Allllllllrighty then: New York

So here it is: My New York weekend, aka, BEST WEEKEND EVER, or, BWE for short. ;)

Basically, long story short, on Thursday night I was whinging to Frances about how expensive my New York trip was costing me and how I was Not Happy Jan about the whole thing. It was the Presidents Day weekend and John and Jack were in Hawaii, and Sarah and Frances were going to San Diego, so Frances suggested that I see if I can find someone to go with me this weekend and go to NYC on her United buddy passes.

Hmmm.... free flight to NYC. Should I take it? Decisions, decisions....... YUHUH!

Managed to rustle up Judith on Friday morning and we left that night. Best flight EVER. Somehow, even though it was United, we managed to get the only nice flight attendant they have. She was lovely. Her name was Jackie and she was so sweet! She saw us looking at a guide book and was asking us if we had any plans, and she suggested things to do, then she said that the other side of the plane was best to see Manhattan when we fly in, so she made a guy move his jacket from a pair of seats so we could sit there and called the captain a few times to make sure we'd be flying over from that side and everything. After the flight she got us to follow her to make sure we got to the taxis and stuff correctly. Honestly, nicest person EVER! This is her:



I just wanted a photo so I'd remember her.

So we stayed at the HI hostel, which was great cos it was right near a subway station, which, btw, is so frigging easy to navigate, and so convenient. Anyone wanna make a suggestion to shitty rail?!

Here's the gorgeous view from our window:



Still takes my breath away. ;)

The next morning, after 4 hours sleep, we went out to get our fill of Manhattan. First stop, Times Square:

Here's a pic of me being a loser and jumping into Judith's photo:

Times Square is so cool - just like the movies. It was so cold though that we both bought ear warmers.

After this we went to the Radio City Music Hall, Rockefeller Centre to see the ice skating, then went into the NBC shop to look at the merchandise (gots me a "Passions" magnet - booyah!). I don't know if this made the news in Oz, but it was all over it here: there's this girl that hasn't stopped hiccupping in 3 weeks. Well, she was in the store browsing. I thought it was just weird that there was this girl just hiccupping away like it was normal, then I overheard a sales assistant mention who she was to one of the others. Quite funny.

After this we went to Saks 5th Ave. Of course, you know me - I had to try on all the hats. This one was only $1000. I'll buy it for the next funeral I have to attend.



Next door was St. Patrick's Cathedral:

Purty. We'd heard that it was used in an episode of Sex and the City (the ep where Samantha tries to hook up with the Friar), but coming home, I've heard it's a different church. I've got to rewatch the ep.

After this we went to Madison Square Garden and into Penn Station to meet up with Judith's cousin. We then walked through Central Park, which was lovely because all these familyies with little kids were there sledding on the hills, to Strawberry Fields where the John Lennon Memorial is:



Central Park



The memorial.

I like it. It's just a simple mosaic on the ground. Very effective.
Of course, we then had to cross the street to the Dakota apartment building that he was shot outside of.



God I'm morbid.

We walked on to the Museum of Natural History, which I had to see because I'm cheap (it has a "suggested" fee of $15, but I decided to just pay $5), a nerd, and it was in the movie "Night at the Museum", which I love.

I loved this museum, but we couldn't see everything because we didn't have much time. Also, Judith's cousin didn't seem like a museum person. In fact, she wasn't even a sight seeing person. I got really annoyed with her for several reasons:

1) I was running on very little sleep
2) She's an au pair about an hour from NYC (New York State), has been here for six months and she hadn't even been to Central Park because she doesn't really go "sight seeing".
3) Couldn't navigate the subway. I'd been there three hours and I was doing just fine. It was soooo easy.
4) Seemed to want to do anything but go to the places I wanted to go. Too bad - my vacation. :P

Anyway, after the museum we went to Times Square to try and get half price Broadway tickets, but because we got there so late (2:30, ticket booth opens at 3) there was a huge mother line. The girls didn't want to bother lining up, so I didn't get to see a Broadway show, which contributed greatly to the crankiness. ;)

We then went to a German pub for lunch/dinner (linner? Dunch?) and Judith and I left at about 6:30. Judith asked if I was tired (we had both felt exhausted before we got to the pub) and neither of us was, so we decided to go to the Empire State building.

