I'm not sure where to even start. We (my brother and I, and later Kelly) took a bus up from Union Station in DC to downtown Manhattan. The first thing which caught my attention, besides the lights of the big city, were two men in full drag. That's not what I was expecting to see the moment I arrived... and they wouldn't be the only ones. I also heard more F-words this weekend than probably the last several years of my life. A young man approached me downtown and offered to sell me marijuana. That was a first. Basically, NYC was an interesting trip outside of my bubble. And by the end of the weekend, my feet were suuuure tired.
Some things we saw/visited:
Thursday-
Times Square. Also, learned that the metro is the subway again (took me a while to say metro) and that it is a little more questionable than the DC metro system. My basic analysis is that the DC metro is much nicer, smoother, and safe feeling, but NY's subway is a lot more convenient and big. Contact me for further details if desired.
First view out of the subway
Times Square of course
Seen this on TV
Subway, NY style
Friday-
Walked around and saw many buildings. We visited a giant toy/candy store, Hershey's store, Disney store, Nintendo store. We saw NBC's big building and Rockefeller Plaza. Empire State building, Chrysler building, Central Park, 9/11 Memorial.
Big candy store and a Big piano
This dragon went all around the lego store
Empire state building
lovely fountain in central park
Rockefeller Plaza
Grand Central Station
City from Central Park
Saturday-
New York Stock Exchange, Toys R Us, Brooklyn Bridge, Charging Bowl Statue, China Town, Little Italy, biggest Buddha statue in America (probably the biggest according to the sign), Trinity Church, Staten Island Ferry, Statue of Liberty, Wall Street.
Placed I didn't get to see but wanted to: South Street Seaport, Coney Island
I saw people dressed up as: Spiderman, Batman, Cat Woman, Elvis, Mickey and Minnie Mouse, the Statue of Liberty, the Tin Man, Captain America, Mario and Luigi, Hello Kitty kitty, and other characters which I didn't recognize
Celebrity Sightings!
While strolling through Central Park, my brother luckily had to find a bathroom. As we were looking around we noticed a caravan of trailers on one road of the park. A movie crew perhaps? Luckily again, all the first bathrooms he tried were not open so this led us to one next to a large fountain which probably has a name. There is also an overpass things which is all decorative underneath--the perfect place to shoot a movie! There was a sign which said something like "by walking through this area you acknowledge you might be on camera... blah blah blah.... don't sue us for putting your face on the big screen." I don't mind. The movie is currently titled Can a Song Save your Life? Starring....? Keira Knightly and Mark Ruffulo (AKA the Hulk in The Avengers). They were shooting a scene of a band recording in this pleasant looking area but Ben and I were not sure if we would see any of the stars. Mark's great but nobody knows his name so we didn't care much about him. Keira was who I was interested in seeing. First Mark showed up on the set and a little bit later, Keira as well! It was kinda weird. I couldn't tell if it was her at first and even when I got a good close up look it didn't seem quite like her. I guess I've only seen her in pirate clothes. Anyway, we stayed for maybe a half hour and watched them shoot this scene several times. So look in the background when this comes out cause we might just show up!
New York Stock Exchange, Toys R Us, Brooklyn Bridge, Charging Bowl Statue, China Town, Little Italy, biggest Buddha statue in America (probably the biggest according to the sign), Trinity Church, Staten Island Ferry, Statue of Liberty, Wall Street.
Times Square
China Town
Little Italy
Trinity Church
Alexander Hamilton's grave in a very old graveyard
9/11 Memorial. There is a fountain like this where each WTC tower stood.
9/11 Memorial
New York Stock Exchange
View from Staten Island Ferry
Statue of Liberty
Manhattan bridge. Looks like a painting for some reason
Walking across the Brooklyn Bridge
Big Buddha!
I saw people dressed up as: Spiderman, Batman, Cat Woman, Elvis, Mickey and Minnie Mouse, the Statue of Liberty, the Tin Man, Captain America, Mario and Luigi, Hello Kitty kitty, and other characters which I didn't recognize
Celebrity Sightings!
"Who is this man (and I) taking a picture of?" you may ask...
While strolling through Central Park, my brother luckily had to find a bathroom. As we were looking around we noticed a caravan of trailers on one road of the park. A movie crew perhaps? Luckily again, all the first bathrooms he tried were not open so this led us to one next to a large fountain which probably has a name. There is also an overpass things which is all decorative underneath--the perfect place to shoot a movie! There was a sign which said something like "by walking through this area you acknowledge you might be on camera... blah blah blah.... don't sue us for putting your face on the big screen." I don't mind. The movie is currently titled Can a Song Save your Life? Starring....? Keira Knightly and Mark Ruffulo (AKA the Hulk in The Avengers). They were shooting a scene of a band recording in this pleasant looking area but Ben and I were not sure if we would see any of the stars. Mark's great but nobody knows his name so we didn't care much about him. Keira was who I was interested in seeing. First Mark showed up on the set and a little bit later, Keira as well! It was kinda weird. I couldn't tell if it was her at first and even when I got a good close up look it didn't seem quite like her. I guess I've only seen her in pirate clothes. Anyway, we stayed for maybe a half hour and watched them shoot this scene several times. So look in the background when this comes out cause we might just show up!
