Now who could believe it, it was the hottest winter in New York City. Rightfully, it should be freezing cold but the temperature has been within 10°C. Most of the days were cloudy and some of the days were rainy.
Day 5:
It was forecasted to be the next rainy day so our plan was to stay indoors and the best was to go to the museums. Though technically, we would still be wet queueing up in the long line outside most, if not all the museums.
After our dinner at iHop which was fantastic, we made our way by the 6-train to 77th street and walked a couple of blocks uptown to the Metropolitan Museum of Arts.
Honestly, I love museums when I know what was being exhibited. I didn't really had any research done for the museums in NYC so I just went with the flow. Though I did told Hakimbo that I would like to visit the one featured in the movie "Night at the Museum". He assured me that it would be next museum after Metropolitan Museum of Art (MET). Both museums are basically within the same street separated by Central Park.
The queue for MET started even before we reached the building vicinity and realised that there were multiple queues. Apparently there were a couple of entrances to MET and it was a brilliant idea for the management to open it all. Thankfully we got the entrance nearest to the queue we started.
For less than an hour wait in the non-drenching rain, we finally entered the building. The entrance fee cost 25 USD but Hakimbo managed a cheat. Most of the museums will accept donations of any amount and they will provide a compliment entrance. The only requirement is the postal code of residence. Lucky for us, we stayed via AirBnb and we had a postal code ready. We donated 1 USD each and got our entrance pass like any other paying customer. What a daylight robbery.
We entered via the south wing near the Greek and Roman exhibits. Boy was there lots of ruptured dicks and boobs. I'm not one who came prepared for MET and my Hakimbo was the one who lead us here. He wanted to check out the Temple of Dendur, an Egyptian tomb nestled in the North section of the museum. It was really a great sight to behold under the natural light.
I was quite fascinated with most of the exhibits that we walked passed. Since we did not had any agenda beside the Temple of Dendur, I've utilized the map of the museum to check out the Arms and Armor exhibition. I don't really know why I wanted to see it but I do enjoy looking at the intricate details of medieval armours.
Paying or in this case donating 1 USD for the entrance of the museum, it wasn't really a waste to miss out the remaining of the exhibitions. I would rummaged through the dense crowd and made my worth if I were to pay the full cover charge. So we left the place and proceeded to "Night at the Museum" American Museum of Natural History.
The AMNH is located across Central Park from MET so a visit to Central Park was met. The distance was only a few blocks away but the walk was quite picturesque. Due to winter, there wasn't much greenery and it was rather brownish. The rain made the area wet but still magnificent. There are a quite a considerable amount of passer-by presumably walking from both museums.
Once we got out of the park, we saw the long queue into the building but noticed that it was moving rather promptly. Within 20 minutes were already in the building but there was another snaking queue for the admission purchase. The admission cost 22 USD for general admission but we used the donation trick of 1 USD again. AMNH however had some sections that were not covered in the general admission hence we only managed those general exhibits.
The exhibits in AMNH were more to my interest ranging from all sorts. Most probably I knew them from the movie itself but the layout of the museum was more vast than the movie itself. I didn't really expected that.
We visited the Mammal Hall in search of Dexter the mischievous monkey, the Fossil Hall to search for Rexy the Tyrannosaurus skeleton, and the various Halls of Human Origins and Culture hoping to find all the other characters from the movie. I've only managed to find Rexy and the Easter Island Moai, the famous "Where is my Gum Gum, Dum Dum?" character at the very far end of the museum.
Our last stop exhibit of the museum was to the Hall of Ocean Life where we could lie down on the floor underneath a huge hanging whale replica. It was a great place for a quick recharge after our endless walk around both museums and Central Park.
We rested about 30 minutes and left AMNH for a late lunch at Shake Shack across the street at the west wing of AMNH. As always, there was a long queue but we waited anyway.
The least expected was that we are done for the day at 1700hrs and do not have any other itinerary. Hakimbo was very persistent that I should do something that I wanted to do so I brought him to check out Midtown Comics at Times Square. Luckily the store was not directly in Times Square so we managed to stay away from the crowd.
Midtown Comics was really a comic geek heaven. There were tons of great buys and I almost went crazy. Thankfully I converted to e-Comics which saved me a lot of money and physical space. I was more interested with the toys in store but ended up quite disappointed. Mainly a good thing too as I streamlined my collection to only Star Wars Black Series and Transformers Masterpiece which they did not carry. I however managed to find the Bandai SHF figure stands which I find a steal at 11 USD that I bought 2. Just for that, I was one happy geek.
It was still too early to returned back so we diverted to 14th Street for yet another Urban Outfitter which Hakimbo still managed to grab something else. It was quite a walking distance back to the apartment and it was along another comics store, Forbidden Planet. They had similar things I found at Midtown Comics if not lesser.
