Day out in Big Apple

It's been a month since my trip to New York and a blog on it has been on the cards for a while now. My friend (lakkad) and his room-mates studying at Northern Illinois University were coming down to new york for a couple of days to experience Big Apple. The fact that I hadn't been around the city a lot motivated me to go there. I left for New Jersey on Friday, 13th May with a friend of mine. We covered 300 miles by road from Penn State to New Jersey in a Ford Mustang, a very popular sports car of my friend. The miles we covered on I-80 weren't eventful, we covered all those miles without a halt.We reached 52nd street in Manhattan at around 8:30pm. From there I took a train to New York penn station and then the NJ transit to newark penn station. I spent 14th may, saturday, at my relative's. On sunday, I caught up with another relative whom I had last seen eons back and we went out to some indian stores to experience "Indianess" in US (sounds ludicrous, i know) . It is quite amazing how I end up meeting a new bunch of relatives each time I visit NJ. That night, I took a train and went to new york. I bunked at another relative's place(yes, another) in Queen's.

Monday was the fun part of this entire trip. I took the subway to New york Penn Station and then took a transfer to Port Authority, 42nd street, New York. I walked upto 46th street and 12th avenue, which was my first stop of the tour, the Intrepid Sea and Air Museum. I caught up with my friends there. We had purchased the New York Pass for a day, trust me, this is the cheapest and the most convenient way to tour NYC as it eliminates waiting in lines for tickets. The sea and air museum houses some of the concords, submarines, ships and war artillery used during world war II. We enjoyed a 3-D simulation ride in one of the concorde, but apart from that, there is nothing very spectacular about his museum especially if aren't a big fan of planes and stuff. Due to time constraints, we decided to skip going into the submarine.
Next stop, Madame Tussaud's wax museum. Tussaud's museum is located in New York, Las Vegas, Amsterdam, London and Hong-kong. I was really excited to see so many celebrities in "real". No words can describe the fine artistry behind every wax model. Every crease and hair seemed to be taken care of. I brushed into celebrities, the likes of which included George Bush, Kofi Annan, Colin Powell, Mahatma Gandhi, Dalai Lama, Yasser Arafat, Chalie Chaplin, Madonna, Paris Hilton, Jennifer Aniston, Beyonce, J-Lo and many more. The 2 hours spent there were certainly short.

Next stop was NBC studios in 30 Rockefeller Plaza, which has to be the most recognizable address in Manhattan. Photography is strictly prohibited inside the studio. A couple of tour guides showed us around the place. A documentary tracing the inception of this studio was screened. We saw the studio where programs such as Saturday night live, dateline NBC and Nightly news are broadcasted.

After lunch at McDonalds, we arrived at Empire state building, which is now the tallest building in New York. It took us 60 seconds in the elevator to reach the 86th floor of the building, which offered a panoramic view of the entire city. The NYC pass had entitled us to a piece of audio equipment which offered good perspective of what we were seeing. Atop empire state we good an incredible view of downtown manhattan, financial district of NY, brooklyn bridge and hudson river, Central park, rockefeller plaza and statue of liberty.

UN buiding was next in line. We took the famous new york subway to reach the headquarters of United Nations. By the time we reached there, the building was closed for the day for general public. We had to be contented with taking pictures from outside. Secondly, some construction in front of the bldg meant that the flags of all countries of the world had been removed and perched together elsewhere. The next time I go there, I will make it a point to visit UN building, Central Park and Madision Square Gardens.

My friends had to go elsewhere from here on. On my way back home, I stopped by in Times Square, 42nd Street. This presented a good opportunity to take some good pictures, which you might want to have a look at. Astonishingly, there are 10 cameras placed at Times Square which monitor movement of public. Click here to view them. As a memorabilia, I purchased a couple of T shirts which costed me a fortune. :)

A couple of lines about New york city. This is certainly one of the most fascinating and intriguing cities I have visited. The tall building, the deafening noise of cabs and people, the sight of seeing people from all across the world, the sight of so many people from sub-continent certainly left a lasting impression in my mind. It amazing to see how people are always on the move here, as if they had skates under the sole of their footwear. All in all, a great experience and hope to be there more often in the coming months and years. The US Open in September is certainly one good opportunity !!!

To view pictures at the places mentioned below, click on them:

42nd Street, 7th Avenue... At the Crossroads of the world

Madamme Tussaud's Museum, New York City

Empire State Building

Intrepid Sea and Air Museum

HQ Of United Nations