A few more places in New York, Road Trip Ch. 7

Madison Square Garden



I arrived in Penn Station, the train depot under Madison Square Garden, and took a picture of the Empire State Building in the distance.


Basketball game entrance: not on this side.


Much better.


View from the nosebleeds - Knicks vs. Pacers. I absolutely loved the crowd. I'm considering becoming a Knicks fan because of their intensity. Every miss was booed and every point was cheered. Incredible.


Anyone recognize the GT alum?


Anyone recognize the really famous guy?

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The Bronze Man. A bronze man. The first and best that I saw during my brief travels (including the wannabes in New Orleans)




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The Museum of Natural History.

I wasn't feeling well so I only snapped a few pictures.




Dinosaurs right when you walk in.


The Big Bang Theory.


I wish I would have gone inside of it.

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Macy's

I walked into Macy's expecting it to be a larger version of the mall department store I'm so familiar with. I was also looking for a coat. Seeing only ladies' apparel, I went up the escalator a few floors. I saw another escalator to the 5th floor. Another to the 6th. Macy's had 9 floors - ten if you include the basement. It was incredible. The coolest part for me were the wooden escalators used from the 4th floor and up.



Neat!

New York Munchies, Road Trip Chapter 6

Each of the places had food or something like it and I ate there.

The Hungarian Pastry Shop

Funny story. My friend said I should eat at the Hungarian pastry shop near Columbia University. I didn't think much about it when I wrote it on my list of places to see. After leaving the Church of Saint John the Devine I looked at my list and said "Hmm... I didn't write down the address of [the pastry shop]. Also, it isn't very specific. I walked by a Hungarian market earlier - maybe that was it." I then looked up and saw The Hungarian Pastry Shop across the street. It was jam packed.


Hungarian Pastries? Well, I got the baklava.


To the right of my table - the coffee and dessert counter.


To the left. The guy in front and his friend talked the whole time Chris and I were there, but I will dedicate a whole post to that.

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Pinkberry.

In Atlanta, I was introduced to an absolutely fantastic yogurt place called Yoforia. It is the only one I know about in Atlanta. These places are all over New York and, apparently, this place, Pinkberry, started it all.


The best dessert I've ever had - and you feel good after, too.


Each yogurt place is set up with a similar, minimalist, bright, and modern design aesthetic.

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Crumbs. A well known cupcake cafe.


That's right; not Magnolia's.


It looks like business is slow until you see how many cupcakes are out of stock. This place was ransacked.


I can do stuff like that. I shouldn't, but I can.


A little more tame. Also, the beginning of the sugar headache.


Not to mention sore stomachs. We left in pain.

How do people eat such sugary goods?

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Ono.

Chris and I walked into this upscale sushi restaurant and asked for a table of two. We arrived before the dinner rush, or after?, because only two of the tables were taken. The hostess tells me she'll check to see if anything was available. She returns a few minutes later and says that they have room for us to eat at the sushi bar, if that's ok with us. Sure! That's what we're here for. We foolow her back to the sushi bar. The entire side of the restaraunt was empty. I then realized I was wearing my GameTap hoody and probably looked a bit 'under-wealthy'. The waiter brought us water and gave us the sushi menu. After looking at the prices we left because it was way too expensive.


I did get this sweet shot, though. I wonder if they thought this was all I came in for.

Times Square. Road Trip Chapter 5

I. Was. There.


With. Chris. O.


It was crowded at all hours.


Gay bar.







Night shots of the beautiful giant world of luminescent advertising. (spell check please?)


One day shot, taken the next day.


A box for Obama sneakers being sold on the street corner. I quote, "Get your OBAMA SNEAKERS. We got 'em in white and black! White shoes for the white folks and black shoes for the black brothers."


This guy sold us tickets to a live Comedy Central taping of famous comedians. Long story short, everything he said was a lie, except that there would be funny comedians at the comedy lounge on 86th street. Best con I ever fell for.


By the way, the police station was not really a gay bar.

Road Trip: Chapter 4, The Financial District

The financial district. I was very excited to visit here due to my recent interest and activity with the stock market.


I. Was. There.


I was cold and a bit excited. Does my nose look bigger than usual?


Home to lots of stocks. I wasn't let in because I'm not certified and don't have a badge. Security guarded the doors. You could say that security was guarding securities. If you wanted to.


I did not spend enough time making this picture good.


Bull market? Not then, maybe now. Too bad there isn't a bear statue. Would that be too pessimistic? It would be a shorter's golden messiah.


No one leaves without this picture.


Further up the street. I took this picture from the graveyard across the street. I won't say it, but you can.


Nasdaq for all my tech stocks. It's all computers with no people. It's not even in the financial market - this is Time's Square!

Road Trip: Chapter 3, New York City: Part 1

Friday morning, I joined Chris Occhipinti on his usual commute to work: a 45 minute express train ride to Hoboken and then an underwater subway ride to get to Manhattan. You really tend to forget it's underwater though; it looks pretty normal.



