Having spent an entire week away from home, all of us were firmly settled into the US time zone and hence woke up at a leisurely 8am. Mytili and Heather were to come down from Philadelphia to meet us, and we had barely started getting ready when Mytili's call came, saying that their bus would reach Downtown NYC by about 930am. The main item on our agenda was to visit the Empire State Building, and we had kept the rest of the day quite flexible.
We managed to get out of the hotel at close to 930, and agreed to meet them at the Empire State Building directly. But the 
relatively short journey to the ESB (it should not be more than a 15 minute walk at a brisk pace), ended up taking over an hour, as our troop dispersed in different directions to pick up coffee etc. Mytili had reached the building a lot before us, and was smart enough to pick up tickets for everybody before we reached. Consequently, we were able to directly proceed to the security check queue and the queue to go up to the higher floors, without having to wait for tickets.
The Empire State Building has two observation decks, on the 86th and 102nd floors. We chose to stick to the 86th floor, since my previous experience on the 102nd floor had been decidedly underwhelming. It was yet another beautiful day in NYC (I must say that NYC reserved it's best weather for us), and while the top was somewhat windy, it was not excessively cold. The only dampener was that the 86th floor observation deck was extremely crowded, and that made both taking in the views, and taking photos very difficult.
After spending some time at the building, we decided to head for Saravana Bhavan, New York, which is located about 15 minutes from the ESB, for a South Indian lunch. (one week represented the limit that we could survive without Indian food!!!). The restaurant was extremely crowded when we arrived, and the 9 of us had to squeeze into a table that was meant for only 6. The service was not as efficient as Bombay Udipi restaurants, and prices were of course high by Indian standards. But the food was very tasty, albeit spicy, and all of us ended up having a very satisfying meal. (Mytili and Heather were at least too polite to say otherwise).
After lunch, we headed for Macy's, which is truly enormous, stretching between 2 NY avenues, and having at least 8 floors. Radhika et al focused on the ladies section, while Appa, Mytili and I entertained Avi. After what seemed like a eternity (but was probably less than 2 hours), Radhika concluded that this was not good value, and decided to exit the store having purchased very few items.
Next, all of us grabbed two cabs, and headed for the Highline, which is a park that has been built on the site of an old, elevated, freight railway line, running along the Hudson through what's called the Meatpacking district of New York. For Bombayites, this would be akin to elevated sections of the harbor-line along the Dockyard area being converted into a park, with the warehouses on either side being converted into housing while retaining the outer shell. Avi, in particular had a lot of fun, especially while splashing about in some flowing water in one part of the park. We spent about an hour strolling through this park, before heading back to the hotel. By this time, it was almost 730 pm, and it was time to bid goodbye to Mytili and Heather, who were taking a bus back to Philadelphia.
Later that evening, we met up with Vijay, a childhood friend of Radhika (whom she had not met for almost 20 years, since they were in 5th grade), who drove down from Connecticut to see us. Avi, Radhika and me went out for dinner with Vijay at a Turkish restaurant close to our hotel. The food was really good, and it was nice catching up.
Day 8 - June 4, 2011
We had planned to spend June 4 at Central Park along with Shrikant Subramaniam and his family. Shrikant lives at Naugatuck, Connecticut, about 2 hours by train from New York. His mom, Nirmala aunty, had come down the previous evening from India after finishing a tour of Israel and Jordan. On Saturday evening, we got a call from Anand, my cousin. I knew that he lived in the North East of the US but had been under the impression that he was somewhere in New Hampshire, close to Boston. That had been true when I visited the US in 2005, but it turned out that he now lived in NYC, at Flushing, and at he too would be coming to Central Park to spend the day there.
We agreed to meet Shrikant, Jaya and family outside the Apple Store on 5th Avenue, which is at the SE corner of Central Park. We were late getting there, but fortunately for us, Shrikant and team were late too. We first headed in to the Apple Store, where Avi and Sid, Shrikant's son, had a great time, sitting on large screen iMacs and fooling around. It took some effort to get them out of the store. We were hungry by now, and decided to head to Sapphire, an Indian restaurant close to Columbus Circle (viz on the SW corner of Central Park). Anand told us that his family was already at that end of the park, but since they had packed a picnic lunch, we decided to catch up with them later. Lunch was a North Indian buffet with Pao Bhaji thrown in, and was great.
After that we headed for the Park, and caught up with Anand, Jyoti and Vivek. Jyoti's parents were also with them. Our somewhat unwieldy party of 16 then headed into the Park, and took in the sites. We were barely yards into the Park, when we spotted a kids play area.
All three kids (and also Appu) had a nice time playing on the swings. Then Avi and Sid spotted a play area which included a small water body for k
ids to splash around in. Despite my reluctance, everybody else ganged up and allowed the kids into the water. Shrikant however assuaged my feelings by agreeing to come with me to the Columbus Circle shopping centre to buy a towel. Around this time, Anand who had managed to keep Vivek out of the water, decided to set out to see some specific parts of Central Park. So we bade good bye to him, and then set out to buy the towel.
