Hello and welcome to the fifth and final edition of this on going series. This narration is about my trip to New York City, with my friends during the Thanksgiving weekend of 2008. It began with the long travel by flight followed by our Thanks Giving Day experiences and then a tantalizing tour of Washington D.C which lead to our field day of main attractions in NYC on the penultimate day. This is our last day at NYC and, along with my friends –Nat, Sen and Muan- I race against time to explore some dramatic historical artifacts about earthly beings, living and extinct and get my hands on some souvenirs.
Disclaimer: All names, places, accounts and events mentioned in the narration can be partially or entirely false. Reading this narrative may lead to high aspirations, even higer confidence and much much lower results. Possible other side effects include loss of time, increased knowledge, read rage and erectile dysfunction.
newyork NEWYORK
November 30, 2008: Revenge of The Sith
The last day is always a sad day. Not completely sad, but kind of gloomy. I am still excited about some last minute sight seeing but the fact that the trip will be coming to close in matter of hours is always there constantly ticking closer and I try to keep it off my mind since it will ruin the fun I could be having now, but that only increases the anxiety making me look at the watch every passing minute to make sure I extract as much satisfaction out of whatever time is left. Today was no different. Yesterday having been an absolutely wonderful and tiresome experience, I was tired and much content as I woke up relatively early. But the emotions mentioned earlier crept up to me and I realized we had only a few hours left before we boarded our plane home bound and there are still places we havn’t seen, including New York's iconic Central Park. Getting a Lady Liberty statue that also doubles as a lighter with the flame at the lantern has been my dream since the movie ‘Jungle 2 Jungle’ and I wasn’t going home without getting one. During my visit to Ellis Island where the real Statue of Liberty stands, I asked the attendant for that specific kind of lighter at the gift shop and, believe it or not, she said that they get a lot of people asking for it but the shop doesn’t have them. I am not a business person, but if my shop is at the base of Statue of Liberty and a lot of tourists ask for a Statue of Liberty lighter, I will have the State Of Liberty lighter. A lot of them. Anyway, the lady told me that it must be available in the gift shops within the city and I wasn’t going to miss it at any cost as long its cost was less than 10 dollars. After considering all the factors and time constraints we realized central park would take a whole day and decided to hit the American Museum of Natural History (AMNH) and take it from there.
We set AMNH for the earlier part of the trip, but nonsensically they closed it down for Thanks Giving Day. This time they were wide open and as soon as we entered it we realized this is going to take more than a couple of hours to finish. The AMNH had astonishing collection of artifacts, specimens, models and photographs of what seemed like everything that has ever existed on earth. It was a huge structure of innumerable hallways leading to one section to another, each section containing swaths of articles pertaining to a specific field of scientific and cultural world. There were seemingly countless habitat dioramas of animals from north and south pole and then everything in between both land and aquatic and, did I mention, life size. There were halls dedicated to oceanography, with life size model of a blue whale, and massive 31 ton meteorite as an exhibit in the salt and mineral hall. They had separate section detailing natural evolution with scientific facts and specimens strewn end to end and then an entire section for all things extinct. And of course, last but no least, a huge prominent planetarium dedicated to everything outside our atmosphere. If you have even the slightest of interest in science, nature, earth or even just simple curiosity this place is a treasure trove. I figured it would take about two to three days to fully visit all the exhibits and savor them, but unfortunately for us we only had a few hours – a couple to be exact. We were only able to do a quick cursory tour of the museum and all of the above mentioned exclamation came to me within those couple of hours. As we started to leave I made a mental note of coming back and spending more time at the next chance I get.
By the time we got out, a prickly rain had started and threatened to become a full blown shower. We had grabbed a lunch at museum cafeteria, and since we had little time left to get back home, finish up packing and head up to Newark Intl airport. The cold was terrible and as we speed walked among moderately packed Sunday crowd, I remembered her. The Statue Of Liberty, more precisely a lighter of Statue of Liberty – I was not going to leave without her. Now we were really running under serious time crunch and we had to act quickly. After looking around for a gift shop without success, one of my friends and local resident Nat used his knowledge of the city to find us a gift shop after a short walk. The store had a grouchy looking Indian (Bollywood) guy and a pretty looking white, probably Caucasian, girl who helped me find the lighter. She was as beautiful as I always knew she would be and I do mean the lighter, but the girl was nice too. Contended I was ready to wrap up the tour.
My friend Muan got himself the inimitable New York Yankees cap and we bolted out the shop and down the street. Our departure time was getting dangerously close as we rushed to Nats home, packed our stuff and Nat stepped on the accelerator (if you can call 50 mph as really stepping on it). He had some Donuts in the car and we all had one as waded through traffic, and I had one more, barely finishing it, before stepping out at the airport curb. We ran down the airport hall to check if our flight was still on the ground, while Nat waited outside just in case. All this excitement came to a sobering halt as we found out that the plane was delayed, by more than an hour, due to weather. NewYork winter had thrown us a curve ball once again, but his time it turned out to be blessing in disguise since we would have surely missed the flight if it wasn’t delayed. After bidding our good byes to Nat, we cleared the security check point and settled into the seats at the departure gate, with so much time left before boarding began.
Usually about this time I gather my thoughts and relive all the special moments we had during the trip. But today, I was tired and exhausted and my heart beat was returning to normal levels. Only a few minutes back I was mentally rehearsing the email I was going to send my manager explaining why I would miss work on the following Monday due to missed flight and now everything seemed to be right back into schedule and a nice calmness was settled in. I didnt think about the Macy’s day Parade, or the ferry to Statue of Liberty, Wall street, Time Square not even the special Thanks Giving Dinner. The intriguing tour of Washington DC did not cross my mind and neither did Empire State building nor NBC Studios. Even the memorable experience at Colt Theater in Broadway street failed to register at that time. May be since this was the first time I saw all of them and they happened in less than four days was too incredible than I realized. I just drifted away to sleep.
And thus my most awaited trip to NYC which started exactly One Year ago on Nov 26 of 2008 became my most exciting and memorable one ever.
PS: After all this, I DID manage to miss my connecting flight at Las Vegas so had to miss work that day, so I got to send that rehearsed email to my manager after all. Also, to this day, I cannot believe that I did all those things in less than four days nor that it took me one year to write up my experience that happened in less than four days.
Tuesday, November 24, 2009
Thursday, August 6, 2009
New York - IV
Hello and welcome to the fourth edition of the ongoing narration of my trip to New York City, during the Thanksgiving weekend of 2008, along with my friends –Nat, Sen and Muan. In the last chapter we looked at our tour of Washington D.C and how despite the freezing weather we managed to enjoy some of the most historically significant monuments in US of A. In this chapter we explore the artistic side of the ‘Big Apple’, both real and digital.
Disclaimer: All names, places, accounts and events mentioned in the narration can be partially or entirely false. Reading this narrative can cause laser eyes, steel claws and severe hallucinations. Possible other side effects include loss of time, increased knowledge, read rage and erectile dysfunction.
newyork NEWYORK
November 29, 2008: Return Of The Jedi
Before getting to bed, previous night, we stopped by a fast food center near Nat’s house in Jersey to get some spicy fried chicken wings and some spicy egg rolls. They came with high recommendations from Nat and after tasting them I have to agree. I wasn’t sure if it was all the walking we did earlier or the hunger after the long drive from Washington DC, but they were delicious. With full stomach and the air conditioner churning in warm air, Nat’s house felt precious and I slept like I haven’t slept in weeks. Next morning, I woke up all excited about our planned upcoming events. First we were going to the Empire State Building – Yes, the one from the movie Jeans – and then, for the first time in my US of A history, we were going to a theater where they do real life drama, and then hit 30 Rock, short for Rockefeller Center and take the tour of NBC, National Broadcasting Company, one of the country’s first and prominent broadcasting studios. But first, I had to take care of something. The spicy egg rolls that I ate the previous night had apparently worked hard on my stomach and intestines that I was a bit overwhelmed at the toilet. After a handful of gruesome minutes I was as fresh as an Old spice bottle on discount. We picked up some donuts from dunkin and, we got so used to the NJ cold, that without even thinking we all bought a fresh cup of Joe – that’s American for coffee. Like the past two days, we caught the train at journal square to NYC and by the time we reached the door steps of Empire State Building the caffeine was out at peak level and we couldn’t wait to scale the tallest building New York State.
