Thursday june 18
AKA Day 1 – Arrival day
We left the house early in the morning with Vavu for the airport. It was surprisingly crowded for being Sacramento. We left on time from Sac, but were delayed in Denver on the tarmac as we tried to depart for New York. We were supposed to be getting in early to New York, as the plane left ahead of schedule. But once we pushed away from the gate and got in line to take off, the pilot told us that we’d have to wait about 30 minutes before we could hit the runway.
We got into New York about 25 mins later than expected. But no big deal. We went and claimed our checked bag, then headed out to catch a cab to our hotel. The guy directing the cabs was totally yelling at the drivers, telling them to pull forward or to go this way or that. He seemed to have a stress problem.
The cab was cool. It had a little tv we could watch, with a GPS display on the side so we could see where we were at any given moment. Maria tried to use our camera to take pictures, but it was pretty messed up from being dropped at Angie’s wedding. Maria picked up the camera and the battery compartment opened and all the batteries fell out. One of them got lost in the cab and we never did find it.
We checked into the hotel, and it was really nice in the lobby. Our room was tiny! We’d never seen such a small hotel room before. There wasn’t even a dresser to put our clothes in. There wasn’t a closet either. We ended up leaving our clothes in the suitcases and dressing out of them.
We decided that we wanted to go see Times Square and eat dinner there. We asked the concierge for a recommendation. He directed made us a reservation at a steakhouse called Gallager’s. It was really close to Times Square. We took a cab to get there. We learned that it was harder than one would think to get a cab. Most of the cabs had passengers already. We tried a number of different corners/spots on the street to hail a cab, many with no success. Once we got a cab, we also learned how expensive it can be to take cabs everywhere you want to go.
Gallager’s offers a New York Strip steak that is dry aged for 21 days in-house. Of course, we had to try that. So Andrew ordered that steak and Maria got a smaller one. It was a nice meal.
After dinner we decided to walk down Broadway and see what was happening. We stopped at a pharmacy and bought some black gorilla tape to seal shut the battery compartment on the camera. It worked really well. We didn’t have problems with the camera again after that.
We saw the ball that drops on New Year’s Eve – that was exciting! It was lit up – and the year 2009 was lit up too. We saw the spot where you can buy tickets for Broadway shows at half-off, TKTS. We saw MTV studios and went in the MTV store below. There was an M&M store, but we weren’t really interested in that, since we have one in Las Vegas. There was a Hershey’s store that was pretty cool, tho. Maria liked the banks in the shape of Hershey’s Chocolate Syrup bottles. They were huge! It was funny. It was really neat to see all of the billboards, too. So many lit up and a few of them in “HD.” The Coca-Cola billboard was really neat – it was in multiple sections, some of them in the shape of the Coca-Cola wave shape. We also saw the news tickers and ABC Studios. Another cool sight was the NYPD. There were a few NYPD police cars and vans in the area. There were also some dudes with big ol machine gun things, and tourists kept trying to take pictures with them. Of course, they wouldn’t oblige them. I don’t know why people would try to do that.
We decided to take the subway so we could go see the Empire State Building, and go up to the top to see the lights of New York at night. We only needed to take the subway one exit, and we were pretty disheartened that we went through the trouble of getting on, then when we got off and back up to street level, we could look back and see the point where we came from. D’oh! It was more trouble than if we would’ve just walked. But it was okay, because it was good practice to try riding the subway when it wasn’t busy and we needed to get our MetroCard anyway.
We walked to the Empire State Building, but when we got there, they had just closed the observation deck, due to inclement weather. The weather had reduced the visibility on the top to zero, so there wasn’t much point in going up. So, back we went to the subway to get ourselves back to the hotel (more than one exit away this time).
We were worn out by the time we got back to the hotel, and Maria was starting to get the sickness that the boys had when we left home. She had chills alternating with feverish sweats. It wasn’t too good. Our room was right by the elevator, so we could hear that as we tried to sleep. There were also lots of honking horns down on the street. We were glad that we were up on the 26th floor! Imagine the noise down on the 4th or 5th levels!
The best part of Day 1 was: seeing Times Square.
The worst part of Day 1 was: Maria getting sick.
The weather on Day 1 was: really nice. A bit muggy.
