I've been back home for 2 weeks now and I had the time to think about everything that happened in New York. At first it was very difficult for me to be apart of Sonaj but writing on the blog about all the nice memories cheered me up a little. Meanwhile I'm trying to get into a training program (a course) to become an attendant, care expert. I really hope I get allowed. It gives me something to look forward to keep me busy, and to get a new job of course.
Since the schools only open again in September I'm still free all August and that means... I'm going back to America! This time I'm going to Sonaj's home town and study town since he might have to go back to school meanwhile. I'll be staying there for a month.
Thank you for reading (or at least watching the many pictures of) our New York story.
Read more about our trip in the following posts!
Introduction (+ Hotel pictures)
Days 1-2
Day 3
Day 4
Day 5
Day 6
Day 7
Day 8
Day 9
Our week
Showing posts with label New York 2013. Show all posts
Showing posts with label New York 2013. Show all posts
Wednesday, 3 July 2013
New York: Day 9
28 June - Day 9
Our last day in New York. We were both very aware of that. We were pretty sad but we wanted a nice last day. First we went to the South East point of Central Park again (where the Apple store and FAO Schwarz is) to search some food. When we came there for the first time, there were a lot of food stands but they seemed all gone. Sonaj really wanted to have a chili hot dog and lamb and chicken with rice.
When we didn't find any good food stands outside Central Park we tried our luck in Central Park but we didn't find anything there either. We walked back and finally found a nice stand that sold chili dogs and another stand where they sold chicken and lamb rice. They were both really good.
Chili dog.
Chicken and lamb rice.
We continued our way North, through Central Park. We walked through the zoo known from the movie Madagascar but we decided to not go in it. It looked pretty small and there were other things we wanted to see. A bit further we found a children's zoo with goats and cows and such, very exciting. We bought ice cream on our way, Sonaj a Spiderman and me a snow cone. The snow cone wasn't that good since it wasn't fresh and Sonaj dropped a part of his Spiderman, which I laughed with.
The zoo.
Children's zoo.
Resting at a pond.
Central Park.
After a long walk with a lot of breaks (it was really warm) we arrived at our destination: The Metropolitan Museum of Art. It's the biggest museum of New York and known from the movies: Night in the museum. It was really big but we didn't feel much for walking around in it. We went back outside and bought an Iron Man ice cream for me. It was nice but just like Sonaj I dropped a part of it. On my pants. Sonaj had to take pictures of it to make fun of me. Karma...
The Metropolitan Museum of Art.
We went back to Central Park and walked from East to West through it, passing the great lawn. There was a Wafel & Dinges stand there so Sonaj ordered his third waffle. We ate it in the shadow on the grass. Then we continued and took the subway back to our hotel. We refreshed ourselves and headed out to Little India.
Belvedere Castle.
Waffle.
Spilled on my pants.
My poor Iron Man ice cream.
Little India is actually just one street where you can find a lot of Indian restaurants but the streets east of our hotel have more Indian restaurants than Little India itself. We went to the 'Little India' close to our hotel to search for a clothes store. Sonaj really wanted to buy some Indian dresses (blouses) for me so I tried some on. They actually suited me really well since they're so colourful so in the end Sonaj bought 3 blouses for me. One yellow, one with pink-red-ish and a short one. I really like them. We dropped them off at the hotel and walked south. We went to a rather expensive place and it was pretty dark inside so I couldn't take many good pictures. Sonaj had a 5 course meal and I had a sort of sushi course. We had really nice drinks with it too, I had a watermelon juice. It was really good. After our meal we went back to the hotel.
Tempura crab burgers.
My sushi course.
Proof we were together! (Since I won't show any pictures of us on blog)
Read more about our trip in the following posts!
Introduction (+ Hotel pictures)
Days 1-2
Day 3
Day 4
Day 5
Day 6
Day 7
Day 8
Day 9
Our week
Our last day in New York. We were both very aware of that. We were pretty sad but we wanted a nice last day. First we went to the South East point of Central Park again (where the Apple store and FAO Schwarz is) to search some food. When we came there for the first time, there were a lot of food stands but they seemed all gone. Sonaj really wanted to have a chili hot dog and lamb and chicken with rice.
