Day 6-9: NYC

Overall, NYC was fantastic! I really enjoyed my time there :) It's such a pity I was only there for 3.5 days. An even greater pity that my original flight from Montreal to NYC was cancelled! (Therefore cutting down already limited time in NYC) That was quite a drama - Firstly, I found it really difficult to sleep the night before (so I got in total about 2 hours sleep!) Secondly, I had to get to the airport at 6:45am! With only 2 hours of sleep! Thirdly, when I was waiting in the departure lounge, they made the announcement 15 mins before boarding that our flight was cancelled due to 'mechanical problems'!! So much for getting no sleep n getting there so early for nothing!! So it was another 4 hour wait for the next flight to NYC - LaGuardia. I will now think twice before using Air Canada to fly anywhere!

Day 1 - NYC
By the time I finally made it to NYC it was about 4pm...I saved myself some money by catching a bus to Grand Central Terminal for US$12! Not sure how much a cab would have been...but definitely more than that! Luckily my hotel was located right opposite Grand Central Terminal, so I only had to drag my luggage across the road!

It was exciting for me to finally be IN NYC as I've been dreaming about this day since I was 16 yrs old!! All the movies and the TV shows I have watched over the many years...it was finally going to make sense! As the plane was landing at LaGuardia...I could see all the high rise buildings, the Brooklyn bridge etc and that 4 hour wait I had to endure was all but forgotten! My first impressions of NYC - Manhattan - it's HUGE! I mean I have seen skyscrapers in my life before (Hong Kong, Shanghai) but nothing in comparison to this place! When you look up, all you see are tall buildings everywhere. My neck was getting sore from just looking up at the buildings! You could definitely sense that one had arrived in one big mega huge city! (And Yes, I could tell the difference in air quality too!)

Since I arrived so late, I didn't manage to achieve much on Day 1 in NYC. I met up with my Dad and his colleague, and upon the recommendation of the bartender at the hotel, we caught a cab to Greenwich for some excellent Thai food!!! Everyone mentions cab rides in NYC - and YES it’s true that it’s quite an experience especially during peak hour!! My gosh the traffic in NYC is just bad! Horrific! That's why all the rich people in Manhattan don't own or drive cars - they have drivers to drive them around. The traffic in NYC is truly bad enough to give you a headache. I really give credit to those cab drivers that manage to do it as a living!! (I suppose they get used to it?!?!) Greenwich was an excellent spot for dinner - if anyone goes to NYC in the future, I'd definitely recommend this thai place called "Lemongrass"...the ambience and setting of the place was hip and trendy...catering to the younger NYU crowd which meant the food was very reasonably priced! I had a Thai Green Chicken curry and I was so full I couldn't even finish my dinner!

Day 2 - NYC
I decided with my limited time here that a double-decker hop on/hop off tour was the way to go! So I purchased my tickets to do the Uptown & Downtown & Night loop. I started with the Downtown loop which began at the busy and tourist filled "Times Square" and ventured down to various places such as the Garment District, SoHo, Greenwich, Financial District and saw the various landmarks (NYSE, Wall St, Macy's, Cast Iron district in SoH0, City Hall, Ground Zero, UN Building etc) - basically I hung around Lower Manhattan for most of the day! The tour guide I had in the morning was an old but passionate bloke that has lived in NYC for over 40+ yrs! He gave a running commentary of all the various sights that we spotted. I made a stop at Battery Park to catch a ferry to see the "Statue of Liberty". I was lucky to have such good weather. It was a perfect blue sky sunny day...so I thought I may as well see the Manhattan skyline from afar and spend some time on the Hudson River! Again, I was at a tourist filled place but you definitely cannot miss the Statute of Liberty if you're going to visit NYC! It was an amazing sight for sure...from both afar and even up close! I spent some time at the park reading my NY Lonely Planet guide...taking lots of pictures of the NYC skyline plus the statue itself and just taking a nice stroll around the park. I eventually made it back to Manhattan...walked around the financial district and the East River side Seaport...before hopping on the bus again to get back to Midtown.

Empire State Building - Art Deco Architecture (I went there the next day at night)

A monument the people of NY started in rememberance of Sept 11th

Pic of Cast-Iron Buildings at SoHo - aka Cast-Iron District

Manhattan Municipal Building - an example of Renaissance Revival Architecture

Miss Statue of Liberty!

