The flight to JFK Airport in New York City went smooth – and quick. It certainly helps to be in good company. It was obvious Tweety hadn’t slept much the night before, and after we switched places (I initially had a window seat) Elisabeth was out for almost two hours. She sure needed to catch up on sleep. I watched two movies, but they weren’t really interesting to me so I can’t really remember what I watched. Heh.
Once we got through customs and got our luggage we waited for a shuttle bus to take us to our hotel. The young lady who helped us was very nice, I was soon enough reminded of the fact there are plenty of rude people in the Big Apple. (No offense to all the nice people there!) The check in at the Radisson went quickly and Tweety and basically dropped our stuff before going out and explored the neighbourhood a bit. We had really bad sushi for dinner - although the chicken teriyaki was alright. Elisabeth was jetlagged and was sleeping by 8 pm, I was just slightly so, but managed to stay up watching tv till 10 pm. It became obviously clear Tweety’s never traveled this far (crossing multiple timezones) and I’m used to traveling solo. So we both had to adjust in our own ways; it certainly made for interesting dynamics.
I finished my warming up at the hotel’s gym and working out by 7:30 the next morning. Despite the early hour there were quite a few people.Good to know that. An hour later I had showered and dressed and I was ready for a light breakfast (omlette and mushrooms for me); we found a place called Long Wood Gourmet across the street that would become our regular brekkie spot during our stay. (The veggie schmear bagels are quite good, but bad for my insides.) After that we waited for Charles, our Big Apple Greeter who was going to show us around Park Slope (Brooklyn). Charles turned out a very friendly man, who could easily have been our dad (age wise) and he wondered why I chose Park Slope; most tourist want to see Manhattan. Well, I explained, since Tweety and I were already staying in Manhattan that wouldn’t be too hard to explore it by ourselves. I’d also read that Park Slope was an up and coming neighbourhood, which piqued my curiosity. Charles, who lives there showed us the hot spots and showed us how property prizes were slowly but constantly rising (a nice small 2-bedroom apartment + amenities would set me back about $1,200 a month if I recall correctly). Compared to the hustle and bustle that is Manhattan, Park Slope is a nice and quiet residential hood.
I was glad Charles explained us how the subway system works, and I was glad the man prefers walking to his destinations. New York City is a very walkable city. Me like! He also took us to Prospect Park, which is designed by Olmsted (hm... familiar last name) and Vaux – like Central Park. The Brooklyn Botanical Garden and the Brooklyn Art Museum are “next door” to the Park, as is the Public Library (which has a soundproof concert hall in its basement!) Next up was the famous Brooklyn Bridge. It was a nice and sunny day, so we had great views from the bridge and Tweety and I enjoyed our tour. Since Big Apple Greeters are volunteers and not allowed to take any money for their services I had decided to bring our guide “stroopwafels” as a little thank you gift (it doesn’t get more Dutch than that, eh?) which he appreciated very much.
Elisabeth and I ended the day with a yummie dinner at Organique (Gramercy) – which has organic bites on their menu. I don’t consider myself a health freak, but I really like eating and I do care what I put into my body. I remember visiting the USA for the first time back in 1999 and I was appalled by all the processed foods...
The next day I call my friend Doug at Princeton University. I was looking forward to seeing him (it’d been several years). He gave me directions on how to take the NJ Transit from Penn Station to Princeton Junction where he would be to pick us up. It was another sunny day and I had my Law & Order moment walking those steps of the court house on 100 Centre Street. Heh. There was an Italian couple next to Tweety and the woman was singing the Law & Order theme song as she filmed the building. Seriously! That cracked us up, though.We walked around through Chinatown and I got a haircut at one of the many salons slash barber shops on Pell Street. It actually took a moment before I realized I was seated on the men’s side. Woops. The lady did a good job (she modeled it into a faux hawk) and it was dirt cheap ($13 including a tip) so I was happy. We had a nice but simple dinner at a place called Mozarelli’s somewhere on Houston.