After spending less than a couple of hours in the park, we set out towards Times Square. On the way, we dropped in at Mars, a theme restaurant which is designed like an Aliens film set, with waiters dressed like Aliens. Avi was thrilled to be able to meet and talk to Aliens. However, we decided not to eat there, and continued towards Times Square, where Jaya led the ladies on a shopping expedition, while Shrikant, Appa and I took the kids to Toys R Us. After a brief time at Toys R Us, I led our group of guys back to the hotel.
Shrikant and I left the kids with Appa, and set out for a nearby laundry intending to collect the 32 pounds of clothes we had given the previous day for washing. As we walked to the shop, I explained to Shrikant how we needed to pick the clothes before 7 pm, since we intended to make an early morning departure for New Jersey the next day, and to head for Washington DC thereafter. I had barely finished saying this, when we reached the shop, and to my horror found it shut, even though it was just 615pm. I looked at the board, and found to my horror that the laundry closed at 7pm on weekdays but at 6 pm on Saturdays. The laundry assistant who collected our clothes and told us to come after 5pm to collect them had not deigned to mention this to us. A helpful parking attendant told us that the shop assistants had just left, and we would likely have passed them on our way to the shop. We rushed back the way we came, stopping every Chinese looking person we saw to ask if they worked at the laundry. But it was of no use. For a while, I did not know what to do. But fortunately for us, we were going to DC by train from Penn Station, and I realised that all we needed to do was for one of us to come in early on Monday with a suitcase, and to collect the laundry before leaving for DC.
We then headed back to the hotel, and decided to go to Utsav, a highly recommended Indian restaurant for dinner. Before doing that, I decided to go to Walgreens to try and pick a store credit card to pay for an AT&T 3G connection for my iPad, after which I was to go directly to the restaurant. (Shockingly, AT&T does not allow one to purchase prepaid connections for iPads at their stores, or to pay for connections through a non US credit card.) While I was there, I got a call from the hotel, saying that Radhika had taken ill. Both Radhika and I had been suffering from cold for a few days, and that morning, we had picked up some OTC cold pills. We took a morning dose and it gave us some relief. But Radhika had the evening dose without having eaten anything since lunch at around 1 pm. That led to a reaction, and she started shivering significantly. I rushed back to the hotel, and we abandoned plans to go out for dinner.
I instead ordered a take out from the same place, but Shrikant and family decided to head back to Naugatuck. Fortunately, some rest and food did the trick for Radhika, and she was fine thereafter.
Day 9 - June 5, 2011
Before we knew it, the NYC leg of our holiday was over, and it was time for us to head to Nana's place in Jersey City, and then to Jayashri's place at Randolph, NJ. We got our stuff out of the hotel before 10am, but could not resist taking a last tour of Times Square before leaving. We were then ready to set out, and asked to Bell Captain at the Westin to arrange two taxis for us to go to Nana's place. The guy who was handling our luggage told us that he had arranged for two mini vans. Fortunately, we had read our tourist guides, and asked the cab drivers how much they wanted for the trip before setting out. (Since this was a trip to NJ, which is out of NYC, taxi fares are not regulated). They said they wanted USD 67 + tolls. This came as a shock to us, since Nana had mentioned that it should cost around USD 40, though we were not clear whether tolls were included in that. We checked with Nana who confirmed that the max we should pay is USD 50. When we told this to the drivers, they asked us to take alternate cabs. What was most shocking was that Renu heard them talking to the Bell Captain about refunding a cut they had given him.
Fortunately for us, two other cabbies turned up, who offered to do the trip for USD 40 + tolls of USD 8. We of course did not tip the Bell Captain, under the circumstances. Talking of tips, perhaps the most irritating thing on this holiday has been the ridiculous North American culture of demanding tips as a matter of right, and that too at an atrociously high 15-20% level. In several hotels as well as on tours, this normal level of tipping was actually posted, with the added information that the service provider's employees depend on tips for most of their income. In most restaurants, a 15% tip was added to our bills automatically, since we were in a group of more than 5 people. The idea that someone who is charging me for services can say that they underpay their employees, and hence I should pay for those employees services' directly seems completely dumb, and is something that galls me. (but being a conformist, I did end up tipping people a lot more than the rest of our group thought was reasonable.)
After a brief drive, we reached Nana's place in Jersey City. His flat is beautiful, on the 33rd floor, by the Hudson, and with fabulous views of mid town Manhattan. And while his apartment block is an all rental one, similar flats were available in a neighboring condominium for a lower per square foot rate than at even Sewri today. This certainly has reinforced my view that US real estate is on a relative basis grossly under-valued! More importantly, all of us, especially Avi, were glad to meet baby Kriti, Nana's 3 week old daughter. She seemed tiny, and for me and Radhika, it was amazing to think that Avi had been that small not very long ago. I for one did not have the confidence to even pick her up. It was great to meet and converse with Nana, Divya, and Divya's mom. Divya and her mom had whipped up a fabulous meal of Bisibele Bhaat and Thair Saadam, while Nana had purchased some very nice desserts from a nearby 150 year old cake shop. We were sorely tempted to take up his offer of taking a walk along the water-front, and about town, but reluctantly decided against it to ensure that we reach Randolph at a decent hour.
