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Published: January 21st 2009
Like I said before, I would love to see New York City again and get to know it more at a personal level. On this second trip to New York, My Sis and I opted to go around Manhattan on foot and via subway. We did a lot of walking,
no regrets! I think it's the best way to enjoy NYC. In fact, by keeping on walking, we have 'discovered' an underground pathway on our way to
Radio City.
Food Tripping -- Japanese Taisho-Style in Manhattan The other night, my cousins and I drove to
East Village in Manhattan for Joy's birthday dinner. The feel of the area is hip and exciting. There are lots of young people walking the streets. It feels familiar. It actually feels like home.
On
2nd Ave, I noticed a familiar "Max Brenner, Chocolate by the Baldman". I asked My Sis if it's similar to the one in Makati back home. We both agreed it's the same chain, but this one in NYC isn't presented as upscale as it does back home.
We passed by a store filled with vending machines. It intrigued me and we stepped in. The vending machines had
Ducks
At Central Parkfresh chicken sandwiches, and free mac & cheese kroket ($2 a piece) -- take note that they're fresh, not packed and frozen. Such is the trend in Japan as I've seen in the Food Network. But NYC also has it!
At a Japanese restaurant, we kept ourselves warm, squeezing ourselves at the crowded hallway. The line got even longer after we came in. On 40 minutes or so, we finally got our seat and enjoyed some Taisho-style beef steak, grilled rice, and sake! Kampay!
For dessert, we decided to walk to a bubble tea place that my cousins love to go to. Unfortunately, it was closed. But good for me, I noticed an old-looking hotel called "St. Marks Hotel". I asked my cousin about it and she says it's the one in the movie,
Big. Aha! I love moments like this.
We had frozen yogurt instead at Red Mango. They say there used to be a time when frozen yogurt first became a big hit that people lined up at Pink Berry.
Food Tripping -- Dimsum in Queens Yesterday, we didn't leave Long Island for yet another food trip. We went to a dimsum place
Mallard Duck
Central Park in
Flushing, Queens in
39th and College Point. This is just the second time I have been to a dimsum place where many types of dimsum are on carts peddled around the restaurant. It was fun trying out different kinds of dimsum. I asked for chicken feet which, my cousins didn't want to try. Joy attempted, but chickened-out (pun intended) when she had it almost touch her lips. We tried taho (soft bean curd) for dessert. But it was not sweet as we are used to back home which should be swimming in caramel sauce. What's new to me, though, was Chinese doughnut dipped in savory sauce.
Strolling at the Central Park This morning, we took the
Jackson Heights/Roosevelt Ave Subway. Three transfers later, we were at
Central Park West on
72nd Street. I led My Mom and My Sis to cross the street and enter the park. In a few steps, we saw the
Strawberry Fields Memorial. Unlike what I saw before, the memorial was bare -- no Christmas tree (could have already been removed right after Christmas), no flowers, no pictures, no candles.
We walked east and rested by a small lagoon. Almost instantly, Mallard
ducks kept us company, just swimming by us. We were all truly in awe of the beautiful ducks in their deep green and brown feathers. When I walk a few steps, they follow me. They must have gotten used to being fed by park goers. My Sis can't believe what she's seeing because we got used to just seeing woodcarvings of these creatures back home. She exclaims, "They're real animals after all!"
We all walked on the
Bow Bridge, enjoying the sight of the lake against city skyscrapers. I was meaning to take them to the
Bethesda Fountain and I thought it was not so far, but we found ourselves a bit lost... walking on narrow paths covered with fallen, dried leaves. There were very tall trees, which feels soothing. If I ever get a job here in NYC, I would probably go to Central Park to unwind and commune with nature.
The Mall in the Park After a long walk, we rested by the Boathouse where we saw a live turkey. Ha! I had to say 'alive' because nowadays, turkey is almost automatically associated to the food people have on Thanksgiving. We were happy to finally
The Mall
Central Park see the
Bethesda Fountain and we tried to recall movie scenes that were shot there. Thanks to my handy 5-inch tripod, we were able to have photos of all three of us. There were not much people around so we enjoyed a little mini-pictorial of our own at the fountain! As if that was not enough, we made silly poses at
The Mall, which we found by accident. I didn't see this before but it was a huge area with benches on the side, fit for an open air concert.