The Empire State Building is probably the second most iconic architecture in New York City, behind only the State of Liberty. At 1453 ft it was the tallest building in New York, until it was surpassed by the World Trade Center, regaining its position after 9/11 2001. It is also the second tallest freestanding building in US of A after the Willis Tower in Chicago and 11th tallest in the world. It hurts your back just to arch and look at the main observatory at 102nd floor, which is where we were headed. There are two observation desks one at the 80th floor and one at 102nd and Wikipedia states that the lines for the entrance to those decks are as legendary as the building itself. We took the cue from that information and bought ourselves the NY City Pass at start of the trip. As a result, the security guy near the counter opened a special passageway for us and, as I mockingly laughed at the waiting crowd, took us to a special counter for us-special people. Apparently, there were lots of special people. This new counter itself had significant queue, less than the previous one, but longer than what we preferred. Not to be outdone we looked for a shortcut and, as always, good old dollar bills came to the rescue. For an extra fee, there is another access- a special line if you will, that led us straight to the observation deck elevator escorted by a nice lady and in a matter of minutes we became one of the 110 million people who visit this place every year. If it wasn’t for the fence that completely covers and cordons off the edge of the deck I would have thought we were flying. As soon as you step up to the edge, you get a clear idea of you Manhattan is as unique as they say. All of the high rise buildings that you usually look with wonder, arching your back from the ground, now seem like simple rectangular structures, much less in stature from where we were standing. Very few of the iconic Manhattan skyline buildings were comparable in height to the Empire State Building and now we could get the whole picture. Closely packed tall rises where everywhere, from the dark UN Building to the green Chrysler Building. We could see the clear outlines of Central Park, a completely out place patch of lush green right in the middle of a concrete jungle. Surrounded by water, NYC Burroughs connect via some famed bridges including the Brooklyn Bridge which connects Brooklyn and Manhattan and we could pretty much see every one of them – and they all seem so tiny. Looking down in the streets bright yellow cabs were in what seemed like a parade, beautifully orchestrated by traffic lights. Huge chunks of people walking in hives stopping together and continuing their collective stride to the tune of the ‘walk sign’ at every intersection. Then there are individual people, who stand completely disconnected at some street corner or a bus stop, completely oblivious to the feverish activity happening around them. It was like a time-lapse video at a very large scale, only the camera never stops. After going around the deck several times we rode the elevator down, and stepped out to the curb. I looked up at the observation deck where we were just minutes ago and immediately the whole experience turned ten fold. There is a reason why it is one of the wonders of the world and I promised myself that I’ll come back to it again.
We began our long walk to our next destination – The Colt Theater in Broadway to watch Alfred Hitchcock’s ‘The 13 Steps’. Broadway district in NYC is famous for theater performance of various forms from musicals to comic, from low budget to high value production, featuring some of the best artistic talents. A number of Hollywood actors, actresses, musicians, directors, writers and designers have begun their career in the streets of Broadway, and some still actively participate, and the district is littered with theaters new and old, hip and legendary. The Colt Theater looked like the old aristocratic opera theater you see on timepiece movies except it looker a bit polished, and the dangling wires from light fixtures and modern cushion covers of the seat kept reminding us of the current era. That said it was an absolutely great show. Somewhere between watching the Thanksgiving Day parade for the first time and standing in front of the Washington Memorial for the first time, watching a comedy-drama performed live on that Saturday afternoon was certainly special. You can read full review about my experience at the Colt Theater here.
So far the day had gone absolutely wonderful and I was so happy that I forgot completely about lunch. By the time we stepped out of the Theater into the freezing streets of Broadway I was well past my threshold for hunger and was willing trade any one of my friends for bag of pretzel. The cold wind was relentless and I felt as though my extremities were beginning to freeze, as we wandered block after block, street after street to find an open eatery past 6 pm on Saturday of Thanks Giving Weekend, learning as we progressed that we far past end of business hour. The next one-hour would become an unforgettable time frame of the trip. After a long and tiresome search we found a bakery slightly close to Rockefeller Center. As soon as we entered it, we realized they were closing and the only stuff they had left was cold sandwiches. We each bought one, I got egg salad sandwich. Then they said, they would have to close the shop and we cannot eat inside. Cold Sandwich in one hand we walked out, the temperature was bone chilling and we struggled to stand against the strong gust of freezing wind. At some point Adrenalin kicked in, we simply started walking completely unconscious of each other, and soon I found myself on a street bench – made of steel which felt like a block of ice – hastily opening the sandwich and wolfing it down. I was aware that my hands were shivering too much to hold the sandwich steady and water running down my nostrils as my brain was scrambling desperately to balance my body temperature. Instead of chewing I simply swallowed portions like talking pills, since it was too cold when my teeth touched the cold egg salad. I am not sure how long I sat there with the empty sandwich wrap, hands clasped together and winter cap tightly drawn over my ears. I can still think of that grueling one-hour and feel goose bumps all over.
But life has to move on. With food in our stomachs, our hearts pumping warm blood to critical parts of the body we continued with new energy to our final destination of the day, the Rockefeller Center. The whole place was decorated for the Christmas spirit and they had their famous ice skating platform next to a giant Christmas tree. We spent some time watching other people skate as we came up with various reasons why we shouldn’t do it. But our main purpose of visiting the Rockefeller center was the NBC Studio.
The National Broadcasting Network was the first major broadcasting network in US of A formed in 1926, oldest among big three broadcasters in North America – ABC and CBS being the other two. It has a huge presence in American News, Entertainment and other Media sent over airwaves and is a parent network for a multitude syndicate programs and channels through out the world. It is a venue for a number of live news, performance and comedy shows including the ever-famous Saturday Night Live. Having grown up with TV as a make believe surrogate parent I couldn’t escape the feeling of going to a make believe surrogate home. On one side I wanted to see the sticks and props of the puppetry that is TV entertainment, but on the other I was anxious that once the tricks are revealed it won’t be as magical anymore. With a mixture of uncertainty, I entered the Studio section of Rockefeller Center and we all bought tickets for the studio tour. As is customary in all attractions in US of A, the entrance was a giant merchandise shop full of expectedly overpriced souvenirs- cups, t-shirts, pants and figures made of Styrofoam and synthetic rubber- all related to one or many of the movies and programming coming out of the NBC house. There is something novel about shopping at a place that is a master in selling things.
There was little video presentation showing the history, geography and political science behind NBC and then moved on to the studio tours. First we visited a newsroom – sort of – fitted with teleprompter for the news castor and green screen for the weatherman/woman. A little girl from the audience played the newscaster as she read the lines fed through the teleprompter and, sure enough, in the output screen she appeared as naturally reading as anyone. Some guy got to pretend as weather man in front of the green screen waving and pointing at the invisible rain cloud near Manhattan and in the screen the rain cloud was poised just like intended by Mother Nature. I imagined me sitting beside that table and struggling read from the teleprompter as we moved along the corridor to a daily talk show set. We were visiting the set of ‘The Late Night Show’, then hosted by Conan O Brian. I have seen a couple of those shows on TV and the set always looked brand new, with the lights, shining floor, polished desk and a beautiful sky line view of Manhattan at night as background. But in real life, it was much worn out. I don’t recall any of the parts of the set being shiny and the desk looked pretty old. Anyway the tour guide lady explained all the nuances in hosting a talk show including the ‘applause’ screen, which is basically a screen with the word ‘APPLAUSE’ written on it. During the show whenever the screen is lit, the audience would break into a roar of applause, generally done when the host makes a funny remark or a flat remark, or pretty much any remark. But given the comic talents of these late night hosts I would say those ‘applause’ screens were mostly redundant. We also had a look at the set of Saturday Night Live, more popularly known as SNL – on a Saturday.
By the time we finished up the tour and stepped out I realized the magic was still there. It’s just the tricks were not that interesting anymore-with the entire Internet and all. We walked for sometime to Grand Central Terminal but couldn’t spend much time there, since it was pretty cold and dinnertime was creeping up quickly. But mostly we had great day today and felt completely exhausted. Right from the Empire State Building to the Broadway drama and the refreshing time at the Rockefeller Center we had memorable experiences and we were ready close the day. We caught the train back to Journal Square and after having one of my most favorite dish - a nice and warm ‘kothu parotta’ at a local Indian shop we called it a night.
Click Here For Pics
Coming Up: Our last day at New York City where we engage in a desperate race against time to visit some of the attractions we missed out and attempt to get our hands on some NYC merchandise. Be sure to check back
Disclaimer: All names, places, accounts and events mentioned in the narration can be partially or entirely false. Reading this narrative can cause laser eyes, steel claws and severe hallucinations. Possible other side effects include loss of time, increased knowledge, read rage and erectile dysfunction.
newyork NEWYORK
November 29, 2008: Return Of The Jedi
Before getting to bed, previous night, we stopped by a fast food center near Nat’s house in Jersey to get some spicy fried chicken wings and some spicy egg rolls. They came with high recommendations from Nat and after tasting them I have to agree. I wasn’t sure if it was all the walking we did earlier or the hunger after the long drive from Washington DC, but they were delicious. With full stomach and the air conditioner churning in warm air, Nat’s house felt precious and I slept like I haven’t slept in weeks. Next morning, I woke up all excited about our planned upcoming events. First we were going to the Empire State Building – Yes, the one from the movie Jeans – and then, for the first time in my US of A history, we were going to a theater where they do real life drama, and then hit 30 Rock, short for Rockefeller Center and take the tour of NBC, National Broadcasting Company, one of the country’s first and prominent broadcasting studios. But first, I had to take care of something. The spicy egg rolls that I ate the previous night had apparently worked hard on my stomach and intestines that I was a bit overwhelmed at the toilet. After a handful of gruesome minutes I was as fresh as an Old spice bottle on discount. We picked up some donuts from dunkin and, we got so used to the NJ cold, that without even thinking we all bought a fresh cup of Joe – that’s American for coffee. Like the past two days, we caught the train at journal square to NYC and by the time we reached the door steps of Empire State Building the caffeine was out at peak level and we couldn’t wait to scale the tallest building New York State.
