All good trip will come to an end. I was quite reluctant for that very day especially on the load of shopping both of us had. Really wondering how we would survive that.
Day 7:
It was New Years Eve and he had so much planned because it was our last night in New York. The plan was quite messy until we had to sit down and plan on the getting around. We got out early without the need of breakfast. Somehow we were just excited to be celebrating the New Year in New York.
Our first stop was to walk across Brooklyn Bridge from the Manhattan side. We took the subway Line 6 to Brooklyn Bridge. There was an elevated pedestrian walk from the common road with an excellent view of the Manhattan skyline. Since we were walking from Manhattan side, we had to turn around regularly to spectate the view. I was able to see the Statue of Liberty from a far. I didn't really fancy of going over to Liberty Island just to see the Statue. Looking at it from a far with a photo was sufficient enough for me.
Once we were on the Brooklyn side, we made our way towards Dumbo before Hakimbo bringing me to an awesome street with an gorgeous view of Manhattan Bridge with the Empire State building in view between it two pillars. I also managed to get a new bag from Brooklyn Industries, which had a similar function of the bag I intended to get from Head Porter in Japan.
After a quick fill from Shake Shack since we had little breakfast, we moved on to Dumbo to get a closer yet far look on the Statue of Liberty. The view of the pier with wooden pilons made the coast very rustic. Next, I wanted to check Jane's Carousel which was in park in between of Brooklyn and Manhattan Bridges. For 3 USD, you get to ride the carousel for about 10mins. People would ride it but I didn't really felt like it even though it was considered cheap.
By then, we were famished and Hakimbo wanted to bring me to the diner he loved so much while he was staying in Brooklyn. We had to walk a distance to High Street station from Dumbo and had to transfer at the next station to get to 36th Street. The Sunset Park Diner and Donut is situated in between the 39th Street and 4th Avenue of Brooklyn. The diner was quite homely with a wide range of donuts and bagels. I think that was why he loved the place. I've been craving to try American's mac and Cheese. I ordered one only to be told later that they ran out of the macaroni, and whether they would replace it with pasta. I ended having cream pasta as my lunch, which Hakim made bearable by donating some of his sausage.
Our next itinerary was to catch the sunset at Top of the Rock at Rockefeller Center by 1630hrs. We actually went to Top of the Rock on Monday during the super clear day but the only time to enter was at 1800 which was already dark. We had to buy an advance ticket for 32 USD for Thursday with a specific timing just to catch a good view of the city.
We reached Rockefeller around 1520 and our ticket was at 1545. Thankfully there wasn't a long queue for entering the building. The lift took us up to the 68th floor and there were 3 floors of observation deck and divided by the uptown and downtown view. The view of downtown was more spectacular than the uptown due to the various high rises. Uptown was more of a barren land of Central Park.
Since we were there at 1545hrs, we had to wait for 1630hrs for the sunset. The day got cloudier when we arrived so there wasn't much view of the sun. We overheard a photographer that he was waiting for the city light up at 1730hrs, so Hakimbo decided we should stay on waiting for the light up. He almost froze himself waiting as he was mostly fashionably attired. I've been wearing my new jacket I've bought from H&M for the past few days because it was conveniently kept me warm and dry throughout the different temperatures. We had to wait indoors to keep ourselves warm and only got to spectate the light up when everyone cheered outside. The light up was earlier than expected.
After a quick snaps, we rushed out to pack our luggages before heading out for the New Year Countdown. We had a few considerations on where to celebrate and Times Square was definitely out as the queue to get into the are was massively crazy. People actually queued up at 12pm to get in.
While heading back to the apartment, we were discussing where we should head for the celebration. Hakimbo recommended to go Dumbo and see the fireworks across the river but I recalled someone telling me that there wasn't much fireworks in New York. It seems very similar to my New Year celebration in Seoul the previous year. Seems like only Singapore has a single massive location for a spectacular fireworks. W just realized that the roof access to the apartment has a spectacular view around the city and wouldn't have much trouble getting back after the celebration.
So after a painstaking attempt on our luggages and a nice shower, we made our way up to the roof. There were a few groups of people, probably the tenants and their friend, hanging around the roof. We were there 30 mins before the new year and gotten a pretty good spot, the whole roof top as everyone escaped from the freezing weather.
The clock struck 12am and there were bits and pieces of firework around the city. It was quite a small scale firework but nice still. Everyone on the rooftop exchanged their well wishes, even to the roof tops across. It was really nice to see the connectivity of the people of New York.
We headed back into the apartment 15mins past midnight and went straight to bed.
Day 8:
The only thing left was for me was to check out the Flatiron building which was just a few blocks away from the apartment. We left rather early after completing out packing. We walked up to Flatiron and took some pictures.
Almost similar to Christmas, most shops were closed and/or will open at a later timing. We walked up to 34th Street and all shops were closed. We backed down to Madison Square Garden where Flatiron Building was situated to have our last Shake Shack Meal. It was pure pleasure having Shake Shack.
We made our way back to the apartment to collect our luggages and managed to share a cab with one of the tenants sister. Well, I was thrilled to save half of the taxi fare. Once at the airport, one of my luggage was overweight by 3kg that I had to be one of those that had to rearrange the luggage. Luckily I knew what to remove and put on my carry-on, they were mostly chocolates.
The flight to Beijing wasn't as bad as the flight to New York. We were seated by the exit so definitely a lot of leg room. I managed to catch a lot of shows and managed to read a lot of my e-Comics.
When we arrived in Beijing, the transfer service was horrible. There was only 1 counter open to cater the many transferring passengers. The line snaked so long that some of the people in queue had to catch their connecting flight within the hour. They might not know that there are 2 counters to go through before catching the connecting flight. Ours was a 6hr layover.
