Monday, August 22, 2005
New York City
Day One
For my boyfriend's 32nd birthday, I decided to take him to New York City since he's never been. Our trip to Taipei, Taiwan earlier this year was definitely good practice. The country mouse had already seen traffic congestion, crazy sadistic driving, overcrowding everywhere, dirty streets and lots of walking.
We arrived on Thursday afternoon and checked out Time Square by our hotel. A friendly little New York pigeon decided to give my boyfriend a little welcome present. I suppose I should not have been pointing and laughing, but hey, you know you would do the same thing. Since our flight lasted through lunch and everyone knows how the airline likes to starve us these days, we were ravenous by the time we landed. So, where do you go eat in fabulous Time Square, that's right folks, that would be Applebee's. One thing I noticed about the touristy places was the predominance of chain restaurants. We did get a wonderful view of the CBS video board. Who can ever get enough of Two and a Half Men commercials?
The place definitely picked up when night fell. We just made our way up and down 7th and Broadway. It's fun trying to shove your way through crowds. We found our way into Toy R Us...don't ask why, but we did enjoy an impressive Lego collection.
Day Two
Day two started out gloomy, rainy and humid. We didn't want to venture out in the rain for lunch so we just ended up dining at Shula's Steakhouse. I must say...excellent chicken. Neither one of us had the steak. The bread was so yummy.......Atkins my butt. The concierge was kind enough to provide us with umbrellas and the subway train to take to the American Museum of Natural History. What trip to New York City is complete without a whirl on the fantabulous New York Subway system. And just our luck, a slightly deranged man was also in the station. He desperately wanted to know, "When the fuck is hell going to freeze over, Bitch?" I must say no one could quite provide him with an adequate response and therefore he felt the need to reiterate himself over and over and over. Ah, gotta love those friendly NY citizens.
Finally, arrived at the Museum. Of course, there was a crowd. You would think that an automated kiosk for ticket purchase would speed the whole process along. Think again. We checked out the African Mammals first. I don't believe I enjoy staring at stuffed animals, but they were very interesting. Somehow those lions and tigers always looked bigger on television. We also checked out the life and cultures of the African, Asian and Islamic people.
Last but not least, we checked out the dinosaur floor. I personally would never touch anything that a million other grubby, germy hands have fondled, but my boyfriend decided he could not pass up the opportunity to feel a 6 million year old fossil. He currently has a stuffy nose and a sore throat. Now what does this teach us kiddies? Each fossil contained interesting hypothesis on what the dinosaur may have looked like, stood and used their various strange appendages...like the plates on a Stegosauraus. I found it interesting how each hypothesis was followed by a disclaimer that they cannot know for sure if any of what they had just stated was true since you cannot determine behavior from fossils. Man, I love scientists!
On our way out, my boyfriend insisted he saw Tyne Daly (Cagney and Lacey/Judging Amy) passing us in the elevator. I'll take his word for it. I'm not exactly the most observant person on earth. He spots celebrities in the airport all the time. Such a people watcher.
By this time the rain had let up and we decided to stroll down to Columbus Circle via Central Park. We got to see the Lake, the Meadows...did I mention this is a 20 block stroll? By the time we reached Columbus Circle to check out the indoor shopping, we were both so tired, we just wanted to sit at the fountains across the street and stare into space. After we got our second wind, it was more walking over to 58th and 7th to catch the subway to ..... the Empire State Building.
Although it probably wasn't crowded by NY standards, there was a long long line to get up to the observation deck. I am just thankful the party in front of us was not stinky. They were overly perfumed, but I would rather take that any day over stinky B.O. Well, what seems like hours later, we finally reach the observation deck. The view was spectacular. I liked the Empire State Building observation tower much more than I liked the Taipei 101 observation deck mainly because it's outdoors. I think I am sloooowwly overcoming my fear of heights. Then again, an eight foot tall fence does provide some sense of security. Some little baby almost got jacked up by my boyfriend. That's what you get punk for yanking on a stranger's back pack!
My boyfriend thought he was being picked pocketed. Only in New York.
Just because we did not get enough walking in yet for the day, we decided to walk back to our hotel...another 10 blocks or so. We passed Bryant Park, which was blaring with salsa music and full of happy dancing people...in the rain. Walked passed the Garment District....lots of beads. When we finally got back to our hotel, I was pretty certain that I would never regain the feeling back in my feet. It's amazing what a hot shower can cure.
For our day two dining pleasure, we chose Ruth's Chris Steakhouse. Yes, I know...how very unoriginal, but I don't think either one of us was in any condition to travel very far from our hotel. With that said, I still thought it was a good idea to tread another 8 blocks in my three inch heels. If any of you are interested in seeing close ups of what a three inch heel can do to a foot over 16 blocks, please let me know and I'll be more than happy to show you the lovely puss filled photos.
