New York,New York

A lot of things kept me busy and away from my blogsite but here I am, back again..wanted to complete my log on my Washington-NY trip before I started forgetting the itsy-bitsy details..

We left Washington on the 23rd afternoon - in fact it was almost evening. Our vehicle, the Santa-Fe, had Furqan, Lalit and Amit, and we were closely following the Chevy Uplander belonging to Rakesh and Manish. Those guys started off from the Comfort Inn with such confidence, we thought we were all set to reach NJ in good time. I and Furqan were in no mood to get lost within the labyrinth called Washington streets again. But lo, within minutes of leaving the place, Rakesh lost the way and we were again heading towards the familiar territory - on the road next to the Arlington Cemetary, heading towards the Lyndon B Johnson park and again seeing the all too familiar DC skyline - the Washington Monument, the Capitol - all looming on the left. Actually we were still in the Arlington-Falls Church, Virginia area, which is like what Noida is to Delhi. In fact, much closer to that since DC is a very small area. But somehow, during the day, our instincts were much sharper and we could again get back to the route with some detour into a residential area, taking a reverse turn and catching the 395N. The road after that was very clear - catching the 95N till a particular exit (there is a fork from which 95N goes to Pittsburgh and then towards Boston and the other to the NJ Turnpike through Baltimore and the Delaware memorial bridge). The journey was really pleasant - Furqan was to drive for most of the journey and then Lalit to take over the last leg to the Best Western near Newark International in New Jersey, our destination. The road is a little confusing if you keep looking at it while driving - there are a lot of old streetmarks that have gone faint and have been replaced with new markings and that makes the road look like a mesh of dividers. To top it all, the speed limit mentioned was 50mph and everyone was shuttling at 80!. The familiar tunnel near Baltimore and the beautiful sky-line, the marina that was quite visible, and then the all-to-familiar overhead signs for Johns Hopkins and University of Maryland passed by. I so wished at that time that I could get admitted to one of those schools. I am truly in love with that entire area - Washington, Pittsburgh, Baltimore, Richmond are all in about 80-100 mile radius and are loaded with historical places and hallowed names - quite like London. We passed by the Delaware Memorial Bridge, which looks quite the Brooklyn Bridge and is all covered with a bluish-green tinge that reminds you of the Statue of Liberty. We stopped at a rest area and did not take an exit - this one was like a mall, and very unlike all the rest areas we have seen in other states. This was on the Turnpike, at the NJ-Delaware state border or close to that.Icy cold and windy night, typical of north-east US - we relieved ourselves, grabbed a few packets of chips (I had a fag - couldn't help it), picked up a bottle of coke (yes, crazy us for not going for some hot cup of coffee!!) and then sped off. The entire journey between DC and NJ is dotted with tolls. People carry something called an EZPass, but typically for a non-pass holder, the one way trip would take you back by about 20 dollars give and take a few bucks. The traffic, the number of lanes, and the fact that it is close to sea and is difficult to maintain, justifies it.

The entire place between Washington and New Jersey seems like one single city in the night - all lighted up, and heavy traffic much through the night too, and the lanes. And the worst part - if you catch a lane and think the road signs would guide you through the whole journey like in the rest of the country, you are mighty mistaken - most of the exits have names instead of numbers, and there are "Exit Only" signs on multiple lanes. So if you don't stick to the right lanes in such high speeds, you can easily land up in some exit and get into a ride of a few miles to get back on track...

So we were happily going on on the NJ Turnpike, looking at our maps all the time to stay on course, until we started realizing we had overshot the right exit. We, naturally, took the next exit available, to a gas station, to ask for the Best Western near the Newark Liberty, our destination. The guy gave us a direction to catch the turnpike again and then take a particular exit. We did that, and were again heading towards New York - while we could see the Best Western, one of the tall buildings in that area, we were not sure of the exit to take, since most of the exits were for the Newark Liberty airport. We finally managed to reach the hotel after a few turns around that place. The hotel is owned by one Ravi Patel - real good, recommended to all. I could see the Manhattan skyline and Statue of Liberty clearly from my room window. It was about 10.30 in the night when we reached. Next to the reception, when the others were collecting our room keys, I noticed a flyer belonging to some muslim restaurant dishing out halal meat dishes. I showed it to Furqan and he went berserk - he had not had meat since ages since all meat available on retail is jhatka. We ordered a large chicken pizza just before things closed. Amit Lathiya was also famished and ordered a veggie. It was apparently the last order - as luck would have it - since other pizza joints like Domino's were closed by then. And was it tasty...We then went to sleep for the next day trip - which was Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island in the morning, from the Newark station, to Central Park/Madison Square, Madame Tussauds, Time Square, Rockefeller, etc all through the day..