That's us looking totally hot (i.e. sheizhaus) on the top of the ESB. Two words: Freeee Zing.

In this photo you can make out the Chrysler Building:



Beautiful views, which is to be expected.
Then we went back to the hostel and planned out our trip for Sunday right down to the subway line and station. God, we're good.

Woke up on Sunday, got ready, then headed out to Tom's Restaurant. It's a diner. You might be familiar with it, seeing as the outside of it is used in nearly every single Seinfeld episode!!!!



I'm such a loser. It was too exciting.

Next we walked through Central Park again, this time past the Jackie O Reservoir:

We went past the Guggenheim, but the steep entry fee ($18) and the long line outside turned us off. Instead, we went down the street to the Metropolitan Museum of Art. With it's "suggested" fee (I paid $5 again) and it's HUGENESS it was a definate winner. Honestly, this biatch's collection was extensive. They'd even recreated an Egyptian Tomb inside it, and whole French Revolution or Elizabethan rooms in it. Seriously, you'd need a whole day to really explore it. We had to really rush through. :(

Outside though I made sure I bought myself a NY hotdog from a street vendor:

Heiffer. Doesn't help that I was wearing about 5 or 6 layers of clothing. ;)

After this, Judith and I made our pilgrimmage to Mecca. Yes, Ladies:



That's me on Carrie's stoop. 66 Perry St in Greenwich Village. Whilst she supposedly lives on the upper east side, that's the stoop they use for outside shots of her apartment.

And just around the corner? Magnolia's Bakery! We stood in line for half an hour in the cold for these babies, and they were worth every bit of the $2 each (you had to buy a minimum of 12).

Mmmmmm..... soooo sweeeet, but sooooo goooooooood!!!!!

After that we went to Ground Zero. We only stayed for about 15 minutes because it really is very sad. They have metal fences errected around the site and they have big photos up taken from the day. I think one of the photos that really got me was a picture taken of a street full of people all looking up and all of them have their mouths open, their faces showing shock, horror, disbelief and fear. It was like Arlington Cemetery and the Dakota apartment: it feels wrong to take photos, but you just want something to remind you of how you felt at that moment, and to capture it.

Like I said, we only stayed to a short time. We then went to Century 21, a big department store across the road (love the juxtaposition), and then hopped on the subway to Brooklyn where we had dinner at this apparently really famous pizzeria called Grimaldi's. We were lucky because there was no line when we got there. About 15 minutes later though, there was about an hour's line outside in the cold. I so wouldn't have bothered. The pizza was good though. =)

Here's a view of Manhattan from the Brooklyn Bridge:



We finished off our weekend with another trip back to Times Square, then went to bed to wake up at the ungodly hour of 3:45am (I fell alseep again after the alarm went off - we were supposed to get up at 3:20) and went to the airport. We were worried that we wouldn't get on our flight (the buddy passes we had were only standby tickets) but managed to get the last two seats on the plane.

So that was our weekend. I can't even tell you how happy it made me. After let down after let down, it was nice for something unexpected to happen that just went perfectly, right from the very beginning with Jackie our FA. =) Heck, I'm still happy, and I haven't nearly caught up on any sleep from the weekend. It's funny: Saturday I had nasty dark circles under my eyes, Sunday I had accompanying bags, and by the time we got to the airport on Monday I had bags under my bags. Hot.

I'm still going back for Spring Break, but I'll be cutting it down by three days. I'm actually looking forward to being by myself for a few days. As fun as it was having Judith there with me, I think I want to do the museums properly without having to worry that I'm boring someone with my taste in artwork and wanting to stand in front of one painting for an hour.