After a comfortable forty-hour journey from New York to Dallas on Amtrak, it was time to get familiar with the city I had come to visit. My hotel was located somewhat out of the main downtown area, and since I didn't feel like spending ten or twelve dollars on a cab, I opted for public transportation. Besides, there's more to learn about a city from seeing the people who ride the trains and buses.
Between the hotel and nearest the train station was a hefty six-block walk (and these are long blocks) and before I reached the halfway point I was already starting to get hungry. I noticed a mall-like structure called the Market Hall, and not sure exactly what it was I decided to peek my head inside to have a look. After I entered through the automatic sliding doors I saw a large space, like the size of a supermarket, with dozens of quilts hanging against the walls. Towards the front was a long table with about seven to eight eldery women seated and looking like they were there to sign people up for something. They asked me if they could help me with anything, but I said, "no, thanks", and walked out. As I walked the next few blocks and my hunger increased, the answer to what I really needed appeared, The Market Diner. For the previous two days I had been eating snacks and crummy Amtrak food, I was due to a solid meal, and I got just that.
The place was packed with cars jamming the parking lot and I was lucky enough to get the last unused booth. This must certainly have been the hotspot for getting breakfast and lunch in that area (they usually close around 4pm). Once I was seated and looked at their menu, I instantly agreed with their Pie-Fixes-Everything philosophy. Instead of pie, my eye was drawn to their hand-dipped milk shakes, whatever that meant, and ordered a vanilla. In the age of stinginess and cheapness, not only did I get the shake, I also got the metal mixer with two full glass refill amounts inside. I filled my entire year quota of milk shakes in just one sitting. Although the clock was more towards breakfast still than lunch, the lunch items looked very tempting so I went with a chicken-fried steak covered in gravy, with mac-n-cheese and corn on the side. In addition, the meal comes with a piece of cornbread and a roll. There was enough food in front of me to last a week, but knowing I would want to try another place later in the day, I made sure to be very conservative with my food in-take, and yes, it was a very difficult task.
Walking over towards the train station I had to follow alot of dirt paths and grassy hills as there weren't always sidewalks available. Plus, towards the sides of the roads there were alot of little creeks and waterways to watch out for. The mass transit system there is called DART for buses, and what they label subways, in yellow. The other train system there is called the TRE. For my purposes I needed the DART train system, but wasn't sure yet how payment worked. The station was wide open, you litteraly walk on the tracks to cross the other side, so how does one pay? There was a machine that looked like a metrocard dispenser and a sign telling passengers to purchase ticket before entering train. I still wasn't positive how this works, so I let one train pass by to watch someone get on to see what happens. Nothing, the gentlemen just walked in and took a seat. He didn't scan his ticket card anywhere nor did he have to show it to anyone. I went to the machine, got myself a single-ride ticket, which looks similar to a metrocard, and hopped on the next train. The ticket says to present to fare-checkers, but there was no one to check the tickets. Basically, the DART train system in Dallas works on the honor system where as the chances you're on the train when there is a fare-checker is slim-to-none. 99% of the time you can just walk on the train and ride for free probably.
My stop was only two away from the area of the diner and I was there in less than five minutes. Once I got off and had a chance to look around, I realized it was a mixed-bag city of old vintage signs from the 1960's with modern over-the-top glass skyscrapers towering all over. Also, wherever there is an American flag, there's sure to be the state flag of Texas right next to it, where I got the message of; Texas-first, America-second. The streets were very clean, I don't recall even seeing one piece of dog droppings, barely any graffiti, and had not one person ask me for spare change (perhaps the benefit of a state with relaxed gun laws). The closest experience I had with that was a shabby-looking fellow I sat on a DART train with who wanted me to exchange a five-dollar bill for the five dollars worth of change in his hand, which I did. My hotel had a soda machine with bottled water, and without any singles, a fistfull of change would be necessary. If there was anyone to make trouble, there were cops nearly on every block, either walking or driving by. When other cars drove around town, there wasn't the need to blast their music so everyone within the nearest five zip codes could hear what they were listening to. It was all quite a change of pace from New York.
