Kaonashi Ga Suki

We left off last time with a humdinger of a cliff-hanger: did Toni take a nap first before touring the Big Apple for the very first time, or did she say “Fuck it!” and leap out the door, stinky clothes (I was still wearing my clothes from work the day before!), lack of sleep and all?

You guessed it. I thought to myself, “For the love of God man, I’m in New York! I’d be crazy to want to sleep now!” so we (me, my bf, and his family) all headed to breakfast in the hotel’s restaurant.

I receive sticker shock for the first time when I look through the breakfast items and see the prices- $13 for pancakes and eggs? $17 for an omlette with bacon on the side? Jesus H. Christ! Granted, we were in a fancy shmancy hotel and in a fancy shmancy restaurant. Yes, the sausage was not your ordinary Denny’s sausage- it was chicken and apple, and quite tasty. But come on people- this is breakfast! Eggs, toast, and bacon should not cost $11! I was aghast. Once again I thank my lucky stars that I am not paying one thin dime throughout the trip.

After having 3 cups of coffee and a full tummy, I was raring to see the city.

Mind you, we saw a whole bunch of places within the span of like, 3 hours, so I apologize if I get the order of the places that I saw mixed up. So please don’t be like, “Hey, X building isn’t near Y building!”

Since the hotel was in the Theater District, we walked passed many theaters. “So this is Broadway,” I thought. We then walked through Times Square. I felt bewildered, even though I should have been used to such a sight since I did live near Tokyo years ago. Nevertheless, the flashy advertising and the colorful banners in Time Square put those in Shibuya (a part of Tokyo) to shame. My bf’s brother pointed toward a building and said, “That’s where they film MTV’s TRL (Total Request Live)”. Sure enough, I recognized the building, with housed a very open floor that had mostly windows and the MTV logo plastered all over it. The VJs would announce the next music video, and often times a special musical guest would perform; he or she would then wave to the crowd below.

Next was Bryant Park, which apparently had undergone a massive restoration according to my bf’s dad, a native New Yorker. We walked through it to get to our first real destination- the New York Public Library, which I last remembered from the movie The Day After Tommorow. But of course, it’s been seen in countless other movies before that. I saw the famous lions that guard the entrance of the library, and we had got there just in time for its opening. It’s very large and very beautiful inside. One of the cool things we saw inside was a collection of very, very old maps. In fact, one of them depicted California as being completely separate from the rest of the US! How odd! I wonder what made the mapmaker think that way? Even cooler was that the Library housed a Gutenberg Bible, one of the first books ever printed. Although the book was about oh, 600 years old or so, it looked like it was in pristine condition.

We then went to Grand Central Station, again the site of many movies (the first X-Men movie comes to mind). I love L.A.’s Union Station, but Grand Central is hella nice as well. The ceiling is painted with the night sky, complete with constellations. The station itself has a nice, art deco design, and apparently, there’s a secret cocktail lounge that my bf’s parents once stumbled upon. Since it was too early for cocktails, the lounge was closed at that moment. Since it was nearby, we then quickly went through the lobby of the Chrysler Building. After that we went to Rockefeller Center (well, the outside since the inside was hosting some sort of garden expo) and St. Patrick’s Cathedral. I was glad to see it because after all, I am Catholic.

And now, a moment to reflect on what I was thinking about New York so far at that moment.

Busy! People everywhere were just walking, walking, walking. Quickly.
Impatient! I guess because they’re so busy, New Yorkers don’t seem to have any patience for traffic lights. Taxi drivers will continue to turn left or right regardless of any pedestrians crossing. There’s not such thing as pedestrians having the right of way. Once I was crossing with the “WALK” signal on, and I almost got hit by a cab who just couldn’t wait for me to finish crossing the street. At the same time though, all the pedestrians jaywalk. In California, when people are waiting to cross the street, they wait on the sidewalk. In New York, they wait about 10 FEET IN THE STREET. I am amazed that there isn’t an accident once a day in this city.
Loud! There is honking everywhere. Like I said, New Yorkers seem to be impatient, and the worse lot are the cabbies. Even in the middle of the night, you could hear honking every 30 seconds. I saw on the news that street signs had been put up that warn honkers of a 200$ fine, but I don’t think many heed such signs.
Nice! Yes, New Yorkers are nice, contrary to the stereotype. I had braced myself for encountering pushy, rude people but instead I am greeted with “hello” and “excuse me”. Granted, these come mostly from hotel and restaurant staff but even the regular folks on the street seemed genuinely friendly. I also heard in the news about an ordinance that had been passed to encourage New Yorkers to be nicer, and it seems to be working.

After our whirlwind tour of the city, it was time for lunch. Mr. and Mrs. S. (bf’s parents) took us to a restaurant called the China Grill, which is right next to the CBS offices. This is where I receive my second dose of sticker shock. The salads (although large enough to feed 5 people) were $27. Yes, for salad. It was good, but come on people- $27 for fucking vegetables!?!?!?! The food was overall pretty good, but I just couldn’t get over the prices.

After lunch we sort of did our own thing. Mr. and Mrs. S. went off to some antique book fair or something while I followed my bf and his brother as they went watch shopping for their dad for his birthday present. After two hours of deciding what watch to buy, we three headed back to the hotel where I prayed for our room to be ready. And it was.

Ahhhhhh. The shower hit the spot. I felt a hundred times better after it, and when I took my hour nap, felt a thousand times better.

Before I go on, let me tell you about the hotel room. As I mentioned, we stayed in a luxury hotel right in the middle of the Theater District. The thing is that such hotels have teeny, tiny rooms. Hell, I’ve stayed in Motel 6s with bigger rooms than these! The shower was so cramped, there was barely any room to open the door and get in! It took a bit of getting used to. However, our room was still bigger than my bf’s brother’s room, which pretty much reminded me of a dorm room. A very fancy dorm room with a flat screen TV, gold faucets, and a maid that puts chocolate on your pillows.

For dinner we went to Aureole, one of the many trendy restaurants in Manhattan. According to the website, it was located on the Upper East Side, which I guess means something. As a native Californian, I have no clue what those New York geographical terms mean *shrug*. A funny thing happened on the way to the restaurant though. We were trying to hail two cabs (since all 5 of us wouldn’t fit in one, and larger, SUV-type cabs are rare) when the doorman found a limo and suggested it for us. Since it would have been only 10$ more (!) to ride the limo than take 2 cabs, we figured, why not go to Aureole in style!

The food was overall pretty good (though I wish I had the pork tenderloin rather than the duck), and it was a nice atmosphere. The staff were very nice, but then again, they very well should have been kissing our asses considering the prices on the menu. This time though, I didn’t blanch from seeing the prices since it was a price fixed dinner, and I’ve seen such prices before.

With a full stomach, we headed back to the hotel. Alas, I couldn’t go to bed yet! My miserable ass had a paper due that following Wednesday, and that day was a Friday! I tried to do as much as I could before my brain finally rebelled and threatened to shut down, so I put my stuff away and went to sleep.