We ended returning to the apartment earlier than usual but we knew we could use the extra sleep .
Day 6
A new morning and our breakfast was the $1 pizza. We didn't really had much itinerary planned that day except for going back to Bleecker Street for the missed out Junior Marc, the Tram ride from Roosevelt Island and went separate ways to do our own things before meeting back for dinner.
We walked while munching our pizza to Greenwich, which was about 15 mins from our apartment. We managed to use a different route and detoured to Washington Square for a quick snap and check in. Ok, it more like a multiple jump shots and a check-in.
We continued along the street until we reached Little Marc. Once Hakimbo gotten the item, we walked back down Bleecker Street where I had to get my Magnolia Cupcakes again. Apparently, that very junction holds both our favourite shop, Book Marc and the original Magnolia Bakery.
Still can't think of any other agenda, I had to get my sister's order of Nespresso at Soho. On the way over, we had a stopover some shops and we did had a blast. We chanced upon John Varvatos Sample Sale where the prices are unbelievable. I got a pair of shoes at 90 USD where recommended selling price is at 800 USD. I also gotten a pair of bermudas at 15 USD, recommended price at 95 USD. We left the shop with bags load which we needed to drop off before heading to Roosevelt Island.
On the way back to the apartment, we had a lunch stop at Soho Park. While dining in by the window, Hakimbo almost "Merlion-ed" on me, trying to tell me that Jeremy Allen White, an actor from Shameless, just walked passed. I didn't really bother as I wasn't following the show.
After our stomachs were filled and dropped off the shopping bags, we made our way to Roosevelt Island via the F-train to Roosevelt Island. The tram ride is actually a common mode of transportation for the residence of the island but it became a tourist attraction. Thankfully, the ride is covered by the Metro card. We took the tram ride twice to return back to Roosevelt Island. We had to exit and go through the gantry again for the return ride.
We had planned a solo time for Hakimbo to meet his friend while I rush for things that I needed without dragging him around.
We parted ways in the train back to Manhattan. I was contemplating to go either Rockefella Center to revisit the Lego Store to get something once and for all, and to check out the GameStop store. I ended heading to Times Square instead to have a last check of Toys R Us and Disney Store.
That was the worst mistake of my life. It was the eve of New Year Eve and Times Square was packed with even more people due to the rehearsal for the part the day after. Not only that, it was also the very last day of operation for Toys R Us, so people were flocking into the empty in hopes for good deals. There was literally nothing good left for sale.
I managed to get a figure from Disney Store so my visit to Times Square wasn't wasteful. I then made my way to Rockefella Center to in search of the stores intended.
I got to know then that Hakimbo had a bad moment with the train he transferred to and didn't managed to meet his friend. He was hoping to regroup but realised that I really need the time alone to do my stuffs. I did indeed needed my time alone so that I won't dragged him along my search for toys and games.
I made my way to 34th Street where I went to two other GameStop stores and a Toys R Us express. I also managed to drop by Macy's and understand the big wooha about the place. Well, I did find it interesting for the ladies but there wasn't much stuffs for guys, most probably due to post Christmas sale.
By then, I got to know that Hakimbo was having a blast at the Urban Outfitter store across from where I was. We regrouped and made our way back to Union Square for our Halal Guys dinner take-out.
Day 6 was definitely an exhausting day but it was very fruitful. We bought tons of stuffs that we were happy about and I survived in New York on my own, even when it was a short period of time.
Day 5:
It was forecasted to be the next rainy day so our plan was to stay indoors and the best was to go to the museums. Though technically, we would still be wet queueing up in the long line outside most, if not all the museums.
After our dinner at iHop which was fantastic, we made our way by the 6-train to 77th street and walked a couple of blocks uptown to the Metropolitan Museum of Arts.
Honestly, I love museums when I know what was being exhibited. I didn't really had any research done for the museums in NYC so I just went with the flow. Though I did told Hakimbo that I would like to visit the one featured in the movie "Night at the Museum". He assured me that it would be next museum after Metropolitan Museum of Art (MET). Both museums are basically within the same street separated by Central Park.
The queue for MET started even before we reached the building vicinity and realised that there were multiple queues. Apparently there were a couple of entrances to MET and it was a brilliant idea for the management to open it all. Thankfully we got the entrance nearest to the queue we started.
For less than an hour wait in the non-drenching rain, we finally entered the building. The entrance fee cost 25 USD but Hakimbo managed a cheat. Most of the museums will accept donations of any amount and they will provide a compliment entrance. The only requirement is the postal code of residence. Lucky for us, we stayed via AirBnb and we had a postal code ready. We donated 1 USD each and got our entrance pass like any other paying customer. What a daylight robbery.We entered via the south wing near the Greek and Roman exhibits. Boy was there lots of ruptured dicks and boobs. I'm not one who came prepared for MET and my Hakimbo was the one who lead us here. He wanted to check out the Temple of Dendur, an Egyptian tomb nestled in the North section of the museum. It was really a great sight to behold under the natural light.
