1) Go back and read it, you missed out.
2) I'm not really sure how you even got here. But enjoy anyway.
It�s 10:30pm on New Year�s Even and I am in New York City. Except I�m not in Times Square�I�m in my hotel room. Screw you Delta.
No, our bags did not get delivered by 5:00am. Yes, we had to spend all of our first full day in New York waiting for our bags. Since our cold weather clothes were in the bag, were stuck without them. Repeated calls to Delta�s Baggage Services gave us different answers every time, telling us that we would have them at later times throughout the day. Of course, each time the bags were supposed to be there they weren�t. A return trip to Delta�s Baggage Services at JFK delivered worse news, that they weren�t sure where Taylor�s bag was at all. And although they did have my bag, they were not able or willing to compensate us for our now blown New Year�s Eve plans.
So we spent most of our day watching TV. We watched �My Super Ex Girlfriend� (Terrible, save Dwight Schrute�s role in the movie.) and even �The Devil Wear�s Prada� one and a half times (It was ok, I guess). We napped. We played on the computer. Not exactly a bad day on most occasions, but not exactly the best way to spend New Year�s Eve in New York City.
But Taylor�s bag did just arrive, and our Chinese food should be here shortly. And like I have so many times before, we will be watching Time�s Square on TV; I�ve just never been this close to the image being broadcast to me.
Tomorrow I hope to make the best of this trip, now that we have our bags, and see as much of New York City as possible. Good god, it HAS to be a better day.
January 1, 2008
Happy New Years! I was determined today to make something of this portion of our trip. And though we don�t have a plan today, and I know that we can�t see as much as we had planned, I still think we can see a good portion of the city.
After getting dressed for the day, we caught the shuttle to JFK in order to catch a train to the subway. We rode AirTrain from JFK to Jamaica Station, then the Long Island Rail Road from Jamaica Station to famous Penn Station. After climbing through the busiest train station in the country, we found ourselves outside Madison Square Garden. Priority number one was to find a map so I could get us around this city.
I bought an awesome laminated map from a corner store, and we began our sight-seeing in the city. We walked a few blocks to look at the Empire State building. Although not as tall as I had anticipated, it was still really tall. It�s ornate, period specific architecture was awesome. Just a few blocks over we snapped some pictures of New York Library, famous (to me) for its scenes in �Ghostbusters.�
Continuing our walk, we found our way to Times Square. And despite all of the partying and confetti showered down on the square the night before, it was pretty damn clean. But one thing is certain about this square: wow. It is media overload: huge billboards, huge screens, huge buildings, flashing lights, honking horns, thousands of people. But it was awesome. I just don�t know that I saw everything there was to see in the square.
After stopping at a Starbucks for some coffee and to charge the camera, we continued walking up Broadway to Central Park. Even though the trees had lost their leaves, and the day was a little overcast, the park doesn�t lose any of its charm. It seems very out of place, nestled amongst the skyscrapers. There are large rocks protruding from the ground all over the place. Something I had never heard about, I had an uncontrollable desire to climb them (which I did). We walked down through the park, strolling through the Central Park Zoo and down to the Mall to the fountain and lake.
After seeing the skaters on the pond, and some crazies in the park, we began walking up the famous 5th Avenue. Similar to the Champs �lys�es with its fabulous stores, we were again too poor to partake. But it was fun to see them all. While walking we took in the Trump Tower (ehhh) and Radio City Hall (cool, but on an odd side street). Next we saw Rockefeller Center, with its famous Christmas tree and skating pond. Definitely the weirdest thing we saw all day, a half block-long street was filled with pennies for a children�s charity. Something like $20,000 dollars worth of change could be found in the box�however the bums were kept at bay by a temporary fence. We concluded our time in the area by looking through the NBC Studio store, purchasing some of �The Office� goods to spoil ourselves.
For the last dinner of our trip, we headed back to Times Square. Along the way we picked up some knock-off purses for Taylor and her mom. Overall, I was pleased with my haggling abilities which made the experience fun for me.
Once in Times Square, we decided on the Hawaiian Tropic Zone. Taylor�s choice, the swanky restaurant featured servers, hosts and bartenders in bikinis. Though we had an attractive server, she was definitely not a Rhode�s Scholar. Our meal was delicious, as was our extensive chocolate fondue dessert. But the coolest part of the restaurant was their dessert menus, which were shown on Viewfinders� very unique and different.
After dinner, we caught the Subway down to the financial district to see the World Trade Center site. Cold and windy, you really couldn�t see much. Lots of fences and construction barriers made it hard to see �Ground Zero.� But we were able to snap a few pictures. We then walked down to the East River to Peer 16 so Taylor could see the Brooklyn Bridge.
Cold and exhausted, we caught a few trains (my only bad navigating of the trip to blame) to Penn Station. Riding back out to the airport on the LIRR, we were able to see the city skyline fade away behind us.
Though we didn�t see everything we had wanted to see (namely the Statue of Liberty, the Met and the Museum of Natural History), this day was tons of fun. So different from Paris, New York still didn�t seem quite like �home.� But there is no doubt that we had a good time. Now it�s time for bed, so we can begin out trip home in the morning.
January 2, 2008
Since our flight back to Columbus was not out of JFK, we had to get up early to pack our bags. It was definitely a challenge to fit everything in our bags, considering we had picked up some gifts along the way. But we were ready to check out by 11:00, and then caught a cab to La Guardia Airport on the other side of town.
Along the way we got caught in some of the famous New York City traffic, but were still able to make it to the airport with plenty of time to spare. Easily making it through check-in and security, a first for this trip, we were able to enjoy a few hours before I flight came in. La Guardia is definitely much smaller than JFK, but with far less to do. They apparently also leave their gate doors open, as the terminal was pretty much freezing. And, they don�t have free wi-fi� what century is this?
Our plane finally came in, and we had to cross the windy tarmac to get in the smaller prop. Once inside, we had a strict stewardess who commanded that we follow her every rule. I decided to sleep, rather than face her fury should I accidentally break one of her rules.
Before I knew it, we were landing in Columbus. At baggage claim, we actually had both of our bags! But when we walked outside to the parking garage and were welcomed home with snowy, blizzard-like conditions. But at least we made it home in one piece, with all of our baggage.
Well this has been one hell of a trip. Visiting two of the biggest, most famous, and beautiful cities in the world on one trip is more than I could ever ask for. It was nice to go on this kind of trip without any true plans, making our minds up along the way. Taylor and I were able to see so much, and we had an awesome time together. So thank you Tay, for taking me on this wonderful trip! I can�t wait to go back to both of these amazing cities.