The Empire State Building is probably the second most iconic architecture in New York City, behind only the State of Liberty. At 1453 ft it was the tallest building in New York, until it was surpassed by the World Trade Center, regaining its position after 9/11 2001. It is also the second tallest freestanding building in US of A after the Willis Tower in Chicago and 11th tallest in the world. It hurts your back just to arch and look at the main observatory at 102nd floor, which is where we were headed. There are two observation desks one at the 80th floor and one at 102nd and Wikipedia states that the lines for the entrance to those decks are as legendary as the building itself. We took the cue from that information and bought ourselves the NY City Pass at start of the trip. As a result, the security guy near the counter opened a special passageway for us and, as I mockingly laughed at the waiting crowd, took us to a special counter for us-special people. Apparently, there were lots of special people. This new counter itself had significant queue, less than the previous one, but longer than what we preferred. Not to be outdone we looked for a shortcut and, as always, good old dollar bills came to the rescue. For an extra fee, there is another access- a special line if you will, that led us straight to the observation deck elevator escorted by a nice lady and in a matter of minutes we became one of the 110 million people who visit this place every year. If it wasn’t for the fence that completely covers and cordons off the edge of the deck I would have thought we were flying. As soon as you step up to the edge, you get a clear idea of you Manhattan is as unique as they say. All of the high rise buildings that you usually look with wonder, arching your back from the ground, now seem like simple rectangular structures, much less in stature from where we were standing. Very few of the iconic Manhattan skyline buildings were comparable in height to the Empire State Building and now we could get the whole picture. Closely packed tall rises where everywhere, from the dark UN Building to the green Chrysler Building. We could see the clear outlines of Central Park, a completely out place patch of lush green right in the middle of a concrete jungle. Surrounded by water, NYC Burroughs connect via some famed bridges including the Brooklyn Bridge which connects Brooklyn and Manhattan and we could pretty much see every one of them – and they all seem so tiny. Looking down in the streets bright yellow cabs were in what seemed like a parade, beautifully orchestrated by traffic lights. Huge chunks of people walking in hives stopping together and continuing their collective stride to the tune of the ‘walk sign’ at every intersection. Then there are individual people, who stand completely disconnected at some street corner or a bus stop, completely oblivious to the feverish activity happening around them. It was like a time-lapse video at a very large scale, only the camera never stops. After going around the deck several times we rode the elevator down, and stepped out to the curb. I looked up at the observation deck where we were just minutes ago and immediately the whole experience turned ten fold. There is a reason why it is one of the wonders of the world and I promised myself that I’ll come back to it again.
We began our long walk to our next destination – The Colt Theater in Broadway to watch Alfred Hitchcock’s ‘The 13 Steps’. Broadway district in NYC is famous for theater performance of various forms from musicals to comic, from low budget to high value production, featuring some of the best artistic talents. A number of Hollywood actors, actresses, musicians, directors, writers and designers have begun their career in the streets of Broadway, and some still actively participate, and the district is littered with theaters new and old, hip and legendary. The Colt Theater looked like the old aristocratic opera theater you see on timepiece movies except it looker a bit polished, and the dangling wires from light fixtures and modern cushion covers of the seat kept reminding us of the current era. That said it was an absolutely great show. Somewhere between watching the Thanksgiving Day parade for the first time and standing in front of the Washington Memorial for the first time, watching a comedy-drama performed live on that Saturday afternoon was certainly special. You can read full review about my experience at the Colt Theater here.
So far the day had gone absolutely wonderful and I was so happy that I forgot completely about lunch. By the time we stepped out of the Theater into the freezing streets of Broadway I was well past my threshold for hunger and was willing trade any one of my friends for bag of pretzel. The cold wind was relentless and I felt as though my extremities were beginning to freeze, as we wandered block after block, street after street to find an open eatery past 6 pm on Saturday of Thanks Giving Weekend, learning as we progressed that we far past end of business hour. The next one-hour would become an unforgettable time frame of the trip. After a long and tiresome search we found a bakery slightly close to Rockefeller Center. As soon as we entered it, we realized they were closing and the only stuff they had left was cold sandwiches. We each bought one, I got egg salad sandwich. Then they said, they would have to close the shop and we cannot eat inside. Cold Sandwich in one hand we walked out, the temperature was bone chilling and we struggled to stand against the strong gust of freezing wind. At some point Adrenalin kicked in, we simply started walking completely unconscious of each other, and soon I found myself on a street bench – made of steel which felt like a block of ice – hastily opening the sandwich and wolfing it down. I was aware that my hands were shivering too much to hold the sandwich steady and water running down my nostrils as my brain was scrambling desperately to balance my body temperature. Instead of chewing I simply swallowed portions like talking pills, since it was too cold when my teeth touched the cold egg salad. I am not sure how long I sat there with the empty sandwich wrap, hands clasped together and winter cap tightly drawn over my ears. I can still think of that grueling one-hour and feel goose bumps all over.
But life has to move on. With food in our stomachs, our hearts pumping warm blood to critical parts of the body we continued with new energy to our final destination of the day, the Rockefeller Center. The whole place was decorated for the Christmas spirit and they had their famous ice skating platform next to a giant Christmas tree. We spent some time watching other people skate as we came up with various reasons why we shouldn’t do it. But our main purpose of visiting the Rockefeller center was the NBC Studio.
The National Broadcasting Network was the first major broadcasting network in US of A formed in 1926, oldest among big three broadcasters in North America – ABC and CBS being the other two. It has a huge presence in American News, Entertainment and other Media sent over airwaves and is a parent network for a multitude syndicate programs and channels through out the world. It is a venue for a number of live news, performance and comedy shows including the ever-famous Saturday Night Live. Having grown up with TV as a make believe surrogate parent I couldn’t escape the feeling of going to a make believe surrogate home. On one side I wanted to see the sticks and props of the puppetry that is TV entertainment, but on the other I was anxious that once the tricks are revealed it won’t be as magical anymore. With a mixture of uncertainty, I entered the Studio section of Rockefeller Center and we all bought tickets for the studio tour. As is customary in all attractions in US of A, the entrance was a giant merchandise shop full of expectedly overpriced souvenirs- cups, t-shirts, pants and figures made of Styrofoam and synthetic rubber- all related to one or many of the movies and programming coming out of the NBC house. There is something novel about shopping at a place that is a master in selling things.
There was little video presentation showing the history, geography and political science behind NBC and then moved on to the studio tours. First we visited a newsroom – sort of – fitted with teleprompter for the news castor and green screen for the weatherman/woman. A little girl from the audience played the newscaster as she read the lines fed through the teleprompter and, sure enough, in the output screen she appeared as naturally reading as anyone. Some guy got to pretend as weather man in front of the green screen waving and pointing at the invisible rain cloud near Manhattan and in the screen the rain cloud was poised just like intended by Mother Nature. I imagined me sitting beside that table and struggling read from the teleprompter as we moved along the corridor to a daily talk show set. We were visiting the set of ‘The Late Night Show’, then hosted by Conan O Brian. I have seen a couple of those shows on TV and the set always looked brand new, with the lights, shining floor, polished desk and a beautiful sky line view of Manhattan at night as background. But in real life, it was much worn out. I don’t recall any of the parts of the set being shiny and the desk looked pretty old. Anyway the tour guide lady explained all the nuances in hosting a talk show including the ‘applause’ screen, which is basically a screen with the word ‘APPLAUSE’ written on it. During the show whenever the screen is lit, the audience would break into a roar of applause, generally done when the host makes a funny remark or a flat remark, or pretty much any remark. But given the comic talents of these late night hosts I would say those ‘applause’ screens were mostly redundant. We also had a look at the set of Saturday Night Live, more popularly known as SNL – on a Saturday.
By the time we finished up the tour and stepped out I realized the magic was still there. It’s just the tricks were not that interesting anymore-with the entire Internet and all. We walked for sometime to Grand Central Terminal but couldn’t spend much time there, since it was pretty cold and dinnertime was creeping up quickly. But mostly we had great day today and felt completely exhausted. Right from the Empire State Building to the Broadway drama and the refreshing time at the Rockefeller Center we had memorable experiences and we were ready close the day. We caught the train back to Journal Square and after having one of my most favorite dish - a nice and warm ‘kothu parotta’ at a local Indian shop we called it a night.
Click Here For Pics
Coming Up: Our last day at New York City where we engage in a desperate race against time to visit some of the attractions we missed out and attempt to get our hands on some NYC merchandise. Be sure to check back
Saturday, July 18, 2009
NewYork - III
Hello and welcome back to the third edition of the story where I narrate the experiences of my visit to New York city during the Thanks giving weekend of 2009. I hope you enjoyed the last chapter in which I shared my first and only thanks giving day experience in New York City. In one historic day, I was able to witness the finest of NYC’s attractions including the Macy’s parade. In this narration, I will tell you all about the day when I roamed about the capitol of the US of A – Washington D.C.
