My latest vacation, part 1
The adventures of the gallivanting Dane
USA 2009
So last year I was talking to a friend of mine, after her recent trip to LA and Las Vegas, and I mentioned that I was thinking about going to the New York sometime in 2009. She mentioned that she might be interested in joining me, if I would like to have company. So we started to talk about it, and after some talks, and me contacting friends I have in the States, we agreed on going a trip where we went to New York City, stayed there 5 nights, and then flying to Texas, and stayed there for 6 night, visiting friends I have there, before flying back home.
Wednesday September 9th 2009.
Finally it was time to leave for my trip, the bag was packed, and I was ready to go. So my 2009 trip started at around 1.30 pm, where a friend of mine drove me to the train station here in Aalborg, from where I would catch a train to Copenhagen. The train departed on time, and after around 2½ hours, my friend who was traveling with me, jumped on the train, before it continued to Copenhagen. We arrived at the main train station in Copenhagen on time, but the train we were going to jump on to our final destination was a bit delayed, but luckily there’s one every 10 minutes, so the wait wasn’t too long.
Once we got to the last train station, we went outside looking for the hotel that was supposed to be close to the train station. We hadn’t looked around for very long, before a gentleman came up to us saying “you look like you’re looking for a hotel?” Which of course we did, so he pointed it out to us, and then left in the other direction. We got to the hotel, and after having checked in, left shortly after for our dinner.
I had booked a table at Fuego (which is and Argentinean restaurant), where we would be eating for free, since I had won a nice amount of money to spend at a gourmet restaurant. Except for the starters, which tasted most of dough, the meal and wine was great, and we had a very nice evening there.
Thursday September 10th 2009.
After a somewhat restless night we got up in the morning, had breakfast, took a little walk and then packed our bags and checked out, before heading back to the train station for a short train ride to Copenhagen airport. At the airport we checked in, and since my bag was close to the limit per suitcase, I asked if it was OK to have more than 23 kg in once suitcase when we went home, if I only had one bag, and not the 2 * 23 kg’s that are allowed. She told us that there was a chance I would get charged, so at that point I decided to buy a cheap sports bag once we got the NYC, since I knew I would want to bring extra stuff home with me!!
The flight to Newark was uneventful, and after the first 4-5 hours, it started to feel rather long. But we finally got there, and after about 1 hour we had gotten through immigration and customs and had gotten our bags. We had booked seats on a shuttle to take us to our Hotel, and we found it and got on it without any problems at all. So after about another hour we had checked into our hotel, and rather quickly went out to find something to eat.
Our hotel was one block off Times Square, so we were located very central in the city, and we quickly found a TGI Fridays, were we had a good dinner. After dinner we went searching for a book shop, and after I asked in a shop, we managed to find a Borders close to Central Park, where we spent an hour or so, and each emerged from there with about 5 or 6 books! We then walked back to the hotel, where we rested and read some, before it was lights out at around 9 pm, since we both were very tired!
Friday September 11th 2009.
The day started with breakfast across the street at a café, where the food was OK, but one of the servers was a real bitch, more or less shouting at a customer, when there was something wrong with an order. After that we went to the American Museum of Natural History. There we joined part of a tour, which was good to start with, but aft the end got somewhat long winded, so we decided to leave it. Parts of the museum was great, especially the dioramas in the hall of ocean life (where there also is a model of a blue whale suspended from the ceiling, very impressive), Hall of North American Mammals and Hall of African Mammals was very impressive. They had put a lot of effort into making the models of the animals look like they were in their natural setting.
After spending about 4-5 hours there, we went back to Times Square where we met some friends of mine who had come down from Boston, and we had a very late lunch before we went off to The Sony Wonder Technology Lab, which was rather interesting, even though we had to rush a bit through it.
We then went out for dinner, and afterward my friends went off to their hotel, and so did my friend and I, since we were still a bit jet lagged, and a bit wet since we had been out in the rain as well (yes it rained most of that day)
Saturday September 12th 2009.
We started out wanting to visit New York Public Library, but once we got there, there was a sign that said it was closed, even though it was supposed to be open. So we decided to go shopping. We then tried to catch an E subway train to the World Trade Center station, so we could go shopping at the Century 21 department store. But after having waited for a while, we didn't want to wait any more, so we went back to the book shop, did some more shopping, before heading back to the hotel to drop off our stuff, and met my friends for lunch. After lunch we went on a 3-Hr Full Island Cruise around Manhattan. Since there was a high tide in one of the rivers we should have sailed on, they had to change it into a 3 hour sightseeing cruise, but we still got to see most of what we were supposed to see, and it was very interesting.
We again went out to dinner with my friends afterward, before they headed back to their hotel and we did the same. Luckily it didn't rain to much that day, but it was still overcast most of the day.
Sunday September 13th 2009.
We woke up to a great weather, and after breakfast we walked up to Central Park, and through part of it, to our destination The Metropolitan Museum of Art. The experience of it is hard to put into words, since it's an amazing museum. The art isn't what I thought it would be. To me art is mostly paintings, but oh was I wrong. They have so many different things there, and the around 6 hours we were there was amazing, even though there was way to many impressions for one visit. The perfect way to visit it, is to be able to spend 2 or more days there. If you go there, don't miss the roof top terrace with a view of Central Park.
This evening we went to Restaurant Row, and after having looked at the menu's at the different restaurants, we went for Asian food. The food was great and so was the wine. Again the portions were a bit big, so we had to send some food back, which wasn't the first or last time on our trip ;-). After dinner we headed to Empire State Building (it's open most nights until late), to get a night time view over New York City. Even though it was a bit expensive (20$ a person), and there were many people up there, it was an amazing view over the city. And since there were so many people wanting to get down with the lifts at the same time, we were allowed to go down 6 floors on the stairs, to the larger elevator banks.
Monday September 14th 2009.
We started the day out by going to the Pedal Pusher Bike Shop, (it was a bit hard to figure out the way to it, but we finally got there), where we rented a couple of bikes, and headed to Central Park. We did a full circle of Central Park on the road there, and it was a great ride on a day with great weather. The bike shop was a great deal compared to the prices you pay if you rent the bikes in the park, and even though we had the bikes for a bit more than an hour, we still only paid for one hour. So I can highly recommend the place, even though the bikes aren't the newest ones, they work great.
On our way back to the hotel we stopped at the New York Public Library, where we did get to see some of it, but the 1st floor was closed due to the fashion week that was going on while we were there.
We then went on the Century 21, where my friend got some great deals on clothes, and I got a great deal on a sports bag. After that we located the Bodyshop on Times Square, where I stocked up on some of their products, since I could save around 25% compared to Denmark.
The last evening in the Big Apple we went to a restaurant with a New Orleans theme, and again had some good food. Afterward we went for a drink, and back to the hotel to pack our suitcases, so we were ready to leave the day after.