Jeff & the city

The first thing I noticed the moment I walked out of the JFK Airport was the weather – it was so friggin’ humid! Ugh! I guess it was some sort of a transition for me before I head home to Manila since it was pretty much the same feel. My cuzin (Kuya Lito) was kind enough to pick me up from the airport and his family hosted a buffet dinner in a Chinese restaurant near their home in Queens. It was late dinner actually since the clock was 3 hours ahead from my departure city in the west coast. I was looking forward to going to the city before I went to bed.

Chinatown and Little Italy
My other cuzin (Ate Cora with husband and youngest kid Gillian) took me for a little sneak peek of Manhattan. We initially went to Battery Park hoping we could go to Staten Island but jeez, the queue of tourist was just crazy and besides, we had a kid with us so we decided to head to Chinatown for late lunch and some shopping.

Times Square
One’s night-out in New York City will not be complete if you’ll not stroll along the bright lights of Times Square. The midnight still looked as busy as ever! After all, it’s the city that never sleeps!

Empire State Building
Some $19, about an hour of falling in line, multiple security checks (i.e. the one similar to the airports) and only a couple of bites of my roasted turkey sandwich for lunch, I finally sat foot on the setting of the very romantic scene in Sleepless in Seattle. The view of the entire New York City and some parts of New Jersey was indescribable! Of course the Chrysler Building was one of the more familiar spots from the top of the Empire State. After watching three times the entire seasons one through seven of Sex & the City, the building’s image (next to Cynthia Nixon’s name on the opening credits) left some kind of permanent mark on my head.

Staten and Ellis Islands
There were hundreds of people lining up in the cruise trips in Battery Park. My cousin Lorena and I figured we could save time and effort by lining up simultaneously in the ticket and queue lines – of course she took care of the ticket while I waited for her. It was just brilliant! Hint hint for future travelers. A two-hour lining up and cruising didn’t include setting foot on the islands per se but you’ll get a close look of Lady Liberty.

Café Lalo
Francis and I woke up on a rainy Saturday summer. It was about time for brunch and this didn’t give us a good signal at first. I thought, hey this cannot happen! It was my last Saturday in NYC and I had so much to do. I can’t remember if I did a sundance but my prayer kinda worked. The rain stopped as we headed to Café Lalo (www.cafelalo.com) at 201 West 83rd St. – the eyeball place of Kathleen Kelly (Meg Ryan) and Joe Fox (Tom Hanks) in You’ve got mail. The place was a little crowded by noon time. We had to wait for about 10 minutes to get seated.

Broadway
Watching the 19th century setting musical Spring Awakening is definitely one of the highlights of my NYC trip. What’s going to Broadway without that kind of experience? Winning 8 Tony Awards including best musical for 2007 would say more than enough reason for me to spend almost a hundred bucks for the balcony ticket! The music (by Duncan Sheik), the cast and the story twists made it all contemporary in so many ways. I never had a single dull moment watching it, seriously. As a matter of fact, I was almost close to getting teary-eyed in some of the scenes. Somebody else was crying while watching… hush hush (Hi Francis!).

The Met
The famous “steps” of The Met… the other side was under construction though.

The New York Palace Hotel
You know you love me… Do I hear “X.O.X.O.”? You got it! This luxury hotel in Madison Avenue suddenly became an instant tourist spot, especially to the young ones. Thanks to Serena, Blair, Dan, Nate, Chuck, Jenny and the rest of the Gossip Girl folks who are making waves in worldwide television.
Central Park
I think I only got to stroll in the West and East side of Central Park because obviously it was too huge! Francis was telling me how splendid the entire park looks like during winter. Sighs… On the west end is The Plaza Hotel (Home Alone 2 – one of my favorites!). There’s a whole of activities anyone can do in the park – including making out in public!!! Oh yes, we passed by a couple doing just that!