Disclaimer: All names, places, accounts and events mentioned in the narration can be partially or entirely false. Reading this narrative can cause increased blood glucose level, rheumatoid erections and dementia. Possible Other Side effects include loss of time, increased knowledge, read rage and erectile dysfunction.
newyork NEWYORK
November 28, 2008: The Empire Strikes Back
I slept through the night, tired from all the walking and running and seeing, and when I woke up people were already upset about my tardiness. Today, the plan was to get to Washington DC and since daylight ends much quicker these November days, we wanted to get there early. Pretending to ignore their tantrums, I got ready and we set out into colder than expected morning. We hopped between trains from Journal Square and Penn station to reach the Rental Car center at Newark Airport and picked up our rental sedan. We got our almost-a dollar breakfast and coffee from McD (pronounced exactly as such), marked our destination in GPS device and hit the road. Since Nat and Muan were the registered drivers I knew there isn’t much I could- or wanted- to do so I sunk into my seat, finished up the burger and coffee and dozed off. (Yes, I can drink coffee and take nap in minutes almost at will.) I woke up when the car hit a bump on the road and the road sign indicated we were cruising somewhere in Maryland. I had a co-worker when I was in Stillwater who had moved to Baltimore University in Maryland to pursue her goal of becoming a PhD graduate in Biology and then getting into teaching. I started to wonder how she was and whatever happened to her. Outside the car window, the weather looked lovely. Serene shade filled the place, as it wasn’t sunny, or gloomy but a perfect middle. The area mostly void of elevations and the few houses that I saw resembled more like mom-pop farms. This was before I dozed off again. A Loud siren woke me up as our car pulled over for a passing Fire truck. Then the landscape was much different. The plane of the area was uneven and was mostly covered by grass carpet. The road slithered along what seemed like an uphill and after going through a couple of tunnels, at which point our GPS lost its signal with the satellite and leaving us in the metaphorical darkness for a while, we arrived at the city.
Washington D.C is a result of combining Washington City and District of Columbia (the D.C part) several years ago. The city, like any capitol city, is filled with official and unofficial buildings and monuments and their closely related tourists. I was expecting some sort of a carnival atmosphere, since the 2008 presidential election had completed just a couple of weeks ago and Barrack Obama, who won the long and drawn out contest, was set to step in on January. Although the commencement ceremony was more than a month away, it’s never too early to celebrate the legend-erily foretold coming of the hopemeister. It was bitter cold outside and my newly bought leather jacket was only doing so much to protect me. We found a parking spot pretty close to the capitol building and technically started our tour at around noon. Whenever I see a parliament building, any official building of significance for that matter, I instantly think of all the work they do inside- day to day. House members introducing bills, opposition parties shouting and rambling, speaker of the house pounding the gavel, rhetoric-after-rhetoric-after rhetoric; all in a day’s life. Soon I realize it’s not as important as it seems, so I begin marveling at the architecture of the building. My first capitol-building encounter was at Oklahoma City, the capitol of Oklahoma – my home state for the better part of life in US. I awe-d and ooh-ed at it four years ago, when I was new as a bambi and easily excitable about the US like, well, a even younger bambi. The thing about US capitol buildings is that they all have pretty much the same design. Wide Stairs raising above the ground leading up to highly symbolized platform with massive even numbered pillars that hold the exquisitely symmetrical dome with its tapering apex generally housing some artifact with a moderate historical significance. And of course, the whole thing is made out of marble, white in new ones, slightly baished in older ones, a tinge of brownish pink in Texas. It was much cloudy that day, and staring at the US Capitol building gave absolutely no sense of newness except may be the size. Well of course the real estate is much larger and less number of rednecks walking around (most people actually looked like fashionable elite liberals) but mostly it was kind of the same. Still we posed and took pictures and saw swearing ceremony stage being built before walking away from it. Now, things get better.
Like I said the area is filled with historic monuments and the best part is that they are all within the line of sight from each other. Turning away from the US Capitol building, one is almost stepping over the imperious Pool and in direct view is the Washington Memorial- a tall obelisk with laser eyes, a bit further is the Lincoln Memorial, between them –not in view- is the reflection pool and to the right of Lincoln Memorial is the World War II memorial. It is a tourist’s/photographer’s delight. What these giant attractions mask is the distance between each one of them. We were like – ‘wow they are so close, let’s walk over’. And we kept walking and walking forever. The cold was terrible and the warm cocoa we bought was not helping very much. We made it to Washington monument which was a staggeringly high obelisk – an Egyptian looking artifact- placed right in the middle between the capitol building and Lincoln memorial, surrounded by a big circle of – I am guessing here- a thousand US flags (Actually 56 flags one for each state and six for the 6 territories, but I’ve been know to exaggerate). To spice things up, they have two bright red lights at the top edge of the face of the obelisk almost making it alive at night. It was getting dark and by the time we finished up here and walked over to the World War II memorial the elaborate fountains at the memorial were glistening with pretty lights. A wide stone platform with multiple inscriptions of the horror and suffering and the bravery and the ultimate victory of US troops during last world war was encircled by 50 rectangular pillars one per state, with the state name and their insignia boldly carved in them. The victorious eagle and American flag were present everywhere and, all realities aside, you get the unavoidable goose bumps for its sheer magnificence. It was pretty dark by now and our legs were hurting so badly, we could barely walk. My camera had run out of battery and I borrowed Sen’s, as the blowing wind across night was getting colder.
There is something about men who against extreme opposition and facing a clearly treacherous path hold their principles and March forward only to be struck down by ill fate and cowardice and yet change the path of mankind forever. There is nothing ordinary about these men, because they had no proof that they were right, but showed extraordinary belief in that little voice in their heart guided only by the true meaning of virtue. There were too many fickle minded mobs pressing them down, yet they strong willed the temptation to bargain because, if nothing, principle is all that one can have. There were too many threats for a single person, but that didn’t stop them from doing anything. Basically, these were unreasonable men with vision that cannot be justified with the mind but with strongest of hearts alone. There are only a handful of such souls in recorded history and fitting the profile perfectly, Abraham Lincoln was such a man and much more.
He was mending shoes and then he became the 16th president of US and successfully fought the civil war –the bloodiest in US soil- which almost split the country in half to abolish legal slavery and brought the most basic asset of any human being – freedom- to all the enslaved Black people in America and then a complete coward shot the unarmed Lincoln dead in a theater. Some years later, in 2009, an African American named Barrack Obama became The President of the United States.
Even from a distance, at night, the huge white structure, famously shown in a number of Hollywood movies that predict future take over of the earth by primates, the Lincoln Memorial is a sight to see. Carved in white stone the statue of the man sits imperiously in a flood of white light, he easily dwarfs any thing near simply by stature. Funny thing is he doesn’t look like your usual hero, by today’s standards he would be cast aside as a village hilly-billy. Excerpts from some of his historic speeches were inscribed in the walls surrounding the statue and after reading them I stood there reveling at the truth in those words and their relevance today. I was so much filled with awe that I forgot all about the cold and my hurting feet. It didn’t last long though. As soon as we stepped out of the memorial, they came back with a vengeance. There was no way we could walk anymore, but then we remembered we haven’t yet seen the White House.
Of course, the official residence of the President of the US of A was still occupied by G.W. Bush, till Jan 20th 2009, but still the house itself carried prominence to shadow his presence. With every step hurting our feet and every cold breadth stinging our lungs we kept walking, circumventing the area front of the white house cordoned off for the inauguration ceremony celebrations and by the time we reached the fence in front of the white house fountain facing the famous four pillars and the balcony, hunger had already kicked in.
But once again, seeing the structure that has such an irreplaceable spot in modern history, I started wondering about all the world-changing events that have happened inside the walls and within the Oval office housed inside. An armed policeman stood just a few feet from us facing us towards the white house, face stern with absolutely no smile. I doubt if he imagined us- 4 brown guys with dark hair speaking unfamiliar tongue- with turbans and beards.
I would never forget the walk back to the car that night. Every step was such an effort; I began to wonder if the moon landing was easier than this. Eventually we started to rest on each other as we switched between practically dragging each other. And finally, we reached the car. I must have lost consciousness for sometime, with my feet resting and the car heater breathing in. When I woke up, we were on our way to meet up with our friend’s friend and after having dinner together in a Thai place we took the exit towards New Jersey. As is the custom, I began regurgitating the day’s events and highlights only to feel a bit dizzy and the next time I regained my sense we were halfway to Nat’s place in NJ- It was past midnight when I woke up remembering it was Sen’s Birthday. I wished him and, with the knowledge that soon we would reach home where the amenities are much pleasing, I happily joined in the conversation with the rest in the car, which, if I remember it correctly, was about something about bikini-clad-girls.
Coming Up: Our third day in NYC, when I, for the first time, go to a Drama Theater in Broadway. Any taker on how many weeks I’ll take to write it up?
Friday, May 29, 2009
NewYork - II
Welcome back to the second edition of the chronicle of adventures carried out by me and my friends in New York City (NYC) during the Thanks Giving Weekend (TGW) of 2008. In this narration, I will tell you all about the wonderful experience at Thanks Giving day Parade, my visit to Status of Liberty and the time when I rode a Bull for the first time!!
Disclaimer: All names, places, accounts and events mentioned in the narration can be partially or entirely false. Reading this narrative can cause jealousy towards oneself and sitting ducks syndrome. Other Side effects include loss of time, increased knowledge, read rage and erectile dysfunction.
newyork NEWYORK
The morning weather was frigid. Some of us could hardly stop shivering and our stomachs started to growl for breakfast. We headed out to a diner and after more than half an hour of searching we finally entered a relatively less crowded eatery. Oh… the hot coffee and warm sandwich!! I can still taste it in my mouth. I am not sure if it was the establishment or the weather, but the food tasted divine. We didn’t have much time so, once the food was in our stomach, we booted.
