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New York 2004

Friday, July 31

Got to Laurie’s house at 6:00 am. The bus picked up all the people for this tour and off we went to New York city! It was a long bus ride but fortunately for us, there were quite a few stops to allow us to stretch our legs. We had a short delay at the border due to Jen’s citizenship.

When we reached the Lincoln tunnel, Laurie played the Sinatra song ‘New York, New York’ and people started to sing along. We made it to our hotel in New York city by 9:00 pm… woo hoo! Our hotel was called the Novatel. Situated on the corner of Broadway and 52^nd St. Right in the heart of the Theatre district.

As soon as Renee and I got into our room we celebrated by cracking open a bottle of wine, jumped on the bed, and had a pillow fight with our neighbours across the hall (Jen, Pat, and Linda). We weren’t there 10 minutes when there was already a noise complaint from their next door neighbour. AT 9PM!!!!! The manager had to come and tell us to quiet down. Well THAT sucked! So, when we all decided to go for a walk to Times Square, we knocked on the neighbour’s door and ran to the elevator. We looked like a bunch of teenagers playing practical jokes. So, as we started walking down Broadway, Jen scared the #$%^% out of me by yelling ‘He’s gonna get your ass!’. Man, did I jump! He didn’t have a chance! All he wanted was a light for his smoke. I just wasn’t used to the city. Renee and I were power walkers and Jen’s group fell behind. It was amazing to see something in real life that I’ve only seen on television. The temperature was very hot so we stopped at StarBuck’s for something cold to drink. This district seemed very expensive. Right on Broadway you’d pay $9.00 US for a drink. We had stopped at Tequilla Mila’s for only one drink. We went back to the hotel to finish up our wine and relax before our big day tomorrow.

Saturday, August 1

So today we had breakfast at the hotel. We had a spectacular view of Times Square from the balcony. We boarded our tour bus at 8:30 and had a guided tour by a local called Eugene. He is a registered nurse at the supporting hospital by ‘Ground Zero’. He took us to the Dakota apartments (where John Lennon was shot) then into Strawberry Fields in Central Park. There was also saw the ‘Imagine’ mosaic and the Bafezda Fountain. Under the bridge by the fountain, there was a Japanese man playing an unusual instrument. The acoustics were amazing as the sounds reverberated under the bridge! We had also visited 5^th Avenue, Wallstreet, Trump Towers, Tiffany’s (saw the world’s largest yellow diamond on display), Harlem and Ground Zero.

Now that the tour was done, we had free time for the rest of the day. Our tour bus dropped our gang out in Chinatown where Renee and I started to power walk (lost Jen’s gang again) and shopped and shopped and walked and walked. IT WAS VERY HOT!!! We walked through Little Italy, Soho, Noho, then into Greenwich Village where there was a street fair. Like an open market where there were many great deals to be had. Bumped into Laurie and Steve while shopping there. After shopping, we were running late so we took the subway back to Times Square. By the time we got back to the Hotel, we were dead on our feet. We rested a bit and got ready for round two…

Had dinner at the StarDust café where the waiters and waitresses all sing while you’re there. They are trying to be ‘discovered’. We weren’t impressed with the service we got from our waitress but she was still entertaining. After dinner we went to see a Broadway show. CHICAGO!!! Saw the movie and love it… saw the play and was amazed!!! The orchestra were right on stage and were used as props. Although there were no scene changes, costume changes, and the same actors played multiple parts, the singing and dancing were absolutely FABULOUS!! After the show we walked a bit and took pictures by the ‘Late Show with David Letterman’ building. There were SO many people walking too. It was like an onslaught of people and when we tried to walk through, it was the ‘parting of the Red Sea’. By the time we got to the hotel, we were like walking zombies. Fell asleep pretty quick.

Sunday, August 2

Had breakfast at the hotel. Again, we had some free time to spend on our own in New York. It was raining and it was early in the morning. Renee and I walked to take some pictures that we missed out from the day before. Went to Rockafeller Center, took a picture of Atlas holding the world, walked all the way to Central Park. Renee bought someone a hotdog when he asked for money. Took pictures of street signs, a cute New York cop (with me!), and went to the flea market called the ‘Festival of the Americas’ (it ran for 30 blocks!). We walked up one side and back down the other. It had basically the same stuff that was at Greenwich Village but this time it was more expensive. Lucky for us, we bought at the village. Stopped in the take a tour of NBC but was too late to take it.

We decided to walk a bit deeper off Broadway for dinner. We found a wonderful little Chinese restaurant that had amazing food for $4.35 each!!!! That’s all! What a great deal! Complete with fortune cookie that gave us good news.

At the hotel, we watched the news as the Special Report was telling New Yorkers that it was under the ‘Yellow Alert’ for the possibility of a terrorist attack.

Later on, we took the ‘Twilight Cruise’ to see New York and the Statue of Liberty. It was beautiful to see all the lights of the city and bridges. The Statue of Liberty wasn’t as big as we had thought it would have been. When we got back, we shopped at street vendors then stopped at ‘Bubba Gumps’ for drinks (cool place).

Monday, August 3

The drive back was long and tiring. Many stops but didn’t buy anything. Too sore and tired.