On our way back, we saw a swim suit model in the middle of a photo shoot in the median. Must be a fun job having hoards of people stare at you while you work.
Day Three
Since day three was also hot, humid and cloudy..we decided not to wait any longer on checking out the Statue of Liberty. Again, we piled into the subway 'cause we just cannot get enough of public transportation 
and thought we had our whole route mapped out. WRONG! Due to construction, several stops in lower Manhattan were not running that day. Yipee! MORE WALKING! The positive thing is that we stopped just short of the World Trade Center site. I feel eerie every time I see the place. To me it's just a massive grave yard.
We strolled over to Robert Wagner park and checked out the view of the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island. So tiny from that distance. The length of the line to purchase tickets for the Statue of Liberty and the length of the line for the ferry to get to the Statue of Liberty left much to be desired. We're not patient people. It was then on to explore the rest of Battery Park and the financial district.
So, up Broadway we went. We had to get a picture with the Bull. Several Russian tourists were having fun molesting the Bull's boys. Crazy tourists....my turn! We checked out Trinity Church, but could not find any evidence of hidden treasure like in National Treasure. The architecture was amazing and the stained glass windows were beautiful.
Now were were really hot since the sun decided to show its face again. I don't think it was a good idea for us to have hiked under the World Trade Center Path to get to the Chamber's station, but we came to that realization too late. Subway stations are not well ventilated. We were also very perplexed as to which train to take to get us to Chinatown and Little Italy. I must admit the London Tube system is much more understandable.
We finally managed to muddle our way over to Canal Street. Oh, the joy of cheap shopping. It was everything for $5. You can't beat that! $2 T Shirts! So what if they disintergrate after one wash? Amazingly enough, neither of us bought anything. I think it had more to do with us being tired grouches than the price of the goods. We meandered down Mulberry Street (Yummy Gelatos) and back up Mott toward Canal. I like fresh fish and all, but being splashed by your dinner was not attractive. I also saw a bucket of frogs....poor froggies!
I was in search of cheap shopping further down Canal Street (like anything was going to be cheaper than $2). Then I realized further down Canal meant Lower East Side. Crazy about cheap stuff, but not that crazy. So we decided next stop was SoHo. Great shops, lots of stuff to buy...but man, the crowd was INSANE. I lost my will to shop. Good thing we found a subway station and hopped on to head back to the 42nd Street Time Square Station. Don't you think with a name like 42nd Time Square Station you would think it would drop you off at 42nd? Well, you would be fooled.
Dinner on Day Three was SUPER casual. I picked Yoshinoya. Looked a lot better than it tasted. My boyfriend ended up grabbing a few cheeseburgers from the worldn's largest McDonald's. There were trivia screens everywhere. I learned that the potato and cucumber farmer will never have to worry about not having a job as long as McD is operational. It's INSANE how much fries and pickles they serve.
We were going to pick up a few suvenirs but somehow being stared at by 5 shop employees while I'm perusing the goods made me feel uncomfortable (not to mention tempted to lift something).
It was back to the hotel to crash. So very very tired.
Day Four
We're headed home! Yipee! My boyfriend say Shirley Manson (Garbage) at the airport. Who would have though a woman with bright orange red hair and alabaster skin would be so noticeable? I just have to mention that the Westin at Time Square ROCKS! It has a Heavenly Bed (aka pillow top mattress) and Heavenly Shower (aka dual shower heads that deliver great water pressure). The room was large by most hotel room standards. I know where I'm staying on my next trip to the Big Apple!
Happy Birthday Kitty Cat! Hope you had a great time!
Saturday, August 06, 2005
To Protect and To Serve...OurselvesGuardsmen took "rent" from Iraqi Businessmen
First, the prison abuse and now extortion. I'm thinking the U.S. Military needs a new PR department and most importantly stricter screening of new recruits and perhaps several more ETHICS courses during training.
It saddens and angers met to read articles related to these matters. There are numerous US Military personal who are serving honorably in the US miliatary and defending the principals by which they lead their lives. However, articles of honor and civic duty are not as captivating nor as lucrative as articles that feature the basest of human instincts.
While the rest of the world may have military forces that abuse and exploit the civilians, the US Military is SUPPOSE to be above those petty, immoral acts. I know it's naive of me to think that we can be the perfect shining example for the rest of the world, but that is the standard we must attain. A country cannot accuse others of being the "Axis of Evil" and goes about committing atrocities itself. Either you live up to the standards you demand others live by or you shut your trap, withdraw from the countries you invades and fix your own mess at home!