Before the trip, Dear shared that we will wake up early on the first morning because of time difference. Indeed, after concussing early on the first night, both of us started rousing from sleep at 5am.
It started with one person getting up to use the toilet and another one getting up too. Then we realised we were both hungry and I decided to eat the leftover pizza from dinner that we had brought back.
We were still groggy and took the pizza slices into bed with us while we devoured the still delicious pizza. In face they seemed to taste even better cos we were hungry. Haha. While we will chilling out in bed with the pizza, I had a flashback of a scene we watched recent in "Bad neighbours" when the couple pulled out pizza from the bed covers after a bad night:
We got back to sleep again after finishing the pizza. Haha.
I am recounting this as this is the kind of experience that you only get on a holiday and one of those that leaves an impression on you as a travel memory. ^ ^
We woke up again at 7am plus and met with Mr Uncle at the lobby. A cool thing about the hotel was that they provide hot drinks at the lobby for free and even a nice cup holder for you to show off that you are staying at the prestigous W hotel. Thought the design was quite smart too.
It was still quite early. So we walked around our hotel area and looked for breakfast while waitng for the 9/11 Tribute Centre, which we wanted to visit this morning, to open.
Dear and I shared some bread roll that was forgetabble. The shoe string fried were pretty good though.
It was still early after breakfast so we roamed around again. This wall mural is beside the hotel we stayed and is a tribute to the fire fighters who assisted in 9/11.
And the mural is beside a fire station. Can tell the uniformed groups in the US enjoys high prestige. The fire station is so nicely painted.
And we saw two fire engines coming out for some action. Their uniformed personnel are all big-sized and muscular; they looked very professional Haha.
Walking a couple of streets down was the 9/11 memorial pool which was where the twin towers used to stand. Now they have been turned into two reflecting tools with a panel of names of those who perished in the episode.
We went on a guided tour later when we visit the 9/11 Tribute Centre and were told by the guide that the sunken pools were designed to represent the emptiness and feeling of void left behind by what happened. There's a meaning to the waterfall in the pools but I have forgotten about it. Oops.
One of the first things that struck me about New York is that the skysrapers and how shiny they are. A lot of buildings are reflected onto one another. The city area is so shiny and poshed. Such a concrete jungle :p
This is not a picture of any tree. It is the survivor tree and you can differentiate it from the other tress in the vicinity as it is the only with a fence around it and metal supports to help it grow.
The tree was found during the excavation of Ground Zero and found to be alive though it was burnt badly. It was nursed back to health and placed back here as a symbol of resilience as it was the only thing that was found to be alive in the chaos where so many perished.
A new WWII memorial that was built by the govt had just opened when we were there but we chose to visit the 9/11 tribute centre as it is an more organic organization. It was set up by friends and family of those who were affects by 9/11 and tour guides are those who have links to what happened that day, eg a friend of a victim or a fire fighter who was on duty that day. It is set up to tell the story of what happened and of those who were there.
We bought entrance tickets for the exhibition and tour. The first thing you see upon enterin the exhibition.
Many personal anecdotes and artefacts from people where were there at the scene.
After viewing the exhibtion, it was time for our tour. We were not very lucky and got a guide whose ties to 9/11 was pretty remote. His colleague was supposed to have come to the company's office in the Twin Towers for a meeting.
He walked us around the area and told us about the history of the place, what happened and future plans for the area. We spend the last 20 min of the tour standing under the hot sun listening. Very uncomfortable! My feet still has the tan lines.
After the tour, we went to Century 21 to shop but we found nothing to buy. Then it was a late lunch at Les Halles. Of cos must go rite!
The retro decor of Les Halles
Inside the restaurant where the decor resembles an old Parisan restaurant.
Dear ordered the steak which comes with supposedly the best fries in NY.
And I ordered a salmon for the sake of variety. The food was pretty good on general at a pretty affordable price. As for the best fries in NY: I think fries are generally nice in NY leh. I can't tell between the best and the good, haha.
Walking back to the hotel to check out and walking past Century 21 again.
Although we were not jet-lagged but we were still tired even though it was only 4-5pm plus. Really felt like staying in the room to veg out in front of the tv.
But cannot! Cannot waste time when we have come so far to visit the city. So after a 15mim break, we dragged ourselves to explore Midtown.
Overwhelmed by the crowds
The Tony Awards Awards were happening in that theatre that day and a lot of people were crowding around to get a glimpse of the celebrities.
M&M's world: a little too gimmicky
More pictures of Times Square
We explored half of midtown and decided to head back to meet Dear's colleagues for dinner. Met the other colleague- Miss Hamster- who had chipmunk cheeks and hamster teeth. Sensed that she was a little bitchy already at the first meeting and my guts were proved right at dinner the next day.
Dinner was at this rather good ramen place near our hotel. Quite a long queue by the time we were there. I liked that the atmosphere and decor felt like those ramen shops in Japan and the stuff seemed to be Japanese too.
My ramen with chilli oil, which I preferred without the chilli oil.
After dinner, we went to the car rental shop to recce the way there and saw the Halal Guys food truck on the way back to the hotel. I was pleasantly surprised that it is quite near our hotel! I managed to make room for supper for it during the trip and had it twice ok. Shows it is really not bad, and more importantly, very cheap for New York standards. One big bowl of rice and meat only costs USD6.
Ending the post with one of the few night photos I have, cos I felt unsafe using the camera at night.
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