3 continents in 3 week - F adventure

[mmchow]

Once we were out of the baggage claim area, we headed straight to the arrival hall. There is an Emirates chauffeur booth in the arrival hall and we were checked in by an associated, who then later introduce to our driver. As we arrived during rush hour, the trip took more than an hour to downtown Manhattan.

Check in to the hotel were seamless however the room is not ready. We headed out to grab a SIM card from AT&T and wander around the area.

First stop, Wall Street and the Charging Bull. Man, there were a queue to take a picture with the bull.

 

[mmchow]

Walked past Trinity Cathedral and walk right in - it was cold and snowed a little so thought of getting out of the cold for a bit. To our surprise, the cathedral was very pretty.


It was noon and our room is ready so we headed back to the hotel. +1 was also exhausted due to lack of sleep on the flight in so decided to sleep while I headed out to the world trade centre memorial,

Century 21 and a late lunch at Shake Shack (long queue). The chicken burger was delicious - soft bun with a lightly battered chicken.

I was tired at this point in time so decided to head back to the hotel for a rest. Dinner was arranged by a close friend in the West Village - Alta. The food and drinks were good (too busy catching up so didn't take any photo of his place). On our way back to the hotel, we walk past Washing Square Park and came across the Arch.

 

[mmchow]

Next morning, we took a walk to Brooklyn via Brooklyn bridge and headed straight to Dumbo for breakfast.


Saw a Great Dane with its booties; cute.

Came across a bagel shop (Boar's Head) and was fascinated by the variety of cream cheese filling i.e avocado, tofu, bacon and herb, walnut raisin etc. Ordered the plain cream cheese filling and they were delicious.

Went to Main Street Park for this view

After enjoying a stroll around Brooklyn, we headed to Banana Republic Outlet store in Brooklyn Fulton St. I couldn’t resist the 70% off shirts so I bought a few too many. With a few shopping bags, we headed back to the hotel via the Metr

 

[mmchow]

With a few hours to kill before our booking to One World observation deck, we headed midtown to check out the Flatiron building and surroundings.

We ended up walking back to Downtown, which took us approximately 45mins. On the way back, we stopped at Bluestone coffee for a Latte (friend's recommendation for an Australian style latte). Cashless facility, only accept card as payment. Like the concept but not so for tourist. Coffee was a little weak to my liking but good overall.

Observation tower is next - we bought a general admission ticket but thanks to boomy, we got an upgrade to a Priority ticket by showing my World MasterCard at entry. Weather was good and we had a clear view of Manhattan.

We spent 1.5hrs in the observation deck - took a time lapse video as the sun set and the lights came on.

After dinner, we headed back to Brooklyn to capture some night shots of the bridge and downtown Manhattan.

 

[v1nce007]

The Flatiron is my favourite building in the world. And it's in one of the best neighbourhoods in Manhattan

 

[mmchow]

The Flatiron is my favourite building in the world. And it's in one of the best neighbourhoods in Manhattan

The building is indeed unique and I find the area interesting. What stood out was the hammock in the middle of a busy intersection

 

[mmchow]

A morning trip to Ellis Island - booked the crown tickets 3 months prior as they sell out in advance. Took the 8:30am ferry across and headed straight to the Crown to beat the crowds.


The trip up the crown was interesting - a narrow spiral staircase and a tight space on the crown itself.

The original torch displayed at the entrance to the crown and the museum

Timeline of the construction of the statue in the museum

 

[mmchow]

We headed to Staten Island, which we didn’t stayed long as we weren’t too interested in the history of the immigrants coming to the country. We did checked out the entire museum, at a quicker pace

We took the ferry back to Battery Park around noon and there was a long queue for the ferry to Ellis Island.

Found out there is an unlimited 7 days metro pass for $31 so bought one - worked well in our favour.
Chelsea Market was next for lunch and were overwhelmed by the selections on offer. Went for the tacos, lobster and clam chowder. Definitely coming back for more

We were stuffed and High Line walk is just around the corner so it was only fitting to burn off some fuel.

One of the many displays along the 1.45 mile (2.3km) walk

 

[mmchow]

It was a coincidence that we were celebrating one of the big six major holidays of America - Thanksgiving. The hype leading up to the parade and holiday was crazy. It was an experience altogether being in NYC during this festive season. In the evening, we went to watch the ballon inflation in Upper West Side. By the time we got there, all the balloons were partially inflated.
There were lots of people

Tied down with a net


On the way back, we stopped at 42nd St/ Times Square station and walked past Times Square

and Saks Fifth Avenue - love the decorations on the building and the Christmas light show.

