Summation

So, I must finish the Tale of New York.

When we last left our noble heroes, they were about to embark on a journey of great importance: discovering pizza.

Mmmm, pizza. We went to Ray's Pizza, for some good ol' fashioned New York style pizza. I must admit here, however, that I prefer Chicago style pizza. I'll take a good deep-dish pizza with excessive amounts of sauce any day. Not that Ray's pizza was bad. In fact, it was delicious. I just prever Chicago's Pizzeria Uno.

We followed pizza with some sinfully good dessert at Roxy Delicatessen on Broadway. (The link is to the artist whose caricatures adorn the walls)

Our next mission: dancing. Again, I worried that we wouldn't find anything, being Sunday night and all. But I maintained hope that, since this is the City that Never Sleeps, we'd find some of those insomniacs dancing. Hopefully to something other than Pop or R&B or rap. Preferrably house.

We did some research in the book section at Virgin Megastore (and looked at the music while we were there), and decided to try the Meatpacking district. For me, the main draw to that particular location was because that was where Samantha lived in Sex and the City. I'd spent all weekend wanting to be like Carrie, so it seemed appropriate!

We ended up (after some drama, which was all my fault) at Lotus. The bouncer at the door was telling the guys trying to get in that there was a guest list, so they shouldn't even bother. So I walked up, and trying to play off my somewhat Southern-ified accent said, "There's a guest list?" and the bouncer-man proceeded to let us in. Now. I really don't think I'm all that charming. I think this 'guest list' just says 'All Females,' so we were in. After we paid the $20 cover, that is.

Ooh! Interjection: The Meatpacking District is where they actually pack meat. For some reason, I thought this was a figurative term, and perhaps at one point in the long ago past (when Irish couldn't find jobs) they'd done a lot of meat packing, but that now this was a fashionably upscale place where rich urbanites lived and played. Nope. There are warehouses. In them are stinky men. Packing stinky meat. And interspersed among these warehouses are the upscale clubs that are renowned for being quite hard to get into... That just seems so odd to me.

Okay. So, Lotus started out okay. There was a DJ and a live drummer (who was really good). It was a pretty narrow place, so not much of a dance floor, especially when it filled up (with the Sunday night crowd!) It got to the point where I was just constantly being shoved out of the way. Then the music switched to a more rap-py type persuasion, which is just not my thing. That, combined with the complete lack of space, convinced us to evacuate.

Now here is where the story gets interesting.

We went to another place that opened at one a.m. We couldn't get in there. (I know! So sad! I think we could have gotten in with a bribe for the bouncer, but...no. Plus, the music there didn't sound that much better to us) What to do? Where to go? We were walking down the street, pondering these age-old questions, when we were waylaid by a group of Indian guys. They were, as it happened, attempting to get into Lotus, but not being on the guest list (aka not female), had been turned away. Would we help two of them get in? (Apparently people on the guest list can drag in a guy with them)

We had wrist-bands, so we could get back in, so we agreed to do it, in exchange for a drink. Unfortunately, there were 6 guys, and only 2 us. They had some female friends who had gone in without them (what kind of friend would do that??), so the one guy called one girl to get them to come back out. They refused!

Never fear. The guys had a back-up plan. They were going to Show, another club near Times Square. We were invited to join them, so we did. Turns out these guys were part of a soccer team, and had just won a game, so were going out to celebrate. They knew someone at Show, so we got in for free, and got free drinks. It was SO cool. They were playing house music, which was what we were looking for. The club was really neat looking, and there were just the right number of people there. Crowded, but not ridiculous. It was apparently open until 8am, but Susan and I left around 3 (I think). The club was only two blocks from our hotel! We'd never have found it alone, though - it was behind an unmarked door. The place wasn't as exclusive as Lotus was at one point (four years ago), but I had more fun there.

Okay. I have more to write about, but I've been on the school computer for an hour, and the time limit is 15 minutes.

We leave for our cruise adventure tomorrow!!!!!!!