The big apple: NYC

Howdy!

I just got back from NYC today - and will be spending the next few days with Dad, showing him around my world here.

NYC was exactly how I imagined, oddly enough. Except for one thing: the people. You know how everyone says that NYers are't very nice? Well, I disprved that one, because -everyone- I talked to was lovely! In fact, they were super helpful and I was very glad. :)

When I arrived it was early in the morning (and I had enjoyed only 4 or so hours of sleep. So wasn't exactly feeling on top of the world). I was a little freaked out that when I looked out the window I saw now everywhere! Thank goodness I had brought warm clothing with me (which was part of an ingenious plan that cost me nothing :P). When we landed I was ecited by the big apple welcome on the runway. The Sex and the City tune came into my head. lol! Uh, yeeeeeeah...I was in NYC!!! :D

When I got off the plane I felt this rush of excitement and nervous energy. I was in this huge city by myself. ...and I had to get to the Javits Convention Center. From an airport that wasn't even a main one and therefore had less transport options!

However, once I figured out how to get out of the airport and get to public transport I asked how to get to the Q33. Luckily I was pointed the right way. It was sitting there so I felt like I had good luck for catching it before it left!
Good luck ended quick though since all the quarters I got before I left (I knew I would probably need them for ublic transport) had weirdly gone missing. So...I had a problem. The only way off paying (which is crazy) since I didn't have one of their transport cards was to pay $2.25. In quarters. Gah. Not cool.
Good thing a man kindly let me use his, and I just paid in back in cash. :) Yay for nice people!

When I sat down a guy behind me started talking to me. I was knd of weary since he was a stranger and I was scared he would take advantage of the fact it was now obvious I did not live here. :/ On the contrary though, he was super lovely and helpful. He told me about the city and mae sure I got off at the right place. He even helped me to get my subcard. :)

Unfortunately, hew left after that and I had the subway to brave. ...and boy was I lost and confused. The one I was trying to find I couldn't find. The whole system confused me and I was freakig out a little.

So, I asked a lady waiting for her subway train. She was so nice and made sre I got onthe right one. Weird thing was that I think she got sidetracked trying to help me that she put me on th right one which she said was the same as hers, but then it was the wrong one for her! :/

It was a long trip and when i got to Manhattan I was happy to get up and walk around. That station was so much less dodgy. Queens kind of scared me. Glad I wasn't walking around there. Glad I wasn't in the Bronx, either.

I went into a shopping center to use a restroom and then I asked a police person (who are abrupt but helpful) where to get where I was going, and they helped me out. :)

The sights and sounds of NYC were as I imagined. It was big, bustling (though not as many people as I imagined in my mind), dity and had lots of yellow taxis. :P

Eventually after quite a walk, I got to the Javits Convention Center and was super proud of myself. Yay me. :) ...and it cost $4.25. How awesome is that? Do you know how much it would have cost by cab/taxi!?! lol!

That afternoon I hung out with the others until the end of the show and then Dad and I went on an adventure. It was called the - getting lost trying to get to our hotel in New Jersey (Yes, that's right, I've been there now too - yay!)-. We caught several forms of transport before we finally got there. It took us about 3 hours. XD lol.

I was told I needed to try pizza and hot daogs in NY. ...so I was on a mission to do that.The first was accomplished on this first night. Man, fresh made -tossed in the air whilst we watched - pizza is amazing! :) Not to mention it was $1.50 for a giant slice?! I like!!!

Times Square was fun to visit. It's like on t.v. :) Yay for being in such a well known place!
OMG.... and they have giant everything. Including GIANT DISNEY STORE. Omg. XD

The people advertising this stupid comedy show where like ants. Everywhere. You wanted to attack one of them after a while, but we just ended up trying to come up with awesome responses. :P

The next day was Valentines Day so I kept Dad company and we went sight seeing. :)
We woke up to a beautiful day! It wa freeeeezing but the view was gorgeous.

The plan was to go to the statue of liberty from NJ side.
Too bad that didn't work. :S We ending up getting up early, hopping on a light train only so that we could walk around in the cold in the middle of nowhere. Yeah. We were awesome.
Not to mention there was ice everywhere so we were trying not to fall over. BUT - neither of us did. So there! woo! Go us. One achievement.

When we found out how bad our plan was holey we switched plans, obviously. Instead we caught a ferry across to NYC. From there we walked to ground zero and ate at this little place with huge watery hot chocolates (ew) and average food. Ground zero (where twin towers were) wasn't very impressive, but it was interesting to stand in history and see the new rebuilding plans.

Next we went to Wall St. Yay! I love seeing al lthese places I have heard about.
Weirdly enough it actually wasn't very exciting. There wasn't much there and the Stock Exchange building was gated off so you couldn't go near it.

If you know about economics and the whole bear/bull market thing, you'd find it funny how there was a guy selling bears on Wall St. ...yeah...

I went into Tiffany and Co. All I can say is: "OooOooh. Spaaaarkly!" :D

So by this time the ferry to Staten Island was going, so we headed to the Statue of Liberty (yay!). It was so exciting to see this statue that so many people know!

The security beforehand sucked and took ages, but the statue was awesome. ...oh and the shop on board as awesome too (got a NY hot dog! ..and a crown like on Princess Diaries!).

Then we headed for the Empire State building. Nice big building. :) Pretty spectacular view. ....very windy!!!!!!!!

I have no idea what was happening in Times Square but there was this weird V Day Ken barbie thing and it was kind of creepy! These guys were in plasic cases and you could take pics with them? odd...

I got flowers. :D Yay!

That night after we went back to the Conventonfor a bit we went back to NJ (across the river by the way) for dinner. Too bad we discovered that there was hardly anything to eat in that area....
We ended up finding something nice which we did in takeaway inthe end though. :)

The next day I helkped with the convention and then dad and I made a bee-line for the Rockerfeller center (which wasn't that impressive, but I looooved the ice-skating and the night view over the city) and central park. I didn't get to see Central Park except at a fair distance. But that's ok cos I can't say it has a good reputation at nightime. Obviously I will have to plan a visit to go back though at some point. :)

We went out to dinner at this nice place with our friends. It wa lovely and the waiter cracked me up. Don't they say the funniest most repetitve and fake sounding things sometimes???? ...dessert was amaaaaazing.

Before getting on the subway we stopped past Madison Square Garden. It's amazing how many things have gone on there. History! :D

Today I got up early and caught my flight (we relocated to a hotel near the airport, by the way) at 7.55am. As you can see I am chilling out some before I meet up with Dad again to vacation at CBR! Yay!

---

A Moral of the Story for NYC. There are plenty of nice people in NYC, so forget that stereotype! ---> though in saying that you still have to be careful and avoid the scary people.

---

The next few weeks should be interesting.

I have the opportunity to see a US basketball (Magic vx Kiniks - both well known!) game and go see Wicked soon. I really want to go but have to wait and see if i have those days off. :( So this sunday I am booking hopefully!!

I am doing Flower and Garden Festival at Epcot!!!! Yay!!!! Food and Wine and now Flower and Garden. So happy. :)

I also picked up soem random stroller parking shifts (who knows? lol) at MK too. :)


In a month or so I will start to sort out my plane tickets back to NZ/seeing if I can change my end date a little so life is a little less hectic when get back. It's goign to be shock to the system when its back to the drawing board and it's all over. :(

But until then, lots of fun stuff ahead!

I will post pics later from NYC later. :)

xx