The idea was to go to the American Museum of Natural History and then decide the next spot, but after traveling on foot and by train for more than an hour, we found out it was closed for Thanks Giving Day. Seriously, on a day when tourism is almost at its highest, they shutter down the Museum of Natural History, which Wikipedia calls one of the largest and most celebrated ones. And just outside such a museum, right at the Museum’s entrance, featured prominently, is the large statue of former president T.Roosevelt (26th) regally seated on a horse and, here is the kicker- with an Indian (Native American) man holding his drape on one side, while a Black man holding his foot on the other side.It sounds spectacular, doesn’t it?. What a statue to have in front of one of the most visited Museums in America. Anyway they were closed, so we had to decide what to do next.
The answer came to us via phone. We called the offices of some of the places we were planning to visit and apparently all of the attractions are closed on Thanks giving day. Then we figured, how can you close Statue of Liberty? That’s like closing freedom itself. And that’s where we went.
Actually, its nothing like freedom. It is just a copper statue that holds an iconic place in American history and pop culture owing its fame to its brilliant location and the TV and film media’s obsessive love affair with it. Up until the age of affordable commercial jet-liners Lady Liberty was the first thing visible to travelers arriving at the east coast. She became the symbol of the promised prosperity in the land of the free, as immigrants from nations far and wide poured into the major part of 19th century America and she has never relinquished that title until today.
We took the ferry from Battery Park in NYC after waiting in a long line of multinational tourists and going through a make believe airport-style security check (I had about ten quarters in my pocket, but metal detecter never complained!! ). As you approach the Liberty Island you slowly understand the enormity of the copper woman. Slowly she became bigger and just before the ferry makes a roundabout to dock to the rear of the island, you get the complete view of the statue towering over everything near by with its scale clearly unmasked. The view is exactly as it is shown all those movies. Yup, we all got goose bumps.
Due to security reasons, visitors were not allowed to the observatory in the crown of the statue (recently reopened), and since we were not important, we were not allowed into the 89 feet of granite pedestal. Once you get close to the statue you notice all the little things you didn’t see before. She is not actually standing straight, but slightly moving forward, caught in the frame as she is lifting the heel of her back leg. She is not lean and curvy, but she is more like a strong, middle aged women, like a judge, who can knock down a relatively sized man with ease. Finally she has got a lot of scars throughout her face and her body as result of years of weather treatment.To her side was the inimitable Manhattan skyline, Empire Statue Building to the far left and the Brooklyn Bridge to the extreme right. Its hard not to wonder at works of creativity of this land, as the sun sets in the evening splashing the Liberty Statue with pristine gold shades, the calm ocean mildly splashing the walls as the night lights come up far visible through the hundreds of windows that skin every single sky scraper of Manhattan. I guarantee you, you have never something like that until you have actually seen it.
We kept taking pictures until our hands started to ache and the night began to freeze. Fulfilled, we caught the ferry back to the land and started wandering into the NY streets as the night and street lamps set in.We stopped by the American Stock Exchange, Trinity Church, Wall Street and the WTC construction Site where the freedom tower is in its infant stage and kept walking until we got blinded at a street corner. Apparently we had just reached Time Square.
Yup, The Times Square. It’s called ‘Crossroads of the world’ not without reasons. A staggering 26 million tourists visit the place every year and it is one of the most crowded intersections – 1.7 million people pass through the Times Square every day. It is one of the iconic spots that represent the abundance of technology and wealth of American cities. Once you are there, it doesn’t take a long time to the reason for the hype. It’s hard to find street lights in Times Square and if you have seen any of its pictures, you will know why.Huge LED billboards, called jumbotrons, fixed to the walls the surrounding offices and other establishments pour copious amounts of light of dizzying arrays of colors and intensity. The corporate part of corporate America spared no expense when it came to making this place unique. Officially, signs in Times Square are called "spectaculars", and the largest of them are called "jumbotrons." In 1992, the Times Square Alliance (formerly the Times Square Business Improvement District, or "BID" for short), a coalition of city government and local businesses dedicated to improving the quality of commerce and cleanliness in the district, started operations in the area. With a large NYPD presence, Times Square is also very safe. There were marquees for news, movies, restaurants, and everything else you can think of. We stayed there mesmerized for a long time and finally when the spell was broken by our hungry stomachs, we hailed a cab for our dinner reservation.
Wouldn't you love the sight of whole chicken roasted nicely and placed warm in front of you? I do too. Since turkey is traditionally cooked on Thanksgiving Day, prior to our trip, we had made a reservation on an upscale and relatively pricey (for our financial status) restaurant for a special Thanksgiving Dinner. We hailed a cab and I could almost taste the juicy garlic roasted turkey as we reached the Atlantic Grill. I have to admit, this wasn’t like any of the restaurants I’ve been to. The people inside seemed relatively rich and more importantly behaved upper class. This was new for me since I am more used to , shall we say, lot less upper class food joints. Once we entered a nice looking waitress clad in super white shirt took our jackets (Classy!!) and took us to our table and I enthusiastically ordered the ‘Special Turkey Thanks Giving Dinner’.
I was disappointed. No, let me correct it. I was highly disappointed. The special Turkey thanks Giving Dinner did not feature a whole turkey. In fact it did not even feature a whole of half the turkey. The dish was served with the Turkey neatly sliced and toasted to perfection. I’ll admit the food was impeccable, but no FULL TURKEY!!! Well, at least the ambiance was great and food was awesome.
With filled stomach and heart, we took a cab to Grand Central Station and hailed the train to Nat’s Home. As the train rocked sideways as it moved forward with its distinctive noise, I drifted to rewind mode and soon realized that this was an incredible day. When I first boarded the plane to the US of A three years ago, all that was running my mind was the things that they show on TV about the great places in America. For three years I been to places and done stuff, but this is the holy of hollies filling me with a sense of fulfillment. Today I have, for real, been to the Thanks Giving Parade, Statue of Liberty, Time Square, Grand Central Station and, I almost forgot, I also climbed up the Wall Street Bull.
Click For Pics
And this was just day one of this trip. I can’t wait for Tomorrow.
Coming Up: Day two and we head out to Changeville where the newly elected Barack Obama was about to open a can of Hope Syrup. (Yes, I watch ‘The Daily Show’). Make sure to check back soon.
Disclaimer: All names, places, accounts and events mentioned in the narration can be partially or entirely false. Reading this narrative can cause jealousy towards oneself and sitting ducks syndrome. Other Side effects include loss of time, increased knowledge, read rage and erectile dysfunction.
newyork NEWYORK
November 28: A New Beginning
First Day at the magical city of New York was marked by tardiness. We woke up later than what we had planned and had to rush up to get to the Macy’s Day Parade, which has been essentially the most significant highlight of Thanks Giving day since its inception way back in 1924. It was started by the employees of Macy’s Department Store who were largely immigrants from Europe who crowded the streets of early 90s New York, when they wanted to celebrate thanks giving similar to their elders back home. In New York, the employees marched to Macy's flagship store on 34th Street dressed in vibrant costumes. There were floats, professional bands and live animals borrowed from the Central Park Zoo. With an audience of over a quarter of a million people, the parade was such a success that Macy's declared it would become an annual event and has continued until now, suspended only during World War II. Large animal-shaped balloons produced by The Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company in Ohio replaced the live animals in 1927 and the first animal to be featured was Felix- the Cat. Air was replaced by helium for inflating the balloons as more animals, cartoons and other pop culture figures were added in subsequent years – more than 10000 characters have featured in the parade so far- the whole parade is broadcast by NBC throughout US of A and the rest of the world through affiliated networks. The parade starts at about 9 am and we learned that the best spots would be gone as early as 7 am. Like I said, we woke up late and the time was after 8 when finally started. We stopped for some coffee at Dunkin Donuts (which totally rocks) and then took the train at Journal Square. The trains were packed and by the time we got to Columbus Circle, as predicted by the ‘tour guide’ website, the best spots were taken already. Crammed between multinational tourists we would barely be able to see anything that’s not 6 feet tall. But then again, the balloons that feature in the parade are huge ones that float up high in the air, so I was upbeat. The morning was pretty cold and the coffee didn’t help as much as we thought. Grownups held their kids, on their shoulders, who didn’t seem to mind the freezing wind as long as they got to see their giant floating friends. And then the Parade got under way. It was just phenomenal to see all those super-sized balloons gliding in the air, carefully guided by handlers with the strings which were barely visible from where we were standing. There were a wide variety of characters; from McDonald to Mickey to the Smirfs to Hello Kitty it seemed like a never ending line-up of all the childhood characters in giant rubberized form carefully choreographed so as to not hit anything on their way through the crowded streets of New York. Over the years, there have been many incidents during the parade that caused injuries to citizens and public officials due to a balloon hitting light pole or a traffic light but every year the number of people who show up to watch this spectacle never seem to ebb. Other than the balloons and live character artists, there were also performers from various bands and troops who merrily sang, danced and did more as the parade continued through its path. Unfortunately, these performers were real, meaning they were not tall enough for us see them. We could hear there drums beating and trumpets blaring and had to be content with it. Anyhow, it was the first time I was in the Macy’s day Parade and that by itself is huge feat.The morning weather was frigid. Some of us could hardly stop shivering and our stomachs started to growl for breakfast. We headed out to a diner and after more than half an hour of searching we finally entered a relatively less crowded eatery. Oh… the hot coffee and warm sandwich!! I can still taste it in my mouth. I am not sure if it was the establishment or the weather, but the food tasted divine. We didn’t have much time so, once the food was in our stomach, we booted.
