Our hostel/hotel was rather pleasant and on Broadway, which by the way is a VERY long road. So we got in, settled and went exploring. I can understand why they made Central Park so massive. They have so many people that don't have gardens or anything, all jammed into this city, so they need somewhere for them to play baseball, and somewhere to take their dogs. So it is rather community friendly and the ambience quite unique. The hot dog venders were a bit of a disappointment to me though, I was expecting thick NY accents and barrels of attitude. Sadly there wasn't any NY accent (more central asian) and they were extremely helpful and friendly! I'm not complaining, but I am surprised! We walked all the way from our hostel to times square on the first night and ended up in Toys'R'Us. I wouldn't ordinarily mention this, however, there was an INDOOR ferris wheel. That's crazy I hear you say, well wait there's more. They also have a full size(ish) Barbie fun house. I was kinda impressed and disturbed at the same time that there is Oktoberfest Barbie. By the looks of her, she'd have trouble carrying a dozen steins of pilsner in a beer tent, but she would be popular with the lads. Sarah said that people would look at me funny if I kept wearing the Optimus Prime helmet in the store, so I took it off. I didn't buy it either. But I did keep pressing the button that made the helmet say "Megatron must be stopped!". Sweet. I hope Santa reads this.

Unfortunantely it feels like we really didn't get to do much stuff while we were in NY, there is just so much to do. We did manage to get to the Met Museum of art though. I don't know anything about art, but I'm reasonably sure that if you take a piece of canvas, stretch it over a funny shaped timber frame, paint it deep blue and call it "Blue Canvas" you're not an artist, you're a knob. That said, there were some absolutely stunning pieces of art.

Other fun things that we did included: going to Staten Island to go past the Statue of Liberty, Crossing the Brooklyn Bridge on foot (more fun than it sounds), and uhmm.... eating lots of bacon cheeseburgers from the fast food joint around the corner from the hostel, and going to Wall Street. Got the American Psycho feeling from the place though... Wasn't nice. But a very pretty building.

Next week join us for London!

written by  haveyouseenmypassport on July 5, 2007 from New York, United States
from the travel blog: To infinity!.. and... beyond... uh.....
tagged NewYork
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Grafitti wecome here

@ the Philippine Embassy NY (unfriendly staff, hmpf!)

with the legends - NBA store

Ian, did you order this one? (NBA store)

Kanootz @ central park

We got home in time for dinner – scrumptious! Oh, sorry, hello Rose… yeah, how was work? Not too tiring, we hope? Haha! Jerico’s baked salmon almost made us forget our sociability. It has been such a long day, but not too long to keep us from some conversation with the One that keeps us together; protects us from danger; and walks with us moment by moment through this exciting journey.

Rockafeller Center (hope we got the spelling right)

Peahen... NBC Studio

lotus lamp - Moma

Pollock's She-wolf @ Moma

Monet's @ Moma

Picasso, Pablo @ Moma

Union Square Park

beetroots... so red!

pumpkins @ union square

for Inang... from a NY flea

wheat grass. lush. union square market

@ Junior's, pre-show

Alas, time for some classical entertainment. The cue to get in was very long, amazing when you think people’s tickets have designated seats anyway. ??? Oh, and the tickets were $60USD each. Good score, Miss Rose! Without her radars, we would’ve had to pay double considering how great our seats turned out to be! We could feel Jerico’s excitement when the lights went out. The play opens with an auction. There were several merchandises including a chandelier which became the centerpiece of the story. In the middle of first scene, the Matron calls out ‘I have a note’ in a very very English accent, ‘Is there a doctor in the house?’ Huh? We look at Rose and Jerico searching for any indication as to whether that was part of the play or not. They look just as confused as us. Suddenly, the commotion upstairs which had started a while ago becomes louder and louder. ‘Is there a doctor in the house?’ The actors ask the audience, in their characters’ accents and tones. Come off of it, and you may actually be more credible, we thought. The curtain closed with some proper announcements for what really is happening. The show resumed as soon as the paramedics rushed away with the person involved. All in all, it’s been a very very interesting evening. It was special for Joia, as who would’ve thought she would be going to some opera, in New York not the least, with her college friend 5 years later who is also now married.