Shortly after lunch, we were in cabs on our way to Randolph. The initial section of our journey was on an old dilapidated expressway, and it did seem as if the breast-beating in the NY Times about the woeful state of US infrastructure has some basis. But this stretch lasted only a few miles, and the rest of the highway was of a world class standard. The journey took less time than I had feared (all the comments about bad NJ traffic were clearly not borne out by fact, at least on a Sunday afternoon), and we pulled into Arrowgate Drive soon.
Randolph is a small town of about 45,000, set in a thickly forested area, and to my mind at least seemed to epitomize ex-urban America. It is clearly only in America that you would find massive multinational companies being run out of a 
seemingly rural setting. It offered a complete contrast to the frenetic pace of Manhattan in general and Times Square, in particular. Jayashri and Sundar have a beautiful, three story, semi detached house, which is done up tastefully, and has been painted by Jayashri herself. Their kids, Soumya and Sagar, were very affectionate, and Avi quickly bonded with them. Avi had a great time running up and down the stairs. Sagar seemed somewhat amused to find that he was expected to play big brother to Avi, instead of being the baby of the family.
After grabbing some coffee, we set off for a nearby farm, which allows tourists to pluck strawberries for a fee. Given our large group of twelve, two cars were not enough, and we had to seat Soumya and Aparna in the boot of Jayashri's Jeep. We drove through beautiful country roads, and shortly reached the Strawberry farm, which is located in a nearby town called Chester. 
For just USD 3 per head (completely offsettable against the price of any strawberries we pluck and buy), we could set out into the fields, and pluck strawberries. Avi was delighted (as were the rest of us), though I quickly stopped plucking strawberries and turned to the camera keeping in view my back. Avi of course ignored the admonitions against eating strawberries before paying for them, and attacked them with a vengeance.
This was followed by a trip around the farm on the back of a tractor trailer, and then a chance to look at the farm animals up close, including the amazing sight (a first for me, at least since Mysore zoo when I was a kid) of a Peacock dancing. After the farm, we set out for a nearby rural trail, which is accompanied by warnings about bears prowling nearby. It was approaching darkness (at about 830 pm), and so we spent very little time there. The fact that America allows people to live in a fashion that is so connected to nature while having the best jobs and infrastructure in the world is clearly one of the greatest strengths of this country. (A friend of mine, whom I spoke to after 15 years, and has worked in private equity, lives nearby).
We then headed for Jayashri's place, where we attacked a fabulous Thai dinner that she had kept ready for us.
Day 10 - June 6, 2011
The next morning, Sundar took Avi, Sagar, Appa, his (viz Sundar's) mom and me to another nearby nature reserve. Avi got a chance to ford a stream (guided by Sundar), and walk briefly through a wooded trail. There was a wooden kids play area, and Avi and Sagar had a great time playing on the Jungle Gym. The improvement in Avi's dexterity over the last twelve months has certainly been impressive.
Jayashri had taken everybody else for shopping that morning, and we were to meet at Qdoba, a Mexican restaurant for lunch. We headed for an early lunch, since I needed to take the 1 pm NJ Transit train to NYC to collect our laundry. We ordered some Tacos, Nachos and a soup. Avi actually enjoyed the Tacos, and insisted on copying Sagar by eating on his own. We had finished our lunch by the time the rest of the gang arrived, and it was time for me to head to NYC. I had our largest suitcase with me to fill with our laundry. The train was exactly on time, and I was able to walk down to the laundry. This time it was open, and the only challenge was getting all the clothes stuffed into the suitcase. Then I took a taxi (and had the taxi man load and unload the bag) back to Penn Station and waited for the others.
The train to Washington DC passed through Newark, Philadelphia, and Baltimore. I had done the journey to Philly before, and the only notable event during our journey was the sights we saw while passing through Baltimore. Baltimore, despite being famous as one of the oldest cities in the US and the site of several top Universities, has been a byword for urban blight, at least for readers of The Economist. And what we saw bore this out completely, as the buildings along the Railway line were truly dilapidated, and would not have looked out of place in Reay Road.
Union Station at Washington DC was much grander than I had imagined it would be, and we ended spending some time taking pictures and admiring the building before heading for our hotel. The cab system in Washington DC is unique, as there are extra fares charged for each passenger and piece of luggage. The first cab we got into ended up adding USD 9 extra for this, and when asked for a reconciliation, refused to ply. Fortunately, we got another cab, and the extras came to just USD 6 in this case. While the difference may not seem like much, I had no desire to give my custom to someone who tried to cheat me. It may sound racist but the fact is that our best experiences with cabbies so far have been with Indian and Bangladeshi drivers. Our hotel was located very close to the White House and the Washington Mall (not a shopping complex but the area between the Capitol, or US parliament building, and the Lincoln memorial). We initially thought of going for dinner to an Indian restaurant, but settled for a closer Subway instead, before crashing, in preparation for a long day at DC ahead of us.
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