Posts Tagged With: New York City

Jackets (Or: Statue of Liberty in October)

The air is getting cold here. (Well, we’ll ignore the fact that it is forecast to be pretty warm Sunday, comparatively.)

I didn’t wear a jacket today. (But I definitely pondered one.)

I didn’t want to put the heat on. (But I did.)

At some point during my videochat with Marco today, I was reminded of the October 2010 trip with Marco. He visited me while I was studying at Rutgers and we went to New York City a few times. Including my first time seeing the Statue of Liberty.

Of course, I forgot how much colder it is out on the water. Marco asked me if I wanted a jacket a few times, but I said no. And then we got up on the ferry…

and yep, I sheepishly asked if I could borrow his jean jacket (and he said yes!) So I spent most of the ferry ride wearing an oversized jacket. It was nice, if I do say so myself.

And here is a view of the New York skyline from the ferry. Good times.

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July (Or: Crowds, police, and heat)

Lately it seems that it has gotten colder. October is definitely here. I even had to pull out my jacket once this week, as the mornings are getting rather cold. I suspect by next week I will be wearing it every day, unfortunately.

So I was looking at the July 4 pictures Marco and I took of NYC in 2009 (previous post). Heat! Warmth! …and way too many crowds.

See? I wasn’t joking about the crowds. This is part of Times Square, after the fireworks ended.

This was one police meeting area in the early afternoon of July 4. All I remember about this picture is right before that, Marco had made a joke about donuts. 😛

Categories: Holidays, Marco&Niki | Tags: | 2 Comments

Five Guys (Or: Hamburgers in Times Square)

During our most recent trip to New York City, Marco and I decided to try out Five Guys, a hamburger joint. We had heard about it a few years before but we never made it around to visiting one (even though there was one on a bus route we take to the Palisades Center). They also sell hot dogs and a few sandwiches – see their menu. We visited the one in Times Square right next to door to Roger’s favorite restaurant, Chevy’s.

It’s slightly pricey, but when you consider that their default hamburger is a double it works out. Also, all toppings are free. I was holding down the fort and securing us a table to sit at so I just told Marco to go on ahead and order me a hamburger. He did great, choosing “mustard and jalapenos” for me. (Occasionally I like a tiny bit of ketchup, but it’s not required at all and I’d prefer no ketchup to letting someone else choose how much to put on there.) The only crazy thing was that it seems to come with barbecue sauce even if you don’t ask for it… but it was pretty good as well. I think they put the barbecue sauce on the other side of the patty so it wasn’t completely combined.

The biggest tip I have is that unless you love lots of french fries, if you go with two people just get one order. They give you a lot for your money. (Marco got the cajun style fries… so good and spicy! He said they were a bit too salty, but I tend to love salt.)

The other thing that they have (which we did not try out) was a freestyle coke machine, as referenced in the front sign of the restaurant photo above, and as shown in this internet picture. You choose what flavor you want based on touching the screen and then (at least at Five Guys) it asks you another question and then dispenses it. It was a fully electronic screen, not just one screen with the flavors displayed.

This particular location had a bulletin board and colored pencils for you to write a message. You can see our message on the left side of it (hanging off the edge).

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High Line (Or: Overlooking New York City)

Marco and I went to the High Line yesterday in New York City (which currently runs from 30th street to Gansevoort street on the west side. Yes, Gansevoort. Dutch influence everywhere!)

I am pleased to say that it was a lot of fun and better than we expected. It wasn’t that crowded, although it kind of was at times. But most places weren’t too bad. I would definitely recommend it to anyone who is visiting New York City, especially during the warmer period. I am not sure how good it looks during the winter, as so much of it is plant based.

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NYC (Or: The High Line)

On today’s agenda Marco and I have the High Line. It’s this mythical area of New York City where we have never been, despite Roger, Marco and I attempting to go in April. For whatever reason we never made it there.

The High Line is an old elevated railroad track that has since been converted into park space, bringing a new perspective to New York City. Currently it is about 1 mile long, although there are plans to extend it further in the next few years. In fact, they broke ground on Thursday for the final section, which is slated to open in 2014 at the cost of $90 million.

image from Wikipedia

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Heineken (Or: New York City advertisements)

While Marco and I were in New York City we came across this advertisement for Heineken and the US Open.

