I have transformed in to some kind of a travel freak from the last two weekends. I would like to think that it is the weather. Winter is almost gone and the surroundings are perking up with the temperatures rising and chicks also correspondingly more hotter :) Add to it the fact that in a month I will be completing a whole year in this country and my enthusiasm sure is up.
03/25 : NYC
NYC is some 2hrs train ride from my place. Maybe that was the reason why I never got there in the 10 months that I am here. I did go to see the Independence Day fireworks but I would discount that because that visit was very specific and last only a few hours until the fireworks were done. What was amazing about the NYC trip coming along was not really the urge to see the city but BROADWAY. I will not enlighten anybody about what Broadway is, if you don't know about it then better find it yourself. So when I ringed the idea of watching a Broadway show a couple of friends showed interested and it was a huge plus that one of them knew NYC like the 'back of this hand'. We weren't much into the cheesy romantic musicals which Broadway is more characterized for and we bumped into this SPIDERMAN - Turn off the Dark. The reviews were no doubt rave and the fact that the show promised stunts over the heads of the audience just had what we wanted.
So we took the train to Grand Central after some tentativeness about getting the subway ticket and all within no time we were at Battery Park zooming in on the statue of Liberty via our camera lenses. We did think of taking the cruise to the Liberty Island but then we were more bothered about the waiting time at the Empire State considering that we had to catch the 8p Broadway show. From there we headed to the 9/11 WTC memorial. It took quite sometime there as the memorial rightly attracts crowds paying respect or just plain wanting to be there. In between on the Wall Street we met the 'Bull' as well. Thank God they have now barricaded the Bull as I have seen pics of tourists literally sodomizing the poor thing :P
After the WTC memorial it was time for lunch and we bumped into 'Salaam Bombay' an Indian Cuisine restaurant not so far off. The appetizers as a part of the Lunch Buffet were amazing - Chicken Lollipop, Mutton Kebab and for the first time I was feeling sorry for ordering a beer as that killed my appetite a bit but I managed to do justice to the lunch as always. The surprise came when we asked for the check. It was delivered in this:
Almost a 'Sone pe Suhaga' moment for us Indians :) With a full tummy and sleep atleast on my eyes somehow we took the sub to 34h street and began the long walk to the Empire State building which would end at Times Sq..
The Empire State building was not at all crowded. I mean we had expected a wait time of almost 2-3 hrs but it was breezy through the queues and we should have taken in all an hour to get to the 86th floor balcony and get a 360 deg view of the city. My friend - guide was quick to snap up the opportunity to tell us what was what...he pointed out the Brooklyn Bridge, Chrysler building, Statue of Liberty, BoFA building etc..etc..etc. The gale up there made me do a Marilyn Monroe with my t-shirt :P not to mention there were a few real Marilyn Monroe moments for the ladies wearing long flowing gowns and skirts too ;) We decided not to go the 102nd floor cos then our cameras would have had a real workout zooming even more on the landmarks which paled in comparison to this behemoth.
After Empire State building we walked quite a few blocks and finally took the turn which led us to a different world - TIMES SQUARE. Enough has been said and written about the TIMES Square and I aint gonna add my two cents to it. But to say the least NYC is one thing and TIMES SQUARE is quite another. The atmosphere is pulsating and as the day turns to night and the lights take full effect you feel you are mesmerized and strangely aloof even if you are surrounded by the crowd.
Sitting quite sometime on the Red Steps on the far end of the Times Square, we decided to get ourself a cuppa from StarBucks so that even we can say ki "Times Sq waale StarBucks ki coffee peeke aye hai!!!" As there was more than an hr for the Broadway show to start we decided to get famous. Not that difficult when you are in Times Sq, you just have to be there in the line of the camera over the Aeropostale screen for 15mins and then once there ad is done, they give a live feed of the camera and you are right there bang on the big screen in Times Sq :) (spot me in th pic below ;))
It was time for the Broadway show and needless to say the theater was jam packed. What happened there for the next 1hr 45 mins blew our minds off. We knew it would be special but we were just not ready for this kind of special. I have since tried to put the feeling I had when I was watching the show into words but its just not possible. I will just leave it at that.
