NYC: A Recap

Ah... I'm back in Montreal (or more specifically, Laval) and it's spring/summer. How amazing is that?! In one week! If I can remember, here's a recap of the week:

Friday: Albany
*Lunch at McDonald's in Lake George (we were soooooooooo hungry)
*University at Albany
*Dinner at Capital Buffet
*Crossgates Mall

Saturday: Grandma's House
*Painted Emily
*K-mart
*Food Emporium
*A Sewing Shoppe (pick up something for my grandmother)
*My grandmother made a turkey (or was it chicken?) dinner with mashed potatoes, cranberry sauce, green beans... the works! And for dessert... she had 6 cartons of different ice cream in her house! Insane, but yummy!

Sunday: Woodbury Commons
*There was a huge nor'easter. Huge. It brought buckets of rain, so traveling to NYC seemed silly, especially since Noriko and Odette have never been there. Your first day shouldn't be hiding under an umbrella. So, I drove us to Woodbury Commons, through Bear
Mountain, which was beautiful, even in the rain. We spent ALL DAY at Woodbury, had a great time, even though our umbrellas all broke. Noriko was proud of her fake Burberry $4 umbrella she bought in Chinatown... but it didn't do good in 50 mph wind!
*Lunch at Applebee's
*Dinner at Pizzario Uno

Monday: New York City- Midtown Manhattan
*Nor'easter caused major transportation problems. The Harlem Line for the MTA-North was on an hour delay since part of the track was flooded. Many parkways were flooded too, including the Bronx River, Hutchinson, and Saw Mill. I called my OnStar system (aka Dad) and decided to head to Croton-on-Hudson where my great aunt, Lorry, lives. The Hudson line wasn't delayed.
*Aunt Lorry brought us to the station, and also gave me a china set!
*Arrive at Grand Central Station. It really is beautiful, especially now that it's been restored. Ate in the food court at the lower level.
*Walked up Fifth Avenue to Rockefeller Plaza. I saw the ticker tape on the NBC studio building mention something about Virginia Tech and over 30 students shot... but, I didn't mention it to anyone. We were having a good time, and it just seemed too overwhelming to focus on...
*Visited St. Patrick's Cathedral. Lit a candle in memory of Katie. Thought about my grandparent's anniversary mass, attending church on New Year's Day... the church brought back a lot of memories for me.
*Stopped at Tiffany's. Of course!
*Hung about the Apple Store. OOooooooOOOOOOOOOO. God, I loved that place.
*Passed the Park, but didn't go in it. It was still cold and nasty outside.
*Walked down Broadway to Times Square. But this time, we were hungry and ate at Bubba Gump's. I got Fish 'n Chips, Noriko got a Po' Boy Sandwich, and Odette got a Chicken dish. All of it was really good, and even better... there was no line!
*Then we headed back to Croton. Aunt Lorry picked us up, and we ate ice cream at her house. She scolded me for not giving my friends more ice cream and taking the largest for myself, BUT, I know my friends, and they didn't want half the carton of ice cream!
*Smokey, Lorry's cat, was hissing at me. It was kinda funny. We also got to see Lorry feed her crazy cat. It really does love her, even if it doesn't like anyone else!

Tuesday: New York City- Museums
*We first went to the Metropolitan Museum of Art. I didn't get to see the new Greek and Roman section, but that means I have an excuse to go back. We basically split up so we could see all the things we wanted. Odette went on a tour of the highlights of the museum in
Spanish. Turns out she took Art History as an elective in Prep School, and hated it! But, she did have a good time at the museum. They had a great exhibit revolving around art coming out
of Barcelona.
*Ate an Italian Restaurant, Ozzo Buca (spelled something like that). Yummy!
*Then we headed over to the Guggenheim. I hate that place. I really do. I think most of their exhibitions are crap, and of course, 1/3 of the museum was under renovation, so there wasn't much to see. Crap crap crap.
*We bought expensive chocolate at the shoppe in Katonah. They were soooo pretty, almost too pretty to eat!
*My grandmother made a super dinner. She took out the good china and everything!

