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Old Pictorial Map of Post-war Fukuoka
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Showing posts with label nyc. Show all posts
Showing posts with label nyc. Show all posts
New York City Day 5 - The Last Day
Throughout this trip, I was trying to coordinate plans with my other cousin Eric to go meet up. Unfortunately, things were so jumbled and all over the place, I couldn't set a fix time to meet up with him and meet his family! So Monday morning, Jim and Adaiah went shopping and I stayed back because I couldn't walk anymore. So I was fine staying in the room and just chilling out before we had to leave for the airport.
Then I get a text from Eric asking me if I wanted to meet for lunch. He worked just up the street from me and I said SURE! Since this was the only time I was going to be able to see him during my stay there. So I met him at the corner of 40th and 5th avenue and there he was struttin in his business suit! I felt so under dressed and I was hoping that we were going somewhere for a casual lunch but low and behold, my cousin takes me to The Grill in Bryant Park! Now earlier on this trip Clecia and I saw this restaurant and said "OOOO WE SHOULD EAT THERE!!". We never got the chance to but thanks to my cousin my opportunity came up.
I had a good conversaton with Eric. Also finding out that he recently just had another baby girl, about 4 months old. I felt like a dumb ass not knowing this but then again, I haven't seen this guy in 16 years as well. I wish I got to spend more time with him and actually meet his family. Next time I will for sure!
So there you have it, my trip to NYC. I am planning to go back again and bring Alysia since she's never been there but first things first....
SAN FRANCISCO IN 23 DAYS!! WHOOT WHOOT!!!!
Then I get a text from Eric asking me if I wanted to meet for lunch. He worked just up the street from me and I said SURE! Since this was the only time I was going to be able to see him during my stay there. So I met him at the corner of 40th and 5th avenue and there he was struttin in his business suit! I felt so under dressed and I was hoping that we were going somewhere for a casual lunch but low and behold, my cousin takes me to The Grill in Bryant Park! Now earlier on this trip Clecia and I saw this restaurant and said "OOOO WE SHOULD EAT THERE!!". We never got the chance to but thanks to my cousin my opportunity came up.
I had a good conversaton with Eric. Also finding out that he recently just had another baby girl, about 4 months old. I felt like a dumb ass not knowing this but then again, I haven't seen this guy in 16 years as well. I wish I got to spend more time with him and actually meet his family. Next time I will for sure!
So there you have it, my trip to NYC. I am planning to go back again and bring Alysia since she's never been there but first things first....
SAN FRANCISCO IN 23 DAYS!! WHOOT WHOOT!!!!
New York City Day 4 - GG Night!
Darryl and Clecia left Sunday morning. I thought I heard them but knowing how tired all of us were the day before, they didn't wake anyone up to say bye. I remember just waking up going "Did they just leave?". So Jim, Adaiah and I just looked at each other and tried to figure out what we wanted to do. We had no set plans besides the fact that we knew we had to get out of the apartment cause Joel (Jim's co-worker) was coming back. Jim and I went out to get some breakfast while Adaiah cleaned up a bit.
For the life of me, I can't remember the place where we got breakfast. We went there everyday and they had the best breakfast ever! The freshly squeezed OJ didn't help either. I swear that place spoiled me. Now a few Puerto Ricans work behind the counter and they were nice to us the everytime we went there. So being that it was our last time that we were going to order from there, I said to the guy "Gracias Amigo!" when he handed me my order. LOL!! I guess he really took offense to this cause the look he gave me was the look of DEATH! I felt so bad that I said it but like I said to Jim, it was just habit since everytime I hear someone speak Spanish, I think I'm in an All Inclusive joint somewhere in the Caribbean LOL! So to that guy behind the counter, I'M SORRY! I didn't mean no disrespect at all!!
By the time we finished breakfast, we realized that alot of places were not open since it was Easter. So what do we do on Easter Sunday? Go to the Museum Of Sex! LOL!! This was on my list of things to do! We went in and pretty much found some very interesting stuff. The first floor was very artistic, basically taking sex toys and making them into art. The second floor however, wasn't. Porn was playing BUT they had some very interesting read while it was playing. It just gave you random facts about the movies and you actually weren't looking at the porn, you were reading the information! I obviously didn't take pics of the Porno but you can see some of the pics I took here.
The funniest moment in there was when I saw this Japanese girl walked up the stairs and she realized what was showing and she was so offended of what was going on that she was in utter shock and disbelief. My question to her was "WHERE THE FUCK DID YOU THINK YOU WERE GOING TO?!?!