The idea was to go to the American Museum of Natural History and then decide the next spot, but after traveling on foot and by train for more than an hour, we found out it was closed for Thanks Giving Day. Seriously, on a day when tourism is almost at its highest, they shutter down the Museum of Natural History, which Wikipedia calls one of the largest and most celebrated ones. And just outside such a museum, right at the Museum’s entrance, featured prominently, is the large statue of former president T.Roosevelt (26th) regally seated on a horse and, here is the kicker- with an Indian (Native American) man holding his drape on one side, while a Black man holding his foot on the other side.It sounds spectacular, doesn’t it?. What a statue to have in front of one of the most visited Museums in America. Anyway they were closed, so we had to decide what to do next.
The answer came to us via phone. We called the offices of some of the places we were planning to visit and apparently all of the attractions are closed on Thanks giving day. Then we figured, how can you close Statue of Liberty? That’s like closing freedom itself. And that’s where we went.
Actually, its nothing like freedom. It is just a copper statue that holds an iconic place in American history and pop culture owing its fame to its brilliant location and the TV and film media’s obsessive love affair with it. Up until the age of affordable commercial jet-liners Lady Liberty was the first thing visible to travelers arriving at the east coast. She became the symbol of the promised prosperity in the land of the free, as immigrants from nations far and wide poured into the major part of 19th century America and she has never relinquished that title until today.
We took the ferry from Battery Park in NYC after waiting in a long line of multinational tourists and going through a make believe airport-style security check (I had about ten quarters in my pocket, but metal detecter never complained!! ). As you approach the Liberty Island you slowly understand the enormity of the copper woman. Slowly she became bigger and just before the ferry makes a roundabout to dock to the rear of the island, you get the complete view of the statue towering over everything near by with its scale clearly unmasked. The view is exactly as it is shown all those movies. Yup, we all got goose bumps.
Due to security reasons, visitors were not allowed to the observatory in the crown of the statue (recently reopened), and since we were not important, we were not allowed into the 89 feet of granite pedestal. Once you get close to the statue you notice all the little things you didn’t see before. She is not actually standing straight, but slightly moving forward, caught in the frame as she is lifting the heel of her back leg. She is not lean and curvy, but she is more like a strong, middle aged women, like a judge, who can knock down a relatively sized man with ease. Finally she has got a lot of scars throughout her face and her body as result of years of weather treatment.To her side was the inimitable Manhattan skyline, Empire Statue Building to the far left and the Brooklyn Bridge to the extreme right. Its hard not to wonder at works of creativity of this land, as the sun sets in the evening splashing the Liberty Statue with pristine gold shades, the calm ocean mildly splashing the walls as the night lights come up far visible through the hundreds of windows that skin every single sky scraper of Manhattan. I guarantee you, you have never something like that until you have actually seen it.
We kept taking pictures until our hands started to ache and the night began to freeze. Fulfilled, we caught the ferry back to the land and started wandering into the NY streets as the night and street lamps set in.We stopped by the American Stock Exchange, Trinity Church, Wall Street and the WTC construction Site where the freedom tower is in its infant stage and kept walking until we got blinded at a street corner. Apparently we had just reached Time Square.
Yup, The Times Square. It’s called ‘Crossroads of the world’ not without reasons. A staggering 26 million tourists visit the place every year and it is one of the most crowded intersections – 1.7 million people pass through the Times Square every day. It is one of the iconic spots that represent the abundance of technology and wealth of American cities. Once you are there, it doesn’t take a long time to the reason for the hype. It’s hard to find street lights in Times Square and if you have seen any of its pictures, you will know why.Huge LED billboards, called jumbotrons, fixed to the walls the surrounding offices and other establishments pour copious amounts of light of dizzying arrays of colors and intensity. The corporate part of corporate America spared no expense when it came to making this place unique. Officially, signs in Times Square are called "spectaculars", and the largest of them are called "jumbotrons." In 1992, the Times Square Alliance (formerly the Times Square Business Improvement District, or "BID" for short), a coalition of city government and local businesses dedicated to improving the quality of commerce and cleanliness in the district, started operations in the area. With a large NYPD presence, Times Square is also very safe. There were marquees for news, movies, restaurants, and everything else you can think of. We stayed there mesmerized for a long time and finally when the spell was broken by our hungry stomachs, we hailed a cab for our dinner reservation.
Wouldn't you love the sight of whole chicken roasted nicely and placed warm in front of you? I do too. Since turkey is traditionally cooked on Thanksgiving Day, prior to our trip, we had made a reservation on an upscale and relatively pricey (for our financial status) restaurant for a special Thanksgiving Dinner. We hailed a cab and I could almost taste the juicy garlic roasted turkey as we reached the Atlantic Grill. I have to admit, this wasn’t like any of the restaurants I’ve been to. The people inside seemed relatively rich and more importantly behaved upper class. This was new for me since I am more used to , shall we say, lot less upper class food joints. Once we entered a nice looking waitress clad in super white shirt took our jackets (Classy!!) and took us to our table and I enthusiastically ordered the ‘Special Turkey Thanks Giving Dinner’.
I was disappointed. No, let me correct it. I was highly disappointed. The special Turkey thanks Giving Dinner did not feature a whole turkey. In fact it did not even feature a whole of half the turkey. The dish was served with the Turkey neatly sliced and toasted to perfection. I’ll admit the food was impeccable, but no FULL TURKEY!!! Well, at least the ambiance was great and food was awesome.
With filled stomach and heart, we took a cab to Grand Central Station and hailed the train to Nat’s Home. As the train rocked sideways as it moved forward with its distinctive noise, I drifted to rewind mode and soon realized that this was an incredible day. When I first boarded the plane to the US of A three years ago, all that was running my mind was the things that they show on TV about the great places in America. For three years I been to places and done stuff, but this is the holy of hollies filling me with a sense of fulfillment. Today I have, for real, been to the Thanks Giving Parade, Statue of Liberty, Time Square, Grand Central Station and, I almost forgot, I also climbed up the Wall Street Bull.
Click For Pics
And this was just day one of this trip. I can’t wait for Tomorrow.
Coming Up: Day two and we head out to Changeville where the newly elected Barack Obama was about to open a can of Hope Syrup. (Yes, I watch ‘The Daily Show’). Make sure to check back soon.
Thursday, April 2, 2009
New York - I
Epilogue:
The year is drawing to a close and the holidays are upon us. Holiday season is truly the funnest time in the US of A, with all the food, gifts and discount products, not to mention the maxed out credit cards and depleted bank accounts. The festivities start with Thanks Giving Weekend (TGW). It is an incredible four-day-weekend starting at every fourth Thursday of November each year and extends till Sunday. The whole country turns into a big carnival for the four days with all the lights and sounds sponsored by corporate America which set the tone for the spending spree that continues till the week after New Year and the souvenirs are measured in terms of retail sales percentage for the businesses and the number of anti-depressants taken to overcome the sickening feeling of being poor for the consumers. But if you are good at managing your wallet, TGW could be the most profitable time of the year, along with being the happiest. A major portion of fun that could be had on a TGW is directly proportional to the money you have and hence, needless to say, when you are in college or don’t have a rich parent or a good job or too much confidence in the future, a TGW might as well be a series of Mondays. Imagine a soul who is pressed with all those predicaments and on top of that, must finish the final documentation of his thesis paper which is only marginally exciting than a suicide. As you might have already guessed, that soul was me on TGW 2007.
Thankfully, things have turned around and now I have some of the safety nets mentioned earilier and as TGW approached in 2008, I was ready to get goin. So I gathered up my friends and began deliberating the possible venues where we could spend this year’s TGW.
This is not an easy decision, for we have waited too long to be rash. This cannot be something simple. It must be something special, something never seen, something never tasted or smelled before, but only dreamed in the quite comfort of being not practical, even dillusional. It must be grand in ways only the word ‘grandeur’ can be. It must be historical; In other words it must be un-simple.
After I had finished the high pitched proclaimation of the above brave-heart style speech, some one in the room said, How about New York City?
YES!!, How about NEW YORK CITY!!!
Disclaimer: All names, places, accounts and events mentioned in the narration can be partially or entirely false. Reading this narrative can cause severe diarrehea of the brain and reverse bowel movements. Other Side effects include loss of time, increased knowledge, read rage and erectile dysfunction.
