I arrived at the gate for my flight to NY with time to spare. So, I grabbed a coffee and headed back over to the gate to wait to board my flight. About 10 minutes before were supposed to take off, they announced that the flight was cancelled and that we were all being re booked on the very next flight to NY in an hour. Here's my question... Why? The weather was clear... the crew was on board and the plane was there are ready to take off. Do you think they gave an explanation? Nope... they just said sorry. Well, thanks Delta. So, I sat my butt in a chair at the gate and went to work rearranging my morning schedule.
I arrived in New York THREE hours later (yup... another delay on the runway) and I took a cab to downtown Manhattan to meet up with the Passport team at their office. I was really excited to meet with the other producers because today was the day that we were going to see the new Samantha Brown in her new series called Great Weekends. We have all been working really hard on our new prime time look and I could not wait to sit in an edit suite to see the first batch of footage from our Miami shoot. I am not going to give too much away here... but, even if you are a huge Sam Brown fan.. this is going to feel all new to you. Really exciting stuff.
I really love ordering lunch while I am working with this team because they have a great local deli to order from and we SWEAR that they add crack to their food. Its addictive and delish! Its called Columbine and it has some really good soups, salads and sandwiches. I always order the turkey sandwich because their turkey is roasted and juicy fresh. Its that kind of turkey sandwich that you dream of as your mom is baking the Thanksgiving day bird. You just imagine a nice roast turkey hero with a little leftover stuffing, cranberry and some drippings from the pan. Ummmmmmmm.
After the meeting, I headed to the Upper West Side to check into my lodgings for this trip. I was really not in the mood to check into an overpriced stale hotel. I wanted something that made me feel like I was back home... not on a business trip. So, I rented an apartment! Sound impossible? Its easy... and its CHEAP! There are plenty of rentals in the city and I chose one on the Upper West Side on 77th Street. It is called Country Inn the City and you can find more information on it at www.countryinnthecity.com
When I arrived, there was a sticky on the door of the building that looked like an old brownstone in the middle of the street. The sticky had my name on it and it said to ring the buzzer for apartment 5 when I arrived. So, I buzzed apartment 5 and a burly guy came bounding down the stairs. This was Fergus, the keeper of the Inn. I could not place his accent... but, it sounded British (don't hold me to it tho...) His breath had the distinct smell of Listerine and he had beads of sweat on his brow.... and I was about to realize why. This building is a walk-up (translation: NO ELEVATOR) So, Fergus grabbed my 50 lb bag (we already discussed my packing issue in previous blogs... keep up) and we headed up to the 4th floor to apartment #6.
The building is very nice and has an old English B&B feel to it. It has cranberry walls with dark woods and hints of forest green. Kind of charming... kind of stale. It almost felt like a B&B you would find in Vermont or New Hampshire during a ski weekend. It felt warm... but, odd. Definitely not a 5-star ... but I was looking for something different, right? Now, the moose head on the wall... was a little freaky. I am not into dead animals on walls. Just not for me.
Fergus lead me into the apartment which was a studio with a small kitchen, bathroom and sitting area that was also a bedroom area. It also had a huge walk-in closet and it just had a lot of living space. The coolest feature of this apartment is that it has an outside terrace that would be great in the spring and summer.
The apartment was nicely outfitted. The kitchen had a small fridge, stove top, microwave, coffee maker, toaster and all sorts of pots, pans and dishes to use. Fergus even left some milk, coffee, butter and jam in the fridge to get me started. He also left me a beautiful big bowl of fresh fruit... which I loved.
The linens were all clean and fresh and had a nice smell of being freshly laundered. The room also had a nice TV with satellite and FREE wifi! Are you ready for the price? $250 per night! AND this is in the high range! Fergus usually can go a lot cheaper on the rate depending on the demand for the apartments. Just for the record... the average daily rate of a NY hotel on the Upper West Side in March... $350.00. That is a $100 savings per night... and I did not have to pay all of the random fees that end up on your bill. Like did you ever see a Javitz Center tax on your bill? What the hell is that?
That night, I met a friend at Bettola - a small Italian cafe on Amsterdam Avenue (sebastianoitaliano.com). I found this to be a charming little place that was really relaxed and warm. They had a brick oven pizza stove at the back of the restaurant which just made the whole place feel cozy. We decided to share a salad with grilled calamari and a white pizza with mushrooms and truffle oil. The crust on that pizza was super thin and crunchy. Just perfect and a total find if you are up in that neighborhood.
After dinner, I walked over to Fairway, one of the local grocery stores to get some food for my apartment. I just picked up some yogurts, bottles of water, ice cream (again... hubby is reading this and knows me too well) and some other snacks so that I could stay healthy and not have to run out to the deli in the morning.
The next morning, I took the #1 train down to 42nd street to attend the Travel Channel Academy (see blog below...) In the afternoon, we had a shooting assignment so I went back up to the upper west side to shoot at Zabars. I love Zabars because it just reminds me of home. They have the best coffee and I just LOVE their chocolate babka and mashugana cookies. So, it was great to spend the day there with their staff. I even had the opportunity to meet Mr. Zabar himself. It was great.
I stopped in at the Zabars cafe for lunch and I ate at the bar in the middle of the place. It was great to sit between an old woman eating a white fish salad sandwich and a guy next to me with a cup of coffee and a rugalah cookie. I love that. After the shoot, I went back to the class where I almost cried (see blog #1) and then I trekked back up to the apartment to sulk and eat ice cream in my pajamas.
The next morning, I hustled my ass back downtown to start editing the piece of shit footage I shot at Zabars the day before. I edited all day and by the time 7pm rolled around, I was ready to go out and have a drink. So, I met my friend David out at the SOHO Club. This is a club in the city where you have to be invited and escorted by a member just to walk in the door (www.sohohouseny.com). David is a big shot up at the History Channel... so, he is a member. Oh, this was perfect and certainly what I needed after not having a hotel staff to serve me after a long day. All I had was Fergus and the road kill hanging on the wall. Yuk. I realized that all this girl needs is to feel a bit fabulous and I recover rather quickly.
After our drinks, I decided to meet another friend out for some dinner at Lupa (see blog #1 - where I refer to the crazy ass menu). It was fine and after dinner we wandered over the Red Lion on Bleeker (151 Bleeker Street) to watch the NY meatheads pick up chicks. I love a Friday night in NY. There is really nothing more entertaining. Well... that was before Saturday night.
The next morning, I walked over to H&H Bagles which is arguably the best bagel shop in all of Manhattan (hhbagels.com) The best part of H&H is the fact that all they do is bagels. They do not put a drop of cream cheese... they do not butter. They just hand you a fresh warm bagel and it is delicious. I chose a sesame bagel and a water and jumped in a cab for another day at the Travel Channel Academy.
Today was another shoot day for us and I ended up documenting my cousins monthly color and cut out in Hoboken. (God, the more I write about that... the more god awful it sounds.) Anyway, after I pretended to make art... I hopped back on the bus for the 10 minute ride back to the city. I was anxious to get back to the class to start digitizing my new footage.
That night, I was meeting friends out at Koi at the Bryant Park Hotel. I was trying to recreate the religious experience I had at the LA version of this sushi heaven. I ordered the exact same meal and I have to say... it was more like purgatory than heaven. It was trying to be that meal... and it just never made it. The best part was the cosmos with ciroc vodka. Just the perfect mix... and they went down nice and easy... which made my 9am class in the morning almost deadly.
Oh, wait for the next blog where I sleep at the Embassy Suites in Philly... where they are cleaning asbestos out of the building. Ummm... what?
*L*
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