Wednesday: New York City- Midtown Manhattan to the Financial District
*Still cloudy out and didn't think the Empire State Building would be at its best. Walked by it, ate at a Korean restaurant nearby, and then went to the mall ACROSS from Macy's. We actually never made it into Macy's.
*Walked down 7th Ave, and didn't find much of it very exciting. Then we took the subway to the World Trade Center site and shopped at Century 21, a discount department store. That's a nice place, and I can see becoming addicted to it.

Thursday: New York City- Boat Tour
*Noriko wants to get a Nintendo Wii for her husband. Her husband wants her to get one. I want them to get one so I can go over and play it! So, we headed over to the Nintendo store at 8:30 a.m. to discover a huge line waiting for the daily shipment that arrives. The first guy was
there at 5:30 a.m. We didn't get a Wii.
*Fearing it would never be sunny, we took the 10 a.m. Circle Line Tour. I refused to sit outside and left Noriko and Odette to fend for themselves. I love learning about the history of the city, but I preferred to do it inside the boat. Eventually they came inside too, because, it was
cold!
*I remember being hungry, but I don't remember what we did about it. Oh, wait, I do. We went to Chevy's and had quasi-Mexican food. It was really good... anything with guacamole is really good.
*Then we hit up the MoMA. They had a GREAT exhibition called Comic Abstraction. I wanted the book, but it was hardcover and expensive. Too bad. Instead I bought a book with chic
looking apartments. I want our new apartment to be chic! Really, I do!
*We got back to Grandma's in time for Ugly Betty! Yea!
*Had to pack all our stuff.

Friday: New York City- Soho, Central Park, Empire State Building
*It was hard to leave my grandmother, so I had to hold back the tears. :-(
*Took all our luggage to Brooklyn. Stayed at the Marriott near the Brooklyn Bridge.
*Met my cousin, Brian. We headed to Chinatown and ate a Vietnamese restaurant. Yummy!
*Instead of touring Chinatown, which is alot of the same thing, Brian brought us to Soho. I've never been to Soho. It's veryyyyyyyyyyy chic. Spent a good amount of time in Crate &
Barrel. Ah... if only...
*Noriko found this clothing store she wanted to visit. It was great... if only I had money...
*Searched for cheesecake. Found cheesecake. Enjoyed cheesecake.
*Parted ways with Brian. Headed to Central Park. It was sooooooooooooooooooo nice outside. Got my picture with Balto. I thought it was a good time to head to the Empire State Building. I was hoping to catch the sunset...
*And we did! We were on top of the Empire State Building as the sun was setting... and it was truly beautiful. Geez, once it nears the horizon, if you blink, you miss the sun setting.
*We went to the restaurant at the bottom, a brewery that was really good. Noriko and I drank a taster 5 oz. beer. Yummy.
*We headed back to Brooklyn. We were tired. And those Marriott beds are really comfortable...

Saturday: DUMBO, Chinatown, Battery Park
*We met Brian and Claire (his girlfriend) in DUMBO. Ate at a nice coffee shoppe, headed to a yummy chocolatier, cruised around a small park.
*Claire was wearing her sandals for the first time this season... and it was perfect day for it!
*We parted ways at the Brooklyn Bridge, which Odette, Noriko and I walked across. That was a major highlight for me... it was something I always wanted to do.
*Then we headed to Chinatown. Odette did some more shopping with Noriko while I stuck
around the Starbucks and read the NY Times.
*Then we headed to Battery Park, the South Street Seaport... neither was very exciting.
*We then headed to Brooklyn again, picked up our stuff, and headed to the airport. We got there early, but I was tired and wanted to get home! The flight was great... sooooooooooooooo quick!

So... that's our vacation recap!