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18 November 2012

New York City, boys.

My third time in New York City, and so far, the best.

This was another family trip, a trip that coincided with New York Fashion Week and made me very anxious about actually looking good while there. I haven't been in tip-top fashion shape lately so I was no Carrie Bradshaw, but I get points for trying, right? Right?!

Day one started off (officially) at about four o'clock when, after about half a day of planes, trains and waiting, we finally made it to our hotel, the Park Savoy Hotel. Located on 58th and 7th Avenue, the hotel was incredibly cheap for its superb location. Sure, it was a bit cramped, but we had two queen sized beds, a hot shower, and a mini-fridge, what more did we need? After settling into our temporary "digs" and taking much needed showers, we walked to Times Square and back, just to get our New York City juices going. Boy, did they get going.

On day two we decided to go to Central Park South, from which we were only a block away. We went to the Central Park Zoo and rode the Central Park Carrousel, and then headed over to F.A.O. Schwarz. I call day two the kiddie day. It was so much fun.
At night, we walked along 5th Avenue, because day two of our trip was also Fashion's Night Out. I nearly cried from all the fashion I couldn't at the moment afford. It was a wonderful ordeal.

Day three was our major sightseeing day. We went to Ellis Island and the Statue of Liberty and ended it in a very moving visit to the 9/11 Memorial, which by the way, is simply amazing. We were in New York just a few days before 9/11 and in fact traveled back home on the anniversary of the attacks, so being at the site of the fallen towers was very emotional, I think, for all of us. Beside, the two pools set in the footprints of the original World Trade Center are truly a spectacular sight.

On day four, my parents decided to do their own thing while my sister and I visited the American Museum of Natural History (my parents had been there on their last trip to New York). I must say I was somewhat disappointed to see so many elements from A Night at the Museum missing from the actual museum. I'm not even joking. I did learn a lot of things though, like the fact that chimps share about 99% DNA with us, and had a lot of fun pointing things out and taking funny pictures with my sister. After the museum, my sister and I walked to 'Gray's Papaya', which we had heard about in movies (like Fools Rush In) and in Bret Easton Ellis' American Psycho. (Side note: My sister and I had read American Psycho earlier this year and couldn't help but think about Patrick Bateman every couple of hours. Disturbing but powerful novel that is. I highly recommend it.) So we each had two very delicious hot dogs and headed over to SoHo for some window shopping. I ended up buying an amazing duffel bag on sale at TopShop (the best store in the universe, alas, it's so expensive). My sister set her eyes on a few things, too.

The following day, we dragged our parents over to SoHo to buy a few more things, then had lunch in Little Italy and walked around Chinatown for a bit before heading to the West Village. We stopped by Carrie Bradshaw's apartment and very dutifully avoided saying the word "sex" in front of my parents when they asked what t.v. show the building was a landmark of. Another successful adventure in the big city for us!

On our last full day in The Big Apple, my dad, my sister and I went to the Top of the Rock Observation Deck while my mom went to do some more shopping at Macy's. Let me just say that the views from Top of the Rock are some of the most amazing views I've ever seen. They were breathtaking. Completely worth the $25 it costs to get up there. I went crazy taking pictures. So did my dad. So did everybody else who was up there.
In the evening, we went souvenir shopping and met up with a cousin of ours, Franca, who is currently living in New York.
Back at the hotel, my sister and I drank some Starbucks, sifted through our loot and looked at all the pictures we had taken before calling it a night. We had been officially enchanted by the city that never sleeps (and, for the record, we still are).

On the morning of our departure from New York, we had our complimentary bagel and coffee as usual, and went to F.A.O. Schwarz to get one last gift. We rode to the airport in a limo and finally said "see you soon, New York", because as far as we're concerned, it was not going to be a goodbye.


Taken by my dad.





















Just a little pooped. Taken by my sister, Mariela.

Honey Boo Boo is mad. 















Taken by Mariela

BIG! Taken by Mariela


From Mariela's Instagram







Little Old Me



2 comments:

  1. So... the chimps share about 99% DNA with us and have a lot of fun pointing things out and taking funny pictures with your sister: Interesting fact!!! Hahahaha.... loved your pics! I can't wait to sing and with you in Central Park !!!! And of course, going to drink a classical cosmo with you and the new friend of the chimp :D

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  2. I really wanna go to New York one day..
    Love Lois xxx

    http://lisforlois.blogspot.com/

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