It's a nice clean city, but overall its really not that big, I was able to walk most of the downtown are blocks in only a few hours. Although I had quite a large meal to start the day, I did a great deal of walking and my stomach was starting to ask for more food. The Heart Attack Grill was closed down for some reason, so I found a nice looking place called The Spaghetti Warehouse. I was still technically in the lunch time hours so I was able to take advantage of their five-dollar specials that day. My dish was spaghetti with tomato sauce, and it was an extra two-dollars to add on a meatball and Italian sausage. It came with a soup and bread, and I ordered a few glasses of pinot grigio to help make the experience more enjoyable.While I was finishing my meal, I looked over at the dessert menu and couldn't take my eyes off the picture of the tiramisu cake. I didn't get my pie that morning from the Market Diner, so I needed to make up for it. I had to promise myself to only eat 60% of the slice, but I actually ended up at 80%. There were still a few hours till the start of the basketball game I was going to attend that night between the New York Knicks and Dallas Mavericks, so I walked around the city some more before heading over to American Airlines Arena where the game was going to take place.
I was probably one of the first people actually inside the arena when I got there, some players from both teams were taking practice shots. With time to kill I walked around the large arena, and like everything else in Dallas, the structures inside were very over-the-top. There was a giant model American Airlines airplane, the bathrooms has flat-screen TVs on the walls, and best of all there was a concession room dedicated to everything anyone would ever possibly to know about the soda Dr. Pepper. There were old bottles from just about every decade the soda has been around plus a full timeline of Dr. Pepper's history. It was an actual Dr. Pepper museum. Based on my surroundings, I couldn't leave without ordering one, but went with diet. By time I got back to my seat more fans started filing in. There was a large Asian turnout for Knicks star Jeremy Lin and the Linsanity craze that was making its way through the Dallas area. In all I have to say the fans there are rather lame as I felt no real passion from them for their team. They should've been happier, the Mavericks were leading the Knicks for most of the game. In the fourth quarter the Knicks did take a one-point lead with only four minutes left in the game and it looked like they were on their way to a great comeback victory, unfortunately the Mavericks had a late surge of their own and ended up winning the game 95-85. The DART station is right near the arena so I would be back to my hotel in no time.
I was tempted to ride the train without buying a ticket, but seeing how beggers are afraid to even ask for change in the city, maybe fare-beaters are sent to the electric chair in Texas.....
Between the hotel and nearest the train station was a hefty six-block walk (and these are long blocks) and before I reached the halfway point I was already starting to get hungry. I noticed a mall-like structure called the Market Hall, and not sure exactly what it was I decided to peek my head inside to have a look. After I entered through the automatic sliding doors I saw a large space, like the size of a supermarket, with dozens of quilts hanging against the walls. Towards the front was a long table with about seven to eight eldery women seated and looking like they were there to sign people up for something. They asked me if they could help me with anything, but I said, "no, thanks", and walked out. As I walked the next few blocks and my hunger increased, the answer to what I really needed appeared, The Market Diner. For the previous two days I had been eating snacks and crummy Amtrak food, I was due to a solid meal, and I got just that.
The place was packed with cars jamming the parking lot and I was lucky enough to get the last unused booth. This must certainly have been the hotspot for getting breakfast and lunch in that area (they usually close around 4pm). Once I was seated and looked at their menu, I instantly agreed with their Pie-Fixes-Everything philosophy. Instead of pie, my eye was drawn to their hand-dipped milk shakes, whatever that meant, and ordered a vanilla. In the age of stinginess and cheapness, not only did I get the shake, I also got the metal mixer with two full glass refill amounts inside. I filled my entire year quota of milk shakes in just one sitting. Although the clock was more towards breakfast still than lunch, the lunch items looked very tempting so I went with a chicken-fried steak covered in gravy, with mac-n-cheese and corn on the side. In addition, the meal comes with a piece of cornbread and a roll. There was enough food in front of me to last a week, but knowing I would want to try another place later in the day, I made sure to be very conservative with my food in-take, and yes, it was a very difficult task.
