New York Happenings
Hey all, know I haven't been on in a while, but I haven't really had much to talk about it until now. I recently visited New York City and wanted to at least write a little about it. I have a few pictures that I plan on posting later since they are all on my boyfriend's phone, so far now I will just go ahead and post a text only version.
So here I am flying about 36,000 feet in the air, half way back to the fabulous San Francisco Bay Area, which I am happy to be returning to. New York is something else, but it has helped me appreciate the quaintness (if you can use that word for a city) of San Francisco. Originally, my boyfriend ended up becoming a guest of honor at the BroNYcon Convention in NYC, but we decided to come early and stay late, even though it was a one day convention, because if we were both going to be seeing NYC for the first time we wanted to enjoy ourselves and see the sites.
We arrived in the evening and decided to stay the first few days at the Pod Hotel located in Manhattan. The Pod Hotel is a rather neat little place to stay if you want someplace on the cheaper side but still inside the busiest part of New York. And when I say little, I do mean little, but don't let that dissuade you from ever going there yourself :) Me and Josh actually stayed in one of their Double rooms, so we were lucky enough to have our own bathroom area, but if you stayed in a single you would be sharing a bathroom. I took a peak at the shared bathroom and it was rather spacious and clean and never seemed too busy so I think even if we had to share it wouldn't have been a problem. But I LOVED our room. It was really small compared to most hotel rooms, but it was organized and decorated in a way that made it feel cozy rather than cramped. You had a small sink in the main bedroom area, and right off the bedroom you have your bathroom with a toilet and shower. (I do not reccommend this room if you are sharing with a friend as the shower is see through, but its all good if you're a couple). And it was only $99 a night!
So, we stayed there for two days, tried out the Stag Head bar which had really good food and a nice atmosphere. Its all wood and candle light, with a deer head hanging from the wall. We even went back later during a night where we woke up in the middle of the night and couldn't go back to sleep and had drinks. I had this neat little absinthe cocktail that was really good called Sazerac which is apparently an old cocktail. I've never had absinthe before but it tasted pretty sweet in the cocktail. We alsoo checked out Rockefellar Center and Time Square. Time Square was a major shock to the senses, especially my eyeballs, because not even the movies prepared me for the BRIGHT LIGHTS. I mean, if it wasn't flashy, it was at least bright! I only have maybe one or two pictures of Times Square because I was just so stunned by it all.
The biggest thing I wanted to check out there was the Natural History Museum. This place was humongous! I had no idea how big it was and since we rode in the subway I didn't even get to see the outside of it until we walked through Central Park. Let's just say my feet were pretty tired by the time we were done seeing all of it. One of the coolest things about this museum is its use of... well for lack of a better word.. dioramas... I have this weird fascination with taxidermy so seeing these really old, well preserved animals on display was spectacular. Whoever worked on these animals had a really good eye and was able to convey so much emotion from something that was pretty much dead. They also have this massive mineral and gems collection that was so overwhelming I didn't see all of it, and being a girl, seeing all the shinies made me contemplate theft once or twice.
Also, dinosaurs, I can't forget the dinosaurs! The little kid in me came out to play and I took so many pictures of the giant skeletal creatures, I mean, come on, how often do you get to see this kind of stuff? They also had a great section of skeletons for the early mammalian creatures. Since I do enjoy creature design, I took many pictures in hopes of inspiration. You'll definitely be seeing those pictures later!
Later that night we hug out with one of Josh's friends who works in New York and she took us out to Kaz's Deli which was... let's just say chaotic. I've never been someplace like that before and I felt mostly stunned by the place. But the Pastrami sandwich I had there was really thick and juicy and I really enjoyed that meal. So if you ever do decide to go the New York and are wondering what to eat, I say definitely head over there at least once.
The next day we moved over to the Convention hotel and met up with some roomies and pretty much just hung out. Most of that day was getting ready for the convention so I let the boys do their thing and get ready for that, because the next day was CRAAAZY. And since that day is so much to talk about, I will skip it for now. The day after, we all slept in because we had been up since 3 am. We were pretty lazy and the only thing of interest that we actually did was to go check out the Macy's store there... I only made it half way up... there were 8 floors, and the farthest I got was 4.... wow. But to be fair... I was sorta shopping.
Sunday was my birthday so we ended up doing a walking tour of New York. We went to the Apple Store which is pretty much a clear box that leads you down into a basement store, FAO Schwartz, Central Park again, Columbus Square, Chelsea Park, then towards the Village where we visited the Stonewall Inn, where a friend educated me on the beginning of the Gay Rights Movement, and after that we headed to dinner at a Japanese BBQ restaurant where you cook your own food, and after that ice cream. So... by now you can see I am rather exhausted and clearly can't wait to be home. Unfortunately I don't know how much relaxing I will be doing as I have another convention this weekend.
