Jun 11, 2007

I Heart New York



Another day trip to New York and another set of beautiful memories. Yesterday N and myself with 3 other friends left to NYC.We planned to do a lot of things , but we couldn't stop ourselves just walking around the streets of Manhattan. The tall buildings that no matter how much we tried to look up still couldn't see the top floor, as the sun was just right on top of our heads.
Ground zero, where once the WTC stood tall. Just being there and seeing that place just bought tears in our eyes. What would have been the fate of all those people on that day? I kept thinking to myself.

We clicked few pictures and moved on from ground zero to the other streets...watching lots of travelers from various parts of the world walking down the street . Its a wonderful exercise to just sit and watch different people walking and talking. While others were busy clicking pictures, to me watching them people walk, talk and listening to the ringing bells from different churches was just plain wonderful. We headed to wall street and New york stock exchange. Saw the trump building. Although public veiwing of the NYSE is prohibitted after terrorist attacks in year 2001, the architectural beauty of the building was worth enjoying.
We then decided to go see the Statue of liberty. Headed towards battery park, bought tickets and stood in the long line to get on to the boat that would take us to the island.The ticket costed us $11.50 per adult for a round trip. There is also a monumnet pass which we could have got free of cost if we arrived at the ticket counter by morning 9am. This monument pass gives you access into the statue of liberty. Because we were late ...we couldnt actually get to see this.

While we stood in the line waiting to get the security check we saw a man singing with his guitar. His hair colored just like his t shirt in rainbow colors , singing about different people. He said something really funny... he asked a english man if he had any problems if the royal family had a black person amongst them. the english man said "no" ofcourse. The singer said then iam coming to england next summer:) he definately was talented, he attracted everyones attention and in turn did earn a lot of money too. He attracted the chinese visitors by singing a song in chinese language, the Australians by singing about their land, he got 2 english kids look at a canadian girl while he sang a love song. It was all done in good spirit, nobody was offended. He went on asking others what they thought of being married to a black woman and many ofcourse said they wouldnt mind. He didnt stop, he said 'my sister is looking can i hook u up'. LOL!! It was just way too funny.
We then went through the security check and sat on this huge boat.
The boat took us to the Island where Statue of liberty stood tall. Apparently she was made all in copper and because of oxidation(chemical change due to oxygen present in air) It turns out to be green in colour. The statue of liberty was given to the americans by the french as a symbol of friendship. It was all put together on July 1886. Apparently 300 pieces of copper packed in 214 crates was transported to america by the french in a ship called 'Isere'. This ship was allmost about to sink, but reached safely as she stands up tall symbolizing freedom and democracy.

We roamed the island for good 2 hrs. Got something to eat there. Trust me if you ever go to the island , get your own food as the food there is1. unhealthy(french fries and everything else fried)2. aweful and 3. expensive. We bought grilled chicken sandwich ...thinking that we are going to be a bit health conscious, trust me the chicken was burnt , i felt i was eating half charcoal and some dry stuff called chicken . Not good, i didnt waste anything ..i fed them to the pigeons. No wonder the pigeons were so big and fat!!!

We then rushed to get to the ferry that was to arrive in any time. Not only did we get the last ferry back but we also got a real cool spot from where the pictures come out amazing.After the wonderful journey back to battery park , N and myself got a portrait sketched from a chinese man. He did a good job!!Not only did the sketch resembled us but we also looked 15 years younger. We were both happy.What if we didn't meet as teenagers , we now have a picture that shows how we would have looked as teenagers.

Brooklyn bridge was our next stop. We parked our vehicle and started walking,and ofcourse the little shops,the coffee shops, restaurants caught our attention and we quite got lost in them . The next thing we know is brooklyn bridge was a mile and half away.We walked back to our car and headed to lexignton ave to eat our famous curry. After much contemplation as to which restaurant we want to pick...we decided to go into masala bollywood. The restaurant had a good feel to it. There were bollywood star pictures everywhere,including the rest rooms!!.
The food though i must say was not upto the mark except for mango lassi which my friends said tasted good.
It was way past 10pm and as we left NYC we saw the mad rush at times square. We said good bye to big apple with hope in our hearts that we are going to be back soon.
Phew what a day!!










2 comments:

Radha said...

NYC is great isnt it?
Masala Bollywood sounds very interesting!! :)

mookuthi said...

Nyc is amazing. The next time You are in NYC we must meet up:)
Masala Bollywood name sounds interesting but like i said the food wasnt upto the mark. But its indian food anyday so its allways yummmmmmmmmm oooo