When we didn't find any good food stands outside Central Park we tried our luck in Central Park but we didn't find anything there either. We walked back and finally found a nice stand that sold chili dogs and another stand where they sold chicken and lamb rice. They were both really good.
Chili dog.
Chicken and lamb rice.
We continued our way North, through Central Park. We walked through the zoo known from the movie Madagascar but we decided to not go in it. It looked pretty small and there were other things we wanted to see. A bit further we found a children's zoo with goats and cows and such, very exciting. We bought ice cream on our way, Sonaj a Spiderman and me a snow cone. The snow cone wasn't that good since it wasn't fresh and Sonaj dropped a part of his Spiderman, which I laughed with.
The zoo.
Children's zoo.
Resting at a pond.
Central Park.
After a long walk with a lot of breaks (it was really warm) we arrived at our destination: The Metropolitan Museum of Art. It's the biggest museum of New York and known from the movies: Night in the museum. It was really big but we didn't feel much for walking around in it. We went back outside and bought an Iron Man ice cream for me. It was nice but just like Sonaj I dropped a part of it. On my pants. Sonaj had to take pictures of it to make fun of me. Karma...
The Metropolitan Museum of Art.
We went back to Central Park and walked from East to West through it, passing the great lawn. There was a Wafel & Dinges stand there so Sonaj ordered his third waffle. We ate it in the shadow on the grass. Then we continued and took the subway back to our hotel. We refreshed ourselves and headed out to Little India.
Belvedere Castle.
Waffle.
Spilled on my pants.
My poor Iron Man ice cream.
Little India is actually just one street where you can find a lot of Indian restaurants but the streets east of our hotel have more Indian restaurants than Little India itself. We went to the 'Little India' close to our hotel to search for a clothes store. Sonaj really wanted to buy some Indian dresses (blouses) for me so I tried some on. They actually suited me really well since they're so colourful so in the end Sonaj bought 3 blouses for me. One yellow, one with pink-red-ish and a short one. I really like them. We dropped them off at the hotel and walked south. We went to a rather expensive place and it was pretty dark inside so I couldn't take many good pictures. Sonaj had a 5 course meal and I had a sort of sushi course. We had really nice drinks with it too, I had a watermelon juice. It was really good. After our meal we went back to the hotel.
Tempura crab burgers.
My sushi course.
Proof we were together! (Since I won't show any pictures of us on blog)
Read more about our trip in the following posts!
Introduction (+ Hotel pictures)
Days 1-2
Day 3
Day 4
Day 5
Day 6
Day 7
Day 8
Day 9
Our week
New York: Day 8
27 June - Day 8
We took the subway to Grand Central Terminal and walked around a bit. When we passed the tiny cupcake store we bought 6 more cupcakes and we bought a small bag of chocolates when we passed Neuhaus, a Belgian chocolate store! Then we went to Tim Hortons where we bought our breakfast. Lunch. We entered Grand Central Terminal, passed by the Apple store (that was located on a balcony in the station) and ate our maple syrup donuts at a public dining place inside the building. After our delicious donuts (much better than Dunkin Donuts) we took the Subway up North.
Our donuts.
Sonaj really wanted to have ice cream at a place called Serendipity 3. When we walked in for a reservation it turned out that it was not just an ice cream place, but a complete restaurant! We had to wait a while before we could get a seat so we walked around in the neighbourhood for a bit. There was a candy shop on the corner named Dylan's Candy Bar. It's apparently famous because there were a lot of tourists in there. We decided to come back later to buy some gifts for our family and friends. We walked out and rested a bit on some benches that were placed outside.
When there were seats available in the restaurant we returned. We ordered food. A lot of food. Sonaj had an omelette with caviar and a chicken hot pie and I had an avocado stuffed with shrimps. It was really good. For dessert Sonaj ordered their famous frozen hot chocolate. He really liked it.
Our food.
The frozen hot chocolate.
