We take the noon Acela to NYC. I’m incredibly severely monumentally cranky about walking the 1/2 hour from home to Union Station and again on the other end with another 1/2 hour from Penn Station to our hotel, which is on East 50th between Lexington and Third. Maybe if I’d brought the rolling suitcase, I’d be happier. But I’ve got just an overnight bag slung over my shoulder. And in it also is Dawn’s big three-ring binder for her training. And our coats, since it’s so warm out.

I feel a little better after checking into the San Carlos and then heading straight to a pub on Second Avenue called the Press Box. I have a Sam while Dawn has a glass of Pinot Grigio.

We walk around a bit, on 50th towards the river, although we don’t cross FDR Drive. We find Beekman Place then make our way back to First Avenue, then back east on 52nd. We look down towards the UN and over towards Roosevelt Island.

We kinda sorta make our way towards Central Park, going back to First and up to 59th, then west towards the park, although it’s getting late and will be getting dark soon. Yes, it’s getting darker and darker, we’ll never make it there and back, so we head back down to 51st between Second and Third to Amma.

We share a yummy bottle of the Rocca Bernarda Pinot Grigio. Dawn goes with the Dum Aloo, whereas I opt for the Malabar Salmon. It’s all really, really good. The salmon is presented quite nicely, too. We go with the Gulab Jamun for dessert, and it’s quite tasty but there’s some problem with the coffee so we’re done with dessert before I get my coffee.

There’s a cool picture on the wall next to our table, a photograph from India of bicycle taxis parked in front of a billboard advertising a Bollywood movie. I don’t really recognize anyone in the movie poster, but if you held a gun to my head I would maybe say that the guy on the right is Amitabh Bachchan. I ask our waiter and he doesn’t know. Another waiter says that the picture is from southern India and the guy on the left is Mammootty. Oh, hey, I’ve seen him in Rajiv Menon’s movie Kandukondain Kandukondain, a Tamil version of Sense & Sensibility. Mammootty plays the Col. Brandon character to Ashwarya Rai’s Marianne Dashwood character. We all pause to sigh over Ashwarya Rai.