NYC – Day 4 & 5

DAY 4: Liberty, MoS, Central Park, Chicago

 

It was a gorgeous day, and we were visting Liberty!

Picture Perfect

I still can't believe we were there!

Jumping on Liberty island, downtown Manhattan our backdrop – could it be any better? 🙂

It really was picture perfect - see the crescent moon behind Liberty's crown

On our way back, we saw a movie being shot! The whole road was blockaded, and a few minutes later, a procession of motorcyles sped past.

Downtown Manhattan

Bustling Central Park

Rollerskating and music

We saw the musical, Chicago on Broadway

 

Dinner at Korean restaurant

DAY 5:

Not many photos since the whole day was spent shopping. It was Columbus Day, so most shops were offering 30% discounts, so you can understand why we went crazy…

Columbus Day Parade on 5th Avenue - in front of Saks

A van decorated with cameras and flashing lights

I know you can't see this properly, but this is an exact replica of the Sydney Harbor Bridge!!!

 Uploading all these photos makes me miss New York. So much to do, see, eat. A city that really doesn’t sleep.

Next Post:

Six Flags (Rollercoasters euuurgh)

And also coming up in the next few weeks

* Halloween

* NBA match

* Miami

*MEXICO CITY!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

NYC – Day 3

Madame Tussauds!

Most of these are on FB, but this one still gives me a chuckle. Oh Elton

George Dubya, I luvya

hahahahahahahaha. Marco & Madonna

Only in NY

Top of the Rock - Overlooking Central Park

Can you see her?

Financial District Walking tour - our tour guide

New York Stock Exchange

Wall Street

Ground Zero

Flag of Honor - names of all the victims from September 11

Sunset over Ground Zero

Bodies Exhibition - Real Life human bodies - muscles, skeletons, tissues, the effects of diseases on organs, dissected human bodies, embryos. Gave me nightmares a week later 😦

Dinner at Carmines - Historic Italian Restaurant

Portions enough to feed 3-5 people

Bread pudding

NYC – Day 2: Museum Mile, Empire State

5th Avenue - Museum Mile

 

Guggenheim Museum

Kadinsky

Metropolitan Museum of Art

Salvador Dali - my favourite

Natural History Museum

Recognise this? From the movie, Night at the Museum

A stuffed gorilla

Rockefeller Centre - Christmas in NY......

Museum of Modern Art - Favourite museum but extremely crowded

Looking down from the 3rd level

'Shadow of Time'

Pablo Picasso - Les Demoiselles D'Avignon. The painting depicts 3 women from Avignon, a brothel in Barcelona, which I managed to see whilst taking a walking tour in Barcelona

Andy Warhol - 'Gold Marilyn Munroe'

Monet - Waterlillies

Flashdancers

In the spirit of abstract art

Dinner at Peking Duck in Chinatown - entertained the likes of the former French President and New York Mayer

Excellent food

Empire State Building at midnight!!!

One day I'm going to live here 🙂

Group shot

And finally...Phantom of the Opera / Two face ?!

New York City, Day 1

U2’s song about a city of blinding lights comes to mind when describing NYC – neon lights, billboards, tall skyscrapers, buskers, workers, shoppers, tourists mingling in the crowded streets and avenues. My favourite city (after Sydney of course) and a wonderful fall break, jam packed with activities, good food, musicals and endless amounts of walking and shopping.

Wednesday 7th October

Packing for NY. Deliberately underpacked so as to create a 'need' for shopping

Pre journey hype

 On the plane, Jana and I watched ‘The Accidental Husband’. Worst movie ever, beyond words. But it did provide pretty good view of Manhattan’s skyline and got us all excited for our arrival…

View of Manhattan from the plane

We arrived pretty late during the night, and to our consternation found that the hostel (L Hostel) was located in Harlem, where there had been a stabbing the previous night.  The hostel gave us the worst room (or rather, lack of room). It was merely an open space with 6 beds, and everyone on our floor could access it! So much for security.

Thursday 8th October

Nevertheless, woke up pretty early the next morning to begin exploring…

First view of Times Square after exiting Subway

 

Recognise this? From Forrest Gump

You may be wondering the significance of the following photo but Maoz has a special meaning for me, Kev, Michael and Samit. We first discovered this franchise in Amsterdam one cold evening and instead of going out clubbing, we went to eat here (as one usually does at midnight). It was the best felafel we had ever tried. We then stumbled upon a variation of this vegetarian delight in Barcelona, and then in London, and now New York! But sadly there is no Maoz in Sydney – otherwise we would run the stall into losses since it’s a buffet and being cheap uni students, we’ll be willing to sit there all day. No kidding.

the New York Post Office

 

Flatiron - First skyscraper in New York. Skinny, isn't it?

 

Spend the afternoon shopping along 5th avenue. Bought 3 coats (but ended up returning one of them since I was spending too much money)

the aforementioned coat that had to be returned!

Shopping bliss 🙂

Dinner at Rocky's in Little Italy

Italian chicken schnitzel (forgot the Italian name for it)

Little Italy

New Amsterdam: New York was originally founded by the Dutch

A stroll along Brooklyn Bridge at midnight. The song "You Said Something" by PJ Harvey came to mind

View from the Bridge

 

A lovely start to NY, though it meant our feet hurt for the rest of the trip!

Next post:

Day 2: Museum Mile: Guggenheim, Metropolitan Museum of Art, Natural history museum, MoMA, Empire State Building

Day 3: Madame Tussauds, Top of the Rock, Financial District Walking Tour, Bodies Exhibition

Day 4: This day was absolutely GORGEOUS…Statue of Liberty, Museum of Sex, Central Park, Chicago (the musical)

Day 5: Columbus Day Shopping Weekend. Discounts galore. We gave a new meaning to the phrase, ‘shop till you drop’

City of blinding lights – U2 & Muse

First major stadium concert! And it only cost US$35 (though, granted, the purchased tickets were shizer, but I’ll get to that).

The concert was held in Georgia Dome, and according to Wikipedia, my trusty and only source of information, this is the second largest dome in the world after the Millenium Dome in London. It has the capacity to seat approximately 71,000 people, of which at least 50,000 were filled to see U2 (and Muse).

Second-hand tickets bought for $US35

For the first time ever, the Marta trains were packed with people. Some lame jokes on the train: "I'm going to U2, you too?"

This was the view initially from out seats. Notice how annoying that leg is - obstructing our view of the stage!

Muse was supporting act. SUPPORTING ACT! I was going to pay $100 to see them as the headline act in Australia...

Yep, there's that annoying diagonal leg blocking my view!

But Anirban, Si Wei and I weren't going to stay in that spot - we decided to jump seats. This is our first attempt and a minor improvement!

Muse's final song: Time is Running Out

After Muse, we decided to jump seats again, this time to the section just right of the stage. The tickets here would probably have cost us $80!

Look carefully at these 3 lucky camera-men! Best seats in the house!

Muse were alright, but not as great as U2. They were too loud so instead of hearing their actual songs, it was just a great din in my ears at times. I guess when compared to a successful band that knows how to work the stadium and audience, they paled in comparison! Nevertheless, it was good seeing them once in my life.

The following are photos of U2 in their 360 Tour. The lights and alien spaceship set were amazing! Not to mention the fact that Bono still crooned the old favourites like One, Stuck in a Moment, Beautiful Day, Vertigo, and With or Without You (in the second encore), plus some of their new songs in a 1hr 45 min set.

Bono

Exiting Georgia Dome