After the show we did another quick round of the Times Sq as the night progressed, the crowd at the Sq increased and it was more of a spectacle to relish.
It was only when I got in the train at Grand Central to return back home did I realize that I had walked quite a lot and that my legs were aching as hell!!
A few things still remain to be seen. Amongst them is the Statue of Liberty up close, Brooklyn Bridge and ofcourse the NYC nightlife :D All that in good time for sure!!!
Still think that U2 did a better job with the New York song than Alicia Keys and Jay Z
Next Up: The Weekend that was : Washington DC
03/25 : NYC
NYC is some 2hrs train ride from my place. Maybe that was the reason why I never got there in the 10 months that I am here. I did go to see the Independence Day fireworks but I would discount that because that visit was very specific and last only a few hours until the fireworks were done. What was amazing about the NYC trip coming along was not really the urge to see the city but BROADWAY. I will not enlighten anybody about what Broadway is, if you don't know about it then better find it yourself. So when I ringed the idea of watching a Broadway show a couple of friends showed interested and it was a huge plus that one of them knew NYC like the 'back of this hand'. We weren't much into the cheesy romantic musicals which Broadway is more characterized for and we bumped into this SPIDERMAN - Turn off the Dark. The reviews were no doubt rave and the fact that the show promised stunts over the heads of the audience just had what we wanted.
So we took the train to Grand Central after some tentativeness about getting the subway ticket and all within no time we were at Battery Park zooming in on the statue of Liberty via our camera lenses. We did think of taking the cruise to the Liberty Island but then we were more bothered about the waiting time at the Empire State considering that we had to catch the 8p Broadway show. From there we headed to the 9/11 WTC memorial. It took quite sometime there as the memorial rightly attracts crowds paying respect or just plain wanting to be there. In between on the Wall Street we met the 'Bull' as well. Thank God they have now barricaded the Bull as I have seen pics of tourists literally sodomizing the poor thing :P
After the WTC memorial it was time for lunch and we bumped into 'Salaam Bombay' an Indian Cuisine restaurant not so far off. The appetizers as a part of the Lunch Buffet were amazing - Chicken Lollipop, Mutton Kebab and for the first time I was feeling sorry for ordering a beer as that killed my appetite a bit but I managed to do justice to the lunch as always. The surprise came when we asked for the check. It was delivered in this:
The Empire State building was not at all crowded. I mean we had expected a wait time of almost 2-3 hrs but it was breezy through the queues and we should have taken in all an hour to get to the 86th floor balcony and get a 360 deg view of the city. My friend - guide was quick to snap up the opportunity to tell us what was what...he pointed out the Brooklyn Bridge, Chrysler building, Statue of Liberty, BoFA building etc..etc..etc. The gale up there made me do a Marilyn Monroe with my t-shirt :P not to mention there were a few real Marilyn Monroe moments for the ladies wearing long flowing gowns and skirts too ;) We decided not to go the 102nd floor cos then our cameras would have had a real workout zooming even more on the landmarks which paled in comparison to this behemoth.
After Empire State building we walked quite a few blocks and finally took the turn which led us to a different world - TIMES SQUARE. Enough has been said and written about the TIMES Square and I aint gonna add my two cents to it. But to say the least NYC is one thing and TIMES SQUARE is quite another. The atmosphere is pulsating and as the day turns to night and the lights take full effect you feel you are mesmerized and strangely aloof even if you are surrounded by the crowd.
It was only when I got in the train at Grand Central to return back home did I realize that I had walked quite a lot and that my legs were aching as hell!!
A few things still remain to be seen. Amongst them is the Statue of Liberty up close, Brooklyn Bridge and ofcourse the NYC nightlife :D All that in good time for sure!!!
Still think that U2 did a better job with the New York song than Alicia Keys and Jay Z
Next Up: The Weekend that was : Washington DC
2 comments:
Thanks for swinging by and making us part of your NYC adventures! Sounds like you had a super hero time with us.
great to hear from you after all this while! specially after you having traveled so much over the past year thanks for sharing this trip ka details at least :P
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