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New York -
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After a intermediate stop in Iceland where we got to see and swim in "The Blue Lagoon", we arrived in the afternoon at JFK and my first experience with the US was rather strange. Somehow I fit the description of someone unwanted in the US, it took me a ½ hour explaining to the immigration officer, that I was not the one they were looking for. |
Shehab couldn't understand what was taking so long. While waiting he had gotten some money on his credit card and organized our transportation into New York City. I was a bit appalled by this, I feared that I was rejected entry permit into the states. Somewhat flustered I was ready for the Big Apple, we left the airport by a shuttle-bus. |
 New York skyline seen from Empire State Building |
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It had been a long day and the sun was setting when we crossed the Hudson entering Manhattan, the silhouette of the most famous skyline stay vivid in my mind. Shehab and I were some of the first to get off and we were a little curious if we still had our room. We were told to check in at 6PM the latest and now it was 7PM. But no problems, our room with bunk beds was ready for us. In New York, we stayed at YMCA - Vanderbilt, 224E on 47'th between Second and Third Avenue on Manhattan. A nice place for a good price, and very well situated when exploring the central New York. Telephone 756-9600 and resevations is necessary a week or two in advance. After checking in and unpacking, it was time to get something to eat and to get some cash money. At first we tried to buy something at the Y but we were too late, they had closed for the day, and then we only had small pocket change left from the shuttle-bus. Opposite the YMCA, the corner of 47'th and Third is a bank with a 24 hour ATM machine, |
so a few minutes later we went
stroling down Third Avenue in the hot summer evening with money in our
pockets, looking for a restaurant. Chinese tonight, a good choice and plenty
too, it will take a while for me to adjust to the amounts served here.
Wednesday, July 19'th YMCA is located very close to the UN building just go East on 47'th and there it is. We had arranged a meeting with Rajiv's sister at UN Plaza, opposite the UNICEF building. She was working for the UN and had booked the YMCA room for us, Shehab had brought some papers for her from back home. Manhattan is a good place to explore on foot and so we did. Shehab wanted to buy a new camera so we did some window shopping, comparing prices. We went zigzag in the area, enjoying the city - Time Square, Broadway, we were all over the place. Shehab found a helth-store and bought a large bin of protein powder, enough to last for months I thought but it only lasted this holiday. |
 Empire State Building |
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South between 33'rd and 34'th at Fifth avenue you find Empire State Building, it cost a few bucks to get to the top, but it is worth the time spent in line, a fantastic view of the entire city. They have a rollercoster ride in the building, but I don't think it was that good. Wait til you get to Disney or Universal theme parks, they are much better. We stayed at the top for an hour I guess, talking to this girl from India, also a tourist here and made an appointment to meet her later at Hard Rock café (but she never showed up). Shehab had arranged to meet with a business partner of his; Anthony Federici from Mondial, at the place he is working. The meeting was to take place upstate New York so we went to the Grand Central to catch the Metro. It was like walking into the scenery of a movie, this setting has been used in so many movies, the recognition is apparent. After asking around for Metro One we found the train and an hour later we were there, Dobbs Ferry. If you have the time, try to visit the northern parts of the city. 20 miles North with Metro One is a station at Dobbs Ferry. Take a walk in this area and have Lunch or Dinner at the resturant next to the station, on the bank of Hudson River. Sit outside and by looking South you can se the skyline of New York City 20 miles away .. amazing On the trip back it was night time and the train was almost empty. The Metro 1 go through Harlem and some suspicious- |
looking people got on the
train. But again too many prejudic movies have made a bad picture of this
part of town, nothing happened.