“Once again, the Dutch is the favorite at the US Open.”

Grammatical issues aside, I hope they are talking about being the favorite beer, and not the favorite team!

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Swings (Or: Is Central Park safe at night?)

From Marco…

Every now and then I pass a set of swings on the way to work.
I’m reluctant to call it a playground despite that there’s also one of those sort of rocking horses next to it. It’s really nothing more than these swings and that horsey. No grass or anything, just some sort of rubber padding.
But I guess it’s better then nothing.

Niki asked me the other day to be on the look out for picture ops.. So today when I walked past the swings I decided to take a snapshot and share this fun story: Back in 2009 when I was vacationing at Niki’s place, we went to New York (as we often do *grin*)

We ended up at Central Park, entering from Columbus Circle (for those in the know). As we entered this young woman approached us and asked if the park was open at night for joggers. I was somewhat speechless to hear that question. Not something you’d expect her to ask. The park is a large place, I don’t think you want to be running around in it at night by yourself.
Now for some reason I remembered seeing a sign saying it closed at some point of the evening, only allowing people on the main roads. So we sent her off with that knowledge.

Niki and I proceeded into the park itself. It had just rained so that nice smell of wet grass and trees was everywhere. We walked past a playground and Niki wanted to go on the swings! 🙂 Since it had just rained and it was already around 7pm there weren’t any kids there at that moment. So I just sat on the swings (gotta stay cool) while she actually erhmm..well…swung I guess the word would be.
She did warn me that she had to be careful to not do that for too long or she might get sick. And sure, at some point she suddenly stopped before it was too late. It was a very random but fun few minutes there on those swings. A very good memory. It actually reminds me of another story from the same trip but I’m going to have to keep that one for another time.
A hint: It involves bugs.

Categories: Rijswijk | Tags: | 2 Comments

Weekend plans (Or: Time with Marco)

Here are Marco and I’s plans for this weekend. Nothing too major.

Today – Visit the Palisades Center, a four floor mall. I need to pick up my engagement ring (it needed a minor repair), and I might also possibly get my hair cut. Then at some point I need to treat Marco to an Icee. They are frozen slushy drinks that are typically sold at movie theaters.

There, now that I have Marco’s attention…

Saturday – We’re going to have lunch at Bailey’s Smokehouse (a barbecue joint). I’ve been there once with a friend and wanted to show it off to Marco as well. After that, we are going to head over to my workplace. I want to show him the remodeled Learning Commons, which he has never seen – pre-flood or post-flood. They are also going to have a community festival, so we’re looking forward to the promised fireworks.

Sunday – Off to New York City. The only thing we have planned is visiting Forbidden Planet, a comic book store which moved to a bigger and better place (or at least we heard it’s supposed to be bigger).

Two random places we want to visit for food: Steak’n’Shake and Five Guys Burgers and Fries. The former is totally due to nostalgia – I grew up with Steak’n’Shake as it’s a Midwest restaurant and I am sorely hoping it will remind me of the good old days. The latter we have never been too. All I know about Five Guys is they give you a ton of fries, so order less than you think you need.

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In a dash (Or: Crossing New York City)

Recently I found myself in the city in the morning, though I had to go to work afterwards. I never knew I could power walk from 3rd Avenue to 8th Avenue so quickly to get to the Port Authority bus terminal, but I did. Somehow.

Along the way, I snapped this picture. Very quickly.

I just thought the design of the front of the building was interesting. And every New York City picture needs an image of a cab. Even if their design is changing yet again.

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Dr. Sun Yat-sen (Or: Statue in NYC Columbus park)

In April of this year, Roger, Marco and I made a stop in Chinatown after visiting the 9/11 memorial.

This is a statue of Dr. Sun Yat-sen in Columbus Park, New York City. He was the first president of the modern Republic of China.

Two other things I remember about Chinatown: buying tea bags at TenRen (variety sets), as well as buying awesome red bean ice cream at The Original Chinatown Ice Cream Factory. So good, and the portion size for my ice cream cone was a bit on the large size — I got a lot for my money.

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