Saturday rolled around and Tweety and I headed for Penn Station a little after 10 am. I wore my Canada hoodie especially for Doug ;) and lo and behold who was holding a similar bright red hoodie with CANADA in white lettering across the chest, when Tweety and I arrived at Princeton Junction? My friend Doug. I thought that was cute. He packed an umbrella and extra clothing, just in case the temps would drop and the weather would turn for the worse (rain was predicted for the day...) Isn’t that just sweet? Knowing he likes stroopwafels, too, I gave him the pack I brought from home. He wanted to dive right in, then thought better of it and decided to save it till later. He drove us to downtown Princeton where we walked around the street fair. However, the first thing we saw were fire trucks, and Tweety couldn’t resist taking pics of them (like she’d been taking pics of Mack trucks ever since we got to the States; we don’t have them over here. Plenty of Volvo trucks, though). And like with Charles, Elisabeth didn’t talk much. I didn’t know what to think of it initially, until it struck me that talking in English isn’t second nature to her like it is to me. Made me look like quite a chatterbox. Heh. We had fresh (straight from the oven and into our mouths) organic veggie pizza, which was absolutely yummie and we had equally delicious ice cream (I had non dairy dark chocolate, blueberries and lemon). We watched Doug’s roommate Shiu demonstrate some form of martial arts. It certainly looked fancy, but highly unpractical. I wonder what Doug’s told her about me, but he told me she wanted to meet me... Shiu invited me to come onto the mat for some hands on experience and by the time I took on the invite the sensei had something else in mind and I thought it was inappropriate to get on the mat with them. Shucks. We ended the day with dinner at an Ethiopian restaurant called Makeda in New Brunswick, NJ and it was good! The only thing I didn’t get was the fact the cook had added shrimp (!) to the meat sampler. Huh?! Tweety never had Ethiopian food before, but she liked it, too. After that wonderful meal Doug takes the NJ Transit into NYC with us; he was going to line dance. I couldn’t persuade Shiu to come with us. Tweety and I were knackered by the time we got back at the hotel.
We slept in and had an early Sunday brunch (French toast for me) before checking out the UN quarter near the hotel. The light was strange; even though it was cloudy, the day light was strangely bright to me and I put on my sun glasses. I wouldn’t display this kind of diva behaviour at home, though, but it was good to see I wasn’t the only one wearing mine. Tweety and I decide to go to Times Square to try and get tickets to Avenue Q and to find EasyEverything Internet. I’m annoyed by myself for having trouble navigating correctly. In the end we find out the EasyEverything Internet thingy isn’t there (damn you, Lonely Planet!) and the TKTS box office is closed. By the time we have dinner (at a place called Osaka, off Broadway on 8th Ave) we’ve walked for 6 hours. (I told you NYC is very walkable.) Tweety has the veggie sushi, I have the chicken and veggie tempura, and the food’s good. Way better than the stuff we had for dinner on the evening of our arrival in New York.
On Monday Tweety and I were suddenly in the middle of a film shoot – a block or two up from our hotel on Lexington. Unfortunately, I didn’t catch the movie’s title nor the names of the actors involved. It was raining for the most part of the day, and after getting tickets to Avenue Q through the hotel’s concierge Tweety and I went shopping. The tickets were more expensive than I’d anticipated and I charged them to my VISA card (a first for me, since I’m partial to paying things in cash; that way I have a better overview of the amount of money I spend) but we had seats in the orchestra pit. They were worth it; Tweety and I enjoyed it (I was singing those Avenue Q songs for the rest of the night). And who’d have thought puppet sex full puppet nudity could be that hilarious? Tweety and I know now! Afterwards Tweety was craving sugar, so I suggested she’d try a donut American Style. We walked around Times Square, but couldn’t find a Dunkin’ Donut. Ain’t that typical?
Earlier that day I managed to call my friend Nuke, but had to leave a message (that’s what the pre-recorded voice told me). Tweety and I also went online at the hotel’s business center to – finally – sent our friends and family a shout out saying we were enjoying the Big Apple. (And to delete several dozens of E-mails, too.) I E-mailed Nuke to tell him I left a message and to contact me at the hotel. I also E-mailed Doug for another –possible – meet up before Tweety and I fly back. He already put up some pictures of the street fair on Facebook, including one of him and me, and one of Tweety and me. Funny.
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