We returned to the candy store, bought some stuff and returned to our hotel to drop off our purchases. Then we walked to the Empire State building. That's right. Walked. We actually didn't take the subway for once. Thing is, when you walk you see stores you want to visit. We visited a comic store and I finally found a good Iron Man action figure! Sonaj bought it for me. Then we went to a souvenir shop and bought some T-shirts and such as gifts.
Empire State building from a distance.
The queues inside the Empire State building weren't that long but we still had to pass some security and buy our tickets. It was really expensive, $25 per person. Then we had to wait for an elevator to go to the 80th floor. There we ran into a longer queue but you could also take the stairs so I convinced Sonaj to take the stairs. We had to climb up 6 floors to reach the observatory deck. It was kind of windy and rainy outside but we were really excited about the view so we didn't really care. The view was really nice, for the full 5 minutes we had the chance to look around at least. The security came and told everyone to go inside. There was lighting approaching.
Entrance hall of the Empire State building.
Some views.
The top of the Empire State building.
As soon as we got inside a lot of fog (clouds) showed up. We couldn't see anything anymore. Sonaj asked the security when we could go back outside again and they said they would decide in 30mins if it was safe enough. I was tired but Sonaj really wanted to see more so we waited half an hour. It started to rain really badly and the clouds were swirling around the tower. It was really cool to see. There was thunder 2 or 3 times. Meanwhile a lot of people left so it became easier to walk around. The Sonaj saw two buff gay guys making out and he really wanted to take sneaky pictures of them. Maybe he likes that kind of stuff after all. I keep my hopes up!
After half an hour we could go outside again. It was still raining and there was a lot of wind (I could almost lean against it) but it made me really happy after so many warm days. It was the first time I actually felt cold in New York but I didn't mind at all. Rain is awesome!
The view.
Back outside.
The top of the tower.
Inside the building.
The fog didn't seem to clear up so we went back inside and took the elevator to the ground floor. We left the Empire State building and bought a corn dog. It was ok but I didn't like it much. I'm glad I got to try one though. When we got back to our hotel we ate a small piece of the cake Sonaj bought at Serendipity 3 and we tried one of our cupcakes and chocolates.
Rainy New York.
Corn dog.
Cupcakes.
Chocolate cake.
Read more about our trip in the following posts!
Introduction (+ Hotel pictures)
Days 1-2
Day 3
Day 4
Day 5
Day 6
Day 7
Day 8
Day 9
Our week
We took the subway to Grand Central Terminal and walked around a bit. When we passed the tiny cupcake store we bought 6 more cupcakes and we bought a small bag of chocolates when we passed Neuhaus, a Belgian chocolate store! Then we went to Tim Hortons where we bought our breakfast. Lunch. We entered Grand Central Terminal, passed by the Apple store (that was located on a balcony in the station) and ate our maple syrup donuts at a public dining place inside the building. After our delicious donuts (much better than Dunkin Donuts) we took the Subway up North.
Our donuts.
Sonaj really wanted to have ice cream at a place called Serendipity 3. When we walked in for a reservation it turned out that it was not just an ice cream place, but a complete restaurant! We had to wait a while before we could get a seat so we walked around in the neighbourhood for a bit. There was a candy shop on the corner named Dylan's Candy Bar. It's apparently famous because there were a lot of tourists in there. We decided to come back later to buy some gifts for our family and friends. We walked out and rested a bit on some benches that were placed outside.
When there were seats available in the restaurant we returned. We ordered food. A lot of food. Sonaj had an omelette with caviar and a chicken hot pie and I had an avocado stuffed with shrimps. It was really good. For dessert Sonaj ordered their famous frozen hot chocolate. He really liked it.
Our food.
The frozen hot chocolate.
We returned to the candy store, bought some stuff and returned to our hotel to drop off our purchases. Then we walked to the Empire State building. That's right. Walked. We actually didn't take the subway for once. Thing is, when you walk you see stores you want to visit. We visited a comic store and I finally found a good Iron Man action figure! Sonaj bought it for me. Then we went to a souvenir shop and bought some T-shirts and such as gifts.
Empire State building from a distance.