What we learned on Day 1 was: Cabs get expensive after a while.
AKA Day 1 – Arrival day
We left the house early in the morning with Vavu for the airport. It was surprisingly crowded for being Sacramento. We left on time from Sac, but were delayed in Denver on the tarmac as we tried to depart for New York. We were supposed to be getting in early to New York, as the plane left ahead of schedule. But once we pushed away from the gate and got in line to take off, the pilot told us that we’d have to wait about 30 minutes before we could hit the runway.
We got into New York about 25 mins later than expected. But no big deal. We went and claimed our checked bag, then headed out to catch a cab to our hotel. The guy directing the cabs was totally yelling at the drivers, telling them to pull forward or to go this way or that. He seemed to have a stress problem.
The cab was cool. It had a little tv we could watch, with a GPS display on the side so we could see where we were at any given moment. Maria tried to use our camera to take pictures, but it was pretty messed up from being dropped at Angie’s wedding. Maria picked up the camera and the battery compartment opened and all the batteries fell out. One of them got lost in the cab and we never did find it.
We checked into the hotel, and it was really nice in the lobby. Our room was tiny! We’d never seen such a small hotel room before. There wasn’t even a dresser to put our clothes in. There wasn’t a closet either. We ended up leaving our clothes in the suitcases and dressing out of them.
We decided that we wanted to go see Times Square and eat dinner there. We asked the concierge for a recommendation. He directed made us a reservation at a steakhouse called Gallager’s. It was really close to Times Square. We took a cab to get there. We learned that it was harder than one would think to get a cab. Most of the cabs had passengers already. We tried a number of different corners/spots on the street to hail a cab, many with no success. Once we got a cab, we also learned how expensive it can be to take cabs everywhere you want to go.
Gallager’s offers a New York Strip steak that is dry aged for 21 days in-house. Of course, we had to try that. So Andrew ordered that steak and Maria got a smaller one. It was a nice meal.
After dinner we decided to walk down Broadway and see what was happening. We stopped at a pharmacy and bought some black gorilla tape to seal shut the battery compartment on the camera. It worked really well. We didn’t have problems with the camera again after that.
We saw the ball that drops on New Year’s Eve – that was exciting! It was lit up – and the year 2009 was lit up too. We saw the spot where you can buy tickets for Broadway shows at half-off, TKTS. We saw MTV studios and went in the MTV store below. There was an M&M store, but we weren’t really interested in that, since we have one in Las Vegas. There was a Hershey’s store that was pretty cool, tho. Maria liked the banks in the shape of Hershey’s Chocolate Syrup bottles. They were huge! It was funny. It was really neat to see all of the billboards, too. So many lit up and a few of them in “HD.” The Coca-Cola billboard was really neat – it was in multiple sections, some of them in the shape of the Coca-Cola wave shape. We also saw the news tickers and ABC Studios. Another cool sight was the NYPD. There were a few NYPD police cars and vans in the area. There were also some dudes with big ol machine gun things, and tourists kept trying to take pictures with them. Of course, they wouldn’t oblige them. I don’t know why people would try to do that.
We decided to take the subway so we could go see the Empire State Building, and go up to the top to see the lights of New York at night. We only needed to take the subway one exit, and we were pretty disheartened that we went through the trouble of getting on, then when we got off and back up to street level, we could look back and see the point where we came from. D’oh! It was more trouble than if we would’ve just walked. But it was okay, because it was good practice to try riding the subway when it wasn’t busy and we needed to get our MetroCard anyway.
We walked to the Empire State Building, but when we got there, they had just closed the observation deck, due to inclement weather. The weather had reduced the visibility on the top to zero, so there wasn’t much point in going up. So, back we went to the subway to get ourselves back to the hotel (more than one exit away this time).
We were worn out by the time we got back to the hotel, and Maria was starting to get the sickness that the boys had when we left home. She had chills alternating with feverish sweats. It wasn’t too good. Our room was right by the elevator, so we could hear that as we tried to sleep. There were also lots of honking horns down on the street. We were glad that we were up on the 26th floor! Imagine the noise down on the 4th or 5th levels!
The best part of Day 1 was: seeing Times Square.
The worst part of Day 1 was: Maria getting sick.
