Palermos NYC Photos

Took me forever to find how to embed this (it was right in front of my nose, naturally) but here is our photo book from our trip:

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Palermos in NYC Day Four: Lady Liberty Palermo

Our fourth day in New York City started early. Today's first destination was Lady Liberty and Ellis Island. We had carefully monitored the weather and chosen this day as being the best opportunity for beautiful photos of The Statue and the New York skyline. Naturally, it rained, gray skies hanging so low the horizon blurred into the water like a 3-year-old’s first finger painting. While riding the ferry out we kept looking for a glimpse for that iconic figure of freedom. Anticipating her presence, Auburn felt a small reminder of her mother’s own first look at her in 1954 sailing into New York Harbor. Then the skies lightened briefly and there she was standing alone, marking the way to hope.

We couldn’t get tickets to climb all the way into the crown, but the pedestal view was very impressive. We even charmed the Park Service Guide into admitting his love for Remington Steele. Palermos will do just about anything for an elevator ride up. We have a lot of pictures from all kinds of angles, but all still with the brooding skies as a backdrop. Of course this changed the very second our feet hit the automated door mat at the gift shop. The sun spotted lighted her magnificently the entire 15 minutes we bought our souvenirs.

We next hopped the ferry to Ellis Island. Our first priority was to grab some lunch at the Ellis Café. We were happily surprised at both the quality of the food and the economy of the cost. The tables were replicas of the very ones the immigrants who were processed through Ellis utilized. Because it was a drizzly Monday, the crowds were thin and quiet in the main hall as we started our self-tour via headset. Despite the 57 years since it was shuttered, the muted voices of those who passed through were whispering from the walls. Some of those voices belonged to Skeez's family. We found their names on the Wall of Honor outside in the garden.

Our next stop was to Ground Zero. We walked up to the fire station at the corner and saw a moving memorial for the firefighters on the station wall. Just across the narrow city street is a very busy construction site these days. It was a strange dichotomy to see people like us here on the sidewalks trying to contain strong emotions and memories next to people who work here or live nearby in their everyday routines, all of us trying to reconcile our new definition of what is normal. We were able to view the building progress from the Westin Hotel Bar across the street. The footprints of the towers are now reflecting pools with trees planted around. Behind that the new Freedom Tower is resolutely marching ever higher into the sky, soon to be the new point of orientation for the city. We are glad we came to see and to remember.

We headed back to the hotel to rest a bit, get airline forecasts and decide on a restaurant that all would enjoy. Being Palermos, we opted for a lovely Italian place a few blocks away. Dinner was very nice (we recommend the seahorse ravioli!) and the conversation delightful as always.

Our walk back brought us past the ABC studio in Times Square, where we found a small discreet poster for Castle. This reminding the two most ardent Castle fans that tonight was the climatic finale of the mid-season two-parter. Despite being sushed by Sneezy and Skeezy, Stalky and Sleezy gabbed with Xenos via cellphone at every commercial break and post episode discussing all possible outcomes and the wisdom of Andy Merlot. Castle and Beckett saved the city and the Palermos nodded off after a busy day. Tomorrow we all would return home to plan our further adventures.

Palermos NYC Day Three: Scenic New Jersey by Rail

It is customary during Palermo expeditions to schedule what has become known as “A Day at Sea.” Loosely translated into Palermo-ese, it means we get an easy day of relaxation. Normally this includes a full body massage by ruggedly handsome men with exotic foreign names, reading poolside while ogling ruggedly handsome men or napping on a sun kissed beach being served margaritas by ruggedly handsome men. I think you get the idea. But since this was a long weekend rather than a 10-day vacation to a foreign land, day three was amended to the Jersey version, heretofore known as “A Day by Rail.”

We did sleep in and 2 out of 4 enjoyed another free breakfast buffet. We headed out to Penn Station to catch the train to New Brunswick, NJ. The scenery was interesting, but disappointing as we didn’t see a single mob hit or body dump on either trip to or from the city. We met up with another friend of Skeez's, who is also a Remington Steele fan, at Tumulty’s Pub for a lovely reasonably priced meal. Ah New Jersey, we came for the play, but loved your economical prices!

We then had another short walk to the George Street Playhouse for the play “The Subject was Roses.” It’s set just after WWII and follows a husband and wife welcoming back their son from war and the changes that have taken place amongst the three of them.

It was interesting to see the family dynamics at work and how things have changed particularly for women since that period. Stephanie did a marvelous job with her character. We met up after for dessert and conversation between her shows. It was a lovely, relaxing afternoon that too soon came to an end. We bid farewell to Michy and Steph to head back to the hotel.