New York NEW YORK
November 27: The Arrivals
Our travel gang, this time, consisted of four people. Me, a college friend who lives in the same city as I- codename Muan, another college friend from Las Vegas- codename Sen and finally a resident of New Jersey and a college senior of mine, codename N10. We saved some money by deciding to stay in Nat’s place and not take a hotel room. Given New York City’s (NYC) excellent mass transit train system, we calculated we could save up some more by not renting a car. Money is one of the most important factors when visiting NYC, any tour for that matter, and once we calculated and deemed NYC as financially feasible, the next step is to decide the itinerary. As I had decided to enjoy this TGW to the fullest, I proposed a traditional Thanks Giving Dinner on TG Day in an NYC restaurant, which was accepted by our tour planning committee. I also proposed a visit to one of the Broadway Theaters for stage drama, a long time wish of mine, and this was accepted as well. The third activity I proposed, to climb up Statue of Liberty and do a Micheal Jackson’s ‘Black or White’ style dance, was instantly rejected, but two out of three is more than what I am used to. We made necessary reservations, bought the required tickets and purchased extra clothing to suit up to NYC’s style, charm and cold weather. The air-fare to the Big Apple, unexpectedly, cost me more than what I expected. While purchasing the tickets online, the air-fare kept moving north of 250 bucks with every passing minute and at one point increasing by almost a hundred dollars between me clicking ‘purchase’ and the final ‘confirm’ button. I was determined to embark on this trip and no over priced ticket was going to stop me.
As the travel day inched closer, I was getting more and more excited. I packed up well before 48 hours and checked and double checked it. I called up every one of my friends who were not doing anything for TGW and proudly gloated over the fact that I will spending my TGW in a city that is referred as ‘The capitol city of the World’. Like I always do, I begged everyone I know who had a car to give me a ride to the airport, and one of my office colleagues, finally, agreed.
The flight was scheduled mid morning, so I took the day off from work and headed out to the airport early and the plane took off on time. While waiting at the gate, during the scheduled stop over at Cincinnati airport, I learned of the terrorist attack in Mumbai which was in progress. The images of men totting armed weapons and hysterical public running amok were flashed repeatedly in the airport TV and the actual information that was provided was patchy. Even though I was thousands of miles from the attack, I felt as if it was happening right outside the airport. Praying for the safety of those involved in those attacks and hoping that the tragedy would end soon, I boarded the connecting flight and after about 40 minutes we were flying over Manhattan, New York. There was relatively less fog and we could clearly see the bright array lights from the Empire State Building, Chrysler Building and other sky scrapers that give the Manhattan skyline its splendor and soon the ground came closer and the plane touched down smoothly. Nat, who lives very close to Newark International Airport, picked us up and after dropping our luggage at his home we headed out for dinner. The night was colder than I expected and after parking the car in an area which Nat calls ‘not the safest neighborhood’ we walked down a sparsely crowded street which looked like an Indian version of ‘China town’. Stores selling all kinds of Indian food, spices, clothes and even Indian brand tobacco were tightly packed next each other and since it was close to midnight most of the establishments were closed. We kept walking until we finally found a small eatery and had limited but tasty dinner. We took the food home and finished it up over the News reports about the Mumbai Terrorist situation which was still going on. They had the same incomplete news repeated over and over again in all the news outlets and after we couldn’t take it any more we went to bed. I was pretty tired and before I knew it, I was dreaming about the next day.
Coming Up : Our first day in the Big Apple. I’ll tell you all about the Macy’s day parade and Statue of Liberty and NYC weather. Please be sure to check back soon.
Sunday, March 15, 2009
Seattle IV
Greetings avid reader. You have come back to the narration of ‘The Seattle Expedition’ – a chronicle of the awesome adventures experienced by my friends and me during the Labor Day weekend of 2008. In the last three episodes you read about the tale of our Great Trekking of Mt. Rainier, the disappointment at St. Helens and an intriguing blast to the space. This is the fourth and last episode in which I give you the events of our final day in Seattle when we see something that I never dreamt of seeing in my life.
Disclaimer: All names, places, accounts and events mentioned in the narration can be partially or entirely false. Reading this narrative can cause frequent Google searches, excessive nail growth syndrome and excessive nails. Other Side effects include loss of time, increased knowledge, read rage and erectile dysfunction.
THE SEATTLE EXPEDITION
September 1: The Last Crusade
Final day is always full of anxiety. All the exciting things that happened in the last few days keep coming back in our minds to remind us of all the fun we had, but there is that feeling of impending sadness that almost always accompanies a departure inching ever closer with every passed hour. For the past two and a half days we had such a great time that it was hard for me to even think about checking out from the hotel, and getting on the plane, going back to phoenix, getting home on a Monday night, and do nothing but thinking about getting up the next morning and going to work where I pretend to be busy but mostly do nothing.The grief evaporated soon after I was told that our first destination for the day was the Boeing Future of Flight Center. I thought about the numerous airplanes we saw the previous day at the Everett Flight Museum and before I could sarcastically roll my eyes and ask- “Airplanes…Again?” I was answered, much to my excitement; that-‘This is the place where Boeing actually makes all of its Commercial airliners’. I could almost hear the sweet sound of the Pratt & Whitney- PW 4062 engines on either side of a 747-400 (Wikipedia is awesome!!). It was a mildly cold Monday morning and after a satisfying breakfast I enthusiastically drove our Dodge Nitro rental car and at about mid morning we reached The Future of flight center.
We entered into a small parking lot and right next to the parking lot was the Welcome center proudly displaying the corporate insignia. Quite some distance away from it was a cluster of tall concrete structures in rectangular blocks, which looked as if they were designed by someone who didn’t know the meaning of the word ‘round’. The clusters were built wall-to-wall and had massive blue colored aircraft-hanger-type doors. Right outside the doors were some cars parked in a large parking space with a maze of white and yellow tracks made of reflective material. A few yards away, just in front was the massive open space which looked like a giant courtyard with no roof, with white striped lanes clearly marked in a similar reflective material and within those lanes were the brand new Boeing Commercial Passenger and Cargo Airliners fully built, neatly parked and ready for delivery to the clients- just like you would find cars parked outside a car dealership. From where we were standing it was quite a view to see all those tail wings with their owners’ logo sticking up in the air. As soon as we entered the Welcome center, for security reasons, we were asked to place all the electronic equipment, wallets, keys and any carry on items in a safety locker. Then came the standing in line for the tickets. With such a big company you would think there would be some sort of a Kiosk, but apparently they preferred a couple of girls in their late twenties for that job. After the wait and the tickets, we were directed to a medium sized auditorium where a short clip of Boeing’s history was played and once it was confirmed that we were at the edge of our seats with excitement, we were asked to board a bus just outside the hall.
With the tour guide happily narrating some trivia about the Company, the bus took us in a tour of the facility finally stopping in front of one of the rectangular blocks, which together with other blocks in the cluster holds the Guinness World Record for the largest building by volume (472 million cubic ft). We walked down the stairs and through a long tunneled corridor with a multitude of wires, pipes, lights, hydraulics, and a few exits attached to the inside of it. Then came the block-by-block tour of each unit in which the building of various aircrafts were done. We walked on metal balconies, more like viewing galleries, located a few tens of feet from the floor where about 4 planes (more or less per unit) were in their “production lines’, each in different stages of its construction. Just imagine a big car workshop, with planes and tools big and small. I found out that every rectangular block within the cluster we saw from the parking area was the assembly building for a specific type of plane- one each for 747, 767, 777 and the new 787.
As we looked on with wide-eyes and wider smiles, the tour guide, former flight attendant, explained how Boeing had innovated/improved a lot of design and development methods for these production lines starting from ‘the Ford Model’ to the ‘Moving Assembly Line’. The Moving Assembly Line, which is basically building an airplane on an industrial bed which keeps moving at constant rate from one station to another, has reduced the construction of a 777 from 26 days to a mere 8. We could see the planes in sort of a U shaped assembly line. In one end, was a new plane which has just started to be built and in front of it is another one with the fuselage half built and then one with wings getting attached until at the other end of the ‘U’ where a completed plane stands without engine- They attach the engines as the last job. We also got to see Boeing’s new addition to its catalog, the 787 – Dream-liner, which is expected to be a game changer in aviation industry. Its not yet released, which means we saw the first 3 of its kind as they were being built. For someone who never missed to look up the sky upon hearing the sound of an aircraft engine, which I still do, it was an unforgettable morning.
I bought a 747-model plane at the gift shop after the tour, and once we collected our belongings from the locker headed out to Pike Place market. Before the trip, I read something about it online and sort of imagined it to be a densely crowded public market with all kinds of shops selling everything from flowers to exotic spices and diners providing the freshest local dishes, Seattle’s most famous sea food collection and sweets to annoyed locals and completely rude and unapologetic tourists. It turned to be exactly that. It was almost as if I was back in Panagal Park, in Chennai. We had the fresh grilled salmon and fried Tilapias for lunch which was pretty good and bought some chocolate coated cherries for snacks. The time for our departure flight was getting closer and we desperately wanted to push it further, in vain.
In a final attempt to delay the return trip to airport, we stopped at Aki Beach and enjoyed the absolute beauty which the Seattle Coastal view. The Sun was shining with the right amount of warmth, with the Space Needle in the back drop, mildly cold wind blowing across from the mountains, it was ‘THE’ moment we were looking for. We reveled in all the fun things we did in the past 3 days and with satisfaction we headed to the airport after returning the car at the rental place.
My flight took off and landed on time in Phoenix and my friend gave me the ride back home. I went home on that Monday night and spent the night doing nothing but thinking about getting up the next morning and going to work where I pretend to be busy but mostly do nothing.
Thanks for joining me. Until next time.
Disclaimer: All names, places, accounts and events mentioned in the narration can be partially or entirely false. Reading this narrative can cause frequent Google searches, excessive nail growth syndrome and excessive nails. Other Side effects include loss of time, increased knowledge, read rage and erectile dysfunction.