The queues inside the Empire State building weren't that long but we still had to pass some security and buy our tickets. It was really expensive, $25 per person. Then we had to wait for an elevator to go to the 80th floor. There we ran into a longer queue but you could also take the stairs so I convinced Sonaj to take the stairs. We had to climb up 6 floors to reach the observatory deck. It was kind of windy and rainy outside but we were really excited about the view so we didn't really care. The view was really nice, for the full 5 minutes we had the chance to look around at least. The security came and told everyone to go inside. There was lighting approaching.
Entrance hall of the Empire State building.
Some views.
The top of the Empire State building.
As soon as we got inside a lot of fog (clouds) showed up. We couldn't see anything anymore. Sonaj asked the security when we could go back outside again and they said they would decide in 30mins if it was safe enough. I was tired but Sonaj really wanted to see more so we waited half an hour. It started to rain really badly and the clouds were swirling around the tower. It was really cool to see. There was thunder 2 or 3 times. Meanwhile a lot of people left so it became easier to walk around. The Sonaj saw two buff gay guys making out and he really wanted to take sneaky pictures of them. Maybe he likes that kind of stuff after all. I keep my hopes up!
After half an hour we could go outside again. It was still raining and there was a lot of wind (I could almost lean against it) but it made me really happy after so many warm days. It was the first time I actually felt cold in New York but I didn't mind at all. Rain is awesome!
The view.
Back outside.
The top of the tower.
Inside the building.
The fog didn't seem to clear up so we went back inside and took the elevator to the ground floor. We left the Empire State building and bought a corn dog. It was ok but I didn't like it much. I'm glad I got to try one though. When we got back to our hotel we ate a small piece of the cake Sonaj bought at Serendipity 3 and we tried one of our cupcakes and chocolates.
Rainy New York.
Corn dog.
Cupcakes.
Chocolate cake.
Read more about our trip in the following posts!
Introduction (+ Hotel pictures)
Days 1-2
Day 3
Day 4
Day 5
Day 6
Day 7
Day 8
Day 9
Our week
New York: Day 7
26 June - Day 7
On day 7 I wasn't feeling very well but we got some medicine and Sonaj was being very helpful so we had a great day after all. First we took the subway to the 9/11 Memorial. We had to pass a lot of security and had to wait in long lines before we could finally enter the Memorial. The Memorial is a kind of park with 2 big square fountains that cover the places where the world trade center towers once stood. The water runs from the sides of the fountain into a square where it then flows into a black square hole. It's very symbolic.
One of the fountains.
Around the fountain there are stone tablets with all the names of the people that died during the attack carved into them. All around the Memorial you see people building the new world trade center. There is also a museum about 9/11 but they're still working on that too. Besides that you can also find the 'survivor's tree' on the Memorial. It's a tree that survived the attacks, got planted somewhere else to gain strength again and then got placed back. Me and Sonaj feel kind of sorry for that tree to stand there on the place where all his tree friends died.
Names carved into tablets.
My mother called me on FaceTime while we were there and we slowly walked around for a bit. Then we left the Memorial, went to a Starbucks to buy another Very Berry Hibiscus Starbucks Refresher and a blueberry muffing and went to a Chinese stand to buy a bubble tea. With our drinks we took the subway to Washington Square park. We finished our drinks and muffin in the park, walked around for a bit and then took the subway to the High Line.
The High Line is a park build on an old railway. It looks really nice and you got a nice view over the streets.
At Washington Square park.
The High Line.
View on the streets.
We walked on the High Line for a bit, got off it, took a subway and started searching for White Castle. White Castle is a kind of fast food restaurant that Sonaj really wanted to try. When we got off the subway Sonaj was a bit disorientated or something because we walked around a whole block to come back at the same place where we got out of the subway, to then cross the street to find White Castle. Trust men and their orientation they say. Yeah right. We ate at White Castle and then took the subway back to our hotel. We showered and rested for a bit and then took the subway to Time Square!
White Castle's 'sliders' and fries.
