It was our first rendezvous with New York today. Saying I was excited would be an understatement. After hearing and seeing so much about New York, it was almost a pilgrimage for me. New York has been immortalized in so many ways that I don’t even to begin listing them.
My son and I, as we leave…
We then boarded a Metro Bus to a subway station
As we came out from the Grand Central, the first sign that I saw was an Om. I was already feeling better.
Note: My two cents on how I planned my trips. Continuing the tradition from my previous important travels, after some research I bought this book - The Best Things to Do in New York City: 1001 Ideas. I must say it is a beautiful book. Then I went thru this dilemma of whether I should take the Bus Tour or not. I was sure that I want to take a night tour on the open bus – it was the only recommended bus tour on the book as well. But the price difference between a two day all inclusive tour and just the night tour is almost nonexistent. I finally decided to buy a two day bus tour. As I had a lot of time, I thought it would be easy of getting familiar and then use remaining days to explore as needed. But the most important thing that I would recommend is to buy a New York Pass. I saved 150 USD per head in three days just because I purchased New York Pass.
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We began with the uptown tour.
I was a little fickle with the camera for first half of the day. But I settled down later in the day. Please don’t mind if you think I was shooting unimportant things…
Our first hop off was the Time Warner Center - Columbus Circle. It was already noon – we had plans to enjoy some food and get some views of New York.
Before we hopped off, the bus tour guide announced some Hollywood biggies that stay or have an apartment right in Time Warner Center. And this magnificent Trump Group Hotel at Columbus Circle adds to it.
The circle itself is a great place to spend time. There are all kind of people doing all kind of things. Love birds, love triangles, people just reading books, basking in the sun, looking worried, skate boarding, trying to propose love, impress upon, etc. I hope you will notice the guy and lady on either side of the picture.
My son is always up to his mischiefs and here he goes…
A view from inside
No wonder obesity has became one of the wide spread decease; or maybe I couldn’t appreciate the obese statues…
We had our lunch at Whole Foods in the basement – a nice pizza (sold on weight) and their elaborate salad bowl.
In Manhattan (mostly downtown), you can use this tricycles to go around.
We then decided to walk to 5th Avenue. And this antique shop on the way caught my attention. That red lamp was so beautiful, so were some of the chandeliers.
And here we are at the Tiffany’s.
Go to Tiffany’s at your own risk and only if you have a solid heart. As we entered the shop, we were greeted by two big men – they gave us a warm welcome but looked like bouncers to me.
After carefully looking around I liked one gold (yes that’s Indian to like yellow metal) chain with a beautiful pendant – more like a mini necklace. The guy at the exhibit was courteous. He helped us trying it on. He then said it is 18K gold and gold weight is 21.xx grams. I started calculating and almost thought that this could be a perfect gift (which I have never given before), I can buy for my beautiful wife. But I made the mistake of asking the price – his reply 4700 USD. He said it is all diamond cutting. I sure could see the distinct glitter but the price also glittered my heart into many pieces.
My wife is surely braver than me. She went and asked price of another necklace – 37000 USD only. We knew Tiffany would be costly. But this is something. We couldn’t gather courage to go past the first floor – Tiffany has 7 floors IIRC.
We wondered why it has to be so costly. But then look at this gun that Tiffany designed for America's rich in 1920s. I took this picture in one of the museums that I visited (more from the museum on day4). They charge not only for the diamond cutting but their unparalleled legacy.
5th Avenue is great place to shop. Shops labeled with best designers in the world are at every corner like this Armani one. I had bought an Armani fragrance for my MIL in 2005 (my last visit). She had liked it so much that I was looking for the same one for her. After speaking with the rep inside, I realized I am looking at impossible. How in the world Armani supposed to have the same fragrance (at least under same name and packaging) after 5 years. Naïve on my part to have troubled him so much – the world here changes in less than a year.
With all the materialistic pleasures that you can indulge at 5th Avenue, one surely need some spiritual intervention. 5th Avenue is not short on churches – beautiful churches dot 5th Avenue at regular intervals
The other shop on our list was of course FAO
You will fall in love with the shop as you enter it. It has all the charm for a children store.
Don’t ask me why my camera focuses in this way.
And here’s the famed floor piano
When we came out, I started clicking photos like crazy. I don’t know why…here are a couple of them...
The apple store outside of FAO
IBM building is somewhere behind this building. I forgot the name of this one though...
IIRC, this is just another Trump Group building…
We haven't hopped back yet from our first hop off itself. To be continued...