It was actually awesome! I spent a week in NYC, which was my home for 15 years, and hated nearly every minute of it. It did not help that Bush was staying at the hotel next door so that all the streets were blocked off and I was greeted several mornings by 40 cops on motorcyles outside my hotel, along with secret service men whispering into cell phones. It just all irritated me to no end and I had a meltdown in Duane Reade's (the drugstore). I got food poisoning in Little India (I think all the sauces were made with hydrogenated oils,
) and lost my ATM card. Two traveler's nightmares in one week for this once-savvy traveler. The sighting of Antonio Banderas in Grand Central Station alleviated the stress only a tiny bit.
So I wasn't looking forward to the next part of the trip, Rochester. I mean, if I can't have a good time in NYC, is there any hope for a girl in Rochester? Hell yes. I had the best food I've ever had. Ok, maybe not THE best, but it was so good I could have licked the plate. In fact, I went back again the next night. Incredible, elegant food in a hip bistro with a gorgeous, smart, sophisticated waitstaff.
So all you Rochester people, please go immediately to eat at
2 Vine, 24 Winthrop St. (in the East End). It was just fabulous, and very hip. Everything about it was what I was looking for in NYC and didn't find.
And my meetings went well, Rochester has some beautiful mansions and I got cruised by hot straight men half my age. Any more questions???