Since that night was Oscar night, we met up in the hotel lobby for our version of a glamorous Oscar party consisting of drinks and pizza served by a guy named Vinnie who wasn’t so much handsome as just rugged. Only Skeez had seen most of the nominated movies, but still the laughs and fun continued until we ran out of dollar bills for Vinnie, and then took the elevator to the after party in our suite. A Palermo after party consists of light reading and heavy relaxing. It was the near perfect ending to our day of rail, until Sleezy started snoring.

NYC Day 2: The Skeeziks Perspective

After getting rid of those erudite Palermos to some museum or another, Myrtle and I were able to sleep off the early airport runs, overnight flights and TSA full-body scan afterglows.  We were almost back to our pasty selves by the time our respective cell phones started ringing with queries of "Where do you want to get together for drinks?" and "Mom, where'd you hide the videogame system?"  (If you can't guess which calls went to whom, reread this blog from Post #1 and retake the test.)

I scheduled my day with three separate gatherings of good friends (aka rich New Yorkers) and hit the mean streets --- only to find that the subway station immediately next door to our hotel went nowhere.  At least nowhere useful as End of the Line didn't sound like a fate I wanted to tempt in Empire City.  A long walk and two subway cars later, my game was on! 

"Open wide and say ahh... they are huge... one pound!" What!?!?  That's almost a better menu than the one at the brothel in Pompeii! 
Alas, I think these folks needed a better Yiddish dictionary because a kinehora/ kinohora isn't something you want to pay for, much less slap between two slices of pumpernickle.  Oh well, perhaps it referred more to the O-M-G! prices.
 
I really have no idea what happened after appx. 2 PM but I did learn the following new math skill:  Beer+ beer + shot + beer + beer + lunch + dessert + (ginger mojito)x3 = Skeeziks didn't pay for a thing.  I love New York!

I played subway roulette from the Time Warner Center back down to Times Square, stumbled into our hotel room expecting to find I-had-no-idea-what and instead found ---- wait for it --- wait for it--- a room full of sober Palermos watching Castle DVDs via laptop.  And Sleezy says she was disappointed!

Palermos in NYC Day Two: The To-Cop-Me Affair

Dawn broke early, delivered by Myrtle Laura Groggins, (Cousin Stalky Palermo since January of 2010) via Jet Blue. After her short tour of alleys and parks to get a feel for the neighbors, she arrived in at our fabulous Times Square Suite completely exhausted. Sneezy and Sleezy were up for the free breakfast buffet while the west coast contingent caught up on their sleep.

The hotel restaurant was the perfect cover for planning a sequel to “The Thomas Crown Affair”.Subway map and museum blueprints in hand, we put on our bowler hats and took off for the Metropolitan Museum of Art shouting “Let’s Play!” Our attempts to enter via a Trojan Horse went south when the police horse refused to wear the bowler hat. So we improvised and went up the front steps, in the footprints of GMBC. The museum is a wonder to behold and certainly a 3 hour tour couldn’t come close to encompassing the extraordinary exhibits. We never did find any of the TCA artwork, but we did enjoy a delicious sample of Impressionist paintings, suits of medieval armors for man and horse, sculptures that took us back to our European adventures and several Egyptian sarcophagi. We took advantage of an exquisite Saturday morning sitting on the steps of the museum enjoying a gourmet cupcake snack and soaking up the ambiance of it all. Deciding the other half our entourage had slept enough, we headed back to the hotel.

Skeezy, being a native New Yorker and medium powered executive, had a planned a get together with several friends and coworkers for that day. So the remaining Palermos headed out for a lunch in an authentic Times Square deli. A couple of $25 chicken sandwiches and some dishwashing to pay the check later, we walked towards Rockefeller Center. We did not skate, but Tina Fey (who secretly wishes to become a Palermo cousin since Picabo Street and Kristy Yamiguchi raved about the great benefits and free t-shirt) arranged for Kenny to give us a tour of the gift shop. We noted that there was zero Remington Steele souvenirs while Riptide had some stuff! An outrage! This certainly isn’t going to help Tina’s chances at all. After Kenny and Stalky exchanged email addresses with the promise of recipes and hand knit sweaters following, we headed off the find The Empire State Building.

We thought we had timed this perfectly to see the sunset over an exquisite NY skyline on a crystal clear spring day. We even faked getting lost a couple of times. But Disney doesn’t run the tour, so every time we thought we entered our last queue, we found another maze of sectioned off hallway. It took about an hour to get to the observation deck. We arrived about 15 minutes too late for sunset. Despite the windy conditions and chill, it was still a spectacular site to see one of the great cities of the world from 1020 feet up.

