Manhattan trip!
Apr. 23rd, 2012 11:32 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
amezriHoly frak, I'm writing an actual entry! And it's not about drama! It's because I totally forgot to tweet while I was in the city.
So my friends, Liz & Pano, came over on Friday and we had hot pot for dinner. Om nom all you can eat, cook your own food. I think they liked it a lot, which is cool because I think it weirds some people out. We hung out chatting for a while, but went to bed early so we could get to the train station early in the morning.
Saturday, we left the house at about 6:30am and drove to Irvington Station. I've never been to that one before, but it's a nice little town and parking was pretty easy that early on a Saturday. It only took two and a half hours with the very light traffic, so I might keep going to that station in the future. We had time to stop off at a little cafe and get some food and coffee before catching the 10:17am train into Grand Central Station.
After I showed Liz & Pano the ceiling in the concourse, we took the 6 train to the Flatiron building. We were planning on hitting the Shake Shack for lunch, but there was a wicked long there. Apparently, there was some kind of festival going on. Oops. Instead we stopped over in Eataly so they could have a walk around there. I would have been cool with the meat & cheese trays for lunch, but nothing was interesting to them so we ended up back out on the street and grabbed some hot dogs. Pano was on a hot dog vendor hunt!
I was waiting to hear from![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
trippininabox, who would be meeting us at the High Line Trail, so we made our way slowly to 14th St. & 10th Ave. Along the way, we ended up stopping at Paragon Sports for a while. It was a lot bigger inside that it looked from the outside! I think there were three floors of sporting goods. After that, we finally got closer to the 14th Street High Line entrance. trippininabox actually ran up to us when we were almost there! :D I hadn't seen her in a while, so it was awesome that she was coming to hang out for the day.
The High Line is an old elevated track that the city has turned into a park. It's pretty neat! There are flowers and seating along the trail and also a section with small birdhouses. I took photos with my juice box camera as well as some digital photos. There's currently an exhibition of small sculptures I didn't know about so the small sculpture of Carson by Tomoaki Suzuki was a surprise. It was a really nice walk and will probably look even better later in the year when more flowers have bloomed. We exited the trail at the end near 30th St.
The first task after getting out was to head to Madison Square Garden so Pano could check the place out and see about trying to get a ticket for that night's game. No luck. Bathroom stop at Penn Station and then we took the C train up to Columbus Ave. & 70th St. so Liz could go to Athleta.trippininabox and I chatted while Liz shopped and Pano went outside for a wander. After that, we were all a bit hungry, so we used trippininabox's space phone and located a pizza place - Big Nicky's Pizza Joint. It's a tiny place, but the pizza was really good! I had something with beef and curry and onions. Not a combination I'd have thought of, but it was tasty!
After lunch, we walked into Central Park and stopped at Strawberry Fields. Didn't see much of the park really, but that place is huge and I always get lost there. We took the train to Bryant Park after that, though. Tried to use the public bathroom there, but the line was insanely long... so we stopped in at McDonald's instead! Ha. On the way to the International Center of Photography, we stopped at the HBO Shop where they had Games of Thrones costumes on display. I didn't take any photos, but I think Liz got some good ones.
It was quite late in the afternoon by then and I didn't realize some stuff was already closed/closing. The ICP was already closed and Art of Shaving was closing too, so we skipped the Nintendo store and headed there. We stopped at the NHL store so Pano could look in there and got to Art of Shaving a little before they closed. He didn't get anything, but it's always fun to look around in there. They still have the long handled Merkur for $40, which is actually the best price I've seen for that razor.trippininabox showed some interest in safety razors so I talked to her about that while a sales associate was talking to Pano.
We headed to Uniqlo after that. Their AIRism shirts were on sale, so I grabbed a bunch of those for myself and my mom. It was actually the only thing I got all day except for food. How I escaped NYC by purchasing so little is beyond me.
It was actually quite late by the time we got out of Uniqlo and we had to book it to Grand Central to catch the 8:20pm train back to Irvington. I said goodbye totrippininabox and Liz & Pano and I all but speed walked to the station so we could get there in time. We had time to spare, actually, but it was good to just sit & relax on the train before it left rather than jumping on as it's leaving. I've done that before... it's not a good time.
Once we were back in Irvington, we headed back to Albany. I stopped for food & gas on the way, but other than that, it was uneventful and we got back to my house before midnight. I was totally exhausted and I think every just went to bed. It was an awesome day, though, and I think we'll definitely be making more trips into NYC as a group in the future. There were several spots we wanted to go that we couldn't get to and Liz wants to see the museums, so lots to do still!
OT: So, I'm trying to keep track of my calories for the day - not because I want to lose weight, but because I need to gain it. I actually ate 2000 calories of food (my goal is 1950), but with the 8 hours of walking, I lost like 950 calories. Ugh. There was no way I was going to down 1000 calories before bed.
Sunday we all got up kind of late and after a little loafing around (watching Victorious!) we decided to go to Grandma's for lunch. Good times! Said goodbye to Liz & Pano - they invited me to visit in a couple weeks and go see Avengers with them. I'm actually really tempted, but I have a birthday party that weekend, so I'm not really sure. Want to, though! After they left, I ended up going to Target to pick up some things for the house.. and supplies to make a nail polish remover jar. Because I have too much free time.