We wanted to eat at Bubba Gump Shrimp Co. which is from the movie Forrest Gump but it was too crowded so we settled with a regular hotdog. We went to the Minskoff Theater at Broadway where we picked up the tickets Sonaj ordered, tickets for a Lion King musical! We were pretty early so we had to wait a bit before we could enter. Meanwhile Sonaj was getting really excited for the show so he kept jumping around. When we could finally enter we bought some drinks and candy inside the theater and waited untill we could go to our seats. That only made Sonaj more excited.
Minskoff Theater.
Sonaj had been thinking about a Broadway show for quite a while already. Tickets are expensive but Sonaj really wanted me to go to a musical. It's something you only do once in your life, at least in a theater at Time Square! Our seats were really close to the front so we had a great view. We couldn't take pictures in the theater so I don't have any pictures of it.
Just kidding, Sonaj took some pictures anyway.
The show was amazing. It's one of the most amazing things I've ever seen. We both really liked it and went back to our hotel with a nice feeling. Thank you, Sonaj, for doing this for me. I really enjoyed it.
After the show.
Read more about our trip in the following posts!
Introduction (+ Hotel pictures)
Days 1-2
Day 3
Day 4
Day 5
Day 6
Day 7
Day 8
Day 9
Our week
On day 7 I wasn't feeling very well but we got some medicine and Sonaj was being very helpful so we had a great day after all. First we took the subway to the 9/11 Memorial. We had to pass a lot of security and had to wait in long lines before we could finally enter the Memorial. The Memorial is a kind of park with 2 big square fountains that cover the places where the world trade center towers once stood. The water runs from the sides of the fountain into a square where it then flows into a black square hole. It's very symbolic.
One of the fountains.
Around the fountain there are stone tablets with all the names of the people that died during the attack carved into them. All around the Memorial you see people building the new world trade center. There is also a museum about 9/11 but they're still working on that too. Besides that you can also find the 'survivor's tree' on the Memorial. It's a tree that survived the attacks, got planted somewhere else to gain strength again and then got placed back. Me and Sonaj feel kind of sorry for that tree to stand there on the place where all his tree friends died.
Names carved into tablets.
My mother called me on FaceTime while we were there and we slowly walked around for a bit. Then we left the Memorial, went to a Starbucks to buy another Very Berry Hibiscus Starbucks Refresher and a blueberry muffing and went to a Chinese stand to buy a bubble tea. With our drinks we took the subway to Washington Square park. We finished our drinks and muffin in the park, walked around for a bit and then took the subway to the High Line.
The High Line is a park build on an old railway. It looks really nice and you got a nice view over the streets.
At Washington Square park.
The High Line.
View on the streets.
We walked on the High Line for a bit, got off it, took a subway and started searching for White Castle. White Castle is a kind of fast food restaurant that Sonaj really wanted to try. When we got off the subway Sonaj was a bit disorientated or something because we walked around a whole block to come back at the same place where we got out of the subway, to then cross the street to find White Castle. Trust men and their orientation they say. Yeah right. We ate at White Castle and then took the subway back to our hotel. We showered and rested for a bit and then took the subway to Time Square!
White Castle's 'sliders' and fries.
We wanted to eat at Bubba Gump Shrimp Co. which is from the movie Forrest Gump but it was too crowded so we settled with a regular hotdog. We went to the Minskoff Theater at Broadway where we picked up the tickets Sonaj ordered, tickets for a Lion King musical! We were pretty early so we had to wait a bit before we could enter. Meanwhile Sonaj was getting really excited for the show so he kept jumping around. When we could finally enter we bought some drinks and candy inside the theater and waited untill we could go to our seats. That only made Sonaj more excited.
Minskoff Theater.
Sonaj had been thinking about a Broadway show for quite a while already. Tickets are expensive but Sonaj really wanted me to go to a musical. It's something you only do once in your life, at least in a theater at Time Square! Our seats were really close to the front so we had a great view. We couldn't take pictures in the theater so I don't have any pictures of it.
Just kidding, Sonaj took some pictures anyway.
The show was amazing. It's one of the most amazing things I've ever seen. We both really liked it and went back to our hotel with a nice feeling. Thank you, Sonaj, for doing this for me. I really enjoyed it.