Paying or in this case donating 1 USD for the entrance of the museum, it wasn't really a waste to miss out the remaining of the exhibitions. I would rummaged through the dense crowd and made my worth if I were to pay the full cover charge. So we left the place and proceeded to "Night at the Museum" American Museum of Natural History.
Once we got out of the park, we saw the long queue into the building but noticed that it was moving rather promptly. Within 20 minutes were already in the building but there was another snaking queue for the admission purchase. The admission cost 22 USD for general admission but we used the donation trick of 1 USD again. AMNH however had some sections that were not covered in the general admission hence we only managed those general exhibits.
The exhibits in AMNH were more to my interest ranging from all sorts. Most probably I knew them from the movie itself but the layout of the museum was more vast than the movie itself. I didn't really expected that.
Our last stop exhibit of the museum was to the Hall of Ocean Life where we could lie down on the floor underneath a huge hanging whale replica. It was a great place for a quick recharge after our endless walk around both museums and Central Park.
We rested about 30 minutes and left AMNH for a late lunch at Shake Shack across the street at the west wing of AMNH. As always, there was a long queue but we waited anyway.
The least expected was that we are done for the day at 1700hrs and do not have any other itinerary. Hakimbo was very persistent that I should do something that I wanted to do so I brought him to check out Midtown Comics at Times Square. Luckily the store was not directly in Times Square so we managed to stay away from the crowd.
It was still too early to returned back so we diverted to 14th Street for yet another Urban Outfitter which Hakimbo still managed to grab something else. It was quite a walking distance back to the apartment and it was along another comics store, Forbidden Planet. They had similar things I found at Midtown Comics if not lesser.
We ended returning to the apartment earlier than usual but we knew we could use the extra sleep .
Day 6
A new morning and our breakfast was the $1 pizza. We didn't really had much itinerary planned that day except for going back to Bleecker Street for the missed out Junior Marc, the Tram ride from Roosevelt Island and went separate ways to do our own things before meeting back for dinner.
We continued along the street until we reached Little Marc. Once Hakimbo gotten the item, we walked back down Bleecker Street where I had to get my Magnolia Cupcakes again. Apparently, that very junction holds both our favourite shop, Book Marc and the original Magnolia Bakery.
Still can't think of any other agenda, I had to get my sister's order of Nespresso at Soho. On the way over, we had a stopover some shops and we did had a blast. We chanced upon John Varvatos Sample Sale where the prices are unbelievable. I got a pair of shoes at 90 USD where recommended selling price is at 800 USD. I also gotten a pair of bermudas at 15 USD, recommended price at 95 USD. We left the shop with bags load which we needed to drop off before heading to Roosevelt Island.
On the way back to the apartment, we had a lunch stop at Soho Park. While dining in by the window, Hakimbo almost "Merlion-ed" on me, trying to tell me that Jeremy Allen White, an actor from Shameless, just walked passed. I didn't really bother as I wasn't following the show.
We had planned a solo time for Hakimbo to meet his friend while I rush for things that I needed without dragging him around.
We parted ways in the train back to Manhattan. I was contemplating to go either Rockefella Center to revisit the Lego Store to get something once and for all, and to check out the GameStop store. I ended heading to Times Square instead to have a last check of Toys R Us and Disney Store.
That was the worst mistake of my life. It was the eve of New Year Eve and Times Square was packed with even more people due to the rehearsal for the part the day after. Not only that, it was also the very last day of operation for Toys R Us, so people were flocking into the empty in hopes for good deals. There was literally nothing good left for sale.I managed to get a figure from Disney Store so my visit to Times Square wasn't wasteful. I then made my way to Rockefella Center to in search of the stores intended.
I got to know then that Hakimbo had a bad moment with the train he transferred to and didn't managed to meet his friend. He was hoping to regroup but realised that I really need the time alone to do my stuffs. I did indeed needed my time alone so that I won't dragged him along my search for toys and games.
I made my way to 34th Street where I went to two other GameStop stores and a Toys R Us express. I also managed to drop by Macy's and understand the big wooha about the place. Well, I did find it interesting for the ladies but there wasn't much stuffs for guys, most probably due to post Christmas sale.
By then, I got to know that Hakimbo was having a blast at the Urban Outfitter store across from where I was. We regrouped and made our way back to Union Square for our Halal Guys dinner take-out.
Day 6 was definitely an exhausting day but it was very fruitful. We bought tons of stuffs that we were happy about and I survived in New York on my own, even when it was a short period of time.