Then came the highlight of the trip!! PINKBERRY! Poor Clecia wanted to try this so bad but she basically ran out of time! Let me tell you, I didn't get what the big deal was until I tried it. GOOD LAWD!! This was SOOOOO GOOD! Marilen told me to try the Green Tea yogurt but when I went there they ran out but for some miraculous reason, as soon as I sat down, Green Tea seemed to be in everyone's hand! FRAUD! Seriously though, THIS WAS SOOO GOOD!! I couldn't believe how good it was. It was just so refreshing. Like REALLY refreshing! Enough about that, the picture says it all..MMMMMMMMM!!!
So we get back to the apartment, pack up and walk to our new destination, The W Hotel - The Court. I've always wanted to stay at the W and I was really glad that I was FINALLY going to get to stay in one! I love the whole atmosphere of it. It's basically like a club. I didn't take that many pics since I was so tired of taking pictures by this point but the hotel was really nice. There was a white fur blanket there which I called my "Chinchilla" and I thought I would take a pic of me lookin' like a baller but as you can see, the pic just turned out gay LOL!
That night, Joanne and her boyfriend Gensen came down to meet us. I hung out with them at the bar and had some good conversations. I don't have pictures of that night since Joanne took them all but I will post them up as soon as I get them. This was the first time I got to meet Gensen and he's such a good guy! I'm glad that my cousin is with him. He's so chill relaxed and just easy going. It wasn't as crazy as Friday night, but it was good to hang out with Joanne again and Jim and Adaiah got to meet them as well. We basically just sat around and had some drinks and then Joanne got hungry so we walked up the street and found the only thing that was open which was some restaurant. As we walked in, we realized that there was a HUGE cat running free in there and Joanne had her reservations about eating there but she was STARVING that she agreed to it anyway. I didn't eat there, I was smart enough LOL! Right after that, they kindly walked me back to my hotel and I said my goodbyes! It was really cool for Jo to come down again considering she lives so far from the city. She's basically an hour away by train and I was and still am very appreciative that she took time out to come back down. We tried to call Derek out again but he unfortunately couldn't make it. Still, it was good times for everyone LOL!
For the life of me, I can't remember the place where we got breakfast. We went there everyday and they had the best breakfast ever! The freshly squeezed OJ didn't help either. I swear that place spoiled me. Now a few Puerto Ricans work behind the counter and they were nice to us the everytime we went there. So being that it was our last time that we were going to order from there, I said to the guy "Gracias Amigo!" when he handed me my order. LOL!! I guess he really took offense to this cause the look he gave me was the look of DEATH! I felt so bad that I said it but like I said to Jim, it was just habit since everytime I hear someone speak Spanish, I think I'm in an All Inclusive joint somewhere in the Caribbean LOL! So to that guy behind the counter, I'M SORRY! I didn't mean no disrespect at all!!
By the time we finished breakfast, we realized that alot of places were not open since it was Easter. So what do we do on Easter Sunday? Go to the Museum Of Sex! LOL!! This was on my list of things to do! We went in and pretty much found some very interesting stuff. The first floor was very artistic, basically taking sex toys and making them into art. The second floor however, wasn't. Porn was playing BUT they had some very interesting read while it was playing. It just gave you random facts about the movies and you actually weren't looking at the porn, you were reading the information! I obviously didn't take pics of the Porno but you can see some of the pics I took here.The funniest moment in there was when I saw this Japanese girl walked up the stairs and she realized what was showing and she was so offended of what was going on that she was in utter shock and disbelief. My question to her was "WHERE THE FUCK DID YOU THINK YOU WERE GOING TO?!?!
Then came the highlight of the trip!! PINKBERRY! Poor Clecia wanted to try this so bad but she basically ran out of time! Let me tell you, I didn't get what the big deal was until I tried it. GOOD LAWD!! This was SOOOOO GOOD! Marilen told me to try the Green Tea yogurt but when I went there they ran out but for some miraculous reason, as soon as I sat down, Green Tea seemed to be in everyone's hand! FRAUD! Seriously though, THIS WAS SOOO GOOD!! I couldn't believe how good it was. It was just so refreshing. Like REALLY refreshing! Enough about that, the picture says it all..MMMMMMMMM!!!
