had the chicken n ribs myself. MMMMmmmmmm...

[Perd Hapley]

just to top it off you've got these insane people on bikes squeezing THEIR way through the whole mess.

I grew up in a house out on a gravel road, where there was plenty of space for bikes.  I don't even like riding a bicycle through a small town, much less Manhattan.

[280plus]

LOL, I don't understand how come more of them don't get squished on a regular basis. They are some GOOD bike riders.

When I was new, and didn't know enough to get onto the side streets to get around traffic, it took me SIX hours to get down Broadway to #547. Another time it took me three hours to get across the GWB (George Washington Bridge- It takes you over to Jersey and back. ) I WILL also agree that the change in downtown Manhattan HAS been remarkable. There are virtually NO homeless / panhandlers anywhere anymore which is in stark contrast to having them rush your car window every time you stopped at a light ala the early 90's. You couldn't drive around there with your windows down back then. Unless, of course, you WANTED to talk to a filthy guy with rotten teeth dressed in rags. I paid one a quarter once to NOT wash my windshield. He said I was a good man.

[280plus]

You guys got me all thinking about NYC now. The COOLEST thing I ever I ever saw, to me anyways, was one year some wiseacre had planted corn in the median strip for a whole long way down Broadway. So you're driving down Broadway and all the way down through the city theres is corn growing on the median. It even made the national news, "Who planted the corn down Broadway?" In contrast to that six hour trip down Broadway I've also done the same trip in ~ 20 minutes on a quiet day. On a quiet day you can get over the GWB in about 5. The contrast is truly enormous.

[Vodka7]

While we're on traffic tips...  No rights on red, ever  And no horn honking, although that one at least seems to be more of a suggestion than a rule you will most definitely get ticketed for like the other two.

Now, the best thing about driving in NYC is that everything is at least labelled, and people view giving directions as a competitive sport. Ask four people standing at a corner how to get somewhere and you'll get fourteen different answers, all correct.

My usual internal monologue while driving in a new area of Boston or Philly usually goes something like: "was that it?  Maybe that was it.  I think that was it.  Is that it?  Maybe that's it.  No, no, that first one was definitely it.  Or maybe this is it."  At that point it usually devolves into a five minute tirade that Art's Gramma would definitely not approve of.  How hard is it for a city to put up street signs?

[280plus]

You're in a myriad of one way streets, all going the wrong direction, you have just passed the street you need to turn onto. It is a one way, it is going the wrong direction...



Then one time I saw a superstretch limo down in the teeny street section of Boston for a wedding at some teeny church. My hat was off to THAT driver!

And THEN I remember one time on Long Island when another van driver was totally blocked in by this Jag. He rammed that thing 3 times and pushed it far enough to get himself out. I provided much loud and boisterous support to his actions. Something like "WOOOHOOOOO!! THAT' S THE WAY YOU DO IT!!!

[280plus]

The Long Island Expressway (LIE) is a whole NOTHER dimension in driving all by itself. The whole place is wacky if you ask me. LOL...