4 Days in New York

Having lived in New Jersey for more than ten years, I've been to New York many times.  In April, it was my first time going with my relatives, some came as far as from Trinidad and Tobago for the funeral of my grandfather, Oscar Rivers.  It was  a night to remember; the whole gang of us trudging down towards the Path Train into the wee hours of the morning and a quick stop to the 9/11 Memorial.

On this trip however, there was a make-shift itinerary with much to do as we went for CityPasses to six attractions.  We were ready to hit the ground running, landing in New York around 4 pm on July 1st., except they wouldn't land the plane.


La Guardia airport was experiencing a major storm and not once but on two occasions.  First, we headed to North Carolina to fill up on gas.  When we got back to New York, the storm did not dissipate, so we ended up in Pennsylvania rented a car with the friendly Korean-American woman that sat in the window seat next to us, Margaret.  

With that, we hit the road on the 3 hour impromptu road rip from Pennsylvania to New York.  Yay, adventure!?  

Friday, July 1st.  Landing in New York went from around 4 pm, July 1st to around 4 am July 2nd.  Still, we were excited for our first trip outside the sunshine state of Florida.

Saturday July 2nd.  We really picked the weekend for the longest lines ever on our first stop, The Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island.  

We then headed to the 9/11 Memorial Museum.

Then to the MET.

And a quick stop at the American Museum of Art and History.

The last stop was the famous Empire State Building lit up in red, white and blue for the Independence Day weekend.

Sunday July 3rd.  The following day, I'd made plans to meet up with my mother, a New Yorker.  We sipped a little ice coffee at StarBucks, took a few nice pictures and she promised to visit for Christmas.

Lindsey, a friend from South Korea also lives in New York, sort of.  It was nice to catch up with her as well.  We had such a good time at the Couch Surfers BBQ she invited me to, we forgot to take pictures.  :P  We managed to make our was to Chelsea Market and The High Line,  a scenic path high above the streets of New York which used to be a railway path.

Monday July 4th.  Monday, we met with my mom one last time for some roti, a wrap of curried chicken, goat or beef, (or pumpkin in my case) in dhalpourie.   We tried to make it back to the American Museum of Art but because of my carryon, they wouldn't let us in.  And with that, we were given vouchers and we were off the the airport which turned out to be a blessing in disguise, since my estimate of the time it'd take to get the the airport was way, way off.

Never a dull moment in New York.