So we get back to the apartment, pack up and walk to our new destination, The W Hotel - The Court. I've always wanted to stay at the W and I was really glad that I was FINALLY going to get to stay in one! I love the whole atmosphere of it. It's basically like a club. I didn't take that many pics since I was so tired of taking pictures by this point but the hotel was really nice. There was a white fur blanket there which I called my "Chinchilla" and I thought I would take a pic of me lookin' like a baller but as you can see, the pic just turned out gay LOL!That night, Joanne and her boyfriend Gensen came down to meet us. I hung out with them at the bar and had some good conversations. I don't have pictures of that night since Joanne took them all but I will post them up as soon as I get them. This was the first time I got to meet Gensen and he's such a good guy! I'm glad that my cousin is with him. He's so chill relaxed and just easy going. It wasn't as crazy as Friday night, but it was good to hang out with Joanne again and Jim and Adaiah got to meet them as well. We basically just sat around and had some drinks and then Joanne got hungry so we walked up the street and found the only thing that was open which was some restaurant. As we walked in, we realized that there was a HUGE cat running free in there and Joanne had her reservations about eating there but she was STARVING that she agreed to it anyway. I didn't eat there, I was smart enough LOL! Right after that, they kindly walked me back to my hotel and I said my goodbyes! It was really cool for Jo to come down again considering she lives so far from the city. She's basically an hour away by train and I was and still am very appreciative that she took time out to come back down. We tried to call Derek out again but he unfortunately couldn't make it. Still, it was good times for everyone LOL!
New York City Day 3 - The Longest Day EVER!
When I woke up at Tom's place, I realized that I left my cellphone on the whole night and to my surprise, it died. Stupid me didn't even think of packing the cell phone charger in my backpack, but oh well. I figured it was just a minor set back. So I gave Jim a call from Tom's house and asked them where they were and what were they up to. They were on their way to the Statue Of Liberty and he asked me to come down. So I asked Tom how to get to the Statue Of Liberty. He said the following.
"Take the PATH to Christopher St. When you exit the station, make a left and after 1 BLOCK you will see the entrance to the subway. Then from there, you take the 1 train down to South Ferry Station."
Easy enough right? Yup, IF YOU'RE FROM THERE! So knowing I had no access to a cellphone, my lovely cousin sent me on my merry way to find my friends.
So the first task of taking the PATH to Christopher Street. That was an easy one. It was funny though because when I went down to the platform, a train had arrived and I was looking at my map to see if that was the right train and this lady who makes sure everyone gets in the train looks at me and says
"YOU WAITIN' FO SUMTHIN?!?!"
Right when I was about to ask her if this is the right train to Christopher St. She said..
"TOO LATE!"
and closed the train and it took off with out me. LOL! I figured it would only be a 5 min wait for the next one but it fucking ended up being 20 MIN! Finally the train came and I was on my way to my little adventure. The train stops in Christopher St and I exit the train and Tom was right, there is only 1 exit to this place so I followed everyone and as soon as I exited the station, I made a left.
To my surprise, the area looked very different from what I've seen so far in NYC. Thats when I realized I was in Greenwich Village. As I adored the scenery, I realized that I was walking for more than 1 BLOCK (as Tom stated) and still no subway entrance. So I figured that I would just start walking south since thats the way I had to go anyway. But which way was south?
Now I'm really fucking lost, no cellphone and I knew that those guys were waiting for me. I didn't want them to wait too long since I knew they wanted to go to the Statue Of Liberty and if you don't line up early enough, you'll never get in. As you can see from the picture, this was the line up when they arrived there.
So as I was walking in Greenwich, I decided to make a left on a street, thinking it would get me closer to where I had to go. As soon as I made a left, all I said was "OH FUCK, NOW WHAT". Next thing I knew I was surrounded with a SLEW of rainbow flags. YES, RAINBOW FLAGS!! Now I'm not homophobic or anything, but I haven't even been to the gay area in Toronto, let alone NYC! So just being in the area made me REAL uncomfortable. Now I'm not dumb, I know what everyone thinks when they first meet me so the last thing I wanted to do was get picked up LOL! I saw this asian family with a stroller and I decided to follow them, close enough so it looked like I was with them, but they thought I was trying to rob them. So the first cab I saw, I jumped in and said "GET ME OUT OF HERE!"
So I got in the cab and I asked the driver, "Was that Greenwich Village?". He said "NO, thats on the other side, you were in West Village, lots of gays there" LOL! Now I wouldn't have gotten all freaked out if my fucking cousin just told me thats where I would end up. Then again, this is the same guy that let me roam NYC without a cell phone so fuck, whatever!
So off I went to South Ferry Terminal. Keep in mind at this point I had no sense of time since I don't wear a watch cause usually I check my cellphone for the time. I get to South Ferry Terminal and I realized something. Ground Zero and the Statue Of Liberty are basically in the same area! Now, how was I going to find 4 people in a crowd of thousands?!?! I asked the information guy for the pay phone and he directed me to it. On my way up the escalators, there were 10 NYPD cops on the right side and another 10 on the left. None of them paid any attention to me until I got to the pay phone. Now here I was on the phone, with a backpack, black jacket with the collar up, black shades and as I was talking on the phone, I was suspiciously looking from left to right, trying to find those guys. Well wouldn't you know, this caught the attention of the 10 cops on my side and they all started to stare me down and I got paranoid and didn't even ask any questions when Jimmy said "Meet me on the street". I just wanted to hang up the phone and leave. As I was leaving, I was shitting bricks cause they were all just staring me down and I wanted to run, but you know if I did that it would be totally over lol!
