Tourist Sites

Along with Claire and Suk, Ange and I knew three other people in NYC. Daniel is from Chile and studied with me at UBC. Jainita is from Singapore and I also know her from UBC. Jenny was school captain at HGHS with Ange and is in NYC on vacation from McGill, where she is on exchange. Phew! Once again: it’s a very very small world out there.

So, because we only had a few days left, we decided to start early and meet with Daniel and Jainy for the Metropolitan Museum of Art. This place is HUGE and it’s impossible to see all of it (or even a respectable amount of it) in one day, let alone a morning. So we tried out best, and managed to see the very impressive Egyptian displays (including a temple!) as well as the Asian art and some of the more modern artwork.

We then went on to have more peppermint hot chocolates and mochas at Starbucks. This is definitely my new favourite drink! Mmm… just thinking about it now warms me! Haha, I should definitely be a Starbucks spokesman! We said farewell to Daniel here, as he was off to the Radio City Music Hall Christmas Spectacular and we were off to the UN. The next time I’ll see Daniel will be in LA at Disneyland on my very last day travelling. Spooky, eh?

The UN building and tour were our final tourist destination for today. Both were amazing, and I spent the entire time enthralled. It is, after all, somewhere I would love to work sometime in the future. The building itself is built on international land, and belongs to all member states of the United Nations. It’s surprisingly old (I think 30-40 years) and the interior shows it. They were recarpeting when we visited. Seeing all the chambers and what not – just being there really – was for me fascinating. I strongly believe it’s the best chance we have at a world government and is worth all we throw at it. Unfortunately, it seems to become bogged down in the same red tape that constricts all other governments, only on a much larger scale.

We had dinner on 86th at a Chinese place called “Ollie’s”. Not exactly your typical Chinese name, but the food was authentic and so yummy! There I met Ange’s friend Jenny and her friend from McGill. It was great to talk Canada again and meet some of Ange’s friends – in New York! I even got to try Xiao Lon Bao again – after FAR too long (the last time was my last day in Singapore in 2005). This stuff is fantastic – I’m such an egg! That’s it, I’m going to listen to Wu Bai now. I’ll be in my room!

The rest of the evening was spent frantically repacking our suitcases to leave at Suk’s place. I have FAR too much stuff, which is a shame because I can’t sort out what to discard, and what to take with me. That’s what I have Angela and my dad for – saves me shipping charges

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!

After waking up at 11, Ange and I exchanged presents. From me, Ange received traditional Canadian earrings, the aforementioned cat messenger bag, and a book on love. In return, Ange (and her family) gave me Ankh earrings, a Body Shop shaving kit, an Aussie bottle top, Jelly Bellys and a Darrel Lea Christmas Pudding. Those things are so dense!!

Given that it was Christmas Day, and we were in New York, we did the traditional thing – a walk in Central Park! Unfortunately it wasn’t snowing, so I have yet to fulfil my need to have a white Christmas. It was, however, only mildly cold (about 5 degrees), so really perfect weather (!) for a walk! Haha, never thought I’d say that, eh?

We walked around Shakespeare’s Garden, and Belvedere Castle, through to the Lake and saw the Alice in Wonderland statue. It’s a mammoth park – covering a block across and about 50 long. It’s dissected by a few arterial roads, but mostly it’s just footpaths and parkland. It always seems to amaze people that such a Park could exist in NYC, and I was definitely no different. Even though it was winter and most of the trees had lost their leaves, it was still so quiet and relaxing.

Although it was overcast, it held off raining until we were safely out of the park and down Fifth Ave. Even though 99% of all shops were closed (although being NYC, the Jewish, Chinese and Muslim shops remained open!), there were hundreds of people out, admiring all the Christmas windows. Mostly couples and singles, but some families also made an appearance. The most interesting time was passing the Apple store on Fifth Ave. It’s the one that made global headlines (along with everything Apple does!), because the entire store is underground, with only a large glass cube above ground. It’s an awesome store, open 24/7, 365 days a year. So understandably, it was mobbed with people buying iPods, MacBooks and everything else. Walking in there, you can see why they’ve done so well – it’s all there on display for you to freely use. No one is pestering you to buy and it just works. It even managed to move Ange one step closer to buying one!