After almost 1.5hrs clearing the transfer, we got out and rushed for the toilet. We had our fill at Starbucks before lounging at the waiting area where I started my Day1 and 2 blog entry. Once we got on flight, I managed to sleep in intervals, trying to combat jetlag. Apparently I got out fine, sleeping on my usual sleeping timing even at home, back to work felling fresh but I noticed that I tend to sleep earlier than normal for the next few days. Well, different people battle jet lag differently.
My fist American experience didn't really start out well as I was overwhelm by the sights and sound but I grew accustomed after a few days. I still wasn't sure on the tipping practice but I may just try it next time when I go over to the states. So far, I had a great time, shopping especially but the exchange rate plus taxes were a killer at almost 1.52 to Singapore dollar.
Not to forget, I had a great time with my best bud, the self proclaimed New York native. It was sure great that we travelled together, even with all the hiccups. Till the next travel in 2016.
Day 7:
It was New Years Eve and he had so much planned because it was our last night in New York. The plan was quite messy until we had to sit down and plan on the getting around. We got out early without the need of breakfast. Somehow we were just excited to be celebrating the New Year in New York.
Once we were on the Brooklyn side, we made our way towards Dumbo before Hakimbo bringing me to an awesome street with an gorgeous view of Manhattan Bridge with the Empire State building in view between it two pillars. I also managed to get a new bag from Brooklyn Industries, which had a similar function of the bag I intended to get from Head Porter in Japan.
By then, we were famished and Hakimbo wanted to bring me to the diner he loved so much while he was staying in Brooklyn. We had to walk a distance to High Street station from Dumbo and had to transfer at the next station to get to 36th Street. The Sunset Park Diner and Donut is situated in between the 39th Street and 4th Avenue of Brooklyn. The diner was quite homely with a wide range of donuts and bagels. I think that was why he loved the place. I've been craving to try American's mac and Cheese. I ordered one only to be told later that they ran out of the macaroni, and whether they would replace it with pasta. I ended having cream pasta as my lunch, which Hakim made bearable by donating some of his sausage.
Our next itinerary was to catch the sunset at Top of the Rock at Rockefeller Center by 1630hrs. We actually went to Top of the Rock on Monday during the super clear day but the only time to enter was at 1800 which was already dark. We had to buy an advance ticket for 32 USD for Thursday with a specific timing just to catch a good view of the city.
We reached Rockefeller around 1520 and our ticket was at 1545. Thankfully there wasn't a long queue for entering the building. The lift took us up to the 68th floor and there were 3 floors of observation deck and divided by the uptown and downtown view. The view of downtown was more spectacular than the uptown due to the various high rises. Uptown was more of a barren land of Central Park.
 |
| Downtown |
 |
| Uptown |
After a quick snaps, we rushed out to pack our luggages before heading out for the New Year Countdown. We had a few considerations on where to celebrate and Times Square was definitely out as the queue to get into the are was massively crazy. People actually queued up at 12pm to get in.
While heading back to the apartment, we were discussing where we should head for the celebration. Hakimbo recommended to go Dumbo and see the fireworks across the river but I recalled someone telling me that there wasn't much fireworks in New York. It seems very similar to my New Year celebration in Seoul the previous year. Seems like only Singapore has a single massive location for a spectacular fireworks. W just realized that the roof access to the apartment has a spectacular view around the city and wouldn't have much trouble getting back after the celebration.
So after a painstaking attempt on our luggages and a nice shower, we made our way up to the roof. There were a few groups of people, probably the tenants and their friend, hanging around the roof. We were there 30 mins before the new year and gotten a pretty good spot, the whole roof top as everyone escaped from the freezing weather.The clock struck 12am and there were bits and pieces of firework around the city. It was quite a small scale firework but nice still. Everyone on the rooftop exchanged their well wishes, even to the roof tops across. It was really nice to see the connectivity of the people of New York.
We headed back into the apartment 15mins past midnight and went straight to bed.
Day 8:
The only thing left was for me was to check out the Flatiron building which was just a few blocks away from the apartment. We left rather early after completing out packing. We walked up to Flatiron and took some pictures.
We made our way back to the apartment to collect our luggages and managed to share a cab with one of the tenants sister. Well, I was thrilled to save half of the taxi fare. Once at the airport, one of my luggage was overweight by 3kg that I had to be one of those that had to rearrange the luggage. Luckily I knew what to remove and put on my carry-on, they were mostly chocolates.
The flight to Beijing wasn't as bad as the flight to New York. We were seated by the exit so definitely a lot of leg room. I managed to catch a lot of shows and managed to read a lot of my e-Comics.
When we arrived in Beijing, the transfer service was horrible. There was only 1 counter open to cater the many transferring passengers. The line snaked so long that some of the people in queue had to catch their connecting flight within the hour. They might not know that there are 2 counters to go through before catching the connecting flight. Ours was a 6hr layover.
After almost 1.5hrs clearing the transfer, we got out and rushed for the toilet. We had our fill at Starbucks before lounging at the waiting area where I started my Day1 and 2 blog entry. Once we got on flight, I managed to sleep in intervals, trying to combat jetlag. Apparently I got out fine, sleeping on my usual sleeping timing even at home, back to work felling fresh but I noticed that I tend to sleep earlier than normal for the next few days. Well, different people battle jet lag differently.
My fist American experience didn't really start out well as I was overwhelm by the sights and sound but I grew accustomed after a few days. I still wasn't sure on the tipping practice but I may just try it next time when I go over to the states. So far, I had a great time, shopping especially but the exchange rate plus taxes were a killer at almost 1.52 to Singapore dollar.