Chris O. on the train.



Hoboken Train Station



The financial district from the train station. (Will be there soon enough!)

Chris works for MLB.com. Their office is on the 7th floor of Chelsea Market - a fairly popular food court-type area with a few clothing shops. From what I could tell, none of the shops were chains. We had breakfast around 9:30, before he had to be in for work.



Bagels and coffee. Also, the first time of many that I am told to pay with cash - not a card.


Close to our seats; bagel place on the left.



A cool area in the Chelsea Market. Rebelliously, I did not take a picture of the small indoor waterfall that seemed very popular and photogenic.


I feel like I've seen this area online, in a youtube video or something...



I had never seen parking lots that double stacked cars until New York.



Tribeca Theater; this area is home to the Tribeca Film Festival.



I had to get a hot dog from a hot dog stand in New York.



Oh man, it looks so good.



Oh yes.




Flattering myself on the streets.



I didn't want to risk asking a scary New Yorker to take my picture.

Interesting factoid: People in New York are not mean. In fact, almost everyone I talked to was very nice and very helpful. In fact, the only mean person I came across was a lady that I saw right after I thought to myself that no one in New York was mean.

She started walking across the road right when the light turned green and the taxis were going to have none of it. So they just started going and she had to jump out of the way. She proceeded to scream at them and call the driver a "Stupid n____, dumb black motherf_____." So yea, other than that, everyone was cool. Well it was kind of cool to see a lady lose her shit for no reason in the middle of the city. Take a chill pill, girl.

Road Trip: Chapter 2

If I had twitter and had written everything I thought was slightly important, this would be the complete feed:

• It's snowing. I'm only in North Carolina. I forgot about how cold it will be.
• I should have put my ham and cheese sandwiches in the fridge last night. Now I don't want to eat them. I think the mayonnaise went bad.
• I'm taking a few pictures of the mountains while driving. I wish the camera previewed the shots on the screen. For now, I'm guess and testing.
• (I count how many times I use the brakes on the highway. The fewer the better. I don't count breaking when exiting) First and second brake use - right before and right after Charlotte.
  The second time, a 18 wheeler swerved in front of me.
• A silver Toyota Matrix just flew by driven by the fastest grandparents I've ever seen on the road.
• I love Earthbound Remixes.
• Jimi Hendrix time. Great for drum practice. Not to complex. (I drum on my steering wheel and other parts of my car while driving)
• I'm in Virginia now. A sign says "Speed limit enforced by aircraft."
• 2:20 pm. I get my first speeding ticket of the trip. To my dismay, I was not pulled over by a turbo jet. Oh, and my court date is on my birthday. wth? (Fortunately, I don't have to go)
  
• OMG I just passed mile marker 1337!
• 3rd time using my brakes - a little past Virginia Tech.
• Filling up the tank of gas and getting junk food.
• West Virginia.
• I've now driven 500 miles. My energy has been depleted. I feel like a nap. I'm actually scared of narcolepsy. That reminds me, I've been wanting to listen to my old Third Eye Blind CD.
• Drumming to Third Eye Blind wakes me up.
  
• Maryland.
• 4th brake use at 668 miles. 18 wheeler cuts me off for the third time. Ruining my record.
  
• Why am I still seeing Cracker Barrel billboards? How far north do I have to go?
• I gave in and bought McDonald's. The southern style chicken sandwich really doesn't taste that bad.
• At Chris Occhipinti's house. 13 hours after I left. There's a lot of snow in his yard.
• I'm going to buy a huge coat in New York. It has to be New York-y and I will keep it for the rest of my life.

All packed up and, apparently, I love the color blue. Hm. An eye opener.


Going 80? Isn't this how all road trips start - with an awkward picture?


Part of the mountainside in either North Carolina or Virginia


I took the scenic route.


Aging speed demons.


The cop pulled over both me and some other car. He used his flashing blue lights to get me off the road, but for her, he just pointed at her as she drove by and said "Here. Now." I'm serious.

I'm only posting a few of the total pictures I've taken. At the end of it all, I will post every one of them and each will be nicely labeled.

I turned off my GPS tracker now that I have arrived in New York. If I left it on, my phone would die within an hour. It's really bad.

Tomorrow: a full Friday in New York! I get to be that guy. That tourist that takes pictures of everything. Everything. Also - keeping my wallet in my front pocket. If I suddenly feel aroused, I'll know I'm being pick-pocketed. Did I cross the line? Yea.

Road Trip: Chapter 1

I'm gone baby gone.

Track me online here: http://www.instamapper.com/ext?key=7072494938049602401

Track me with your smart phone here: http://mobile.instamapper.com/ext?key=7072494938049602401

I am leaving in about 20 minutes from my house in Taylors, South Carolina. I'm driving to my friend, Chris Occhipinti's house in New Jersey. He commutes to work in New York every day and will be my guide all weekend.


Current Playlist:
King Crimson
Earthbound Remix music
Joe Frank podcasts
Mars Volta (Who woulda thought...)
Incredibad