Ange and I had been invited to Suk’s house in Little Neck for Christmas dinner. Suk is a good friend of both of us from Sydney. She studies with Lyndal and also knows Matt (through Sociology I think). Small world, eh? Anyway, off we went on the LIRR to Suk’s place and had an excellent Korean dinner, complete with Kimchi and so many nice noodle dishes. Suk has just arrived back in New York for an internship at the UN on behalf of the Korean delegation. Talk about lucky, eh?! Her brother is in high school in New York, and her mother was heading back to South Korea tomorrow. So we caught them at an interesting time – Suk had just come home and Suk’s mum was just about to leave again.

Given it was Christmas, Ange and I decided to take it relatively easy! After all, Ange had just flown half-way across the world, and neither of us had really stopped since arriving. Also, Claire flew on to Brazil so we had an excuse to bum around!

Part of my Christmas present from Ange was lunch and a show at the BB King restaurant on Times Square. Given that it was Christmas, it was very busy, but so much fun! The music was amazing (The Harlem Gospel Choir), and the food was – well, there was just so much of it! I even tried proper Southern Fried Chicken and many other deep fried foods. Sooo good! Thanks again Ange!

After such a filling lunch we decided to take a walk along the Hudson River. It was a really nice day, so that worked out perfectly. Our hotel is located on the opposite side of the Hudson River to Manhattan, in Jersey City. This means that about 2 minutes from our hotel is the waterfront, with a fantastic view of the Manhattan skyline. We’re down opposite the World Trade Centre site, so looking North-East the island of Manhattan is spread out in front of us. If they hadn’t built a big office tower and car park opposite our hotel, we’d have that view from our hotel, too. Bugger!

Our other achievement today was to FINALLY find where the local supermarket is. Being who I am, I refused to ask for directions, and we tried the mall down the road (Newport Centre), which amazingly enough, doesn’t have a supermarket! We then walked across the Hudson Tunnel entrance to a MiniMart attached to a petrol station. There we got milk and Pringles. Necessities, you see!

That night, actually on the way back from the MiniMart, Ange asked at the front desk. It turns out the local Shoprite is about 2 blocks away. We headed there almost straight away and nabbed some bagels, cream cheese, pizza, pasta and salad. Yes! That’s our breakfast and lunch for the next few days. Saved us a small fortune, that did.

Both of us also called home to wish our respective families a Merry Christmas.

Claire, Ange and I had decided today to do the “villages” of Manhattan: Christopher St, Greenwich Village, SoHo etc. We spent a few hours idly wandering and very nearly buying a whole lot of needless clothes. I’m happy to say we persevered and survived with our bank balances intact! Oh, aside from a few small gifts for people

Around lunchtime we headed back to Times Square (seemingly our base every day) and I attempted to get my $110 credit back from Cingular. The Cingular store in Times Square only sells $100 credit vouchers, whereas all the other stores in NYC and the US sell them in denominations of $20, $30, $50, $75 and $100. Being the person I am, I went to the first store I could find, which happened to be Times Square, and bought what they told me was the only option – the $100 credit. Now I hope I’m not going to use all that in 2 months. I may do, but I don’t want to have to feel as if I do – if that makes sense. So I went back and complained, and after much ‘well we aren’t supposed to do this’, they relented and I got my $110 back. Yay!

Lunch was had at Katz’s Deli – a recommendation from Ange’s doctor in Sydney. She turned out to be correct – this place is cholesterol central, but the Philly Cheesesteak is unrivalled. Even at 2pm, the place was packed out and there was a line 5-deep at each counter for sandwiches.

Given that it becomes dark fairly early here, we decided that now was the best time to head up to the Empire State Building for sunset. We JUST made it. We spent about 90 minutes in the line, but it was worth it. There’s a whole exterior section that you can walk around, and gives you amazing views of the 5 boroughs. The photos speak for themselves!

We then met Jainita (from UBC) and her cousin outside H&M and decided to go and see the musical Rent. Talk about spontaneity. Claire had been raving about it for a few days, so it was always in the back of our minds, but god it was good. It couldn’t have been more different from Avenue Q, and that’s what made it fantastic. It’s a modern version of La Boheme, and revolves (again) around New Yorkers, homosexuality and AIDS. It was frenetic, loud and every song was a show-stopper. I REALLY wish there was theatre like this in Sydney.

We had dinner beforehand at Ben’s Jewish Restaurant on 38th. Not quite as good as last night’s meal, but given the last minute rush, it was great.