Wednesday, July 28, 2010

The Situation

 I had a great time with the girls in AC last weekend.

It was exactly what I needed - away from the unbearable heat of the City for a few days in a place where, despite temperatures reaching 102F on Saturday, laying out in the sun is actually possible due to frequent dips in the pool and where daytime alcohol consumption is not only tolerated but highly encouraged!

But of course Atlantic City lived up to its tacky reputation. I'm not sure that I have ever seen quite so many tattooed bodies in one place before and "tramp stamps" seemed particularly popular. I have nothing against tattoos but most of them were so bad that had I taken pictures of them, I would have been populating the pages of ugliesttattoos.com for months to come.

A trip to the ladies room in the club of the Chelsea Hotel was quite an experience as the air was thick with hairspray, cheap perfume and girls were giggling as they shared cubicles in groups of two - something that I haven't seen done since my University days in the UK and a strange custom I don't, and will never, understand.

What I was not expecting however was for it to be a little scary too. On Saturday night, all dressed up and teetering in our high heels, we were determined to venture outside of our hotel for dinner and went hunting for a highly recommended Italian restaurant we read up about, just a block away from the boardwalk. We were stunned to find streets lined with desolated houses and what looked like shacks and started to feel quite unsafe. After being propositioned by a couple of men standing outside a Gentleman's Club, we pretty much ran back to the safety of the boardwalk!

I know that all of the above will make me sound like a snob and maybe that's what I have become but with the right company and a great pool, any city can be the perfect getaway and despite all its shortcomings, that's what AC was to me.

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