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Shake your napkin! A trip to New York, China, and Italy.

Saturday night my brother, his wife, and I went to New York. We wanted to see the new Apple Store on 14th and 9th. Yes, I know what you’re thinking… we’re geeks and going to NY to see an Apple Store is sad. We fully realize and embrace this truth, but we did it anyway. What’s even sadder, perhaps, is that I was in an Apple Store in NJ earlier that same day purchasing some screen protectors for my iPhone.

Back to the story of our unashamed geekery. We took the PATH into the City. There’s a certain distinct pungency and oder you encounter while on the PATH that is hard to describe. Certain stations are saturated with the fragrance more than others (do check out the Grove St station for a full-on experience of the assault on your nasal passages). I do suggest you try it at least once in your lifetime. In addition, you meet so many interesting people in your travels.

We got off at the 14th St station and walked the few blocks to the store. It’s a pretty nice place. It’s 3-stories tall. Each floor has ample space and feels very open, as Apple Stores are known to be. The center point of focus, though, is a massive glass spiral staircase, connecting all the levels. It’s really a nice piece of architecture. All the Apple goodies are laid out in the open or your toying with them… Macs on level 1; iPods, iPhones, and Apple TVs on level 2; and the Genius Bar and software on level 3. While in the software section, a man asked me if I worked there. I gather that it had something to do with the fact I was wearing a Google t-shirt, though I don’t see why he’d associate Google with an Apple employee. I told him, “No,” but that I could probably help him anyway. He asked about Final Cut Express as compared to the Final Cut Studio. I shared with him what I knew. He thanked me and we parted ways. We spent some time walking around the store after that and then realized that we were all hungry. I personally had not eaten yet at that point, and it was after 8 in the evening.

We decided, since we were none to far from lower Manhattan, that this would be a perfect chance to get some of the best Chinese food you possibly can consume… Wo Hop. And so we caught a cab for Chinatown. As we flagged the taxi, one jammed his breaks with great force, screeching to a halt and nearly causing a traffic policeman to plough straight into the rear of his car. The officer was none too happy with our cabbie friend. And so we got into our yellow chariot and made for Canal and Mott St. Little did we know that as we were heading into Chinatown, the celebration for Chinese New Year was beginning to wrap up. When we got there, though the parties and parades were through, there were still significantly more people there than normal. And as we made our way to Wo Hop we found a line coming out of the door, up to sidewalk-level, and out into the street. Realizing this line was going nowhere fast and that there’s no point in getting Chinese in Chinatown unless it is, in fact, Wo Hop, we contacted our trusty Google Maps widget on iPhone with built in fake-GPS and located the nearest pizzeria. And so we began our trek to Little Italy.

It was only about 5 or 6 blocks or so. We found ourselves in Puglia’s Restaurant. We chose it because it was the least crowded of the three restaurants on the block. It’s a comfortable little atmosphere. As we entered there was a semi-large group of people towards the rear of the building, apparently having a birthday party (as we found out later in the evening due to a grand chorus of “happy birthday” songs). To the right was a group of three middle-aged men sharing a bottle of wine with their meal, laughing and drinking. Apparently they had already consumed much of the contents of the bottle, and more was on it’s way. It was clear that they were already “feeling good” due to their beverages. We found out, after sitting down, that on weekends they require at least $10 per person spent at dinner. So right off the bat this was going to be more expensive than we planned. We ordered some appetizers, a pitcher of Diet Pepsi, and a sicilian pizza. The food came shortly thereafter and we partook. I will say that it was quite good. The pizzeria is a brick oven. Nice and tasty. Then the entertainment began. We had no idea upon entering, but from our experiences, and from recent YouTube inquires about Puglia, music and singing are big parts of the Puglia experience. A woman in a sequined dress got up to a microphone previously unnoticed by us and began serenading the crowd with a variety of Italian and hits from decades past. The party towards the rear of the building and the group of three friends all partook in the sing-along… loudly. There’s nothing quite like a group of drunken baby boomers raising their glasses and singing and swaying to the hits of the 1970′s. It looked like a scene from Billy Joel’s Piano Man music video. They sang a song we now know to be a Puglia’s favorite.. “Shake Your Napkin.” Dozens of people upright and standing on chairs were waving their napkins above their heads and singing along with much cheer. And then came the conga line. Yes, a conga line formed and encircled the restaurant floor. Young people, middle aged, and the elderly were all dancing around the eatery, celebrating and having fun. It was a sight to see.

I must admit it was a bit strange as we weren’t expecting all this to happen. All we were looking for was a slice of pizza. I did enjoy it though. (Just watch out for those $7 pitchers of soda!) After we left I commented that I don’t know anywhere in New Jersey like that… where people just go to eat and celebrate and sing and dance. This is the New York I love. I can do without the Times Square and touristy areas. I like the little communities and small establishments on the side streets. When my father was in the hospital a few months back in the Upper East Side I had to walk from Cornell down to Times Square to meet some friends. I went through several little neighborhoods before getting on the subway and coming out on 42nd St. I much rather would be in those little neighborhoods than amongst the madness that all the tourists walk into.

At any rate, that was my Saturday evening. It was quite enjoyable and needed as well. I needed a little time to just relax and do something fun. Life is quite hectic and busy as of late. We have less than a month until The Bridge‘s youth retreat is here. So much to do and so little time. It was nice to get away for one night.

I added several pictures from the evening to my Flickr feed.

On this day…

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