The Phantom of the Opera

I'll come back for more.

written by  me on January 18, 2008 from New York, United States
from the travel blog: USA here I go!
tagged NewYork and USA
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When we got to our hotel, the Hotel Chelsea which has an awesome history of fostering artistic expression, we we’re told our standard room had been upgraded to a suite…SCORE. Up to the tenth floor we went with the assistance of the doorman Pete(?) who was just awesome. But not as awesome as the views of New York City from our room…sorry Pete. We quick dumped our packs, changed, and headed out so we could make the full moon ceremony at COSM. It rained on our way there…and then to make amends Mr Universe treated us with a gorgeous rainbow.

The ceremony wavered from very intense and spiritually engaging to annoying, depending on the speaker. Alex was awesome, the folks from the Biosphere who talked were awesome, and the musicians superb. Mrs. Grey unfortunately fell into the annoying category, something about rattling on asking for charity for the chapel they plan to build during what’s supposed to be a spiritual ceremony that just didn’t sit well with James and I. After the ceremony was over there was a drum and dance event, but we didn’t stay very long for that. I was feeling outa sorts, unconnected, wishing our friends were there with us to make it special so we headed back to the hotel to relax and catch some z’s.

The next day, Thursday, we took our time getting up and then caught the subway down to Ground Zero. When we got there we were greeted with a high fence surrounding the hole, and armed soldiers just hanging out. Someone please clue me in to why we need armed guards protecting a hole that’s already been bombed. We walked around the perimeter and found a few good spots that I could get some photos off from. Visiting Ground Zero was a pretty heavy event, when your that close you can just feel the weight of what happened there settling over you…the lives lost...the lies told. And let me tell you, visiting it in person only increased the desire to grab a big microphone find the nearest government official and start yelling BULLSHIT, but then there are those armed guards standing around the corner…hmm 2+2= ‘ You’re government is in control America, go back to sleep’.

We found a cool art exhibit though while wandering around that lifted my sprits. All these garments were made using renewable resources from the Brazilian Amazon, or recycled materials from Brazil. After this we grabbed some good ole’ NY street grubbed and wandered a bit more around the WTC before heading back to the Hotel and onto JFK to fly out to Ireland.

Pics to come shortly..working out this need for massive storage space and no laptop.

written by  Slade's Elucidation on June 20, 2008 from New York, United States
from the travel blog: Slade's Elucidation
tagged NewYork, WorldTradeCenter and HotelChelsea
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Walking home late at night with drink coursing through the system, one can often trick oneself into thinking they're poetic and profound, when really they're just feeling a little sad, well, just such a thing occured to me and I stopped on the roof before turning in for bed at my sister's and wrote this:
'I stand upon a rooftop of Brooklyn and all I see is an ocean. An ocean of city. An ocean to get lost in and to lose yourself in. A labyrinth of people, routes, grids, ignition.
All sewing something up. Wishing to just soak up the minerals. Here the silence breathes deeper than anywhere else, but the silence only exists when the sharks are tearing you apart.
The moths can't decide if they're underwater or not.'

Yeah, make of that what you will. Feel free to poke fun at my emo bullshit, it's a rarity.

I've been seeing friends and experiencing New York's finest. I saw Radiohead at the All Points West festival in Jersey city last friday, my first time in New Jersey actually. Everybody's right, it does kind of smell.

Another highlight was David Byrne's 'Playing the Building'. An installation in the maritime museum on the southern tip of Manhattan. It is an organ in the middle of a large empty room, with these cords running from it to various parts of the building. You hit the keys on the organ and they activate various functions. There were three types: wind, percussion, and motor. You hit a key and, for instance, it would blow air through a pipe making a note ring out on the other side of the room, or you hit another key and behind you a motor would whir and create this droning note or another key would bang on a metal pylon. Very cool stuff.