The weather on Day 1 was: really nice. A bit muggy.
What we learned on Day 1 was: Cabs get expensive after a while.
Welcome to LaGuardia Airport!
Times Square!
Friday june 19
AKA Day 2 - Cruise
Even though it was predicted to rain all day every day of our trip to NY, we were lucky on Day 2. We woke up and there was no rain. In fact, there was sun. So we decided to go ahead and take the Circle Line Boat Cruise today, while the weather was good. No fun being out on a 2 hour boat tour in the rain!
We walked down the street, headed for the subway. We stopped at a little café on the way and had the #2 for breakfast (that would be a ham and cheese croissant). We intended to board the subway at the Grand Central terminal. But when we talked to the information desk, they suggested we take the bus, as it would get us closer to our destination. And that sounded good to us. So we headed for the bus. The bus dropped us off just one block away from Pier 83, where we would board the boat.
We redeemed our City Pass voucher for the City Pass book of tickets at the Circle Line ticket desk, and used our first ticket for admission to the 2-hour semi-circle tour of Manhattan. Our boat would board in about a half-hour, so we decided to get some Dippin’ Dots while we waited. The guy had just left the stand, so we decided to wait for him to come back. We were informed he’d be back to open the stand in a few (maybe 5) minutes. Maria got in the boarding line for the boat while Drew waited the “5 minutes” for the Dippin’ Dots booth to open. Well, a five-minute-wait it was not. It was more like a 25 minute wait. But Drew didn’t give up. He wanted those Dippin’ Dots!
Once on board, we chose a seat near the edge, so we’d be able to take some good pictures! And we were able to! We had a really good view of the Statue of Liberty when we got there. The tour took us under the Brooklyn Bridge, the Manhattan Bridge and the Williamsburg Bridge. We saw “the projects”, some of New Jersey, the Chelsea piers, the United Nations, Wall Street, and the site of the World Trade Centers, “Ground Zero.” You can’t really see Ground Zero very well from the water, but you can see where they are working to build the Freedom Tower. The cranes stand out enough for you to see the site. The narrator of the cruise expressed his dismay that 8 years have passed and yet barely any work has been done on the Freedom Tower.
A few more sites we were able to see from the boat were Trump International Tower, the Chrysler Building, and the Empire State Building.
After the cruise, as we walked back to catch the bus, we saw a sign that read, “no honking $350 fine.” This sign ended up being the butt of many jokes during our stay in NY, as there were many areas with these signs, but very few areas where people observed them – especially cabs.
We decided to stop back in Times Square to try our hand at getting ½ price Broadway tickets at the TKTS booth. We arrived just as they were getting ready to open. We hopped in line, but when the available shows and prices were posted, there were none that piqued our interest. So we decided to head to the Metropolitan Museum of Art.
The Met was large, just like the guide book said. But at the rate we tour museums (speedy), we were able to see everything we wanted in one shot. We saw most of the permanent collection that was open that day, and also one special exhibit – Model as Muse. One nice moment we had there was stopping for lunch and the soup of the day was chicken noodle. Perfect for Maria – as she was getting more sick.
After we were done, we went outside to get on the Subway. It was going to be a bit of a hike, so we took up one of the guys on bike-rickshaws on their offer for a ride. It was pretty exciting – nothing between us and that scary traffic but a little seat. But like the cab drivers, the bike drivers are pretty skilled. We were actually pretty safe. We were ASTONISHED when we got onto the subway this time. It was rush hour and the subway was PACKED with people. It was like sardines in a can. You couldn’t even move in from the door area to get deeper into the subway car, as it was packed with people. It was almost laughable. We just looked at each other and smiled as people pushed by.
We decided to take the subway to Little Italy to try some good NY Pizza. The first restaurant we saw when we got there had dudes singing inside. That was pretty cool. We made our way down Mulberry Street to see what else was around. There were lots of Italian restaurants, but not a lot of pizza places. In fact, some of the restaurants seemed insulted if you wanted pizza. We ended up getting a single slice at a place called “Snackys.” The guy who recommended it called it “Snarkeys.” There were a lot of Italian people in Little Italy – it was cool to hear all of their accents. After we were done eating, we walked a little bit through Chinatown, and ended up at the next Subway stop. We took the subway back to our hotel and were done for the day. Maria’s fever was in full swing, so that was about it.
