of subways & the urban jungle

and this is just (official) Day 1...

Rose and Jerico fetched us from JFK in the evening of Sunday (04 Nov). Just as well... we wouldnt have found our way by ourselves. NY subway is definitely unlike anything we've ever seen. realizing how big and scary New York City really is, we felt like scared little puppies. Please understand, we're coming from Auckland City, which is like a block in comparison. sob, sob! the weather is a bit nippy but the Licups' apartment has central heating. Hoorah! we had 'Bistek' for dinner. More hoorahs! Joia was terribly jetlagged, up till 4 am. Kanootz on the other hand knocked off as early as 10pm which made Joia very jealous. more sobs!

shine sapatos!

lost... still poised

Rose woke us up with the smell of scrambled eggs on toast... sniff! Hmmm... so good after a week of microwave food. Rose kindly took the day off to show us around. After breakie, we were off to the subway station... ah, the smell of REAL New York! Out of the station and into Times Square... it was everything we imagined it to be! Busy, large, noisy... we ate pizza for lunch (they were American-sized!) before walking to the Staten Island Ferry. From there we took the... ferry, of course for FREE (yes sir, we like FREE, haha!) Following photos were taken from the ferry and Staten Island:

. When we got to Staten Island, although we hadnt planned to, we felt keen to see what was outside the terminal.

kanootz & Rose between the postcards

one of Staten's loved ones, lost but not forgotten

We were pleasently surprised to find this 9-11 Memorial by an artist named Masayuki Sono which is supposed to resemble postcards, perhaps sent to lost loved ones. From afar, the identical structures appear to be outstretched wings or a flower about to blossom...

Post Cards by Masayuki Sono - a 9-11 memorial on Staten Island

We had to run to catch the ferry back to Manhattan but we were glad we made the stop and enjoyed our very short visit to the Island.

Staten Island pier walk

Liberty comes at a price

Universal Soldier, Battery Park

When we got back to Manhattan, we walked from the ferry terminal to Battery Park. Here, we took a photo of a street busker dressed up as Lady Liberty. Joia had to take it from about 15 meters far, and really really quickly so as not to be caught and charged some buck for taking a snap. There was also this Statue of an eagle dedicated to war veterans.

Galvan... Garcia... their namesakes

blending in (Clinton Castle)

Kenneth was stoked when he found his last name as well as Ian's listed on one of the memorial walls... And to the right is a shot from the nearby Clinton Castle...

Ground Zero

From here, we walked to Ground Zero. By this time, Joia's feet were already scorched. cheap shoes are BAD NEWS! So our next mission was to find Joia a decent pair for less. We found Century 21 - a big mess of designer branded clothes, shoes, etc. @ basement prices. Went up and down the mall... no luck there.

stumped by 9-11

We left Ground Zero for (New York's) Union Square this time. Further along, still around Union Square is DSW - tada! shoes and handbags at discount prices. Finally, a decent pair which were actually friendly with Joia's fussy feet. This meant that the rest of the evening can be more pleasant for everyone, without Joia's whinging!

Empire State

From Union Square, we walked some more so we could meet up with Jerico... but it was okay because Joia's feet were okay. haha! By this time, we were getting too hungry. Just as well, the Licups had chosen this really amazing sushi place called 'Todai' where as Rose put it 'food is To-dai for'... wink! Salmon, tuna, seaweed salad, roe, salmon, and more salmon! Yum.

Anyong asseyo! @ Todai...

Our waitress was a very friendly Filipino lady. Suffice to say that we got out of the restaurant stuffed! We were so stuffed we knew that going straight home wasn't going to be more sensible than a good relaxing stroll along the city streets. We stopped at Bryant Park and enjoyed the sights from there, an iceskating rink, a water fountain, 'buildings with lights' as Kanootz describes them...

Times Square

'building with lights'

rock n roll, baby!

Soon, we found ourselves back in Times Square where we took one too many shots of the busiest point probably in the whole wide earth. It was even more beautiful and blinding at night time, with its neon lights! M&M's world was open. We had fun in there... well, we're guessing the boys did more than the girls. From there, we crossed the road to Hershey's world, which is a lot smaller but still worth the visit.

kanootz with our NYcity hosts in M&M's world

Feeling much better about our tummies, we walked back to the station for Subway train 7 which took us back to Queens on 82nd Street. Home sweet home at 10pm... Rose, Jerico, and Kenneth raced each other to sleep...

Thankyou, m&mTV!

while Joia stayed up and fought jet-lag-night #2. We hope you enjoy the photos as much as we enjoyed our very very busy first whole day in New York City. God bless, everyone!

written by

garcia on November 5, 2007 from New York, United States

from the travel blog: Got 2 see what's out there!

tagged NewYork

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