New York

So there's good news and bad news . . . the good news is that I'm blogging about my New York trip (finally). The bad news (well, some may view it as bad, some may not) is that I still haven't really figured out the direction I want to take this blog, so after I tell you all about New York, I probably won't be blogging too often for a while.

I absolutely adored the whole trip. I can't even begin to describe how excited I was to board an airplane and go someone that I've been dreaming about visiting for what feels like a million years! Finally being able to visit such an amazing city, full of amazing landmarks, cultural centres, cool architecture, and incredible shopping experiences, coupled with the fact that it was my first vacation in YEARS, made it a trip I'm not likely to ever forget. Even now, weeks after returning home, I yearn to go back.

We arrived in New York very, very early on Monday (March 16th) morning. We caught a cab from JFK to our hotel, the Affinia 50. Knowing that there was a flat $45 rate from the airport into Manhattan was very helpful. I felt confident that Jennifer and I didn't have to worry about getting ripped off or anything. I've taken cabs in and around the Vancouver area before, but a New York cab is a totally new experience. There is a clear barrier between the front and back seat (which I knew). There is a mini interactive tv, complete with news stories, an introduction from Regis and Kelly of tv fame, and a map that shows you your progress through the city (which I didn't know about). The driver was very nice. He was obviously an immigrant (Eastern European, perhaps?), but spoke English well. He sped us to our hotel (there wasn't much traffic at that time of night) at a speed that made me glad I was too tired to really get a good look at the speedometer! The hotel staff was friendly and helpful, and we were soon in our room getting ready for some much-needed sleep.

After sleeping in to 10:30am, Jennifer and I set off for our first New York adventure. We had breakfast at a real New York bagel place (huge, delicious bagels with any sort of topping imagineable available!). Then we headed off to a subway station in order to get to a large electronics store that Jennifer had read about. She wanted to buy a camcorder to help capture all the amazing experiences we were about to have. The store, for being so large, was really efficiently run. There were a lot of Jewish employees and customers, and I later surmised that the area we were in was a Jewish neighbourhood. The store had conveyor belts running all around it to deliver packages from the counters to the cashiers. It was really interesting to watch. Anyway, after making the purchase, we headed out and went to the Empire State Building.

Waiting in line to enjoy our first New York tourist stop was surreal. The line that we had to stand and wait in (for at least 30 minutes) was the security line! Just like being at the airport, we had to put our bags in a bin to pass through an x-ray machine while we walked through metal detectors. New Yorkers are very concerned (justifiably so, I suppose) with the security of their tourist attractions and monuments! Anyway, after going up through a series of elevators, we arrived at the 86th floor observation deck and were treated to amazing views and picture opportunities!

This is the Flatiron Building, one of the many really cool buildings around the city. This is definitely one of my all-time favourite pictures from the trip.

After we exhausted our picture-taking desires, we passed through the gift shop, where I bought a souvenir shot glass for my friend Frank, and then headed back down the elevator to leave. That's when I experienced the only bad part of the trip. I had been keeping my camera in my jacket pocket so I could easily pull it out for pictures. When we got off the elevator, I automatically put my hand in pocket to feel for my camera and realized that my pocket was unzipped and my camera was gone. I was shaken up to think that after only a half a day in New York, I had lost my camera and all my pictures! I immediately went to talk to an employee to see if there was any way it had been turned in already (after only 2 minutes, yeah, sure!). We were promptly whisked back upstairs in the elevator to check at the gift shop (nope, wasn't there!) and then we were taken downstairs through the bowels of the building to the security office. The man we talked to there was sympathetic, but hadn't seen it. He gave me the security office number to call later in the week in case it turned up. He urged me to call as he believed in the "honesty of New Yorkers." At no time did I think my camera had been stolen out of my pocket, so I guess I believed in the honesty of New Yorkers as well. Anyway, as we were leaving the building, I checked my purse for the umpteenth time and discovered my camera in a pocket I wouldn't normally have put it in. Thank goodness!

Later that evening, we met up with Jane, a friend of our stepmom's who lives in New York. She had graciously agreed to take us around Greenwich Village and take us out for dinner. We had a lot of fun walking around and seeing the sights! Dinner was at a lovely Italian restaurant with delicious food and a warm atmosphere.

Jennifer and Jane. Notice their complementary outfits!

The evening was pleasant for walking, and I was able to snap a picture of this famous New York sight, The Arch at Washington Square Park!

Day two dawned bright and early. We headed out fairly early, dressed in our St. Patrick's Day finest, to be in place for the famous St. Patrick's Day parade. We managed to snag a great spot near St. Patrick's Cathedral and had "front row" views for all the great paraders. Sorry, no parade pictures here as it would have been way to hard to choose just one picture! One cool thing was that the mayor of New York, Michael Bloomberg, walked right past us as part of the parade! I know what he looks like from different articles and things I've read. He was surrounded by bodyguards so I didn't get a good picture. Jennifer doesn't know what he looks like, so we're not sure it she lucked into getting a picture of him or not.