On the set about 20 ft away
Keira and Mark just chattin
Looks straight out of BYU
Saturday night I was out in Times Square just watching all of the interesting things happening. At one point
we heard a car with lots of bass and shouts of "it's Snoop Dogg!" I ran to street and everyone had their cameras out taking pictures of a caravan of shiny pimped-out rides. I took a picture as well but didn't get a good look to see his face or anything. Apparently he just takes a cruise down the middle of Times Square whenever he feels like it.
Other incidents:
There were some Black Israelites out preaching on the sidewalks. Apparently they're there a lot. They were preaching about how America is receiving punishment for all the bad things that people, particular white people, had done. I watched them arguing with random people and it was quite amusing. It reminded me of the arguing talking heads who never let the other person finish what they're saying and both just talk over each other the whole time. This annoys me so bad. Then tons of people and cops started running around the corner, so I did too! There were more of these Israelites who apprently got in a scuffle with the street congregation if you will. I heard they were hitting with their sticks and maybe even a knife came out? Tons of cops showed up and two of the preachers got arrested. Interesting night.
Salsa in Manhattan? OK!
I've heard from many of my salsa friends that New York is the place to go dancing. I wasn't entirely sure when I went if I would end up going or not since I knew neither my brother or friend would want to go with me. Long story short, I decided to go out and give it a try. Partly for the fun but partly because I knew that all of my salsa friends would have given me a hard time if I went to New York without going out dancing. I found a place in the heart of Manhatten in a 12th story dance studio. It wasn't a very large venue, but high-premium property is usually small in these areas anyway. To my surprise the cover was only $1! Not at all what I expected to pay so I treated myself to a $1.50 bottled water as well. The dancers there were so good! The worst person I danced with was better than a lot of the DC dancers, and better than the majority of the Utah dancers. Another cool thing was that everybody dances in the on2 style. On1 is what most people do I believe. On2 is considered cooler I think by the salsa society, or at least that's the perception I've gotten. I think it's more fun. Not sure why but it's always spelled out without a space. Good time.
Food:
New York is supposed to buy a big food place. Unfortunately I didn't enjoy as much as I could have. I ate at a random Chinese restaurant, had some New York pizza, and a lamb gyro from a food stand on the corner. Didn't get a hot dog cause I was waiting till Coney Island, which we never made it to.
So that was my trip. Live vicariously through my good times!
Just Snoop's ride
Kurrazy
There were some Black Israelites out preaching on the sidewalks. Apparently they're there a lot. They were preaching about how America is receiving punishment for all the bad things that people, particular white people, had done. I watched them arguing with random people and it was quite amusing. It reminded me of the arguing talking heads who never let the other person finish what they're saying and both just talk over each other the whole time. This annoys me so bad. Then tons of people and cops started running around the corner, so I did too! There were more of these Israelites who apprently got in a scuffle with the street congregation if you will. I heard they were hitting with their sticks and maybe even a knife came out? Tons of cops showed up and two of the preachers got arrested. Interesting night.
Watcha gonna do when they come for you?
Salsa in Manhattan? OK!
I've heard from many of my salsa friends that New York is the place to go dancing. I wasn't entirely sure when I went if I would end up going or not since I knew neither my brother or friend would want to go with me. Long story short, I decided to go out and give it a try. Partly for the fun but partly because I knew that all of my salsa friends would have given me a hard time if I went to New York without going out dancing. I found a place in the heart of Manhatten in a 12th story dance studio. It wasn't a very large venue, but high-premium property is usually small in these areas anyway. To my surprise the cover was only $1! Not at all what I expected to pay so I treated myself to a $1.50 bottled water as well. The dancers there were so good! The worst person I danced with was better than a lot of the DC dancers, and better than the majority of the Utah dancers. Another cool thing was that everybody dances in the on2 style. On1 is what most people do I believe. On2 is considered cooler I think by the salsa society, or at least that's the perception I've gotten. I think it's more fun. Not sure why but it's always spelled out without a space. Good time.
Food:
New York is supposed to buy a big food place. Unfortunately I didn't enjoy as much as I could have. I ate at a random Chinese restaurant, had some New York pizza, and a lamb gyro from a food stand on the corner. Didn't get a hot dog cause I was waiting till Coney Island, which we never made it to.
So that was my trip. Live vicariously through my good times!
Well I'm not sure why, but random text is highlighted in white. There used to be a lot more but then I removed all the formatting on the text and realligned it all but then it still was like that... So try to enjoy anyway.
ReplyDeleteYou guys did sooooo much while you were there. No wonder your feet were hurting. No taxis? Taxis in NYC is quite the experience. Although they are expensive. I am heartbroken that I did not find my way to that FAO Schweetz place when I was there. I would have been in HEAVEN fo realz.
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