Easter Weekend Notes

It was great to go home for Easter Weekend since Europe gets Friday and Monday off. I flew home on Virgin Atlantic Thursday night and came back Monday night.

The good things:

Food! I had dinner at Koi Sushi in the Bryant Park Hotel on Friday night. It was quite delicious but I think you can find the same quality of food at other Japanese restaurants. The Kobe beef was good too though I should get it medium rare instead of medium. The rasberry mojito is the drink to have while eating there. Sunday night was Porcao Churrascaria, a Brazilian restaurant near Madison Park. It's an all-you-can-eat beef affair. There are like 18 offerings from rib-eye, steak, chicken, and fish. You get a coaster (red/green) to decide if you are still hungry or full. A bottle of Brahma, Brazilian's national beer, will help drink down all that meat. Of course, one should taste the Capirinha too, a sweet blend of cachaca run, sugar, and fresh lime. You can get full and drunk at the same time!

Koi Sushi - Web Site

Porcao - Web Site

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Movie!

I went to see "Friends with Money." It's a bit of drama with a bit of comic relief on three couples, and their lone single friend, played by Jennifer Aniston. It takes a funny look at how money affects our lives and relationships with loved ones and friends.

The bad things:

High Gas Prices!

Since my Hoboken flat is being rented out, I have to stay with the folks in Morris County, so it's driving to and back from nyc. It was pretty much $2.70-2.80 per gallon, so I think I spent about $75-80 during the whole weekend. I could remember when it was just a buck, or when it hit $1.80, and that was the record-breaker at the time. Of course my last night, I took the train home, but it's a pain. The best place to get a fill-up would be right before the Holland Tunnel, 'cause in the city, the price of gas starts at about $3.

Red light cameras

I think everyone is getting thoroughly upset by this. Honestly, they are used as a cheap revenue source when the cops are not there. Couldn't they just be used for their one important purpose? To combat crime, and not used to fine your "imperfect" driving skills? NYPD is installing 500 cameras now. Of course in London, there are thousands of them. The taxi driver that took me to my flat from Paddington complained about the cameras taking pictures of his taxi while he was standing along the block, and the fine alleged he was illegally parked!

Airport Security up the wazoo!

I think they must have bumped up the metal detectors another notch. I had to take off my belt buckle and watch while heading back to Heathrow from Newark, and they never went off before. At least they [TSA] finally stated that shoes must be taken off (instead of "strongly encouraged.") I personally think that's a waste of time since most airports outside of the US do not even check for shoes. Plus, even though there are shoes/sneakers that are security-approved (they do not have any metal), the TSA staff will still ask you to take them off, so what's the point?!?!?!

Maybe we should start walking through the detectors naked. It was easy before to just take off the coat, put your pocket stuff in the coat pockets, handle the laptop from the backpack, and hold the pair of shoes in the other. But now you have to also take off your belt, your watch, bracelets, and perhaps even your ring.

It is quite annoying, being a seasoned traveler and all.

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But overall, it was a very good weekend. Now I'm back in London, five hours ahead, and looking forward to some good football action.