New York - First Contact

Finally, I set foot on the United States, and it's none other than the city that never sleeps - New York, hooray!!! My travelling time coincides with 9/11 10th year memorial, which is not intended. My brain stops working when I saw the word 'sales' on air ticket and forget about the extra security check that might be imposed during that period. Well, it turns out to be okay, nothing excessive in particular during our one week stay (except the day on 9/11 itself).

Hotel New Yorker that we stayed in

Mr.T booked us a suite on the top floor of a nice hotel and we were given a suite that not only boasts Empire States Building view (which is just a block away), but also has a Manhattan down town view and on a clear day, we can actually see the Statue of Liberty. We can't stop amazed at the suite's view throughout our stay during different times of days, good choice, Mr.T; and thanks for the stay :)

What did I say about the view? ;)

Getting to the city is easy as a breeze with the train and since we're staying at mid-town, the streets are very easy to navigate, so check in, drop baggage and done with. We then went out to Time Square to pick up our New York Pass, rubbing shoulders with people of all trades along the way and amazed at how common Spanish is in America's everyday life. Many times, I felt a deja-vu of seeing scenes from so many movies taken place in this very city. Mr.T has been doing 'research' by watching movies involving New York - Godzilla, US Marshall, King Kong, MIB etc., hence the influence...

Time Square

And then something 'magical' happens: Woodie, Elmo, the cookie monster suddenly appear on the street, how cute right? So I approach a Woodie and asked for a picture to realize the picture will cost ~USD1- 2, I was angry at myself for being naive forgetting about the realistic sides of this city. Well, that aside, we visited Hershey and M&M, saw some huge chocolates and also bought quite some amount of chocolates. Mr.T claims he didn't like the taste of Hershey (mainly due to the milk used) yet manage to eat 250g of my newly bought Hershey nougats!!

My 2USD shot with Woodie

Another shot of Time Square

Giant Hershey bar, real chocolate!

Tired, we decided to walk back to the hotel and take a rest. Along the way, a very special mini cup cake shop caught my eye, check out how beautiful the display is below. I cannot remember the shop name but there are plenty of mini cup cake stores in NY, be sure to treat yourself one.

These mini cup cakes cost a dollar each, not cheap for they are really small. After Mr.T and I munched down two, I realized I haven't take any picture and hence this is the last of it with vanilla frosting and cookie bear topping. They taste pretty good at their size, I think they'll be too sweet if they are normal sized cup cake.

The street was actually quite warm for a September day, around 26degreeC, we really appreciate the powerful air-conditioning in the hotel. After some discussion, we decided to sleep early tonight to try to gain energy for the days to come but before that, we of course have to had our first American dinner. TGI Friday is right across the street and so we went for it. 

My first encounter with American servicing, the same waiter/waitress that waits you will be the one you settle the bill with, good to know. As for the food...it's very disappointing. Mr.T's burger was very dry, the fries are fried so many times that they are too hard to be consumed; the best part of my Jack Daniel sauce chicken & shrimp platter is actually the broccoli, the shrimp is half raw and the chicken is dry, the sauce was ok though. 

And the most unwanted thing happen - jet lag. We automatically wakes up around 3am, wide awake, watching TVs, eating chocolates and taking picture from our room's wonderful view.

The jet lag goes on for a few more days but that aside, more on 9/11 day next.