New York! New York! Day 7 Flight Home Punched our tickets (For MOMA or New York?) I was awoken a little before 10:15, groggy and in the mood to whine. Not that I am usually not (double negative alert!) in the mood to whine. Once I remembered that today was the day we would be going back home, I lost my will to whine. Although solemnly happy on the outside, I was quite giddy to leave New York. Sure, New York is New York, but it's so New Yorky. That just explains everything, doesn't it? My parents would be packing till around 11:15, so I laid back and watched some news on the tellie. Once packed, we headed down to the lobby, to check our bags at the holding area. Once that was done, we talked to the concierge about getting a cab at 2:30 to take us to the airport. He tried to convince us to get a limo, and dad said yes (not because of the man's fast-talking) and we all later agreed it was worth the slightly smaller fee. We left the hotel and headed for MOMA. Once at the Museum of Modern Art, we checked our coats, and used our citipasses (I was free, a luxury I will soon be losing) to get in. We headed up the escalator and were greeted by many white flowers poking out of the wall. We all looked at each other with eyebrows raised and I realized that I would have to suffer another museum for only a few minutes. We walked around and homed in on Van Gogh's Starry, Starry Night, the thing we came to see. We scanned it at a distance, for a group of 3rd graders with drawing books were scattered around it like a burst of chaff. We sped through a few more rooms of "artwork" trying to appreciate it, but failing. We left after a big stop at the bathroom with subsequent search and rescue missions for other family members who had walked off in boredom.   We walked on to the street and down a few blocks. We were all hurting and tired, so we caught a cab. When the driver heard our destination, he said, "The UN building isn't a common tourist stop. I could tell you were tourists because you were smiling." We told him our story and he mentioned how he thought it was neat that we went the places we did, not with the flow of the so called "tourist traffic". I was not impressed, but the man slightly brightened my father's day. We got out in front of a long row of many flags. There were so many, in fact, we couldn't get a picture with all of them in it. We walked to the door and through a metal detector and over to some chairs. I dashed ahead, for my feet were sore and it was always nice to sit down for a minute. Portraits of the UN Secretary-Generals lined the wall in front of us and Dad had a few stories about them. We trotted over to the tour desk, got our "Yay! You Paid!" stickers and hurried through the doors to join our already starting tour. Our tour guide was as helpful as you would expect, and all I could hear her say was that she was from Turkey. Mmmmm...Turkey.... We followed her through a hallway with paintings of suffering and rebuilding on one side and military power charts on the other. We walked through a few big rooms where people would gather around huge tables to discuss things, all the way talking about various organizations whose names spelled things, sometimes making it easier to remember, and sometimes with horrible results. Some almost as bad as CREEP, the "Committee to RE-Elect the President". This spurred me to come up with a few of my own, such as "Fathers Against Rebellious Teens", and "Brotherhood Of Older BrotherS". We continued through a few more rooms until we game to an even bigger one. Here, every country in the UN was represented, each with one vote, in different issues. Our guide than mentioned that every country pays the UN, relative to the country's size, and that the US had been skipping out on their share of the bill. We took it light-heartedly enough and walked down to the giftshop/café floor where our guide departed. We were hungry and planned to buy a few souvenirs and a small bite to eat. (With my parents? Hahahahahaha) However, the souvenirs were stupid and expensive, so we skipped them for the café. A tantalizing menu I must say with Chilean Chili, Turkish Club, and Nachos with Guatemalan Guacamole. However, they all cost more than 7$, a little hefty, even if we could eat with Benjamin Netanyahu (The Prime Minister of Isreal). With our tummys empty and our legs hurting, we all left the UN building after a few pictures and keeping our eyes peeled (Not a pleasant thought) for a very quick snack. We never did find one.   It was nearing 2:30, so we started back to the hotel. Once there, we picked up our luggage and waited a few moments for the limo. Although a little small, (Or is it my parents?) it was cleaner and nicer than a taxi. On the way to the airport, I was so enthralled by the New York city/landscape I fell asleep. I awoke once we were a few miles from the airport, thinking about many things. I was eager to see my cat again, and I could play with my friends too. I also realized that our trip was over, which saddened me somewhat, for I had enjoyed the trip, even though it did give me a blister. The car pulled into the drop off area, and we piled out of the car with our luggage. We walked inside and checked on our seats, and then sat down. Mom and Dad opened a bag and made sure that all it's contents were where they should be and that our luggage wasn't all mixed up. This was unnecessary, and for me, tedious but better safe than sorry as the old saying goes. We walked over to a Nathan's and enjoyed a few dogs. Up on the wall was a picture of the very Nathan's we had eaten at a few days before. After our dogs, we headed over to the Delta Crown Room and got in because Dad is platinum with Delta. Once inside, we all had some beverages and little scoops of mixed snacks. Dad left us there for he had an earlier flight, so we hugged him and he left for his flight. We waited in the room, indulging ourselves with small talk and word games, until our flight time was near. We wearily picked up our bags and crossed the airport. After our seat row was called we boarded the plane and settled in. Both our flights were long and tedious, but a new magazine from the New York and Atlanta airports kept me busy enough. Of course like every other time I fly, I dammed my braces for their no gum chewing rules. It was late when we got in, and mom had to wake me up when we got home for I had fallen asleep in the car. The cat was happy to see us again, as we were him. I managed to drag myself to my bed, and fell asleep, once again in my own home, and could sleep in until 12:30 the next morning. Now, our New York trip was truly over.   Copyright, 2000, All rights reserved Written entirely by: Jesse
Original Web Upload April 2000 Last Update: September 23, 2001