The best part of Day 2 was: riding the rickshaw bike thingie, seeing the sites from the cruise.
The worst part of Day 2 was: having a hard time finding pizza in Little Italy.
The weather on Day 2 was: alternating sunny and overcast. Still humid.
What we learned on Day 2 was: you probably can’t get tickets at half off to see Wicked or anything super-good at the last minute.
View of the Statue of Liberty from the Cruise
Maria and the Brooklyn Bridge
Drew on the Cruise
Maria at the Met with a Jackson Pollock
Drew at the Met with Hercules
Little Italy
Pizza in Little Italy
Saturday June 20
AKA Day 3 – Look at us go!
When we woke up on Day 3, we took a peek at the Weather Channel, and saw a HUGE storm headed our way on the Doppler radar. It was due in during the afternoon. And it was supposed to be raining for the remainder of our trip. So we decided to head straight away to the Empire State Building so we could go up and view the city before the rain began.
Lucky for us, we beat the crowd. There were a lot of lines to wait in – but they were mostly empty. There was the ticket line, the security line, the elevator line. But we pretty well breezed through. Our ticket from the CityPass booklet included the audio tour, so that was handy once we got up to the observation deck. You just face a certain direction, and push the button that corresponds to the number you see on deck, and a narrator describes to you what you’re looking at. That was fun. And just in time! As soon as we left, it was beginning to rain. And the line was really long.
We decided to head to the Carnegie Deli for lunch. Again, we beat the crowd. Lucky! We got a table straight away. The sandwiches there were HUGE. It was nuts. But it was tasty, too. Also, it was way more bacon than one person should eat. The people sitting next to us were from San Francisco. So that was cool. And the people down the table from them were getting married next week. After we were done, when we went outside, the line for coming in was an entire block long!
We were proud at how good we were getting at using the public transportation. Between our handy-dandy subway and bus maps, we could get ourselves just about anywhere we wanted to go. So we decided to go see Rockefeller Center. Maria really wanted to see the spot where you always see people ice skating in the movies during Christmastime in New York. It’s really cool because in the summer, they cover the area with patio dining and you can just sit down there by the fountain. One cool store we stopped at in the area was Nintendo World. They had a cute little Nintendo museum collection there. The displays featured the NintendoDS systems used by celebrities in the Nintendo television commercials. They displayed the DS systems used by Hilary Duff, Liv Tyler and America Ferrera. There was also an old-school GameBoy system on display that was damaged in the 1990-1991 Gulf War. It was damaged when a barracks was bombed – but it still worked! All the plastic was burnt, charred and bubbly, but it was still running Tetris on it!
After leaving Rockefeller Center, we headed down Fifth Avenue, walking by all of the famous expensive shopping there. We were on our way to FAO Schwartz, to check out the most famous toy store in the world! It was raining pretty hard by the time we got to FAO Schwartz, but we were greeted at the door by a friendly toy soldier. The store was really cool. There was a big Lego section up front. There were life-sized models built out of Legos there. We saw a Lego Batman, Lego Chewbacca, Lego Harry Potter characters, and more. There was a whole Harry Potter section upstairs, featuring movie paraphernalia and lots of HP gear. You could buy ties and scarves in the different house uniform colors. There was a section called “Flourish and Blotts”, and they even sold sorting hats! It was pretty cool.
Some more areas of interest in the store was the Ugly Dolls section, where there was a giant Ugly Doll named Ox walking around, a puzzle and games section (Drew’s favorite), and the larger-than-life piano from the movie “Big.”
After we had our fill of toy shopping, we hit the streets in search of an authentic NY hot dog from an authentic street vendor. There were plenty to choose from. They were everywhere we went. So we stopped by one and Drew picked up his NY hot dog. Unfortunately, it turned out to be painfully similar to a California hot dog. Guess we picked the wrong vendor. PLUS – Drew went to add mustard to his dog, and even tho the mustard was in a yellow container, it was Dijon. That’s yuck for him. Ack!