After another phone call from another pay phone, I finally saw Jimmy and Darryl and ran to them and screamed "I don't ever want to do that again!!" and gave them the gayest fuckin hug ever! LOL!!
So after this, we met up with the girls at Century 21 and went on our merry way to visit Ground Zero. I didn't want to take any pictures of this place when I got there. I just find it really grim knowing that all these people died in one spot. It was just sad and I didn't want to take anymore time in there so off we went to CHINATOWN!
We get off and then here we were, Canal St. I remember Canal St. from back in the day cause thats where we would always drive coming up from Jersey. It was that one street that really stuck out to me. The main purpose of us going down here was so that Cless could get her good bootleg purses. We found a store and Cless and Darryl walked in and 15 min later Cless came out and said "Fucking Darryl!" LOL! So it turns out, D had tried to negotiate for a bag, and when the opportunity came for him and Cless to see the real good ones at the back, the lady turned to him and said "You not want to pay full price, you not come back here!" LOL!!! SHUT DOWN! There goes that!
So off we went for lunch. We were starving at this point and using Jimmy's trusty Blackberry with GPS, we found Nyonya! A restaurant my cousin in law Marilen told us to go to. You can see the food we ate here. The food was great! I really enjoyed it. Especially the Sting Ray. Yes we ate Sting Ray. It tasted just like regular fish!
After that, off we went to find dessert. So we walked and went to another one of Marilen's recomendations, Chinatown Ice Cream Factory! I had the Green Tea and Lychee. It was quite cold to eat it, but whatever we were there and we just walked around and ate it still.
It was Clecia and Darryl's last day so we tried to squeeze in as much things as we could. So after Chinatown, we went "On the 6" train to go to the Upper East Side to have some frozen hot chocolate at Serendipity 3. By this point my feet were aching so badly. Keep in mind I walked roughly about 85 blocks the day before and I wasn't wearing comfortable shoes so I was struggling by the time we got to the Upper East Side. We walked to Serendipity only to find out that it was a 90 min wait to get seated. All I really wanted was the frozen hot chocolate but I guess we had to sit to get it. Off we went to Bloomingdales to use the washroom and Jim and Adaiah went back to the apartment since Adaiah wasn't feeling well and Darryl, Cless and I went to shop some more.
We decided that this is a good time for them to see Grand Central Station. So we took the train there and stopped for a bit to take some pictures. A funny comment that Clecia said was, "Wasn't this place in a romatic movie or something?!?!" I quickly said uhhhh before I tell you, lets get out of here first. Then when we were away from the place I said "Ummm remember Independance Day?!?!" LOL! After this we started to make our way to The Rockefeller Center.
If you have been reading my blog, this was one of the places that reminds me of NYC. I just love it. Since it wasn't Christmas time, I thought I would see it anyway since I love the place. When we got there, it was even better than what I remembered. I seriously love this place, the whole skating, the building and just the energy in the area makes it special.
I wanted to see NYC from "The Top Of The Rock" so we went in the building and made our way up the elevator. The view was just spectacular as you can see in the picture. Seriously, for the cheezy tourist factor of it all, this was worth the $14! So after this, we thought we would try to hit up Daffy's which is basically Winners but better. I was told that we had to go here by Stfne so we did. We took the train to 34th street and as we got to the street, we realized it was just across the street. Cless and I freaked out and ran towards it leaving Darryl behind LOL! I found a nice casual blazer for $30 with an additional 30% off but I left it. I didn't need it. I'm kicking myself for it now but at the time I was just tired and I wanted to go home and eat. We had reservations at Ayza Chocolate and Wine bar at 7 and at this point, we missed it. After shopping we finally made it back to the apartment.
Noone wanted to go out since everyone was just exauhsted from the day so we decided to order in. Now this may sound weird, but we ordered wings from a Korean Place. It was called BonChon! Trust me when I say this, THESE WERE THE BEST WINGS I HAVE EVER EATEN!! Even Jimmy said it and Mr. Frat boy himself has eaten some wings in his time, so these were DEFINATELY a MUST when you go to NYC!!
So there you have it. The LONGEST DAY of my life! My feet sure paid the price, cause the next day, I couldn't even walk!
"Take the PATH to Christopher St. When you exit the station, make a left and after 1 BLOCK you will see the entrance to the subway. Then from there, you take the 1 train down to South Ferry Station."
Easy enough right? Yup, IF YOU'RE FROM THERE! So knowing I had no access to a cellphone, my lovely cousin sent me on my merry way to find my friends.
