Our room was on the "Penthouse" floor. We were really excited going up in the elevator. Since we had had such a problem getting situated in the hotel to start with, we figured it was another perc. Hehheh. It wasn't until the next day that I figured it out - the floor is called the Penthouse floor because nobody likes to have a room on the 13th floor of a building.... LOL.
So, back "home" to the penthouse. Next day was our last day in NYC, so we got up and out as fast as possible so as to get down to Penn Station to stash our bags. We decided to walk - it was something like 10 blocks, and wall-to-wall people. Ended up eating lunch in an Irish pub - again with the Irish. YUM! I had smoked salmon on umpteen-grain bread - not that I could actually eat the bread, but whatever... the salmon part, with prosciutto, was delish! G had a grilled veg crostini with mozz and feta. Also yum, except for the squash. (blech)
After lunch, we were off to Philadelphia on the train, where we caught a NJTransit train to Atlantic City. After that, things got a little weird.... Here are the Christmas decorations at Caesar's.
One might think that being a holiday week and all, one would be able to get dinner at about any hour in a casino. One would be wrong. One would also think that with this economy, there would be plenty of $5 and $10 tables to play. One would be wrong again. We never did see a $5 table anywhere we went. We played awhile at a $15 blackjack table, but that was about it for us. Even the slot machines suck now - not just literally, but figuratively, too. They're no longer the "one armed bandit" of fable and myth. They're all electronic now - most don't have the pull handle any more. I had one quarter in my pocket, so I went looking for a quarter machine. I found one, but there's no way to put a quarter IN the machine. They don't take coins any more! You can tell it's been awhile since we've been to Atlantic City.... Anyway, we finally found sustenance at an Asian place called Kwi (that's a long I sound...), but I forget which casino it was in. Once we finally got a seat (feng shui apparently dictates that some seats must remain empty no matter how many are standing in line starving...), we were right behind the chefs at their woks, which was quite interesting. After dinner, we went out on the Boardwalk and up into the pier, which was closed at that point except for a couple of the restaurants. We were hoping for cheesecake again...but the only place open was (guess what?) the Irish pub! Yeah! So, we had dessert (apple crisp) and a few hands of rummy, in a really cool bar with almost no people, no smoking (yeah!!!) and great music. 'Twas excellent, really...
The AC part of the trip was a mess, but we ended up sitting in a lounge area behind the sports betting bar in Bally's. Now, someone please tell me, WHY THE HELL would anyone take a child in a casino? Why? Nobody goes to a casino to have fun with the fam. The casino is ADULT entertainment (although WITH clothing...). So we're sitting in this lounge, and a baby starts screaming. He's on the floor directly across a glass wall from us, crawling around unsupervised - and this is like, 1:00 a.m., right? The kid was still crawling around out there after 2:30 a.m.!!! Ridiculous. Not only was this kid up about oh, 8 hours past a decent bedtime, he wasn't being supervised. Not only THAT, but even in Jersey, they still allow some smoking in the casinos (although thankfully, that's been drastically cut since we were there last), and guess what? Kiddo lungs are not cut out for smoke inhalation.... oy.
Ok, cutting the story short, boring parts removed. We got back on the train to Philly, then back on the Amtrak Carolinian to Greensboro. When we arrived in GSO, we were met by 5 uniformed and 3 plainclothes coppers. Why? Who knows for sure, although my personal speculation is, there was at least one and probably more prisoners of some stripe up the front of the train. When we were in DC, a uniformed officer came through our car on his way forward, and we didn't see him get OFF the train... No idea for sure, though. They were standing at the bottom of the escalator shooing folks on through. We got outta there tout de suite, just in case... I mean, New Year's Eve, blue moon, terrorists...ya can't be too careful.
So now we're home, with the Wagster and Mo, and I'm off to bed. Been up something like 42 hours now....
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