Monday, July 23, 2007

You Know You Are Getting Old When...

...you get a message saying "Please visit the following website for info on our reunion - http://www.arcadia1998.myevent.com/." Yes, come November 2008 I will be going to my 10-year high school reunion.

Thursday, July 5, 2007

The Rest of the Trip

On Sunday night, Lauren and I did make it to Pinkberry. We waited in another 20 minute line and then walked around and talked for about an hour. We do not talk much so it was good to catch up. I forgot my camera when we walked to Pinkberry, so I would not let Lauren throw away the Pinkberry cup (it definitely did not take an hour to finish the yogurt). So, we walked around for a good half hour with empty containers but we did get a picture when we got back to the apartment.

Pretending there is yogurt in these cups
Monday morning I met up with Jenn and the group at Century 21 and then we went to lunch at Jing Fong Restaurant (or something to that effect) in Chinatown. It was authentic Chinese food so I was a little nervous to eat it. Fortunately, I had cereal bars with me, so that was lunch. We then walked down to South Street Seaport to try to get tickets to a play. There weren't any shows that I wanted to see on the list, so I passed on the show.

Looking towards Manhattan from South Street Seaport
We then walked back to Chinatown. In Chinatown, they sell a lot of knock-off purses, and most of the nicer purses (i.e. Coach, Louis Vitton, Prada, Gucci, etc.) are in the back of buildings. As you are walking down Canal Street, you get numerous offers to go look at purses. We took a lady up on the offer and followed her down the alley, into a building, up the stairs and into this tiny room filled with purses. We were getting a little nervous on our way there, as the other times I have done this there are usually other "potential buyers" being led by other Chinese people. In this instance though, we were the only ones and it was quite a distance from Canal Street. Anyway, I found a white Coach purse that I liked and I asked the lady how much it would be. She said thirty and I said twenty. She kept coming down...25, 23, 22, 21 and I kept saying no I didn't want it. As we were walking out she said, OK, 20. I am sure it will not last long, but if I bought this purse from Coach, it would probably be $200-$300. Jena also bought two Kate Spade purses. As we were walking out of the building, we wanted to get a picture of us with our black bags in the alley. Just as we were about to snap the picture, this guy puts his hand in front of the camera and says "NO PICTURE!" I think he is the owner and he probably thought we were going to turn him in. We walked a little further down the street and took the below picture.

NO PICTURE!!!
On Tuesday I took a break from the tourist activities and worked from Lauren's apartment. On Tuesday night Lauren cooked a great dinner (Orichette Pasta Salad) and we just hung out at the apt.

Yesterday, for the 4th of July, we decided to go to Fire Island. Lauren's friend, Ara, has a share there and she was going for the weekend so we went along with her for the day. Fire Island is off the coast of Long Island, and is about the width of a football field but it is 30 miles long. In order to get to Fire Island, we took the LIRR (Long Island Railroad) from Penn Station and then a ferry to Fire Island. I guess Fire Island is known to be a gay hangout, but we did not see any gay people. The area we went to was a family town.

Me, Lauren and Ara arriving at Fire Island
There are no cars allowed on the island so most of the people who live there own a wagon. All of the wagons get locked up at the dock.

This is where the locals park their wagons
We walked around for a while and then had lunch and ice cream.

Eating ice cream and pastries
The "Main Drag"
Taking a festive picture
After spending a couple of hours in the town, we walked on the beach back to Ara's house. It was windy and cold - definitely not a day to lay out on the beach.

On the beach - a little different weather than the 117 degree heat in Phoenix
It was cold!
We left Fire Island on the 6:40pm ferry and made it back to the City by about 9:30pm. Just as we came out of Penn Station, we saw the Macy's fireworks so we watched the show for about 20 minutes. It was a little difficult to see since we were in the middle of the city, but it was still a good show. We watched right by the Empire State Building - I tried to get a good picture but I really need a tripod since it only works if I do not use a flash.

My attempt at photographing the Empire State Building
I had a great time, and I still love that city!!!

Sunday, July 1, 2007

Ellis Island and Cafe Lalo

My plane in Oregon arrived in Phoenix at 8:10am on Sunday morning, June 24, and I had a flight out of Phoenix to JFK at 3:10pm. So, I went home, did laundry and packed again. Last week I stayed at the Waldorf Astoria in midtown because I was here for work. Friday after work I picked up my luggage and took a cab to Lauren and Jason's on the Upper East Side. I left my luggage at their apartment and picked up a key and then took the subway to meet Jenn, Jena and Meghan in the West Village. We had yogurt at this really good place called Pinkberry. We waited in line for a good half hour.

Jenn, Me, Jena and Meghan at Pinkberry in the West Village
Pinkberry is very popular
I stayed at Jenn's on Friday night, but it was a full house. Brian and Michael were supposed to be out of town for a wedding, but their flight was cancelled on Thursday night. So, they stayed in their room, Jenn, Jena, Megan and myself were in Jenn's room and Brian's brother and girlfriend were on the couch/floor. That is 8 people in a little 2 bedroom, 1 bathroom NYC apartment. Saturday morning I snuck into Jenn's gym with her in order to take a shower and get ready and then we headed off to Ellis Island. This used to be an immigration island where they brought the immigrants to be checked out and determine if they could enter the U.S.

In line at Battery Park to go to Ellis Island
On the way to Ellis Island
Taking a picture by the sign (we actually went in and toured the museum too :)
Last night I stayed at Lauren and Jason's with their dog, Rooke. Lauren and Jason went to Long Island for the weekend, so I volunteered to watch Rooke. It actually worked out well since there are so many people at Jenn's. It took over an hour to get here because I missed my transfer on the subway (I was looking for 51st Street but really should have gotten off at the 53rd-Lexington stop) so I ended up at 23rd Street and had to wait for the downtown to come which took a very long time. Anyway, I made it here and took Rooke for a short walk. This morning I go up somewhat early and took Rooke to Central Park for about an hour and then I met up with Jenn and everyone else at Cafe Lalo. This was the Cafe where Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan met at in You've Got Mail. It was such a nice day and they had all the windows open. After Cafe Lalo we walked through Central Park to MoMA (Museum of Modern Art). I guess it was cool but art museums don't really do anything for me.

Cafe Lalo Sunday morning
Strawberry Field in Central Park
Now I am waiting for Lauren and Jason to get home and Lauren and I are going to Pinkberry :)