 

[RB]

A great read so far. You have some fantastic photos

 

[mmchow]

Thanksgiving morning, we headed to 6th Avenue to check out the parade.The parade starts at 9am from the American Museum of Natural History and people starts to flock in as early as 7am in the morning. Security was TIGHT with them everywhere, every corner of the street

There were a lot of blockages around the area, with each street closed out after it has been filled. We started from 39th Street and make our way up till we saw an entry point.
A before and during the parade shot of the street

Macy's 90th Annual Thanskgiving Parade


They brought out the novelty balloons - Felix the Cat and Harold the Policemen and Fireman. The crowds went nuts when these two appeared.

 

[mmchow]

We bought the Explorer Pass, 7 attractions package for $150. Reason we went for the Explorer and not the NY Pass was that there are more flexibility with Explorer i.e. 30 days to do the 7 attractions as opposed to unlimited attractions within 1,2,3,5,7 or 10days (price increase as more days are selected for NY Pass). First attraction that was on the list was the Empire State after the parade. There isn’t any queue as everyone was still at the parade and we were admitted immediately.

Views on top of the Empire State - downtown and the Hudson River

Central Park

Stop by the gift shop on the way down and came across this

 

[mmchow]

We took the metro to 110th started our walk along Central Park back to 59th Street. It was a cloudy afternoon and weather wasn't too great. We took a leisurely stroll, absorbing the scenery of the park. Love the colour of autumn.


The red tree stood out a bit

Saw some fury friends

Ice skating ring on the park

 

[mmchow]

Given we still had time before our thanksgiving dinner, we went to Spyglass Rooftop bar. This place has a good view of the Empire State and the coughtails were good. Too bad it was raining else it would have been good (apart from the cold) sitting at the terrace enjoying the view.
Braced the rain and took the picture

Dinner was at Philip Marie in Greenwich Village for a 3 course Turkey meal with all the trimmings. Love the roasted turkey on the outside table and on the bar (poked them and they are real)

Menu for the evening

On the way back, we passed The Rink at Rockerfeller Center

and more Christmas decorations

 

[mmchow]

On the way to Top of the Rock, we stopped by St Patrick's Cathedral
A night view of the front and side of the building

The interior blew me away

We opted for Black Friday morning to visit TOTR as most people are busy shopping. Spot on. No queues again. The observation decks are split into 3 levels, the upper 2 on an outdoor setting. 423 Park Avenue is the tallest residential building in the Western Hemisphere and the penthouse is only going for $19 million.

As we stepped out of TOTR, we saw the Rockerfeller Center Christmas Tree (being prepared for 30th Nov).

Sitting atop of the tree is the Swarovski Star (made from 25,000 Swarovski crystals, 1 million facets and LED) - 2.5m in diameter and weighs 250kg

 

[mmchow]

Pre-booking for some attraction is allowed/ required. For this reason, we went over to Pier 83 to secure our tickets for Best of NY Cruise for the next day.
Pier 86 house the Aircraft Carrier Intrepid and have heaps of planes in the deck. To our surprise, this attraction is part of the Explorer Pass so we headed straight in.

Apart from the carrier, there are two other attractions - space shuttle and a submarine. Submarine was closed for renovation and additional fees required for the space shuttle.
Veteran showing around the carrier

One of the equipment in the control room

Some aircraft onboard
Grumman/ Eastern Aircraft TBM -3E Avenger 1942

Grumman (F9F-8) AF-9J Cougar 1954

 

[mmchow]

Douglas (A4D-2) A-4B Skyhawk 1956

British Aerospace/ McDonnell-Douglas AV-8C Harrier 1969

Grumman (WF-2) E-1B Tracer 1958

This one reminds me of XMEN
Lockheed A-12 Project Oxcart "Blackbird" 1967

And a Concorde on board
British Aerospace Concorde 1976

 

[mmchow]

John’s Pizza in Bleecker Street is worth a mention for their pizza

The pizza is cooked in brick oven, thin and crispy with all the toppings you like. All the seating booths and wall are carved up

The interior - small and cosy

Very busy for a late 3pm lunch

The pizza

 

[amaroo]

Nice report. Only seems like yesterday I was there enjoying some of the same things..

 

[mmchow]

Nice report. Only seems like yesterday I was there enjoying some of the same things..

Thanks amaroo. Just got back a few days ago, catching up on the report but it feels like yesterday.