So the first task of taking the PATH to Christopher Street. That was an easy one. It was funny though because when I went down to the platform, a train had arrived and I was looking at my map to see if that was the right train and this lady who makes sure everyone gets in the train looks at me and says
"YOU WAITIN' FO SUMTHIN?!?!"
Right when I was about to ask her if this is the right train to Christopher St. She said..
"TOO LATE!"
and closed the train and it took off with out me. LOL! I figured it would only be a 5 min wait for the next one but it fucking ended up being 20 MIN! Finally the train came and I was on my way to my little adventure. The train stops in Christopher St and I exit the train and Tom was right, there is only 1 exit to this place so I followed everyone and as soon as I exited the station, I made a left.
To my surprise, the area looked very different from what I've seen so far in NYC. Thats when I realized I was in Greenwich Village. As I adored the scenery, I realized that I was walking for more than 1 BLOCK (as Tom stated) and still no subway entrance. So I figured that I would just start walking south since thats the way I had to go anyway. But which way was south?
Now I'm really fucking lost, no cellphone and I knew that those guys were waiting for me. I didn't want them to wait too long since I knew they wanted to go to the Statue Of Liberty and if you don't line up early enough, you'll never get in. As you can see from the picture, this was the line up when they arrived there.So as I was walking in Greenwich, I decided to make a left on a street, thinking it would get me closer to where I had to go. As soon as I made a left, all I said was "OH FUCK, NOW WHAT". Next thing I knew I was surrounded with a SLEW of rainbow flags. YES, RAINBOW FLAGS!! Now I'm not homophobic or anything, but I haven't even been to the gay area in Toronto, let alone NYC! So just being in the area made me REAL uncomfortable. Now I'm not dumb, I know what everyone thinks when they first meet me so the last thing I wanted to do was get picked up LOL! I saw this asian family with a stroller and I decided to follow them, close enough so it looked like I was with them, but they thought I was trying to rob them. So the first cab I saw, I jumped in and said "GET ME OUT OF HERE!"So I got in the cab and I asked the driver, "Was that Greenwich Village?". He said "NO, thats on the other side, you were in West Village, lots of gays there" LOL! Now I wouldn't have gotten all freaked out if my fucking cousin just told me thats where I would end up. Then again, this is the same guy that let me roam NYC without a cell phone so fuck, whatever!
So off I went to South Ferry Terminal. Keep in mind at this point I had no sense of time since I don't wear a watch cause usually I check my cellphone for the time. I get to South Ferry Terminal and I realized something. Ground Zero and the Statue Of Liberty are basically in the same area! Now, how was I going to find 4 people in a crowd of thousands?!?! I asked the information guy for the pay phone and he directed me to it. On my way up the escalators, there were 10 NYPD cops on the right side and another 10 on the left. None of them paid any attention to me until I got to the pay phone. Now here I was on the phone, with a backpack, black jacket with the collar up, black shades and as I was talking on the phone, I was suspiciously looking from left to right, trying to find those guys. Well wouldn't you know, this caught the attention of the 10 cops on my side and they all started to stare me down and I got paranoid and didn't even ask any questions when Jimmy said "Meet me on the street". I just wanted to hang up the phone and leave. As I was leaving, I was shitting bricks cause they were all just staring me down and I wanted to run, but you know if I did that it would be totally over lol!
After another phone call from another pay phone, I finally saw Jimmy and Darryl and ran to them and screamed "I don't ever want to do that again!!" and gave them the gayest fuckin hug ever! LOL!!
So after this, we met up with the girls at Century 21 and went on our merry way to visit Ground Zero. I didn't want to take any pictures of this place when I got there. I just find it really grim knowing that all these people died in one spot. It was just sad and I didn't want to take anymore time in there so off we went to CHINATOWN!
We get off and then here we were, Canal St. I remember Canal St. from back in the day cause thats where we would always drive coming up from Jersey. It was that one street that really stuck out to me. The main purpose of us going down here was so that Cless could get her good bootleg purses. We found a store and Cless and Darryl walked in and 15 min later Cless came out and said "Fucking Darryl!" LOL! So it turns out, D had tried to negotiate for a bag, and when the opportunity came for him and Cless to see the real good ones at the back, the lady turned to him and said "You not want to pay full price, you not come back here!" LOL!!! SHUT DOWN! There goes that!
So off we went for lunch. We were starving at this point and using Jimmy's trusty Blackberry with GPS, we found Nyonya! A restaurant my cousin in law Marilen told us to go to. You can see the food we ate here. The food was great! I really enjoyed it. Especially the Sting Ray. Yes we ate Sting Ray. It tasted just like regular fish!
