airport mouse

So we arrived in NYC around 1 pm, but our hosts aren't going to be home until 5pm. What to do with all this extra time?

We were originally gonna leave our stuff by Joel and wander round the Upper West Side for a coupla hours. Then just before we landed, Loopy pointed out that this was a dumb plan. LaGuardia is already in Brooklyn--why would we want to schlepp our luggage all the way to Manhattan just to schlepp back to Brooklyn again during rush hour?

We discussed several possibilities and in the end decided to look around the airport and see if there is any pleasant place to sit for a couple hours. Indeed there is--a restaurant called "Fig's."

And so it is that we have not even left the airport and I have already eaten one of the more startling and delightful meals of my life--a flatbread pizza with feta, figs, balsamico, and crispy prosciutto. oh. my. god. Was that ever delicious! Loopy had spaghettini with a rich tomato sauce "full of delicious olive oil and garlic," she says now as she wanders off in search of something to amuse her. Plus a pepsi, an enormous beer and the freshest salad I've had in years, and it all added up to only $35 which seems like an amazing deal. Especially at an airport.

Y'know, I always kind of mystify New York before I visit, but then once I get here, it's so comfortable. It's somehow extremely ordinary.

This is such a cliche' but, it's like being home. It's like settling into your comfy beanbag chair in front of the TV...in comparison to being in Madison, which is... I don't know... like giving a lecture in front of a bunch of people, only they don't speak my language, so there's a little earphone in their ear with a translation, only the translator sucks and nothing comes out right, so they all just look at me with a slightly puzzled expression.

Of course I'm all out of practice at being here--I'm stumbling around with the wrong habits--like saying "excuse me" before accosting a stranger with a question, or talking & moving more slowly than is the norm--but everything here feels very homey, somehow, even though I'm out of step.

*sigh*