Tuesday, December 27, 2005

Another foggy day

Posted by Dawn at Tuesday, December 27, 2005
Woke up and had the buns which I bought from Chinatown for breakfast. We had pork floss bun just like the one in breadtalk, hot dog buns and egg tarts. All quite nice. After breakfast, we stepped out and it was still drizzling. Sigh.. It was our last day touring NY as our flight was in the morning tomorrow. So, we were praying for good weather.

Anyway, as we were walking in Broadway, we saw a crowd gathering and went up to take a look. It was at ABC studios and the 2 newscasters were outside giving a live update. So, we gathered and took a peek.




Then, they entered the building with another live performance going on inside the studio which we could see from the glass window. Quite interesting...


Walking in Broadway, you can see how bad the weather is..


We planned to go see the Statue of Liberty today as we have not seen it yet since we came to NY. So, today was our only chance. We walked to the bus stop to take a bus to South Ferry Port but we had time. So, I went into Macy's to look at the stuff they have. Macy is a huge departmental stall in NY with about 6 levels. Outside the shop, there were different Christmas displays in each window which is animated. Very interesting..



Took a bus after walking in Macy. Went to Staten Island Ferry Station to take a free ferry to Staten Island and this ferry would pass by Statue of Liberty. So, we took that. If you want to go close up to Statue of Liberty, it would be about US$15 and would get you to the island where the statue is-Ellis Island. So, we'd rather take the free ferry ride to another island and see the statue of Liberty from afar.

It was a huge 4 level ferry. There was a Japanese tour group in it as well and we were thinking the group being taken to ride a free ferry ride. It seems that they wasted their money to pay for a tour which took them to a free ride.

It was still drizzling but thank God, the fog has cleared up a lot.


View from ferry..with plane at background.

Could see the view of downtown buildings as well from ferry...

Could also see Brooklyn Bridge..


Another same ferry spotted...so this is the free ferry we took..

After an hour of ferry ride to and fro, we walked around Battery Park City. There is a statue that commerates the American soldiers who died in war..

CT cant help but pose..He has been well-trained.

There is also a sphere which was partially damaged in the World Trade Center attacks. It is 45,000 lbs, 15 ft wide that stands here as an indestructible reminder of its past home. There is an eternal flame and a plaque at its base: "In honor of all those who were lost", it reads. The Sphere endures as an icon of hope and the indestructible spirit of this country.

Just as we were walking out of the park, someone asked me if I wanted to feed the squirrels. So, I did and at the end of it, got to pay him tips. That is NY for you...everyone is quite money minded and trying hard to survive in this harsh city.

After that, we took a free connection bus to south street seaport again as we wanted to go to "The Strand" bookshop. We went here yesterday but it was close. So, we came back again. However before we went to the bookshop, CT wanted to go to the toilet. So, we went the other way round to find a toilet and I saw lots of people queuing up in a street. They were queuing up for theatre tickets. Tickets sold here were cheap,good and on the day itself. It is like leftover tickets. So while CT went toilet, I checked it out.

I did not know whether CT wanted to see broadway or not, so I told myself that I better start queuing in case he wants to watch. If he doesnt, I can just leave cos if not, the queue would only get longer and longer. When he came back, he went to see the schedule of shows for tonight and he said the only ones he know that is showing tonight is "Beauty and the Beast". Then, I said, why dont we watch that? I watched "Lion King" in London before and I loved it. So, I thought this might be good as well...and I did not like shows that I have to spend the whole time trying to understand what is going on.

So, we queued up for about 45 mins and got 2 tickets for US$116 in total. The usual price for it is US$110 per person. So, it was half priced tickets. Cool.. I got pretty excited when we got the tickets as I always wanted to watch broadway in NY.

Went to "The Strand" bookshop and boy, so many books. A friend of mine, Andy who goes to New York for holiday at least once a year told me about that place. He said that this place has million unique books at a good price and the shop would help pack your books in boxes for you and ship them back to Singapore for only US$5. So, that is what he does every year. Well, I wanted to spend more time here but CT and I were starving. So, I quickly browsed only and got a cookbook for only US$3.

Went Chinatown again for lunch and we already knew where to go for lunch as we walked yesterday and discovered a cheap and good place. It is a congee restaurant and we ordered 2 claypot congee- fish with century egg...and ordered 2 "you tiao"to go with it. So yummy and the porridge is really good. Lunch costs only about US$8 for both of us.

After lunch, walked to Soho. It is a hip trendy neighbourhood. Andy recommended us to go to this Apple Store in Soho, called "Station A". It is a 2 storey apple shop selling all Apple products. It is quite amazing as I love technology and so, this was a great place to oogle at the computers and MP3 players..

There is even a theatre for workshops on how to use Apple products.

After that, we took a bus to see the Empire State Building. Another famous landmark which we have yet to seen. Wanted to see it yesterday but the fog was too heavy to see anything.

Since it was Christmas, the building was litted up in red and green. I read that the colours come on according to festivals. If it is independence day, it would be red, blue and white. If it was some gay festival, it would be litted up in purple.

Went back hostel after that to bathe and call up our shuttle transport to airport tomorrow. After that, we came back out for our last sightseeing in NY. Went to Times Square Visitor Centre. Strange to go to a visitor centre on our last day in NY as most people go on their first day. Well, it was close on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. So, no choice. They have free internet there and free video recording which you can send to your loved ones. Quite cool.

We also went to Toys "R" Us to take a look as recommended by CT's American colleague. Yup, it was huge!! It was a 4 storey building with a ferris wheel in it. Quite awesome.

I love the section where there is a huge dinosaur from Jurassic Park and structures made from Lego.



There are structures of Empire State Building, of "The Thing" from Fantastic Four, Wolverine, Chrysler Building, Statue of Liberty all made in Lego bricks. Very nice. I kept taking pictures in Toys R Us. It was crowded as families and kids did their post-Christmas presents.

There was a huge barbie section, a place where a magician was performing, a section with playstation, xbox 360 and nintendo gamecube.

Colourful lights as we took elevator in Toys R Us...

We went to MacDonalds after that and it was so crowded that I felt I was in some kind of hawker centre as I had to wait for the seats as I watched people eat and stress them by standing next to them, keeping my eyes on other tables.


After dinner, we went to Lunt-Fontanne theatre to catch the "Beauty and the Beast" show. There were already a long queue outside the theatre even though we were there half an hour early. So we queued up and did not wait long as they quickly allow people in.


We were seated in the Orchestra seats which was quite good. This is a picture during the intermission of the show.


It was a great show. There were cool effects like fire, bomb and some form of magic like during the ending, the beast was raised up and how suddenly when it came down, the beast changed back to the young prince. So, it was quite good. I enjoyed it a lot.

Show was from 8pm to 1030pm. As we walked back to out hostel, we grabbed supper. Had shish kebab on a stick, in a hot dog bun. It is chicken meat in a stick, with bbq sauce and placed in a bun. Very nice. They sold it from push carts along the streets..

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