new york city - part 1

2007.8.25, Saturday

We took the train down to New York City. It was pretty convenient since we didn't need to go all the way to Union Station as it stopped right at Oakville. The train ride was long though, around 12 hours. On our way out, the train was delayed 2 hours. We didn't get to NYC until around 11:15pm. We had to call our hotel to make sure they didn't give our room out. So the journey was 14 hours long. Oh well. That's the price you pay for a cheaper alternative. Our two tickets only cost us $400.

The train ride was uneventful. Train was full. Rick and I had to sit separately from Oakville to Niagara. It started to rain an hour into the trip, around Hamilton. We had to stop at the border and got to walk around a bit. We arrived at Albany at around 9:00pm. We should have been 45 minutes away from New York instead of 2 hours away.



Arrived at the Wellington Hotel at around 11:30pm. The hotel reminded me of those hotels around Nathan Road in Hong Kong. Wellington is a 3 star hotel. Hotel is described as European. European therefore means small. The room was small and the hotel old fashioned looking. It was clean, so it was adequate. Bed was a double and mattress was not firm enough. However, location is great for tourists. It's in Midtown near Carnegie Hall. The hotel is near the action, but not right into the middle of it. Very convenient. Subways right outside the hotel. One stop to Times Square on the N, R, W, trains.

2007.8.26, Sunday

Something funny happened in the morning. Rick saw a lady showering at The Park Central hotel across from us. It's quite a funny picture. Imagine this: All curtains are closed except one with a woman showering, and she looked like an Italina mama. It's actually quite hilarious.

Off we went to Ground Zero first. The #1 train was closed at certain stops and we were instructued to take the shuttle. Without a transit map, we just followed the crowd and ended up at the Staten Island Ferry terminal by mistake. So we took the free Staten Island Ferry. The view on the ferry was nice. We could see Lower Manhattan, the Statue of Liberty, and Ellis Island. We walked to the Staten Island stadium and got to go inside as 2 Japanese teams were playing some sort of tournament game.

We took the ferry back to the Manhattan and went to Ground Zero. Ground Zero was a very big hole. It gives you an idea of the magnitude of the tragedy. No one was working in Ground Zero as it was a Sunday.

We went to Chinatown as it seems to be the easiest to get to without a subway map (we had our tourist book, but not a detailed subway map). I have been to Chinatown before. A madhouse that is. Hubby was surprised at how big Chinatown was. Some streets in Chinatown looks like Kwun Tong to me.

We then went to the Empire State building after lunch. I had been to the Empire State before in my prior visit to NYC, but didn't remember much. We got an audio tour included in our City Pass tickets. The audio tour was very detailed.

Vista from the Empire State building. You can see the Chrysler Building (the one with the distinctive crown).



We went back to Times Square afterwards for dinner. My feet hurt from all the walking.

Eats:

Lunch - Joe's Shanghai in Chinatown. New York City seems to be very big on 小籠包. They called it Soup Dumplings. The dumplings were very juicy and big and tasty. We also had Shanghai rice cake and Spicy beef noodles. They are so so.




Dinner - Havana Central in Times Square. Kind of expensive cause we had a drink each. $8 for a Sangria and $9 for a Mojito. We paid over $60 for our dinner and it's US$. Food was ok.

Mojito in the front and Sangria in the background.


Cuban style ribs and Ropa Vieja (shredded beef in a tomato based sauce).

Some more Times Square pictures.



I have not seen a flashier policy station.



A ferris wheel inside a Toy 'R Us. Go figure!!!


2007.8.27, Monday

Went to Natural History museum bright and early. We had to wait for the museum to open. Museum is too large to see everything in a day, let alone a few hours. We went to see the dinosaur exhibits and a short film Cosmic Collision at the Rose Center and Earth and Space (part of the musuem). If I lived in NYC, this is one museum of which I wouldn't mind being a member. Toronto has no good museums.



Also went to Central Park. On the way to the Central Park 72nd street entrance, we passed the Dakota where John Lenon was shot. Lots of famous people lived at the Dakota. An apartment in the Dakota is worth U.S. $10 million. Isn't this crazy? Even if I have the money, I wouldn't want to live there. It looks kinda spooky. Rosemary's Baby was filmed there. Enough said.

The 72nd street entrance to Central Park led us to John Lenon's makeshift memorial, Strawberry Fields.



Our next stop was the Museum of Modern Art (MOMA). We walked down Fifth Avenue to get to the museum. And then I saw Tiffany's, and had to make a detour. Even Toronto has a Tiffany's, it's just not the same. I caved and bought a necklace. $$$$$$

Picture from Tiffany's website.

Saw this funny car on the way to MOMA.



We finally arrived at MOMA. Didn't like MOMA much. I am not an art person. I cannot understand and appreciate art. I can understand music, but art is something else. I especially cannot understand modern art.

Eats:
Lunch - Natural History museum food court. Chicken wings and fries. Shared a yummy chocolate chip cupcake with hubby.

Snack - Gray's Papaya hot dogs. 2 dogs and a papaya drink for $3.50 tax included. Hot dog is juicy. Cheap snack.

Dinner - T.G.I.Friday's. Worst dinner ever at the Friday's and the most expensive for the whole trip. We paid US$70. I didn't really want to go to a chain restaurant, but I thought since hubby had never been to a Friday's then we could give it a try. Boy, was I disappointed. My steak was ok, but the broccoli was clearly from a bag. Hubby made better steaks than Friday's. Should not have eaten in a chain restaurant.

My trusty comfy shoes:

All pictures from my little Canon A630.