We headed back to the hotel to rest our tired tourist feet. Sneezy and Stalky finished off the second half of those chicken sandwiches, while Sleezy iced and adviled up her week old twisted knee. Hours passed with no word from Skeez and 2 out of 3 Palermos were starting to get worried. As we imagined all the awful things a young woman could get into, Stalky tweeted a plea for Castle’s help with the NYPD (unusual for Palermos who normally try to avoid police detection). Skeez did arrive shortly later, bright eyed and clear headed. All was well, except Sleezy, who was a tad disappointed that she did not bring at least a stripper back to the room.

The New York Players:

Fannie Acapulco
in "Chicago"

Myrtle Groggins
in "The Book of Mormon"

Skeeziks
in "Anything Goes"

Mickey Boggs
in "Witness Protection"

Getting there is half the fun?

It was time for the Palermo Sisters to reunite for our first adventure of 2011 and with an event to attend in New Jersey, it seemed the time was ripe for our first foray together into New York City. We planned our trip for Friday - Tuesday Feb 25-Mar 1 but considering the way our trip began, we were wondering if perhaps it wasn't meant to be....

Wed-Thurs Feb 23-24

Our cousin Stalky Palermo, aka Myrtle, was attempting to join us on this trip, but she'd be flying standby so things were a bit iffy. Her options were limited to 2 redeye flights into JFK. She checked the schedule Wednesday night. No chance of making it on, so she didn't even bother going to the airport.

On Thursday evening Mickey received notice that her flight the next day into Newark had been canceled. Checking the schedule and noting that there was no morning non-stop flight on that airline, she threw her bag together and headed for the airport, hoping to arrive in time to at least talk with the counter personnel (instead of remaining on hold with the airline for 20-25 minutes), but arrived at the counter about 4 minutes after the crew had left for the evening. Naturally, when she left the airport to go home, a howling thunderstorm was raging, causing the drive to take even longer than usual.

After being on hold for over 30 minutes on two different phone calls (and amid the tornado sirens), she finally was able to contact the airline and explain that while, yes she knew there were seats available on the 7 pm flight the next night, she didn't really relish being at the Newark airport at 10:30 pm, alone, while trying to catch the train into NYC. Fortunately there was room on the 6 am flight connecting through Chicago.

Late that night Myrtle went to the airport, through security and to the gate, only to be told she wouldn't be flying out this night.

Friday Feb 25

Up at 4 am, Mickey made it to the airport with no issues and arrived in rainy Newark right on time. Fortunately she was able to stay indoors and under roofs until arriving at Penn Station. From there it was a quick subway ride to Times Square and our hotel room - which naturally wasn't ready.

Meanwhile, word had come from Auburn that HER flight had been canceled but they'd put her on a flight to LaGuardia. Fortunately Mickey had made that same trip from LaGuardia into the city several times before and was able to fill her in on the express bus to Grand Central.

Also during this time we heard from Skeeziks that her flight was delayed and there was no ETA in sight. It appears that due to an initial delay for other reasons, her plane was now scheduled to arrive during the very windy portion of the evening and this delayed things further.

After checking in but having to wait over 45 minutes for a room (even though it was after the official check-in time), we were finally given our suite on the top floor of the hotel. 43rd floor, baby! It was nice because with all the lights & noise of Times Square, we were far above it.

Just after getting settled in the room, Auburn notified Mickey that she was on her way to Grand Central, so Mickey took the subway shuttle over to GCT and was reunited with Auburn. Together they made their way back to the hotel for a little decompression and learned that Skeeziks was finally on her way.

After a while it was dinner time so they ventured out to an Irish Pub just a few blocks away in Hell's Kitchen, to honor a time-tested Palermo tradition of visiting pubs.

After dinner they made their way over to Penn Station (which is just below Madison Square Garden) and looked at a number of places trying to find a Dr Pepper as a welcome present for Skeez. It was a bit harder to find than expected but finally one turned up. Auburn, who was a little annoyed Skeez's flight was so late, prepared a surprise for her.

Skeez had been keeping her sisters up-to-date after landing in Newark and her trip on the train, so they were able to keep an eye out for her and around 9 pm all the sisters were finally together. Penn Station at 9 pm was a long way and time from the originally scheduled meeting spot at Newark Airport around 3:30 pm! Skeez was presented with her Dr Pepper which, surprise!, sprayed all over the station floor. Somehow she didn't find it as funny as Auburn did.

As Skeez's luggage weighed more than she did, her sisters helped her drag it back to the hotel. After a trans-continent flight, Skeez was naturally hungry, so - again, in good Palermo tradition - they visited a different Irish pub & restaurant, this one just around the corner from the hotel.

Though it was just time for the nightly news, all the Sisters were tired from the day of travel so it was off to dreamland in the Big Apple.

Meanwhile, Myrtle was at the airport waiting to see if she'd be able to join her cousins. She retained the faint glow from going through the scanning machines...