Spring Break 2005 - NYC: March 2005

Welcome

Welcome to my New York City adventure!

The story starts on the bottom of this webpage and makes its way up. Unfortunately some of the pictures were posted out of order. However, you should be able to figure out which ones were taken when by my lovely postings:).

Enjoy!

Sunset at the border to Canada... Home sweet home
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last supper
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On our way to Soho.. back to the seventies
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Ground Zero
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What an Intersection
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Rockefeller Center
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Our last time bringing back breakfast for the guys...
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Day 5... the last day

The week has passed so quickly. We shared a great number of laughs and saw many beautiful things. It was truly a great week. But before all was over - we had another big sightseeing programme in front of us:

Rockefeller Center, NBC studios, Wall Street and Ground Zero were all visited in lightspeed (quantity was better than quality). More time was then spent shopping at Century 21, an awesome warehouse store which yielded a new wallet and gorgeous shoes for me. We continued to walk through Manhatten on our way to Soho were we completed our NYC shopping experience. The highlight of that was the Apple Store - simply amazing.

After a delicious supper at a Malaysian restaurant we rushed back to our hotel where Ioana and I got our bags, jumped into the next cab and barely made the last bus back to Montreal. 8 hours later we were back in la belle province while the boys were enjoying two more days in the Big Apple.

There remains a lot to be seen in New York City... so beyond any doubt - I will go back!

the boys struggling with their sticks
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Yes, I did give up on eating with the sticks. I'll blame it on my non-functioning body on that particular night
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At benihana's food is prepared on your table. This cook created a heart out of rice, egg and other ingredients. How romantic!
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Yes Ioana. There is some resemblance!
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Did he paint me?
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Two lonely souls at the Museum of Modern Art
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Day 4

Tired is what we all were. Therefore we were thankful the weatherman had announced snow. The day's program consisted mostly of the museum of modern art and waiting for Ioana who got lost in New York City. Our indication of a Fed-Ex car opposite the deli we were waiting in apparently wasn't good enough. Perhaps that was because there are Fed-Ex cars on every corner in NYC? We shall never know.

Supper should have been the most exciting part of the day. Studied it so many times before - I could't wait to eat at Benihana's. However, my body was feeling the lack of sleep and stress of the city and I couldn't enjoy it just as much as I would have liked to. It was still spectacular and tasted very yummy.

For the sake of my body I called it an early night - but the others went on to go out in the Meatpackers district - apparently had a lot of fun.

paaarrtteeeyy
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Shaking it up
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Lucky birthday boy!
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Manhattan
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we felt rather tiny...
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Jamba Juice
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how artistic
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enjoying the sunshine
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Central Park... so much fun
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Day 3

My first day of real sightseeing! Wohoo!

In the 'morning' we took a long walk through beautiful Central Park. Christo's exhibition (orange gates) was beautiful to look at in the sunshine. It was relaxing to escape the city noise, dust and dirt for a few hours and enjoy as much of nature as there is in that city. Impressive were the tall buildings lined up just on the border of the park.

Thereafter we enjoyed smoothies at the jamba bar. SO much fun - especially since some of us added energizer boost to the smoothies. We were one happy hyper gang.

Next on the program was the Empire State building. So tall! Wow. The weather was beautiful, sight was amazing.

We concluded the sightseeing with a visit to Bloomingdales. I can't wait to work in New York and go shopping there... every day! There was a bridal show on the top floor with food tastings - Ioana and I were particularly thrilled about that.

And.. the highlight of the day: Normann's birthday. We took him to a restaurant and a club thereafter. Food was good, music was good, we had a lot of fun.

my bed for a night... what a change to our hotelroom
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The gang in front of Columbia University's Library. In fact just 10 minutes from our hotel.
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The line is the indicator of blood-poisoning. Scary sight...
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Times Square
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The group.. finally together
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Day 2

After the disastrous first day - nothing could go wrong anymore...... or so we thought.

Ioana wakes up with blood poisoning. She must have stepped on something infected - that made her foot hurt and now turned even worse. Therefore we spent the first half of the day running from doctor to doctor, calling doctors and doctors.. but apparently there were no doctors working on Tuesdays in New York City - at least not the ones we wanted to see. Finally went to St-Luke's hospital's emergency room.

Sightseeing on the way there and during the emergency room period included Columbia University and a beautiful old Cathedral.

At 3 p.m. I unexpectedly had to leave the others to visit Dennis. Meagan had a hockeygame - being the goalie for the first time. After our shady hotel, Dennis' mansion in Greenwich, Connecticut was luxury, luxury, luxury. Greenwich is a city full of CEOs and top management. One mansion next to another more beautiful mansion - it was a treat to anyone's eye.

The following day I found out that Ioana was ok again and that they did a lot of sightseeing still. They also visited a very nice bar and had a great time.

Shopppppppppppppiinnnnngggg
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Our answers to the above questions posted in a subway car: Yes. Yes. Yes, yes, yes. Yes. Damn! What did New York City do to us in just a few hours?
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Two very exhausted girls prior to getting lost in the subway. Notice how we're still smiling - although not too enthusiastically...
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On our way to NYC - before the accident. Although if one examines the bus closely - scratches are apparent and a subtle indicator of previous accidents...
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Day 1

Our way to New York City proved to be long and winding. These are just a few of the things that went wrong on (and prior to) day one:

* Ioana hurt her foot (to be continued)
* I hurt my back to an extent that I couldn't sit, lie, stand, walk or do anything remotely connected to that
* The bus was to arrive in New York City at 4.30 a.m. as opposed to 7.30 a.m. Two not-so streetwise girls in the big city at that time... fun fun fun!
* The nightbus starts skidding on the highway at around 2 a.m. We crash into a stone-wall - luckily without any causalties or injuries. Sleep was impossible thereafter.
* Ioana and Eva get lost in New York City's subway system (several times) and came alarmingly close to the unsafe neighbourhood of The Bronx.
* A 7 block, up-hill, walk to the hotel with 25 cm of snow proved to be more than a bit burdensome. A taxi then took us three times around the block before leaving us 10 metres from the place where it picked us up. Bastard!
* The hotel is... disastrous... if said in a polite way.
* It's cold, we're tired, we're moody, we want to change, wash ourselves and sleep - but first need to spend another 5 hours in the city before being able to check in. This we did at 3.00 pm - and went to sleep for the rest of the afternoon. The meantime we spent with shopping at Macy's and H&M.

To our knowledge, the rest of our troup wasn't much luckier with their travel experiences either: Baggage checks that took hours and delayed planes were some of their upliftingly exciting stories.

Once David, Norman, Ioana and I found ourselves we had a nice evening that included a cute Italian Restaurant (with a very bright yellow plastic door), a room change (we all moved into the same room until Richard's arrival), Times Square, Cocktails and Nachos at Applebees, and a random bar entertained us until the early morning hours.