So my friends, Liz & Pano, came over on Friday and we had hot pot for dinner. Om nom all you can eat, cook your own food. I think they liked it a lot, which is cool because I think it weirds some people out. We hung out chatting for a while, but went to bed early so we could get to the train station early in the morning.
Saturday, we left the house at about 6:30am and drove to Irvington Station. I've never been to that one before, but it's a nice little town and parking was pretty easy that early on a Saturday. It only took two and a half hours with the very light traffic, so I might keep going to that station in the future. We had time to stop off at a little cafe and get some food and coffee before catching the 10:17am train into Grand Central Station.
After I showed Liz & Pano the ceiling in the concourse, we took the 6 train to the Flatiron building. We were planning on hitting the Shake Shack for lunch, but there was a wicked long there. Apparently, there was some kind of festival going on. Oops. Instead we stopped over in Eataly so they could have a walk around there. I would have been cool with the meat & cheese trays for lunch, but nothing was interesting to them so we ended up back out on the street and grabbed some hot dogs. Pano was on a hot dog vendor hunt!
I was waiting to hear from
trippininabox, who would be meeting us at the High Line Trail, so we made our way slowly to 14th St. & 10th Ave. Along the way, we ended up stopping at Paragon Sports for a while. It was a lot bigger inside that it looked from the outside! I think there were three floors of sporting goods. After that, we finally got closer to the 14th Street High Line entrance. trippininabox actually ran up to us when we were almost there! :D I hadn't seen her in a while, so it was awesome that she was coming to hang out for the day.The High Line is an old elevated track that the city has turned into a park. It's pretty neat! There are flowers and seating along the trail and also a section with small birdhouses. I took photos with my juice box camera as well as some digital photos. There's currently an exhibition of small sculptures I didn't know about so the small sculpture of Carson by Tomoaki Suzuki was a surprise. It was a really nice walk and will probably look even better later in the year when more flowers have bloomed. We exited the trail at the end near 30th St.
The first task after getting out was to head to Madison Square Garden so Pano could check the place out and see about trying to get a ticket for that night's game. No luck. Bathroom stop at Penn Station and then we took the C train up to Columbus Ave. & 70th St. so Liz could go to Athleta.
trippininabox and I chatted while Liz shopped and Pano went outside for a wander. After that, we were all a bit hungry, so we used trippininabox's space phone and located a pizza place - Big Nicky's Pizza Joint. It's a tiny place, but the pizza was really good! I had something with beef and curry and onions. Not a combination I'd have thought of, but it was tasty!After lunch, we walked into Central Park and stopped at Strawberry Fields. Didn't see much of the park really, but that place is huge and I always get lost there. We took the train to Bryant Park after that, though. Tried to use the public bathroom there, but the line was insanely long... so we stopped in at McDonald's instead! Ha. On the way to the International Center of Photography, we stopped at the HBO Shop where they had Games of Thrones costumes on display. I didn't take any photos, but I think Liz got some good ones.
It was quite late in the afternoon by then and I didn't realize some stuff was already closed/closing. The ICP was already closed and Art of Shaving was closing too, so we skipped the Nintendo store and headed there. We stopped at the NHL store so Pano could look in there and got to Art of Shaving a little before they closed. He didn't get anything, but it's always fun to look around in there. They still have the long handled Merkur for $40, which is actually the best price I've seen for that razor.
trippininabox showed some interest in safety razors so I talked to her about that while a sales associate was talking to Pano.We headed to Uniqlo after that. Their AIRism shirts were on sale, so I grabbed a bunch of those for myself and my mom. It was actually the only thing I got all day except for food. How I escaped NYC by purchasing so little is beyond me.
It was actually quite late by the time we got out of Uniqlo and we had to book it to Grand Central to catch the 8:20pm train back to Irvington. I said goodbye to
trippininabox and Liz & Pano and I all but speed walked to the station so we could get there in time. We had time to spare, actually, but it was good to just sit & relax on the train before it left rather than jumping on as it's leaving. I've done that before... it's not a good time.Once we were back in Irvington, we headed back to Albany. I stopped for food & gas on the way, but other than that, it was uneventful and we got back to my house before midnight. I was totally exhausted and I think every just went to bed. It was an awesome day, though, and I think we'll definitely be making more trips into NYC as a group in the future. There were several spots we wanted to go that we couldn't get to and Liz wants to see the museums, so lots to do still!
OT: So, I'm trying to keep track of my calories for the day - not because I want to lose weight, but because I need to gain it. I actually ate 2000 calories of food (my goal is 1950), but with the 8 hours of walking, I lost like 950 calories. Ugh. There was no way I was going to down 1000 calories before bed.
Sunday we all got up kind of late and after a little loafing around (watching Victorious!) we decided to go to Grandma's for lunch. Good times! Said goodbye to Liz & Pano - they invited me to visit in a couple weeks and go see Avengers with them. I'm actually really tempted, but I have a birthday party that weekend, so I'm not really sure. Want to, though! After they left, I ended up going to Target to pick up some things for the house.. and supplies to make a nail polish remover jar. Because I have too much free time.
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2012-04-23 04:50 pm (UTC)Also: GRANDMA'S!
And: hot dog vendors are something that must never be missed in an NYC trip. This is known.
no subject
Date: 2012-04-24 01:34 pm (UTC)Fries and pie next time you're in town! :D