After all that touring, we were worn out. We made quite a run at it, and wanted to get back to the room to recuperate for the evening. We grabbed a Starbucks and relaxed for a few hours before it was time to go to the Gotham Comedy Club and see Gary Gulman. We arrived at Gotham with plenty of time to spare. We hung out in the bar while we waited for our show. They do 4 shows a night there! Those comics must get worn out. The opening acts were great, but Gary was a little off his game. He was really funny on the show Last Comic Standing when he was a contestant a while back. But he seemed bitter and un-funny that evening. Oh well, at least we enjoyed ourselves. We got really great seats. And it was nice to go to a NY comedy club. It was surprisingly small. Not much bigger than the Sacramento venues. For some reason, it seemed like they would need larger clubs. But guess not! After the show, it was time to head back. It was raining and Maria wasn’t in the mood for taking the subway at midnight and walking in the rain to get to it, so we hopped in a cab and called it a night.
The best thing about Day 3 was: how much stuff we got to see and do.
The worst thing about Day 3 was: puking when we got back to the hotel.
The weather on Day 3 was: cloudy in the AM, MAJOR stormage in the PM.
What we learned on Day 3 was: Gary Gulman isn’t very funny these days.
On the 86th Floor of the Empire State Building
Carnegie Deli
Drew in front of Radio City Music Hall
Maria at Rockefeller Center
The GameBoy that wouldn't quit
Lego Chewbacca
HP Section at FAO Schwartz
Sitting on Random Lawn Chairs in Times Square. Fun!
Gotham Comedy Club - good seats!
Sunday June 21
AKA Day 4 – Wearing Out
Day 4 didn’t go so great for us. We spent the whole day in the hotel room. Maria was really sick by this point. We had grand plans to go out that morning, but we never made it. We were planning to go see the diner from the show Seinfeld where Jerry, Elaine, George and Kramer are always seen eating together (Tom’s Restaurant). The Diner is on the west side, and we were really looking forward to it. But alas, the flu stopped us from going.
Also on the agenda for today was the American Natural History Museum. This is the museum with all of the dinosaur skeletons on display. Drew was never very excited about going to that one, but Maria had really been looking forward to it. Again, it was a no-go. Maria slept all day long. Poor Drew sat around bored watching movies.
We decided we needed to get up and try to get ourselves to Broadway, because we had tickets that night to see Chicago at the Amsterdam Theatre. So we ate in the little café downstairs (chicken noodle soup), and took off. We picked up our tickets in a snap and were in line to go inside in no time. We thought we were there really early, but we were off by an hour, and were actually there exactly on time. Which turned out to be good, because Maria didn’t really feel like waiting that long before the show started.
We made it through the first couple of songs, but had to give up and leave before intermission. Flu and theatre don’t mix well. Oh well. At least we made a go of it. Back to the room we went. And we wouldn’t leave again until it was time to head out for the airport the next day.
The best part of Day 4 was: sleeping.
The worst part of Day 4 was: having to leave Chicago early.
The weather on Day 4 was: a blur.
What we learned on Day 4 was: you can only keep going so long while you’re sick and then you get really super-sick.
Monday June 22, 2009
AKA Day 5 - Time to fly home
Today was the last day in New York. On the schedule was the Museum of Modern Art. But that just wouldn’t come to pass this time. We ended up staying in the room so Maria could sleep and muster up the energy to fly home. After 4 days of the flu and trying to keep going anyway, it had just about wiped her out completely. We were just hoping for an uneventful trip home at this point. It wasn’t fun thinking about the two flights and 10 hours of travel we had ahead of us, but we weren’t about to change our plans to go home. So off we went to the airport.
We got the latest possible checkout time from the room, and got straight in a cab for La Guardia. We were quite blessed that the traffic was nil and the lines were equally empty. We were very thankful for that. We headed home on a journey that would involve 7-up and crackers, sleeping on the floor at the terminal, and prayer. But we made it home. Maria would be sick for another week after we got back. But even with all of the illness, we really enjoyed our trip. We would like to go back and see more of that amazing city!
The best part of day 5 was: when we finally made it home.
The worst part of day 5 was: feeling nauseated at the airport and during the flights.
The weather on Day 5 was: I was delirious. I don’t know. I think there was rain.
What we learned on Day 5 was: even if your worst nightmare is getting sick and having to fly across the country anyway, you can do it and you’ll live.
