Frank Pepe Pizza

As a child I have fond memories of Frank Pepe's Pizzeria in New Haven.  They are famous for their coal fired brick oven pizza made with the freshest ingredients. We would go as a family and sometimes wait hours in line to enjoy one of their famous pies if we could even find parking on the small Wooster Street.  You know you have arrived when you pass beneath the Wooster Stret arch.  

This New Haven institution has been operating since 1925 and celebrate its 90th year this year and not much has changed. The interior looks just as it always has for the past 30+ years and is comprised of two large rooms.  

There are a half dozen booths in the first room along the right wall with a large counter along the left. The oven are along the back wall.  The second room is to the right and both walls of that room are flanked with booths. The walls are covered with historical photos of Frank Pepe memorabilia. 

This time I wasn't with my family and was sharing the experience with a few friends. We selected the fresh tomato pie which is a seasonal pie they make every summer with fresh local tomatoes. I also chose to get a bottle of Birch beer soda which I can't say I have found anywhere else but Pepe's pizza.

The pizza pie is served on a standard half-sheet and is the quintessential example of how a pie should be. The chewy charred crust surrounds the fresh sliced tomatoes and secret cheese blend that oozes and bubbles flavor. The sauce is sweet and tastyand couldn't be more perfect.  They also don't slice a pie into perfect slices some look like you might expect while others are not triangular.  It's part of the experience to have different sized slices of pizza here. 

It didn't take us long to polish off the pie and one large was more then enough for the three of us. Sometimes as a kid I would get an Italian ice next door but today it wasn't meant to be since I was stuffed with the perfect pizza. 

If y find yourself in New Haven around lunch or dinner don't hesitate to stop by and if there is a line it's worth the wait.  

One Wold Observatory: See Forever

Located on the top floors of the newly finish One World Trade Center the multi level observation center offers panoramic views of NYC however the experience starts many floors below ground level at the Global Welcome Center. 

After buying your tickets or checking in you pass through security and enter a large hall where a world map is displayed. There we learned interesting statistics about visitors to the observatory. Today the most represented country was Germany. After leaving the lobby and ticket area we entered an area known as Voices and Foundations. In the dimly lite queue visitors can feel and touch a simulated stone representing the bedrock on which this structure is built and hear the personal stories told by those who built the tallest building in the Western Hemisphere. 

As we emerge from the winding pathways we reach a bank of modern elevators known as Sky Pods which will shoot us to the 102nd floor in less then 60 seconds while riders enjoy a simulated view of New York from its beginning to present day. This was a cool experience watching as we climbed altitude the years and growth and development of the city occurred at an accelerated rate. 

After the short elevators ride we found ourselves squished into the Forever Theatre on the skyscrapers 102nd floor where a view of city life plays out. Then the wall opens vertically giving visitors their first glimpse of the city skyline. That glimpse is very brief as the wall lowers almost immediately. 

Like cattle we are then herded into a room and directed down a flight of stairs into a high pressure sales area where employees of the observatory swarmed like bees in a final push to up charge the visitors by encouraging them to rent iPads designed to help identify key locations as they view the skyline of the city. This pressure created a significant bottleneck preventing many people from reaching the next views of the city on the 101st floor easily. 

As if that push to pay more wasn't enough the next view of the city was along a small balcony which lead to their income generating cafe. Here visitors had the option to purchase overpriced pain au chocolate or artisan sandwiches with the hope to be lucky enough to find an available table on which to eat. It was a chaotic mess with many visitors unsure what to do ending up in the cafe only to discover that they needed to turn around to take the stairs down on more level to the 100th floor, known as the Discovery Level, where the first full panoramic view of the city were available. 

The Discovery Level allows visitors a full360-degree view in all directions. It also includes the sky portal, a 14-ft wide circular disc hat provides real time views of the streets below. It also offers an interactive skyline known as City Pulse which helps guests connect with and observe landmarks around the city. 

While the view were amazing and you truly could See Forever I have to agree with my father that the experience was no where near as dramatic and awe inspiring as the observation deck of the previous World Trade Center. 

While the sky pods were very cool the smooth and quick ride left you barely realizing that you had just shot up 102 floors. It lacked the experience that the old slower elevator with 102 lighted numbers that slowly counted up. 

The Forever Theatre was also a let down as you were so close to the wall it was hard to see much other then what was right in front of you. When the wall finally opened exposing the amazing view it was so short lived you barely had a chance to figure out what direction you were looking before the walls dropped back down and you were ushered like animals into the sales slaughter. 

The discovery floor certainly had awe inspiring views but it lacked that open air feel with the wind rushing by which helped give value to how high you really were. The visitors were so cocooned behind safety glass that it was hard to really appreciate what it was really like on the other side of the glass.  It's an amazing facility and a valuable venue but that intense experience the old observatory provided wasn't the same. 

Submitting our Chinese Visa Application

Knowing that the Consulate of the People's Republic of China visa office has a very narrow window of hours we got ourselves up early and braved Monday morning NYC commute. Thankfully our departure location was a tad closer then home and we managed to arrive a few minutes after they opened at 9:00am. Traffic was as expected but it moved along fairly quickly and it wasn't long before we pulled into the pier 83 parking garage. 

After crossing the busy Henry Hudson Parkway we made our way to the visa office entrance on the Sid of the consulate. A long series of two lines had already formed along West 42nd St. One line was the visa application line. The other was for completed and approved Visa pickup. The line moved in spurts and before we knew it the security guard was checking to make sure we had the correct application before letting us inside. Next we passed through airport style security with a metal detector and baggage scanner.  They temporarily confiscated my camera but since phones and pictures were strictly forbidden I wasn't bothered. I collected my claim check and proceeded to the next line to pick up a number for the visa applications. Our number was C166. They were currently on C130 when we all set down. 

The room reminded me of the DMV where they called numbers at a series of windows and you sat on chairs lined up in rows waiting for your number to finally be called. It took roughly an hour before our turn came. Thankfully the young lady processing our visa application was very efficient. After reviewing the documentation she issued us a receipt and advised us we could pick up our passports and visa's this Friday. 

With a busy day in the Big Apple planned we made our way to the door where I claimed my camera back before leaving. It was a painless process since we were prepared. So many people were obviously not prepared and slowing down the lines.  Now it's just a wait and see. 

- - - - -

Flashing forward to Friday.  This return trip my parents decided to stay at the beach house and sent us to the city to retrieve all our visa's at the Consulate of the People's Republic of China. As we did earlier this week we braved the NYC morning commute once more.  After successfully parking at the Pier 83 Circle Line parking garage we made our way across the street to the consulate.

Immediately we noticed that the lines were significantly longer then they had been on Monday.  The pickup line was twice as long as the drop off which was the complete opposite. Thankfully the line moved along quickly and before we knew it we made it through security and got in line 9 to turn in our pickup ticket and exchange it for a number.  With a number now in hand we got in th second line. I assume this turn in your receipt and grab a number was a way for them to pull our passports instead of having us stand at the window waiting. 

On Monday we noticed a fair number of people cutting the lines delaying our turn at the window. Similarly this time a gentleman tried to cut us but annoyed enough from our previous visit I prevented him from succeeding and sent him to the back of the line. He was clearly irked that I called him out but went to the back of the line where he belonged. 

When we got to the window she already had our passports ready. After a quick swip of my credit card everything was paid and we left passports in hand. As a joke I called my parents and told them "we have a little problem. Everyone got their visa's but dad.  I immediately sensed their panic and quickly told them I was kidding" I'm not sure they found it as funny as I did. Now we just have to look forward to the trip and the exciting adventures that it will include.