NYC

So, not much happened last week, except not that I remember. It is truly pathetic how little I can recall from previous weeks or weekends. Its not just me either, a lot of my buddies say the same thing. Anyways, I went to NYC over the weekend with two of my friends (Icenogle and Oescher). We were there from Friday afternoon till Sunday afternoon. We took the train from Garrison, NY and sat with tow Yuks (sophomores) from our company. They already had hostel to stay at so we followed them to the "Candy Hotel" to see if we could also get a room.The "Candy" was full so they sent us to another one of their properties called the "Chocolate Hotel." We got a miniscule 2 bunk bed room room $30 a night per person. It wasn't bad though, all we needed was a bed. After this we took the subway back to Times Square and met up with the two Yuks (Faber and Wesche) for dinner. We went to a place called "The Playwright: Celtic Pub." It was on 8th Avenue and a block away from Times Square. All I got there was a burger so I can't give much of a restaurant review. The burger was really good and I liked the atmosphere. After dinner we split up from the Yuks and did our own thing. For a little while we chilled at the Blarney Stone and mingled with people there. One person I met, by the name of Jim Brown, is a student at Albany. His roommate's brother goes to West Point. Oescher happened to know this particular person as well. It's always interesting to find random connections and coincidences. After the Blarney Stone we set off for NYU. After walking three-quarters of the way there, Icenogle and Oescher decided we should just head back. We went back to Times Square and chilled a while longer before heading back to our hotel by 96th street. We didn't get to bed until around 3 AM. On Saturday we slept in till around 11 AM and left the hotel around noon. Our first plan of action was to go to Times Square, maybe shop a little, and definitely get some food. We checked out a few stores and then ate at a subway. After wandering Times Square, we decided to walk to Central Park and check it out. Although myself and Icenogle had been to the city a few times before, it was Oescher's first time so we did a lot of "exploring." Once Oescher realized Central Park was simply a big park, we left and headed for China Town. China Town was boring but we went to Little Italy right next to it because we had been told to check out Florio's. When we got to Florio's and the guy asked if we were West Point, he told us to go outside to the door on the left, up the stairs, enter the first apartment on your right and ask for Larry. We did so and ended up in the awesome cigar smokers lounge with huge leather furniture and dark wood, a poker table, military stuff on the walls, and glass cases with knives. When I asked for Larry, a loud "HOOAH" came from around the corner and Larry introduced himself to us. He told us to sit down and he got each of us a cigar (one of the ones they make). This was an amazing experience. We sat up there and talked with Larry and some of the other people there for a while. After maybe two hours we went downstairs and had some pizza, which was very good. When then went back upstairs for another hour or two. Before we left, we made sure we signed into the log book he has for all the military people. It was pretty interesting to see all of the upperclassmen from my company that had been there in the last year or so. After Florio's we headed back to Times Square. We decided to go see a movie and got to the theatre just in time for the opening of Boondock Saints 2: All Saints Day. I must say, it was an awesome movie. After that we wandered through the city, stopped by the Apple Store, and headed back to the hotel. Again we didn't sleep till about 3:30 AM. We woke up around noon and headed back downtown. We decided to go eat at Carnegie Deli. We all got a burger (I will get one of their monstrous sandwiches a different time) and shared a piece of cheesecake. It was really good food. After eating, we went straight to Grand Central and got on our train back to Garrison. And that was that. I had an awesome weekend and it felt so good not only to get off post, but to be able to wear civvies and chill.