Live from NY (part 1)
I'm here on my third night in New York City, and i'm finally starting to get used to the humidity. Since this is my first major vacation in a long time, I made sure it was a nice 5 to 6 day long getaway with just me and Liz =)
Another "first" of ours was flying JetBlue, which was a huuuge step up from my usual Southwest trip. The snacks served were far superior to the usual peanuts/raisins i get and the 5 hour trip went by quickly in my sweet leather seat (and half-awake state, for the most part). Every seat had TV screens and i was pretty content watching Ninja Turtles and channel surfing. $867 for 2 non-stop roundtrip tickets started to look really good after trying to get some of those discount plane tickets online.
We landed in JFK and unfortunately the JetBlue terminal there looked kinda ghetto. There was construction going on all over the airport, but thankfully it was pretty fast getting outta there. We arrived at the Hotel Newton (pretty good price for Manhattan, averaging $145/night for a double bed room) in the Upper West Side around 7pm Saturday night and dropped all our shit to go eat. After hitting Sal's & Carmine's Pizza, we hopped over Koronet for another couple slices. I think I liked Sal's & Carmine's better, just cuz it seemed cheesier even though the slices were not quite as huge as Koronet's. We got some fruit & snacks and other necessities on the way back to the hotel and hit the sack soon after.
After contemplating going to a gospel church for Sunday morning, we decided to get some bagels for breakfast instead and headed down to the American Museum of Natural History. After picking up our City Passes, we left and walked through Central Park to the Met. I know, it's lame that we didn't actually go inside any of them yet, but we're saving the museums for the end of our trip in the middle of the week when it's less crowded. I did pick up a cool Bauhaus book at the Met for kinda cheap. Our New York Party Shuttle tour was starting at 2 pm so we headed back to the hotel for a short break before going down to Times Square. This tour wasn't one of those over-stuffed double-decker buses that are EVERYWHERE, no sir. We had an air-conditioned shuttle bus with a grand total of around 10 people, and to top it all off our tour guide looked like Kevin Bacon, Jr.!! Damn, I wish I took a picture of him... The tour was nice though, so check out their site if you're interested in visiting NY for the first time. So... It was about 8:30 pm after the tour, and we met up with Liz's school friend Brian in Long Island City, Queens. I'm told that the area is an up and coming hip location, but it sure looked pretty crummy. On a positive note, we had beers and shots at a nice Irish pub and Liz got to catch up with Brian. < GRIPE > Hey, did I mention the subway stations are $#%&*! HUMID??? Thankfully the inside of the trains have A/C. I'm not really convinced that the subway is God's gift to mankind, I mean, it's only great cuz the traffic in Manhattan is retarded-awful, so trains are the obvious alternative to cut down your commute. Still, I don't miss L.A. traffic one bit. < /GRIPE > We took well-earned showers after crashing back at the Newton.
Monday was our first "free" day. Other than the NBC Studios Tour that my sis, Ange, hooked us up with, we had the rest of the day free to do as we pleased. The highlights of the day were:
(1) The Strand: "18 miles of books" is their claim to fame and I liked their big art book collection a lot, and left with a Soviet propaganda book, while Liz made out (not literally, or IS IT? like, literature, get it?? okshutupjason) with an ARMFUL of novels and a few souvenirs.
(2) Galanga: The name sounds like an old 70s arcade game, but this small & hip Thai restaurant near Washington Square was just what my stomach needed for dinner. I had grilled chicken with peanut sauce and curry rice with salad (good dressing, what the heck was that diced fruit in it??) and Liz had their Tom Yum (YUMMY). With drinks + appetizer + tip + tax, we spent exactly $40!
(3) Top of the Rock: We could see the Empire State building light up at sunset around 8:15 on top of the Rockefeller Center. Later, after taking some pictures and even buying some binoculars for some extra zoom action, I did possibly the most romantic thing ever. I turned to Liz and said "Hey, I think you dropped something." She picked up the small box I left on the floor, looking a little puzzled, and realized it was a ring! I got Liz a promise ring. It's 14K white gold with diamond accents and her birthstone, an Emerald was the centerpiece. And as I predicted, she was really touched and embarrassed and happy at the same time, hehe. And she was probably wondering when we were going to move our relationship halfway to the next level...