After that, off we went to find dessert. So we walked and went to another one of Marilen's recomendations, Chinatown Ice Cream Factory! I had the Green Tea and Lychee. It was quite cold to eat it, but whatever we were there and we just walked around and ate it still.It was Clecia and Darryl's last day so we tried to squeeze in as much things as we could. So after Chinatown, we went "On the 6" train to go to the Upper East Side to have some frozen hot chocolate at Serendipity 3. By this point my feet were aching so badly. Keep in mind I walked roughly about 85 blocks the day before and I wasn't wearing comfortable shoes so I was struggling by the time we got to the Upper East Side. We walked to Serendipity only to find out that it was a 90 min wait to get seated. All I really wanted was the frozen hot chocolate but I guess we had to sit to get it. Off we went to Bloomingdales to use the washroom and Jim and Adaiah went back to the apartment since Adaiah wasn't feeling well and Darryl, Cless and I went to shop some more.
We decided that this is a good time for them to see Grand Central Station. So we took the train there and stopped for a bit to take some pictures. A funny comment that Clecia said was, "Wasn't this place in a romatic movie or something?!?!" I quickly said uhhhh before I tell you, lets get out of here first. Then when we were away from the place I said "Ummm remember Independance Day?!?!" LOL! After this we started to make our way to The Rockefeller Center.
If you have been reading my blog, this was one of the places that reminds me of NYC. I just love it. Since it wasn't Christmas time, I thought I would see it anyway since I love the place. When we got there, it was even better than what I remembered. I seriously love this place, the whole skating, the building and just the energy in the area makes it special.
I wanted to see NYC from "The Top Of The Rock" so we went in the building and made our way up the elevator. The view was just spectacular as you can see in the picture. Seriously, for the cheezy tourist factor of it all, this was worth the $14! So after this, we thought we would try to hit up Daffy's which is basically Winners but better. I was told that we had to go here by Stfne so we did. We took the train to 34th street and as we got to the street, we realized it was just across the street. Cless and I freaked out and ran towards it leaving Darryl behind LOL! I found a nice casual blazer for $30 with an additional 30% off but I left it. I didn't need it. I'm kicking myself for it now but at the time I was just tired and I wanted to go home and eat. We had reservations at Ayza Chocolate and Wine bar at 7 and at this point, we missed it. After shopping we finally made it back to the apartment.Noone wanted to go out since everyone was just exauhsted from the day so we decided to order in. Now this may sound weird, but we ordered wings from a Korean Place. It was called BonChon! Trust me when I say this, THESE WERE THE BEST WINGS I HAVE EVER EATEN!! Even Jimmy said it and Mr. Frat boy himself has eaten some wings in his time, so these were DEFINATELY a MUST when you go to NYC!!
So there you have it. The LONGEST DAY of my life! My feet sure paid the price, cause the next day, I couldn't even walk!
New York City Day 2 - Friday Night
The main purpose of this trip to NYC was to finally reconnect with some of my many cousins that are down there. I lived in Jersey City for a little over a year and though I have some memories of them, it's different when your older. There are more things that you can do together and talk about. After 16 years, I thought it was time.
3 weeks before I left, I emailed Tom, Carlitos, Derek and Joanne to set up something so that we can hang and have dinner, have a drink or whatever. Carlitos couldn't make it cause he had to go to California for work so it was just D, T and J coming to meet me. Tom now lives in DC but he came up for the weekend since the last time I saw him was in the Philippines.
So I get a call from Derek Friday afternoon telling me that we will be meeting at 77nd & 2nd at 6:00pm. I got his voice mail at 4:30pm since being in the museum killed my reception. I gave Deek a call at 5 and said that I would be a little late. Took the 1 train back to the apartment and got ready.
By about 6-6:15 I left the apartment and started walking north on Park Avenue towards 77nd street thinking that I would get a cab Friday night. By the time I got to Grand Central Station at around 42nd street, I realized that I was enjoying my walk and continued on. I really love Park Avenue. To me it is the street that made me really feel that I was in NYC. I love how wide it is and just everything about it I just love. It reminds me of University Street in Toronto. So during my walk I see this big building that just stood out. Taking a closer look I realized that it was the Waldorf Astoria. Now for those who watch Gossip Girl, this is where Blair lives. So I had to take a pic of it LOL. I felt kinda gay taking it considering it was a Gossip Girl momento but fuck, whatever.
The time is now 6:40 and I get a text from Deek saying "Where are you?!" I told him that I was going to be 10 min. more before I get there. Let me tell you. I was being so optimistic considering I was ONLY on 57th street. 20 MORE BLOCKS TO GO!! At this point my feet were hurting and it started to get cold and my mouth started to get dry since I probably had my 4th cigarette already. Keep in mind, earlier this day I walked from 33rd street to 79th street to the museum, so basically I was doing the same walk again.
