Giant Ginkgo

I had a great flight to New York this evening, I managed to catch an earlier flight to the big city which gave me more time to get out and do a little bit of exploring after I got unpacked and settled into my hotel room. The coolest part of the trip occurred when the guy I was sitting next to swapped seats with me so that I could view our flyby of downtown. The plane flew directly over Manhattan, and the sight was truly amazing. We came in over the financial district, the blank space where the World Trade Center was flooded with light and stood out more than anything else. All of the wreckage was clearly gone leaving an oddly empty space in anotherwise solidly vertical area. I'm glad that I saw it even though I didn't have any plans to visit the location. After that, we passed by the canyons of skyscrapers... Past the Chrysler building, past the Empire State and other easily recognizable landmarks. I forgot how big this city feels...

I decided that I wanted some REAL pizza while I was in town, so I walked up 7th to John's Pizzeria on 44th. I didn't think about the fact that it would be right in the middle of Broadway and Times Square. The streets went from being almost empty to packed with tourists, and street 'artists' providing cheesy 'name art.' The pizzaria was a beautiful old restaurant with a large dome with stain glass windows and huge murals. Oh yeah, the pizza was fantastic, with a fresh tasty crust - something that just can't be found in Chicago.