After we watched our fill of the parade, we headed to the American Museum of Natural History. It was huge! It would have been impossible to fully appreciate all the exhibits and collections they had to offer, so we passed through a lot of rooms quite quickly and skipped a few of the rooms altogether. The animal and early man dioramas were just as I had imagined them to be.

After leaving the museum, we walked through Central Park for a few hours. The park is truly a wonder. It's such a beautiful greenspace in the middle of a concrete jungle. For anyone reading this who is familiar with Vancouver's Stanley Park, believe me when I say that I think Central Park is even more amazing! It just feels more natural and more of an oasis in the city.

One of the lakes in the park. I was awed by the late winter/early Spring park views. I can barely even imagine how gorgeous this park must be in the full bloom of Spring and Summer!

Wednesday took us to the Statue of Liberty. We had to line up again in a long security line-up before we could board the boat to Liberty Island. But, compared to the lines we saw when we got back from the trip, we were smart to arrive early! Seeing the statue in person was a mind-blowing experience. This is arguably one of the most recognized and well known statues in the world, and Jennifer and I were standing right in front of it. As you can imagine, a lot of pictures were snapped! I will say this: it really does look smaller in person than they make it appear in tvs and movies!

Definitely smaller in person! That could have been a disappointing revelation, but it honestly wasn't. We took a lot of fun pictures that make it look like we're holding the statue up on our thumbs and pinching her head between our fingers.

On Wednesday night we had tickets to go see the Broadway musical "Wicked." I was really looking forward to the show as I had heard some great reviews from lots of sources. The reviews you may have read do not do this show justice. We had great seats four rows from the stage, and the show was truly mind-blowing! The characters, the humour, the songs . . . I hope the show comes to Vancouver one day so I can enjoy it all over again!

On Thursday we spent the morning shopping while it rained. We didn't really buy much of anything because we didn't really find anything we fell in love with. The rain cleared up and we headed out to see Times Square and go to M&M World. Times Square was like being in the middle of a living, breathing neon billboard. It wasn't an unpleasant feeling, at least for me. It was a riot of bright, flashing colours and what felt like millions of people.

Friday morning we headed out bright and early once again to take a Circle Line cruise around Manhattan. The cruise was 3 hours long and took us all the way around the whole island of Manhattan. There was a guide on board who pointed out all the major sites and gave us some interesting historical information. The cruise was definitely one of my all-time favourite parts of the trip! It was a really informative and relaxing way to see the city and I got a ton of great pictures! We passed under nineteen - yes nineteen! - bridges! The famous Brooklyn Bridge. I was really glad I got some good shots of it since it's such an iconic New York image.

After the boat ride, we decided to walk across the island of Manhattan from end to end, west to east. It was a nice walk and we got to see the U.N. Buildings. Halfway through the walk we stopped at the Times Square Visitor's Center. Jennifer lined up to check her e-mail at one of the free internet stations. I lined up at a Broadway ticket booth to see if we could get tickets for a show that evening since we didn't have any other plans. Both of us succeeded in our missions, and that evening Jennifer and I saw Mary Poppins! It was really neat to see how different it was from the movie. Watching the characters sing and dance was really impressive. I particularly liked the "Step in Time" number. The only thing I kinda didn't like was that our seats were way up high in the "nose bleed" section. Given the last-minute nature of our ticket purchase, that wasn't surprising. Normally being that far back wouldn't be a big deal, but the stairs up to our seats were really steep and totally freaked me, with my fear of heights, right out. Needless to say, I didn't budge from our seats until it was time to leave!

Saturday was our last full day in New York. We went to Bloomingdales in the morning. It was HUGE! They had some really beautiful stuff, but it was all way out of our budget! I really did like the first perfume sample I tried though. Too bad it isn't available in Canada! After Bloomies, we checked out F.A.O Schwartz, the famous toy store. It was really neat! They had some huge lego statues (the one of batman only costs $27,000!) and a really good puzzle section. We didn't buy any toys, but did get some candy!

I found New York to be an amazing city! I loved the culture and the pace of the city. Walking around the city was really easy. New Yorkers do not wait for the walk signal to cross the street! It didn't take us long at all to adapt to the pace of the city. Taking the subway was quite convenient, though it was a little confusing at times.

A 'V' train pulling into the subway station. You could catch multiple trains from a single station, but the station signage was often confusing. As long as you know whether you are traveling uptown (north) or downtown (south), you can usually figure it out. I will say this - many of the stations stink of urine!

I found the New Yorkers to be very friendly and helpful. They totally defied all the preconceived notions I had of rude New Yorkers! I absolutely want to back to the city again one day soon as a single week definitely was not enough to see it all!