Thursday, July 20'th Morning and our first genuine taste of breakfast in America at a Diner on Third Avenue. I had pancackes with maple sirup, Shehab settled for a cup of cofee but he already had a drink of his protein powder. Then I was ready for another day of site seeing. Walking North on Third Avenue past the Brooklyn Bridge (I think) takes you to Bloomingdale's between 59 and 60'th. Time to do some shopping. I bought a pair of Calvin Klein jeans and Shehab got a pair of shorts. There was not many people in the shop that day, perhaps their prices are higher than most places but this was still much cheaper than back home. A bit West from there you reach Central Park, along you pass the IBM building, the Trumph tower, the Museum of Modern Art and South of the park is the Rockefeller Center. Tired of walking we had a drink at Hard Rock and decided to have dinner later at Planet Hollywood almost across from the café. Our last thing on the day-time agenda was to go to see the Statue of Liberty so we hailed a cab to take us to the Battery Park from where the boats leave. But we missed the last one by 15 minutes. | |
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When going to the Statue of Liberty, be sure to get there early and avoid
the crowd. Take the ferry from the Battery Park, be aware that the last one
leave at 5 PM towards Liberty Island. You can either go Manhattan-Liberty-Ellis
or Liberty State Park-Jersey City-Ellis-Liberty.
Instead we went for a walk in the business district, past the World Trade Center and up to Wall Street before we went back to the Y to rest and get changed for a night out, our last in New York. First a trip to Planet Hollywood, West on 57'th. Don't skip this, espessialy the fabulous deserts at the Planet. Then into a cab, down town to do some nightclubbing. The driver looked at us, perhaps we didn't fit the description of typical down town party goers. At night time I can recomend one club on 20'th at Sixth avenue called "Limelight", an amazing place (if it still exists). It opens at about 10 PM, and is open until early in the morning. It is an old church rebuild to house the nightclub. I lasted until 3AM, then I took a cab back after |
having my ears blown off with Techno/House of the decade at the trendy place.
Friday, July 21'st Departure day, I don't know if we made the best decision but we took a cab back to JFK, thinking that they must have a better choice of cars to rent. I used my Hertz card and we took a large Ford Taurus, not that there was much choice that time of day. At first we fumbled with the automatic gear, In Europe almost all cars have a stick gear. We had to go back and have a person come and show us how it worked, so we got a brief instruction (a 101 in Automatc Gearing) and off we went. If you want to rent a car for a longer period, don't rent it by the Airport. Car insurance is expensive in the city so if you can manage to get out of the city and rent it there, you can save some money. We spend 1600$US for the month rent. The main reason for the high price is because we returned it in LA and Hertz had to get it transported back to NY. | |
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So off we went. Shehab was filming with his Video and I was driving. I had no idea where I was going since Shehab was in charge of the maps and the route to Armonk that we had printed out at Hertz'. When we crossed the same bridge the second time I had to ask him to stop filming and help me with directions. This was also to get some drama onto the tape he was making, a feigned argument. We soon found the Highway going north along the Hudson river. We didn't have much of a plan other than being in Los Angeles at the beginning of August so our first target was to locate the IBM Headquater in Armonk, NY. We followed the Hertz instruction sheet and was there in two hours through forest most of the way, it looked a lot like home. At midday we was in Armonk and would stock up some basic supplies, drinks and crackers to prevent us from die of starvation on the road. Plenty of biscuit, apples and two galons of water from the local Mart, later we looked for a place to have some lunch. |
The nearby Chinese place looked fine and sure it was. Then we went for the IBM Headquarter, but it was a short visit. You had to have an appointment with someone to get in, we couldn't even go to the parkinglot even though I flashed my IBM-badge at the guard. So we took off again. Our next idea was to locate the bar from "Cheers" in Boston but calculating with our driving speed so far, we would use two days for this project so we headed further upstate NY, across the Hudson aiming for Niagara at the Canadian border. We drove until dark and began searching for a Motel but we were already late, the cheapest places already had their "No Vacancy" signs out. But at "Red Carpet Inn" there was room for us. It had been a full day of driving and we got some fast-food from a nearby Burgerking and went to our room to watch some TV and go to sleep. New episodes of "X-Files" was being broadcast from Fox but we were too tired, it had been 10 hours of driving that day. |