View of Manhattan from Statue of Liberty

ME & Manhattan!!
(one of the few pics where I'm actually in it!)

Manhattan again...Did I mention I love this city? hehe
The weather really was that fantastic!

A pic from my quick stroll around Central Park

One cannot miss a Broadway show if you're in NYC!! So earlier in the day I bought 2 tickets to Phantom of the Opera. There are TKTS booths you can go to for discounted tickets, but I didn't bother going there so bought my tickets from the Concierge at the hotel, just to be on the safe side. I actually wanted Jersey Boys...but it’s like the hottest ticket in town at the moment even the hotel can't get them! Phantom may have been an ‘old’ show, but it’s AMAZING! Stunning! I was so mesmirised by it that I wanted to see another show the next night! (But I didn't, due to time constraints!) It's incredible what can be performed live on stage! It’s certainly better than anything I’ve seen on stage in Sydney (although, I’ve never watched a musical in my life…only opera & theatre…so I didn’t have any benchmark to compare it with) And yes I'm a sucker for the score of the phantom music...there IS a reason why it’s the longest running show on Broadway!

Day 3 - NYC
I did the Uptown loop of my hop on/hop off tour. This route traveled up to Hell's Kitchen, Upper West Side, around Central Park, Harlem, Upper East side...This time I had a younger tour guide compared to the day before and he was one energetic, passionate Democratic New Yorker that made a lot of Bush jokes (which of course made the tour that bit more interesting!) He pointed out various good eateries around the area (which I have now all but forgotten!) and of course gave a pretty good running commentary around the area. He did point out the original Soup Nazi kitchen from Seinfeld, but the bus moved too quickly for me to take a quick snap! I think Harlem is one area I will definitely explore more in depth in the future! A lot of America's Jazz Greats commenced their career in Harlem - Ella Fitzgerald, Duke Ellington just to name a few! We drove past the famous Apollo theatre where many of the greats first started out! I love the history of jazz music so next time I must explore more of Harlem! (And I may as well make a side trip to Chicago & New Orleans if I'm going on my Hisotry of Jazz tour too :P)

I guess the highlight for me during Day 2 was my visit to the Metropolitan Museum of Art - The Met as its known. OMG I love that place! I actually spent 4 hours at the Met! And that wasn't even enough! I felt like I only browsed quickly through the collections instead of looking at it in depth. The Met building itself is amazing, and I just love how the New Yorkers have such an appreciation for building public places. Everything is grand and big! (It is New York…they have big ego’s!) The collection is superb! I've been to the Louvre before (that was 8 yrs ago!) but I think this beats the Louvre. There was everything from Ancient Roman & Greek art works on display, to Chinese paintings, porcelein & calligraphy! By far the most crowded part of the Museum of the “Cezanne to Picasso” exhibition. My camera was actually running low on memory/battery at that point so I purchased the book...I guess that's another 2 extra kilo's I have to carry around for the remainder of my trip! Well worth it I think! I am sooo glad I made an effort to visit the Met! Definitely the highlight!

The Met

Being stuck in Traffic in Manhattan!

As I was by myself (again!) in a big city…I decided to take the Nightloop of the NYC tour…just cuz I had nothing better to do in a big city and I may as well make use of my hop on/hop off tour (although I was getting a bit sick of it :P) I didn’t last very far on the tour…and I made a stop at the Empire State Building and figured I may as well make a stop at this landmark and see NYC at night! I don’t really know why everyone makes a big deal about this building…but if you consider the history of the building – the fact that it was built during the Great Depression and was the tallest building in the world for many yrs – you come to appreciate it! And the architecture of the building is unique and instantly recognizable! So I took a trip up to the 82nd floor (I think) and like all the other tourists around me – gazed in awe of this Great City’s Lights! It’s only from above that you realize the magnitude of the size of NYC. I spent a good 20 minutes up there before the wind was getting to me!!

View from the double decker bus on the "Night Loop"...oh yes it's Times Square...where the ball falls every yr on NYE

Times Square

View of Manhattan from the Empire State Building! See the long avenues?

Another pic from Empire State Building - I really needed a tripod to take a good shot!