There is always something going on here. What else? A DIY show in Williamsburg where I saw Growing from Olympia, I guess they moved here, after which we went to a sort of bike-hipster dance party in Bushwick.

I'll try to add more later when I can figure out photos and I'm not stressing on boarding an international flight in a few hours. It's just kind of a mess of events, a little too jumbled to write about. Future posts will be better, I swear!

I leave you with the lyrics to Street Hassle by Lou Reed which is so goddamn apt to New York City (just like, I suppose, everything that guy sings about):

A) waltzing matilda

Waltzing matilda whipped out her wallet
The sexy boy smiled in dismay
She took out four twenties cause she liked round figures
Everybodys a queen for a day
Oh, babe, Im on fire and you know how I admire your -
- body why dont we slip away
Although Im sure youre certain, its a rarity me flirtin
Sha-la-la-la, this way

Oh, sha-la-la-la-la, sha-la-la-la-la
Hey, baby, come on, lets slip away

Luscious and gorgeous, oh what a hunk of muscle
Call out the national guard
She creamed in her jeans as he picked up her means
From off of the formica topped bar
And cascading slowly, he lifted her wholly
And boldly out of this world
And despite peoples derision
Proved to be more than diversion
Sha-la-la-la, later on

And then sha-la-la-la-la, he entered her slowly
And showed her where he was coming from
And then sha-la-la-la-la, he made love to her gently
It was like shed never ever come
And then sha-la-la-la-la, sha-la-la-la-la
When the sun rose and he made to leave
You know, sha-la-la-la-la, sha-la-la-la-la
Neither one regretted a thing

B) street hassle

Hey, that cunts not breathing
I think shes had too much
Of something or other, hey, man, you know what I mean
I dont mean to scare you
But youre the one who came here
And youre the one whos gotta take her when you leave
Im not being smart
Or trying to be cold on my part
And Im not gonna wear my heart on my sleeve
But you know people get all emotional
And sometimes, man, they just dont act rational
They think theyre just on tv

Sha-la-la-la, man
Why dont you just slip her away

You know, Im glad that we met man
It really was nice talking
And I really wish that there was a little more time to speak
But you know it could be a hassle
Trying to explain myself to a police officer
About how it was that your old lady got herself stiffed
And its not like we could help
But there was nothing no one could do
And if there was, man, you know I would have been the first
But when someone turns that blue
Well, its a universal truth
And then you just know that bitch will never fuck again
By the way, thats really some bad shit
That you came to our place with
But you ought to be more careful around the little girls
Its either the best or its the worst
And since I dont have to choose
I guess I wont and I know this aint no way to treat a guest
But why dont you grab your old lady by the feet
And just lay her out on the darkened street
And by morning, shes just another hit and run
You know, some people got no choice
And they cant never find a voice
To talk with that they can even call their own
So the first thing that they see
That allows them the right to be
Why they follow it, you know, its called bad luck

C) slipaway

Believe me, that its just a lie
Thats what she tells her friends
cause the real song, the real song
Which she wont even admit to herself
Beat narrow heart, the song lots of people know
Its a painful song
Itll only say the truth
It lasts for sad songs
Penny for a wish
A wish wont make you a soldier
A pretty kiss or a pretty face
Cant have its way
The tramps like us who were born to play

Love is gone away
And theres no one here now
And theres nothing left to say
But, oh, how I miss him, baby
Oh, baby, come on and slip away
Come on, baby, why dont you slip away

Love is gone away
Took the rings off my fingers
And theres nothing left to say
But, oh how, oh how I need him, baby
Come on, baby, I need you baby
Oh, please dont slip away
I need your loving so bad, babe
Please dont slip away

written by  Dan Schoo on August 12, 2008 from New York, United States
from the travel blog: A cowboy boot to Europe's ass...
tagged NewYork
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