Several years ago I had the occasion of spending a night in New York. I had never really had an interest in going there but on this occasion I had missed a connecting flight by 8 hours, was literally dead on my feet and just wanted to go home. There wouldn't be another connecting flight until the next morning at 7:30 at a different airport, so I would have to spend what was left of the night in NYC.
To make a long story short, there was a cab driver whose first language was NOT English, he didn't want to take my party to the hotel that the airline was willing to pay for, but he was being forced to by the NY transit representative. He was told that he could either take us or get at the back of the long line of taxis. He argued but finally relented. He was mean and nasty, cursing at us in his native tongue during the entire trip and once we arrived at the designated hotel, he continued his miserable tirade to the bell captain who promptly reported him to the transit authority.
Needless to say, this colored my impression of NY. The next morning as we were stumbling around after a few hours of sleep, trying gather our belongings to leave for the airport I told my daughter, "Be sure you get all of your things because I don't plan to come back to NY for ANYTHING!"
That was in 1996 and that statement remained in force until October 15, 2013 when the only man on earth who could have convinced me to do something I didn't want to do wanted to take me to NY to all of the Art Museums as his birthday gift. At first I was shocked and repulsed but then I remembered all of the art that I would see.... the food.... Broadway.... all of the positive things that New York has to offer.
I agreed to go.
We did so many things, saw so many places and ate so much good food... it's going to take several installments to tell you all about it so stay tuned!
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