Patrick Does New York: Day 4

Anna: I've met somebody who seems to be Sean... I really hoped that he was Sean. I *wanted* him to *be* Sean. But I knew he wasn't... The thing is, I'm falling in love with Sean again. That's what's happening. I need you to tell him to go away. Because I can't do it.

- Birth

Here are the photos from our final day in the capital of the world:

The subway station in Times. We were frequent visitors.


Kevin and I woke up a little earlier to visit Central Park since he had not yet seen it. To get there we had to walk through the Upper East Side where all the rich/famous people live. A really beautiful area of New York.


A New Yorker and her dog.


Kevin and I were looking for a good place to eat breakfast and happened to stumble upon this great cafe called Boathouse. It sat right next to a lake and I had the best cranberry muffin of my life.


On a tight time schedule. We had to make it back to our hotel for checkout and ended up getting lost after exiting Central Park...so we just cabbed back rather than wasting time searching for the correct subway entrance. My bad.


After checkout. We had time to spare before our flight left so we munched on some NYC pizza at Ray's in Times Square. Delicioso. I'm not entirely sure why Laura is holding a container of red pepper flakes.


Walking in Times Square one last time.



In the cab on our way back to Laguardia Airport.



Sad faces at the DFW airport.


I love New York!


Laters for now!

Patrick Does New York: Day 3

Charlie: So, this is my life. And I want you to know that I am both happy and sad and I'm still trying to figure out how that could be.

- The Perks of Being a Wallflower (Stephen Chbosky)


I started off Saturday determined to figure out the subway system and all its complicated-ness. Thanks to a website called HopStop, we were able to receive detailed directions on where to get on and off the trains depending on where we wanted to go. Our plan for Saturday was to explore central park, the empire state building, and rockefeller center.

We popped out of the subway right next to FAO Shwarz and you really can't not go inside once you see it. It was a bit smaller than I remembered, but the toys were just as expensive as the last time I visited. Laura picked up a few gifts for her neice and nephew.



Un edificio afuera de FAO Shwarz….or something.


Horse carriage outside Central Park.


Central Park reminds me of the Pigeon Lady from Home Alone 2: Lost in New York.



A big-ass rock.


More Central Park.


I think this is Union Square. I could be wrong.


A little-person Michael Jackson impersonator performing enthusiastically in the subway.


We subway-ed back to Times Square and walked to Rockefeller to see it during the daytime. When walking by the NBC building, we noticed a line of black Escalades and limos and men in suits talking on their hand-less phones. “She’s coming”, they would say. Laura and I ducked inside the NBC store and waited anxiously to see “her” come out of the building. After a few minutes or so, some rich white family came out of the building and got into the cars. Disappointment! I thought we might see someone like Tina Fey or an upcoming SNL host but instead it was some family who probably paid an insane amount of money to be escorted around the city. After that, Laura and I found a great little sandwich place nearby for some lunch.


Back to the hotel. We rested for a few minutes and then headed off to see the Empire State building, which ended up having a 2 hour wait to go to the top. Laura and I aren’t much for standing in lines, so we opted out and instead subway-ed home.


After Kevin finished his conference for the day we took the subway to Greenwhich Village to eat at this restaurant called The Garage on 7th Ave. If you visit New York you have to eat here. Not only was it the least expensive place we ate, it had great live jazz music, the service was outstanding and the food was terrific.



Walking back to the subway in Greenwich.



In the elevator on our way to the 43rd floor of the Marriott where we had a dessert buffet in the revolving lounge. We had an incredible view of the NYC skyline.


Day 4 coming soon! Laters for now!

Patrick Does New York: Day 2

Jim Cunningham: Do you see this? This is an Anger Prisoner. A textbook example. Do you see the fear, people? This boy is scared to death of the truth. Son, it breaks my heart to say this, but I believe you are a very troubled and confused young man. I believe you are searching for the answers in all the wrong places.
Donnie: You're right, actually. I am pretty- I'm, I'm pretty troubled and I'm, I'm pretty confused. But I... and I'm afraid. Really, really afraid. Really afraid. But I... I... I think you're the fucking Antichrist.

- Donnie Darko

Here are the photos from day 2 of our trip:

We found this great bakery called Junior's right next to the hotel and grabbed some muffins to start off our day. Kevin had to spend most of it at the conference, but Laura and I decided to conquer most of the southern part of Manhattan.


It was gloomy and rainy all day on Friday, but that didn't stop Laura and I shopping at some stores in Soho. (South of Houston St.)



Laura and her new pair of skinny jeans. I got a shirt from H&M. Who knew that place was so cheap?
>

We then walked around Little Italy to look for the first pizzeria in NYC called Lombardi's that I had marked on our map. Apparently my marking was vague because we ended up getting a bit turned around. Laura was unhappy and took control of the map for the rest of the day. We eventually found a good pizza place called Pomodoro.


Pizza Pizza


After pizza we cabbed down to the World Trade Center Memorial.




The Freedom Tower.


A church next to the WTC where some of the rescuers stayed.



Next, we walked down to Battery Park to view the Statue of Liberty at a distance. Since I had been there before and was thoroughly unimpressed with its size, we decided not to ferry out to it. It's very diminutive and underwhelming, trust me. I think I deleted the actual picture of the statue. oops.


I think this is one of the ferries.


A sphere sculpture that used to reside near the WTC but was damaged.


After Battery Park, we walked to the Brooklyn Bridge at pier 17. When I was a freshman in high school, this was our first stop in NYC. We all went shopping in the mall on the pier and Alex ate greek food and had the shits all night. Good times.



Laura dropped the map soon after, but we didn't realize it until we had began making our way back towards Chinatown. With our amazing navigation skills, we didn't get lost, although walking through the lower east side without a map was pretty interesting.



We found our way back to Chinatown. This was one of our favorite places to go. The people were really friendly.





Laura was really interested in buying some rip-off purses from the stores in Chinatown. As soon as you turn on Canal St., the women that work the stores stand on the sidewalk and whisper "Coach, Prada, Gucci, Kate Spade" and if you're interested they take you to the back of the store, knock on the wall and say something in Chinese. You then hear somebody on the other side of the wall respond in Chinese and the wall opens up into a small room filled with really good rip-off purses that are illegal to sell because of copyright. Laura ended up with seven purses, some sunglasses and designer perfume.


To say we were tired after walking all day is an understatement. My feet hurt so badly.


Dinner was at Mesa Grill that night. This is Bobby Flay's restaurant. I had a delicious Chile Relleno dish. Our waiter was a twat though.


Back from dinner! We wanted to walk to Rockefeller which was only a few blocks from Times Square. I was excited.


Radio City Music Hall


Where I would have gone in if Conan didn't get cancelled.


Where the ice rink usually is.


Back in Times Square.






Day 3 coming soon! Laters for now!