Shit, Me so tired. More to follow.
Another "first" of ours was flying JetBlue, which was a huuuge step up from my usual Southwest trip. The snacks served were far superior to the usual peanuts/raisins i get and the 5 hour trip went by quickly in my sweet leather seat (and half-awake state, for the most part). Every seat had TV screens and i was pretty content watching Ninja Turtles and channel surfing. $867 for 2 non-stop roundtrip tickets started to look really good after trying to get some of those discount plane tickets online.
We landed in JFK and unfortunately the JetBlue terminal there looked kinda ghetto. There was construction going on all over the airport, but thankfully it was pretty fast getting outta there. We arrived at the Hotel Newton (pretty good price for Manhattan, averaging $145/night for a double bed room) in the Upper West Side around 7pm Saturday night and dropped all our shit to go eat. After hitting Sal's & Carmine's Pizza, we hopped over Koronet for another couple slices. I think I liked Sal's & Carmine's better, just cuz it seemed cheesier even though the slices were not quite as huge as Koronet's. We got some fruit & snacks and other necessities on the way back to the hotel and hit the sack soon after.
After contemplating going to a gospel church for Sunday morning, we decided to get some bagels for breakfast instead and headed down to the American Museum of Natural History. After picking up our City Passes, we left and walked through Central Park to the Met. I know, it's lame that we didn't actually go inside any of them yet, but we're saving the museums for the end of our trip in the middle of the week when it's less crowded. I did pick up a cool Bauhaus book at the Met for kinda cheap. Our New York Party Shuttle tour was starting at 2 pm so we headed back to the hotel for a short break before going down to Times Square. This tour wasn't one of those over-stuffed double-decker buses that are EVERYWHERE, no sir. We had an air-conditioned shuttle bus with a grand total of around 10 people, and to top it all off our tour guide looked like Kevin Bacon, Jr.!! Damn, I wish I took a picture of him... The tour was nice though, so check out their site if you're interested in visiting NY for the first time. So... It was about 8:30 pm after the tour, and we met up with Liz's school friend Brian in Long Island City, Queens. I'm told that the area is an up and coming hip location, but it sure looked pretty crummy. On a positive note, we had beers and shots at a nice Irish pub and Liz got to catch up with Brian. < GRIPE > Hey, did I mention the subway stations are $#%&*! HUMID??? Thankfully the inside of the trains have A/C. I'm not really convinced that the subway is God's gift to mankind, I mean, it's only great cuz the traffic in Manhattan is retarded-awful, so trains are the obvious alternative to cut down your commute. Still, I don't miss L.A. traffic one bit. < /GRIPE > We took well-earned showers after crashing back at the Newton.
Monday was our first "free" day. Other than the NBC Studios Tour that my sis, Ange, hooked us up with, we had the rest of the day free to do as we pleased. The highlights of the day were:
(1) The Strand: "18 miles of books" is their claim to fame and I liked their big art book collection a lot, and left with a Soviet propaganda book, while Liz made out (not literally, or IS IT? like, literature, get it?? okshutupjason) with an ARMFUL of novels and a few souvenirs.
(2) Galanga: The name sounds like an old 70s arcade game, but this small & hip Thai restaurant near Washington Square was just what my stomach needed for dinner. I had grilled chicken with peanut sauce and curry rice with salad (good dressing, what the heck was that diced fruit in it??) and Liz had their Tom Yum (YUMMY). With drinks + appetizer + tip + tax, we spent exactly $40!
(3) Top of the Rock: We could see the Empire State building light up at sunset around 8:15 on top of the Rockefeller Center. Later, after taking some pictures and even buying some binoculars for some extra zoom action, I did possibly the most romantic thing ever. I turned to Liz and said "Hey, I think you dropped something." She picked up the small box I left on the floor, looking a little puzzled, and realized it was a ring! I got Liz a promise ring. It's 14K white gold with diamond accents and her birthstone, an Emerald was the centerpiece. And as I predicted, she was really touched and embarrassed and happy at the same time, hehe. And she was probably wondering when we were going to move our relationship halfway to the next level...
Shit, Me so tired. More to follow.