New York Public Library - I walked passed it almost everyday...I just loved the grandeur style of the building - Beaux-Arts Architecture

Day 4 – NYC
After checking out from the Hotel I was in search for breakfast other than my standard Latte & Bagel from Starbucks (it had been my staple breakfast for the last 2 days!)…but the alternate path I took (up whatever avenue or street) had remarkably less food to choose from. I eventually found myself at the corner of Lexington Avenue and 59th Street (I started out at 42nd Street!) – Bloomingdales! I figured since I’m in NYC…I may as well visit one of their most well known department stores even though I don’t have the capacity to spend any money there! Unfortunately for all you girls there dying to find out how it was…I think I was in and out of Bloomingdales in less than 30-45 mins. I went up and down the escalators…nothing was quite affordable for me! (Duh!) And I really wasn’t interested in carrying around bags of stuff! So I browsed…I loved the BCBG & Marc Jacobs stuff but a dress for US$300+ was not something I was willing to spend! Although they were all gorgeous! If I could fit a big winter coat in my bag…I probably would have bought one…cuz we don’t get much of a good selection in Sydney! There were some discounts on…but really not enough to entice me to buy stuff!

The only thing I bought was a basketball jersey for my brother from the NBA store. I hope I got the right one as I had no idea…just recited what was on my piece of paper to the sales assistant! Oh yeah and a couple of cheapo stuff from GAP (from the night before). Other than that…NOTHING!

By lunch I made my way to the Rockefeller Center. I didn’t go up “The Rock” as I figured I’ve seen NYC from the Empire State. I bought lunch there (a great big piece of pizza for less than $US4!) and sat around the area where they usually put the Ice Skating ring each winter. It was again a lovely day to be eating outside! Upon deciding what else to do on my last day in NYC, I walked across the road and saw “Dean & Deluca”!!! Yay…that was something on my “list of things to see” but forgot about it once I got here! Why Dean & Deluca? Cuz “Felicity” used to work there (for anyone that used to watch the show…you will know what I’m talking about!) I decided I HAD to eat inside…so bought myself a cheesecake & an iced mocha latte :) It was a damn good cheesecake!

Rockefeller Centre - Atlas Statue (above)

Dean & Deluca - Does anyone remember Felicity? Well, I had the best cheesecake there too!

Unfortunately the over indulgence on food and walking around the place caused a slight headache. What to do? I really wanted to go see SoHo & Greenwich again but figured a short walk up 53rd Street to MoMA (Museum of Modern Art) may be better than taking a subway! I’m so glad I went to MoMA…I may turn into a museum freak after this trip, but I don’t regret going to MoMA at all! It was another fantastic place! Not as gigantic as the Met…I was there for another 2 hrs plus! More Monet’s, Picasso’s, Cezanne’s, Matisse…even Warhol! I was particularly excited when I saw the Design & Architecture exhibition. Again, great pieces of landmark furniture items from the 20th Century – the Barcelona Chair…(and other stuff I recognized but don’t remember its name!) Marc Newson stuff, Frank Lloyd Wright architectural sketches! Yep so my headache eventually left! The MoMA building itself is also fabulous! It’s right in the heart of the city and it even has a courtyard inside for people to spend time in the outdoors…I guess to contemplate?! There was a small water fountain (modern style of course) and if you gaze up you can see the surrounding high rises! (Hey its NYC) I guess I do regret not being able to visit the Guggenheim but I must leave something for my next trip hey?

Centrepiece at the MoMA

Andy Warhol - Campbell's Soup Cans (MoMA)

Claude Monet - Reflections of Clouds on the Water-Lily Ponds

(The Painting was so big i couldn't fit it onto 1 screen!)

One of my favourites from MoMA - it was unreal to see so many of my favourite 20th Century design pieces all at one place!

So in a not so brief way – that was my time in NYC! I thoroughly enjoyed it once I got used to the bad traffic and high rises everywhere! The city is definitely easy to get around and I didn’t experience any of that “New York” attitude you commonly hear. Whenever I asked people questions they were always helpful…maybe I didn’t really meet ‘real New Yorkers’? It’s a diverse and colourful city. You will meet virtually anyone from all corners of the earth in this city…they’re either tourists or people trying to make a living in the Big Apple! The city literally does not sleep…there’s always activity and people and cars no matter what time of the day! I really wish I could write more...but I think this is enought writing for one session!

Next update: London!!