It’s been 10 years since I last attended the NY International Auto Show. It had to be March 2006, only a few months after we moved to East Windsor, and Josh had turned a year old. I do love cars, and I’ve gone maybe 2 or 3 times at the most in my life. I haven’t attended in 10 years for one reason or another, but mostly because I didn’t have anyone to go with. This year, Josh expressed interest in attending with me.
I looked at all of the transportation methods available to us, but with the rain and the costs, I ultimately opted to drive into Manhattan. You can’t knock comfort and expediency. It took us about an hour to get in, but the traffic around the Javitz Center was bad, and “event parking” rates were in effect all around the area, i.e. $70 for the privilege of parking. The Indian (and the New Yorker) in me refused to pay $70 for parking without a fight, so we circled around a bit, and headed down the West Side to 23rd St. My plan was to park a little farther away from the hub bub, and take the A-C-E train back up to 34th St and walk to 11th Ave.
Benedict Cumberbatch as Doctor Strange
Funny enough, as we made the turn onto 5th Ave and 22nd St, we ran into a film shoot. A particular film. There I am slowing passing the film shoot, I look down on my left on the street, and I see Benedict Cumberbatch in costume as Doctor Strange. Yes, some of the last on-location filming for Marvel’s Doctor Strange film coming out later this year. We freaked out, quickly parked the car in a garage on 21st St, threw the keys at the attendant, and ran to the street corner to watch the rest of the filming. Eventually, Cumberbatch and the rest of the crew jumped into black SUVs and drove off. Pretty cool. Josh and I walked to 8th Ave, grabbed the C train to 34th St, and walked again all the way to 11th Ave.
The line at the convention center was long — snaking along the front of the building, around the corner down to the back, and back up again all the way to the entrance. We trudged a slow moving line, and people did occasionally try to jump the line. Well, until other fellow New Yorkers shamed them. We eventually got in, got overpriced food to eat, and then walked around the showcases.
It was a good show, but we were pretty tired around 4 PM. We had come back from Philadelphia yesterday, and then up early this morning. We decided to end it on a high note, and then trudged our way back to 21st St. We hit a nearby Starbucks for a quick drink, then drove home.
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