A Baseball Weekend in New York

I am back from New York City, but inundated with 320 emails, and that's just at the house -- even more waiting for me at work.

I managed to leave my cell phone charging in the truck when I went to New York. That was more than a small problem, as my father is in the hospital and I needed to check up on him, and all my phone numbers were ... well, you get it.

On the upside, the wife and I (with son in tow) stayed in a large suite at the Parker Meridien hotel (we were massively upgraded by our friends, who own part of a baseball team), with a view of Central Park from the 39th floor. The hotel is on the same block as Carnegie Hall and The Russian Tea Room, and is only a block from Central Park, so location was beyond ideal.

We got a private tour of the new New York Yankees baseball stadium (cost: $1.5 billion) and the new New York Mets stadium as well. We even got into the Yankees locker rooms, as well as a chance to hang out in the Yankees dug out.

At the Mets-Giants game, we had really great seats (my son had even better ones in the sky box with the owners of the Giants), and great meals, and early in the morning I enjoyed just siting in the hotel lobby and watching some of the the Giants and their families come and go (they too were staying at the hotel). It would all have been better with my phone, however.

We had amazing food at Shelley's on 57th and at Nora's, where I tucked into hot chestnut pancakes topped with candied chestnuts and brown sugar sauce. Did I mention the diet went to hell this weekend? True!


View of Central Park out the window of the hotel room.


Central Park up close.


My son standing in the Yankee's dugout.


In New York City, local law says all fast food must now note the number of calories. Guess how many calories popcorn has at the Mets' field? 900!!


The New York Mets warming up before the game.
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