Looking for Columbus We walked further looking for the
Columbus Circle. My Mom was excited to have seen a monument of Christopher Columbus and asked for her photo taken with it. But I said it's not the
Columbus Circle. It's him, alright, but not quite
the Columbus Circle.
We consulted the maps displayed around the park. We decided to walk down south to exit the park where we can see the
Columbus Circle. On the way, however, we paused by a skating rink called the
Wollman Ice Skating Rink. We were already feeling tired from walking halfway the length of Central Park when we noticed a man
The Maine Monument
At the Merchant's Gate to Central Park, also across the Columbus Circle working out and jogging only with leggings on! I was all donned in thick double-layered coats and gloves, while that man was jogging around without even a shirt on! Interesting. We had a good laugh to ourselves!
The
Columbus Circle was finally on my line of sight. Sigh! Finally! I looked for a good angle to take a photo when a ship's monument piqued my interest. It said something like "Maine", probably the name of the ship, and some pretty fish sculpture under it.
Maine is the ship that sank in Havana, Cuba and whose demise started the Spanish-American war in 1898.
We decided to cross the street and go inside the
Time Warner Center. I saw Williams-Sonoma and we went inside -- I drooled over the cast-iron dutch oven and copper pans that cost an arm and a leg! Haha! The second floor of
Time Warner Center provides a very good view of the
Columbus Circle against the changing lights of the hanging lanterns inside the mall. They probably used the same lanterns as last year's.
Noon time, and our stomachs are growling. We decided to take the subway right next to the globe of
the
Trump Hotel.
The Sights Around Times Square As we emerged out of
50th and Broadway, I saw Applebee's. I have always been curious of this restaurant as I see it often on TV. Alas! This is my chance to try it! My Sis was as excited as I am.
With happy tummies, we're ready to brave the streets again. It's just not any street, we are about to muscle our way through the very crowded streets around
Times Square.
My Mom and My Sis are bargain shoppers. The moment we passed by a souvenir store, we went inside to find great deals. I just find it ironic that the people who sell these American souvenirs are not originally from America, but from the far side of the world.
My Mom loves chocolates, especially MnMs. Obviously, we can't miss going inside the
MnM Store and enjoy all three floors of it. The green MnM that portrays the Statue of Liberty is a main stay. A tour in this store will never be complete without it.
Outside, we saw the new
Red Steps we saw on our first night in Manhattan. It was empty. I
would have wanted to climb up that stairs too but it was probably closed. Too bad.
Traffic is quite bad in the area. The streets have gotten narrower due to a temporary stage that was being build for New Year's countdown. We continued on walking south, noticing the gargantuan billboards that surround us.
Times Square feels different in broad daylight.
I See King Kong When we reached 42nd, we walked east to reach
Bryant Park. The sky was clear and we had a great view of the
Empire State Building. I tried to imagine King Kong climbing up that building just for kicks. We walked some more eastward. We saw the
Chrystler Center Building from afar. It looks like the Prudential Building in Chicago. We walked some more and saw the
New York Public Library.
How Grand is the Grand Central Terminal? I have seen the
Grand Central Terminal a few times before but I have never been inside it up until now. The terminal is a huge building with a similarly huge, hollow space surrounded with ticket booths. In the middle is one round ticketing booth with an old-fashioned analog clock. The ceiling is
VERY high, painted green and is adorned with constellations of interesting creatures.
We wanted to go downtown but since we were inside the
Grand Central Terminal, the only problem was finding the
right way to the subway. It's overwhelming how so many kinds of trains start, end, or pass by this terminal.
That's It! Wall Street! Inside the subway going downtown, My Sis pointed out how cleaner and how smaller this train was compared to the others we had in NYC. It actually is as small as the MRT trains we have back home in Manila.
We took off at the
Wall Street/Broadway Station. We found ourselves at one end of
Wall Street, which means we were at the
Trinity Church. We all went inside to sit for some quiet time. But no, it was not quiet at all inside! Tourists speak in foreign languages, taking pictures with flash and all. Despite that, I whispered a short prayer, thanking the Lord for this wonderful experience of traveling with my family.