Finally at around 7:15 or so, an hour after I left the apartment, I made it. I then looked for a place called Brother Jimmy's BBQ and entered. Once I did I felt someone hit me and it was Tom and Derek with his co-workers. We said our hello's and proceeded to drink. At this point Derek looked wasted already but hey, how do I know. I haven't seen this guy in 16 years.
Everyone who knows me knows that I cannot just sit there and drink pitchers of beer. I don't know why but I just can't. Well these guys just sat there drinking pitchers of beer and I anticipated a long night but as the night went along, I really didn't give a fuck after a couple of beers and just enjoyed the conversation.
Derek's coworkers were telling me that they were yelling "Mike" to every Asian guy that walked in the place since Derek didn't know how I looked like. Derek asked Tom what I looked like and the fucking guy said this
"Look for a tall asian guy thats BALDING!"
BALDING?!! WTF?!?! Do I look like I'm balding?!?! I have the thickest set of hair out of everyone! I found that funny but I found it funnier that Deek decided to bait Tom out.
I really don't remember the night but I remember the night got crazier when Joanne finally came. I just remembered she kept on ordering 2 pitchers at a time instead of 1 and that shit just made it worst! It was honestly a real good time! All 4 of us are a like, LOUD, DRUNK and OBNOXIOUS! I love it! BTW if you haven't noticed in the picture, that Irish guy in the middle IS Derek. It was a trip talking to him and calling him my cousin but that wore off as more drinks were consumed.
Derek's coworker Megan was there as well and she was so funny the whole night! Calling the waitress Old and saying how she wanted to be our cousin too! It was fuckin hilarious!
Anyway the night ended with us walking somewhere and I just remember screaming for Chinese food in a carton and somehow ended up in Deeks apartment. His place is nice. Even though I barely remember it, it was nice. I just remember that he had a rubber duck on the back of his toilet and I was going to ask him about that but I forgot to LOL!
So from Derek's house, Joanne, Tom and I took a cab to where I was staying, got my stuff and slept over Tom's house and I just remember saying bye to Joanne and thats about it. The next morning, I woke up in Jersey with a MASSIVE hang over! Little did I know, this wasn't the only headache I would get on Saturday. Trust me, this story is worth the wait!
3 weeks before I left, I emailed Tom, Carlitos, Derek and Joanne to set up something so that we can hang and have dinner, have a drink or whatever. Carlitos couldn't make it cause he had to go to California for work so it was just D, T and J coming to meet me. Tom now lives in DC but he came up for the weekend since the last time I saw him was in the Philippines.
So I get a call from Derek Friday afternoon telling me that we will be meeting at 77nd & 2nd at 6:00pm. I got his voice mail at 4:30pm since being in the museum killed my reception. I gave Deek a call at 5 and said that I would be a little late. Took the 1 train back to the apartment and got ready.
By about 6-6:15 I left the apartment and started walking north on Park Avenue towards 77nd street thinking that I would get a cab Friday night. By the time I got to Grand Central Station at around 42nd street, I realized that I was enjoying my walk and continued on. I really love Park Avenue. To me it is the street that made me really feel that I was in NYC. I love how wide it is and just everything about it I just love. It reminds me of University Street in Toronto. So during my walk I see this big building that just stood out. Taking a closer look I realized that it was the Waldorf Astoria. Now for those who watch Gossip Girl, this is where Blair lives. So I had to take a pic of it LOL. I felt kinda gay taking it considering it was a Gossip Girl momento but fuck, whatever.
The time is now 6:40 and I get a text from Deek saying "Where are you?!" I told him that I was going to be 10 min. more before I get there. Let me tell you. I was being so optimistic considering I was ONLY on 57th street. 20 MORE BLOCKS TO GO!! At this point my feet were hurting and it started to get cold and my mouth started to get dry since I probably had my 4th cigarette already. Keep in mind, earlier this day I walked from 33rd street to 79th street to the museum, so basically I was doing the same walk again.
Finally at around 7:15 or so, an hour after I left the apartment, I made it. I then looked for a place called Brother Jimmy's BBQ and entered. Once I did I felt someone hit me and it was Tom and Derek with his co-workers. We said our hello's and proceeded to drink. At this point Derek looked wasted already but hey, how do I know. I haven't seen this guy in 16 years.
Everyone who knows me knows that I cannot just sit there and drink pitchers of beer. I don't know why but I just can't. Well these guys just sat there drinking pitchers of beer and I anticipated a long night but as the night went along, I really didn't give a fuck after a couple of beers and just enjoyed the conversation.
Derek's coworkers were telling me that they were yelling "Mike" to every Asian guy that walked in the place since Derek didn't know how I looked like. Derek asked Tom what I looked like and the fucking guy said this
"Look for a tall asian guy thats BALDING!"