After the show.
Read more about our trip in the following posts!
Introduction (+ Hotel pictures)
Days 1-2
Day 3
Day 4
Day 5
Day 6
Day 7
Day 8
Day 9
Our week
Monday, 1 July 2013
New York: Day 6
25 June - Day 6
Banana plant.
Pink flowers.
Yellow flowers.
Bonsai.
Black flowers.
Japanese garden.
Koi Fish.
Search the turtle!
Purple flower.
Sonaj ruining my picture.
Rose garden.
We left the Botanic garden and passed by the Brooklyn museum. There were some ice cream stands and Sonaj bought a really good ice cream for us. We ate it near the museum entrance and then walked to the Brooklyn library. We took some pictures of the building and of the nearby arch and then searched our way to the nearest subway. We walked through a small park where there was a fountain and found the subway. We stopped near Brooklyn bridge and walked under it, to a pizzeria! In the pizzeria you could decide what you wanted on your pizza and you payed for the amount of things you wanted on it. We made one with mushrooms, onion, Italian sausages and ricotta cheese. After our dinner we walked on Brooklyn bridge.
Brooklyn museum
Ice cream.
Brooklyn library.
Arch.
Street in Brooklyn.
Pizza!
Statue of Liberty in the distance.
Day 6 was Brooklyn day. Before we took the Subway to Brooklyn we first bought some street food (what did we eat there Sonaj? You ordered my food so I'm not sure!) at Union Square park and bought a Very Berry Hibiscus Starbucks Refresher, which is basically a sort of water-ish berry juice. It's REALLY good. After we ate we took the subway all the way to Brooklyn and then took an air train to the Brooklyn Botanic Garden. As soon as we came above ground we smelled flowers in the air. It was a really hot day but I really wanted to see the flowers so we slowly waked to the entrance.
Normally you have to pay to enter but the security guy at the entrance said it was free today. Ok, nice! We entered and walked through the explore garden for a bit where you had to touch and smell the plants (which Sonaj was very good at). Then we walked to one of the buildings and walked through 3 conservatories. One had all different kinds of cactus, one was a rain forest one and the third one was just 'warm weather' plants. Then we walked to a fourth conservatory which had bonsai trees, they were really cool. It was really warm in each of them but it was actually not that much warmer than outside the conservatories since it was such a warm day already
Normally you have to pay to enter but the security guy at the entrance said it was free today. Ok, nice! We entered and walked through the explore garden for a bit where you had to touch and smell the plants (which Sonaj was very good at). Then we walked to one of the buildings and walked through 3 conservatories. One had all different kinds of cactus, one was a rain forest one and the third one was just 'warm weather' plants. Then we walked to a fourth conservatory which had bonsai trees, they were really cool. It was really warm in each of them but it was actually not that much warmer than outside the conservatories since it was such a warm day already
Cactus.
Banana plant.
Pink flowers.
Yellow flowers.
Bonsai.
We left the building and passed some more touch-smell flowers and arrived at the Japanese garden. It was really nice there. There were a lot koi fish in the pond and we also saw some turtles. We walked around the pond and continued to some lawn with trees who probably look pretty in Spring. We took a break there under the trees and then walked through the rose garden. I didn't know there existed so many different roses! Meanwhile the weather changed, there was some wind and clouds. We left the rose garden and walked through some forest-like area. When we were there it started to rain for a really short time. It made the air fresher and colder, which was a good thing.
Black flowers.
Japanese garden.
Koi Fish.
Search the turtle!
Purple flower.
Sonaj ruining my picture.
Rose garden.
Brooklyn museum
Ice cream.
Brooklyn library.
Arch.
Street in Brooklyn.
Pizza!
The sun was kind of setting so it looked really nice. We followed the whole bridge and arrived back in Manhattan. There was a Wafels & Dinges stand there so we ordered 2 waffles to take to our hotel. After that we went back to our hotel.
Brooklyn bridge.
Brooklyn bridge.
Statue of Liberty in the distance.
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