We crossed the street and walked along Wall, still. There were crowds of people having their pictures taken with a small door of the building
that says
New York Stock Exchange. At the same time, a woman keeps on hollering, "What are doing? There's nothing there!". But her words fell on deaf ears. True enough, as we walked further down the corner, we saw the beautiful pillars of the
NY Stock Exchange wrapped in red, white, and blue lights forming the American flag. It looks like a Roman temple. This is the first time I am seeing the NYSE in broad daylight, thus, seeing its facade in details.
One can truly feel the Christmas spirit in the air. A huge Christmas tree was placed on the street (off limits to visitors) and Christmas wreaths were places in between the columns. Also, there were 2 nine-branched candelabrum or Hanukkah Menorah for Jewish believers. (I read somewhere that half of the world's Jewish population resides in the US.)
Standing in the midst of buildings that make up the
Financial District makes me ponder how much of the world's economy depends on the transactions and decisions made inside them.
Pleasantly Lost Under Manhattan, Literally! My uncle is taking us to see the Rockettes perform their Christmas Special so we should be back at midtown
Empire State Building
View from Bryant Park before 7pm. Again, we took the ever-reliable subway. My Sis stayed in NYC longer than I did so I have been relying on her 'subway-know how' all this time. We got lost. Actually, we were pleasantly lost! It was an unplanned adventure. We were able to discover for ourselves an underground concourse. We didn't know which way to take but we just kept on walking, allowing ourselves to be mesmerized by the site of shops and crowds of people. We walked for more than 15 minutes, and we were slowly feeling exhausted. We picked one exit whose name on the sign didn't really make sense but we took that escalator anyway. Next thing we knew, we were at the lobby of UBS, and My Sis estimates that we are quite far from where she expects us to be out of. But the good thing is,
Radio City is just across where we're standing at! How lucky!
Dusk had immediately fallen and all the beautiful lights were out to color the night.
Radio City looked very pretty and lively as people start to swarm around it. We should be in that swarm of people too, but my uncle and cousin
Grand Central Terminal
At 42nd and Park Avenue already bought us tickets this morning. Yehey! We tried to wait a while and try out some warm pretzel sold in the street. It costs $4, but good thing it did not taste bad at all... or I will feel totally ripped off.
We decided to have dinner since we still have an hour to wait. We walked around 2 streets and I was surprised to see the
Rockefeller Center once again! Whoah! It's just funny how these tourist spots stand close to each other.
As if we weren't tired enough, we continued on walking and walking until we got back close to the subway station we took off from! Almost all the restaurants were full so we ended up having dinner at the fast food next to the subway station.
The R-O-C-K-E-T-T-E-S! It's impossible for me to describe the show in detail but, I must say I am truly impressed with their performance. They move in sync -- long legs and all! It helps that they are all of the same height (atleast from a distance) because they seem to mirror each other's movements. They are excellent tap dancers. They dressed as reindeers in the
Constellation
Ceiling of Grand Central Terminal opening performance, then dressed as baby dolls too. They dressed like toy soldiers also marching in perfect unison! They did a domino effect, which was hard for me to watch. But they did well! After the show, I read in the billboard that they have been doing that routine since the early 1930s (during the Great Depression).
In line with the Christmas theme, a short 4D movie was played to introduce Santa riding the sleigh around, err, above NYC. We were asked to wear the 4D glasses inserted in the booklet given to us. Santa mentioned "72 legs... 72 arms... xx teeth... etc"... so I wonderd how many are they really? 36 if you do the math, but I insisted on counting them while they made a triangle formation. 36 indeed!
The Rockettes danced inside a tourist bus that drove around the stage. It's amusing to realize that they were "touring" around NYC, same thing we did the whole day today. The feeling could have been more intense for My Mom who has seen the landmarks of NYC for the first time today. The snowflakes effect were fabulous, making the audience feel a part of the show. Characters
floated in mid-air.
What I am about to say is most important. This is the best Living Nativity I have ever seen in my life!!! Everything is so lifelike. At one point, I almost wanted to shed a tear. They had 2 camels, 1 donkey, and a few sheep on stage! I somehow worried about these animals for not feeling so good that they might suddenly kick every character off the stage!
Entertainment doesn't stop at the theater. We girls went to the bathroom and realized we were using the Rockettes' old bathroom in 1932. It was very old -- from the tiles to the sink. What I find most amusing is the old hand dryer that I will be activated by stepping on its lever. Amazing huh!
What a great day!!!
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head honcho
neil
new york, new york!
oh! everything in new york is so grand. especially the central park during fall.