BALDING?!! WTF?!?! Do I look like I'm balding?!?! I have the thickest set of hair out of everyone! I found that funny but I found it funnier that Deek decided to bait Tom out.
I really don't remember the night but I remember the night got crazier when Joanne finally came. I just remembered she kept on ordering 2 pitchers at a time instead of 1 and that shit just made it worst! It was honestly a real good time! All 4 of us are a like, LOUD, DRUNK and OBNOXIOUS! I love it! BTW if you haven't noticed in the picture, that Irish guy in the middle IS Derek. It was a trip talking to him and calling him my cousin but that wore off as more drinks were consumed.
Derek's coworker Megan was there as well and she was so funny the whole night! Calling the waitress Old and saying how she wanted to be our cousin too! It was fuckin hilarious!
Anyway the night ended with us walking somewhere and I just remember screaming for Chinese food in a carton and somehow ended up in Deeks apartment. His place is nice. Even though I barely remember it, it was nice. I just remember that he had a rubber duck on the back of his toilet and I was going to ask him about that but I forgot to LOL!
So from Derek's house, Joanne, Tom and I took a cab to where I was staying, got my stuff and slept over Tom's house and I just remember saying bye to Joanne and thats about it. The next morning, I woke up in Jersey with a MASSIVE hang over! Little did I know, this wasn't the only headache I would get on Saturday. Trust me, this story is worth the wait!
New York City Day 2 - Day Time
When we woke up in the morning, everyone was pretty tired from the travel the night before so we decided just to take it easy and walk to Times Square. Just walking in New York City is a vacation in itself. I mean my 4 days there, we didn't even make a dent on the city. Thats just Manhattan alone too! As we walked to Times Square, we passed by Herald Square and stopped by Macys. That store is HUGE!! What I found cool about that place is that they still had some of the old escalators from back in the day. Just imagine the number of people that has stepped foot on that thing. Just crazy! I didn't find anything to buy there until I came across the HUGE sunglasses section!! Everyone knows that I'm a sunglasses freak so when I walked into that section, I was in heaven! I ended up buying a pair of Lacoste sunglasses for $125 which would've cost $300 here in Toronto easily! After Macys we walked to Times Square, took some pics and stopped by the Quiksilver store, Toys R Us and the M&M store.
We realized we were already on 50th street so at the spur of the moment decided to walk to Central Park. This place is SO nice! At this point in the trip, I started to miss Alysia because (and this may sound so cheezy) Central Park is one of the most romantic places I have ever been to. We all tried to take a horse carrige ride but they would only fit 4 people so Clecia and Darryl decided to go and Jim and Adaiah stayed back with me. While we waited for them, we walked around the park and just chilled out. It was one of the best times of the vacation just being there. Although we stopped by this old merry go round that was playing some creepy song, it was still nice.
Once Darryl and Clecia met us back at the park, we decided to walk to The American Museum Of Natural History. I've always wanted to visit this place and again, this place was HUGE, basically we spent about 3 hours in there. Towards the end we got really tired and went on a mission to look for "DUMB DUMB", The Easter Island Head from the movie Night At The Museum. After that we took the 1 train back to the apartment.
A funny moment happened when we went down the subway, Darryl and I saw the line up for the tickets and basically GASPED and looked at each other and started laughing. The place looked PACKED but really it was just the line. It's a good thing Adaiah stood in line ahead of time, otherwise we would've been there longer.
So that was Friday in NYC. At night I made plans with my cousins to meet them at a bar. I haven't seen them in 16 years and this night alone needs a post of it's own. Once I get the pics, I will post up what happened that night. Lets just say I didn't eat dinner. I drank it! LOL!
New York City Day 1
So if all went well, we were suppose to arrive in NYC at 1:15pm. In regular New York fashion, we arrived late. 5 hours later to be exact!! To make a long story short, our flights were delayed due to high winds. Lets just say that it was the longest shortest flight EVER!
So since our day was pretty much shot, we had to scurry into the apartment and get ready for dinner. We had dinner reservations at KOI restaurant (my pick) and WOW! Thats all I have to say. The restaurant was located across from Bryant Park, basically where they hold New York Fashion Week. Trust me folks it was WORTH IT!! Below is the list of what I had that night and some pics from Jim and Adaiah.
1st Course
- Ginger Mojito
- Crispy Rice w/ spicy tuna (This is their most popular item and if you taste it, you'll know why!)
- Dragon Roll (this was amazing as well!!)
2nd Course
- Ginger Mojito x 2
- Fried Halibut on top of risotto in a pork belly sauce
3rd Course
- Ginger Mojito (yes I had to have another one!)
- At this point I barely remember my food but I think I had some Banana spring roll with chocolate sauce
Overall, this night was a success...worth $490 or something like that LOL!
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