Walking over towards the train station I had to follow alot of dirt paths and grassy hills as there weren't always sidewalks available. Plus, towards the sides of the roads there were alot of little creeks and waterways to watch out for. The mass transit system there is called DART for buses, and what they label subways, in yellow. The other train system there is called the TRE. For my purposes I needed the DART train system, but wasn't sure yet how payment worked. The station was wide open, you litteraly walk on the tracks to cross the other side, so how does one pay? There was a machine that looked like a metrocard dispenser and a sign telling passengers to purchase ticket before entering train. I still wasn't positive how this works, so I let one train pass by to watch someone get on to see what happens. Nothing, the gentlemen just walked in and took a seat. He didn't scan his ticket card anywhere nor did he have to show it to anyone. I went to the machine, got myself a single-ride ticket, which looks similar to a metrocard, and hopped on the next train. The ticket says to present to fare-checkers, but there was no one to check the tickets. Basically, the DART train system in Dallas works on the honor system where as the chances you're on the train when there is a fare-checker is slim-to-none. 99% of the time you can just walk on the train and ride for free probably.
My stop was only two away from the area of the diner and I was there in less than five minutes. Once I got off and had a chance to look around, I realized it was a mixed-bag city of old vintage signs from the 1960's with modern over-the-top glass skyscrapers towering all over. Also, wherever there is an American flag, there's sure to be the state flag of Texas right next to it, where I got the message of; Texas-first, America-second. The streets were very clean, I don't recall even seeing one piece of dog droppings, barely any graffiti, and had not one person ask me for spare change (perhaps the benefit of a state with relaxed gun laws). The closest experience I had with that was a shabby-looking fellow I sat on a DART train with who wanted me to exchange a five-dollar bill for the five dollars worth of change in his hand, which I did. My hotel had a soda machine with bottled water, and without any singles, a fistfull of change would be necessary. If there was anyone to make trouble, there were cops nearly on every block, either walking or driving by. When other cars drove around town, there wasn't the need to blast their music so everyone within the nearest five zip codes could hear what they were listening to. It was all quite a change of pace from New York.
It's a nice clean city, but overall its really not that big, I was able to walk most of the downtown are blocks in only a few hours. Although I had quite a large meal to start the day, I did a great deal of walking and my stomach was starting to ask for more food. The Heart Attack Grill was closed down for some reason, so I found a nice looking place called The Spaghetti Warehouse. I was still technically in the lunch time hours so I was able to take advantage of their five-dollar specials that day. My dish was spaghetti with tomato sauce, and it was an extra two-dollars to add on a meatball and Italian sausage. It came with a soup and bread, and I ordered a few glasses of pinot grigio to help make the experience more enjoyable.While I was finishing my meal, I looked over at the dessert menu and couldn't take my eyes off the picture of the tiramisu cake. I didn't get my pie that morning from the Market Diner, so I needed to make up for it. I had to promise myself to only eat 60% of the slice, but I actually ended up at 80%. There were still a few hours till the start of the basketball game I was going to attend that night between the New York Knicks and Dallas Mavericks, so I walked around the city some more before heading over to American Airlines Arena where the game was going to take place.
I was probably one of the first people actually inside the arena when I got there, some players from both teams were taking practice shots. With time to kill I walked around the large arena, and like everything else in Dallas, the structures inside were very over-the-top. There was a giant model American Airlines airplane, the bathrooms has flat-screen TVs on the walls, and best of all there was a concession room dedicated to everything anyone would ever possibly to know about the soda Dr. Pepper. There were old bottles from just about every decade the soda has been around plus a full timeline of Dr. Pepper's history. It was an actual Dr. Pepper museum. Based on my surroundings, I couldn't leave without ordering one, but went with diet. By time I got back to my seat more fans started filing in. There was a large Asian turnout for Knicks star Jeremy Lin and the Linsanity craze that was making its way through the Dallas area. In all I have to say the fans there are rather lame as I felt no real passion from them for their team. They should've been happier, the Mavericks were leading the Knicks for most of the game. In the fourth quarter the Knicks did take a one-point lead with only four minutes left in the game and it looked like they were on their way to a great comeback victory, unfortunately the Mavericks had a late surge of their own and ended up winning the game 95-85. The DART station is right near the arena so I would be back to my hotel in no time.
I was tempted to ride the train without buying a ticket, but seeing how beggers are afraid to even ask for change in the city, maybe fare-beaters are sent to the electric chair in Texas.....
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