I will try to get the pics up soon as i can't wait to share them, but it might be a week til i have time XD
Thanks!
So here I am flying about 36,000 feet in the air, half way back to the fabulous San Francisco Bay Area, which I am happy to be returning to. New York is something else, but it has helped me appreciate the quaintness (if you can use that word for a city) of San Francisco. Originally, my boyfriend ended up becoming a guest of honor at the BroNYcon Convention in NYC, but we decided to come early and stay late, even though it was a one day convention, because if we were both going to be seeing NYC for the first time we wanted to enjoy ourselves and see the sites.
We arrived in the evening and decided to stay the first few days at the Pod Hotel located in Manhattan. The Pod Hotel is a rather neat little place to stay if you want someplace on the cheaper side but still inside the busiest part of New York. And when I say little, I do mean little, but don't let that dissuade you from ever going there yourself :) Me and Josh actually stayed in one of their Double rooms, so we were lucky enough to have our own bathroom area, but if you stayed in a single you would be sharing a bathroom. I took a peak at the shared bathroom and it was rather spacious and clean and never seemed too busy so I think even if we had to share it wouldn't have been a problem. But I LOVED our room. It was really small compared to most hotel rooms, but it was organized and decorated in a way that made it feel cozy rather than cramped. You had a small sink in the main bedroom area, and right off the bedroom you have your bathroom with a toilet and shower. (I do not reccommend this room if you are sharing with a friend as the shower is see through, but its all good if you're a couple). And it was only $99 a night!
So, we stayed there for two days, tried out the Stag Head bar which had really good food and a nice atmosphere. Its all wood and candle light, with a deer head hanging from the wall. We even went back later during a night where we woke up in the middle of the night and couldn't go back to sleep and had drinks. I had this neat little absinthe cocktail that was really good called Sazerac which is apparently an old cocktail. I've never had absinthe before but it tasted pretty sweet in the cocktail. We alsoo checked out Rockefellar Center and Time Square. Time Square was a major shock to the senses, especially my eyeballs, because not even the movies prepared me for the BRIGHT LIGHTS. I mean, if it wasn't flashy, it was at least bright! I only have maybe one or two pictures of Times Square because I was just so stunned by it all.
The biggest thing I wanted to check out there was the Natural History Museum. This place was humongous! I had no idea how big it was and since we rode in the subway I didn't even get to see the outside of it until we walked through Central Park. Let's just say my feet were pretty tired by the time we were done seeing all of it. One of the coolest things about this museum is its use of... well for lack of a better word.. dioramas... I have this weird fascination with taxidermy so seeing these really old, well preserved animals on display was spectacular. Whoever worked on these animals had a really good eye and was able to convey so much emotion from something that was pretty much dead. They also have this massive mineral and gems collection that was so overwhelming I didn't see all of it, and being a girl, seeing all the shinies made me contemplate theft once or twice.
Also, dinosaurs, I can't forget the dinosaurs! The little kid in me came out to play and I took so many pictures of the giant skeletal creatures, I mean, come on, how often do you get to see this kind of stuff? They also had a great section of skeletons for the early mammalian creatures. Since I do enjoy creature design, I took many pictures in hopes of inspiration. You'll definitely be seeing those pictures later!
Later that night we hug out with one of Josh's friends who works in New York and she took us out to Kaz's Deli which was... let's just say chaotic. I've never been someplace like that before and I felt mostly stunned by the place. But the Pastrami sandwich I had there was really thick and juicy and I really enjoyed that meal. So if you ever do decide to go the New York and are wondering what to eat, I say definitely head over there at least once.
The next day we moved over to the Convention hotel and met up with some roomies and pretty much just hung out. Most of that day was getting ready for the convention so I let the boys do their thing and get ready for that, because the next day was CRAAAZY. And since that day is so much to talk about, I will skip it for now. The day after, we all slept in because we had been up since 3 am. We were pretty lazy and the only thing of interest that we actually did was to go check out the Macy's store there... I only made it half way up... there were 8 floors, and the farthest I got was 4.... wow. But to be fair... I was sorta shopping.
Sunday was my birthday so we ended up doing a walking tour of New York. We went to the Apple Store which is pretty much a clear box that leads you down into a basement store, FAO Schwartz, Central Park again, Columbus Square, Chelsea Park, then towards the Village where we visited the Stonewall Inn, where a friend educated me on the beginning of the Gay Rights Movement, and after that we headed to dinner at a Japanese BBQ restaurant where you cook your own food, and after that ice cream. So... by now you can see I am rather exhausted and clearly can't wait to be home. Unfortunately I don't know how much relaxing I will be doing as I have another convention this weekend.
I will try to get the pics up soon as i can't wait to share them, but it might be a week til i have time XD
Thanks!