THE SEATTLE EXPEDITION
September 1: The Last Crusade
Final day is always full of anxiety. All the exciting things that happened in the last few days keep coming back in our minds to remind us of all the fun we had, but there is that feeling of impending sadness that almost always accompanies a departure inching ever closer with every passed hour. For the past two and a half days we had such a great time that it was hard for me to even think about checking out from the hotel, and getting on the plane, going back to phoenix, getting home on a Monday night, and do nothing but thinking about getting up the next morning and going to work where I pretend to be busy but mostly do nothing.The grief evaporated soon after I was told that our first destination for the day was the Boeing Future of Flight Center. I thought about the numerous airplanes we saw the previous day at the Everett Flight Museum and before I could sarcastically roll my eyes and ask- “Airplanes…Again?” I was answered, much to my excitement; that-‘This is the place where Boeing actually makes all of its Commercial airliners’. I could almost hear the sweet sound of the Pratt & Whitney- PW 4062 engines on either side of a 747-400 (Wikipedia is awesome!!). It was a mildly cold Monday morning and after a satisfying breakfast I enthusiastically drove our Dodge Nitro rental car and at about mid morning we reached The Future of flight center.
We entered into a small parking lot and right next to the parking lot was the Welcome center proudly displaying the corporate insignia. Quite some distance away from it was a cluster of tall concrete structures in rectangular blocks, which looked as if they were designed by someone who didn’t know the meaning of the word ‘round’. The clusters were built wall-to-wall and had massive blue colored aircraft-hanger-type doors. Right outside the doors were some cars parked in a large parking space with a maze of white and yellow tracks made of reflective material. A few yards away, just in front was the massive open space which looked like a giant courtyard with no roof, with white striped lanes clearly marked in a similar reflective material and within those lanes were the brand new Boeing Commercial Passenger and Cargo Airliners fully built, neatly parked and ready for delivery to the clients- just like you would find cars parked outside a car dealership. From where we were standing it was quite a view to see all those tail wings with their owners’ logo sticking up in the air. As soon as we entered the Welcome center, for security reasons, we were asked to place all the electronic equipment, wallets, keys and any carry on items in a safety locker. Then came the standing in line for the tickets. With such a big company you would think there would be some sort of a Kiosk, but apparently they preferred a couple of girls in their late twenties for that job. After the wait and the tickets, we were directed to a medium sized auditorium where a short clip of Boeing’s history was played and once it was confirmed that we were at the edge of our seats with excitement, we were asked to board a bus just outside the hall.
With the tour guide happily narrating some trivia about the Company, the bus took us in a tour of the facility finally stopping in front of one of the rectangular blocks, which together with other blocks in the cluster holds the Guinness World Record for the largest building by volume (472 million cubic ft). We walked down the stairs and through a long tunneled corridor with a multitude of wires, pipes, lights, hydraulics, and a few exits attached to the inside of it. Then came the block-by-block tour of each unit in which the building of various aircrafts were done. We walked on metal balconies, more like viewing galleries, located a few tens of feet from the floor where about 4 planes (more or less per unit) were in their “production lines’, each in different stages of its construction. Just imagine a big car workshop, with planes and tools big and small. I found out that every rectangular block within the cluster we saw from the parking area was the assembly building for a specific type of plane- one each for 747, 767, 777 and the new 787.
As we looked on with wide-eyes and wider smiles, the tour guide, former flight attendant, explained how Boeing had innovated/improved a lot of design and development methods for these production lines starting from ‘the Ford Model’ to the ‘Moving Assembly Line’. The Moving Assembly Line, which is basically building an airplane on an industrial bed which keeps moving at constant rate from one station to another, has reduced the construction of a 777 from 26 days to a mere 8. We could see the planes in sort of a U shaped assembly line. In one end, was a new plane which has just started to be built and in front of it is another one with the fuselage half built and then one with wings getting attached until at the other end of the ‘U’ where a completed plane stands without engine- They attach the engines as the last job. We also got to see Boeing’s new addition to its catalog, the 787 – Dream-liner, which is expected to be a game changer in aviation industry. Its not yet released, which means we saw the first 3 of its kind as they were being built. For someone who never missed to look up the sky upon hearing the sound of an aircraft engine, which I still do, it was an unforgettable morning.
I bought a 747-model plane at the gift shop after the tour, and once we collected our belongings from the locker headed out to Pike Place market. Before the trip, I read something about it online and sort of imagined it to be a densely crowded public market with all kinds of shops selling everything from flowers to exotic spices and diners providing the freshest local dishes, Seattle’s most famous sea food collection and sweets to annoyed locals and completely rude and unapologetic tourists. It turned to be exactly that. It was almost as if I was back in Panagal Park, in Chennai. We had the fresh grilled salmon and fried Tilapias for lunch which was pretty good and bought some chocolate coated cherries for snacks. The time for our departure flight was getting closer and we desperately wanted to push it further, in vain.
In a final attempt to delay the return trip to airport, we stopped at Aki Beach and enjoyed the absolute beauty which the Seattle Coastal view. The Sun was shining with the right amount of warmth, with the Space Needle in the back drop, mildly cold wind blowing across from the mountains, it was ‘THE’ moment we were looking for. We reveled in all the fun things we did in the past 3 days and with satisfaction we headed to the airport after returning the car at the rental place.
My flight took off and landed on time in Phoenix and my friend gave me the ride back home. I went home on that Monday night and spent the night doing nothing but thinking about getting up the next morning and going to work where I pretend to be busy but mostly do nothing.
Thanks for joining me. Until next time.
Sunday, March 8, 2009
Seattle Story III
Hello and welcome to the third of four-part series in which I narrate my experience during the trip to Seattle my friends and I took on the Labor day of 2008. The series is titled “The Seattle Expedition” and you are here by given full authorization to dive head first into the penultimate day of the trip in which we move away from nature trails I described in the previous chapter and shift to explore some of modern man’s astonishing accomplishments on land and air.
Disclaimer: All names, places, accounts and events mentioned in the narration can be partially or entirely false. Reading this narrative can cause sudden increase in awesomeness and attractiveness, blinking-eye syndrome and body hair. Other Side effects include loss of time, increased knowledge, read rage and erectile dysfunction.
It was a long time ago, since I had been to a small town/village and it was almost new to be in a place that had no trace of urgency, whatsoever. Not that I am too busy in phoenix, but the idea of having no tight schedules, tight corners with yield signs and blaring horns was such a refreshing experience. Morton, the place where I woke up on today (story’s today, not the actual today), was the place I described in the previous sentences. Yesterday (again, Story’s Yesterday) we visited Mt. Rainier and since due to weather conditions, we couldn’t reach the top and had to turn back, today we planned to visit another active strata volcano St. Helen. I am not sure if the residents thought if they named it after a female Saint the volcano might feel indecent to throw up all the hot lava when everyone is watching, but apparently, the name had no impact on its behavior. She blasted her nice tapering cone in 1980 during a violent eruption caused as an effect of a 5.1 Richter scale earthquake, drastically changing her and her surrounding’s appearance forever. The current crater on the top is a direct result of that eruption and she has been blowing up in smaller scales since 2004, which finally subsided in July 2008. So, that’s where we were planning to go. And we picked the city of Morton for its closeness to St. Helens.
After the nice shower and having previous night leftovers for breakfast, we marched out to our car and began the journey. We drove along the irresistible beauty, which is Washington’s greenery, which we were getting used to by now. The road started to get narrower and the trees started to get denser as we moved closer to mountain and as we got closer to within a few miles from it, the rear side of luck showed its metaphorical face as we entered the road that leads the foot of the mountain off the main intersection. Apparently there had been a bad rain a few weeks back, which resulted in a land slide which ‘slided’ the land, which was a part of the road we were supposed to travel. There was a big signboard along with the area map of the landscape, showing another roundabout route to our desired destination, but that would offset our overall travel plan by several hours. So, we decided against it and traveled back to or starting point- Morton which would lead us to our next destination, cheap lunch.
It was disappointing- not being able to set foot on a very recently active volcano and that too after being so close- and on top of that we had wasted that many hours driving to and fro without any apparent gain. Anyway, I think almost all of out miseries can be fixed by a good lunch that doesn’t cost that much. Enter Subway Five-Dollar Sandwich. With 5 types of bread, a couple of them actually tasting well, around 10 types of dressings and even more number of questions from the sweet girl behind the counter, its hard not get satisfied. And that’s the Lunch.
Since we were not about to scale the height of the volcano, we decided to go higher- Aviation. Again, since we couldn’t possibly learn all the principles of aviation and start flying in the given time frame, we decided to visit the flight museum is Seattle. The drive was long and at the end of it we were out of the real woods and into the wilderness of concrete jungle called Everett in Seattle. Inside the museum they had all kinds of aircraft, real and scaled models, civilian, space and military, those that land on runways on earth and those that land on the surface of the outer planets. Another category is those that you can touch, and those that you are only allowed stand behind a counter and just look. I worked on these categories for sometime before typing them. There was the SR-71 Blackbird which was used as a spy plane during cold war, there was the Boeing 747 – 1 which was basically the first 747 ever built, and then there was British Airways’ Concorde, yes I mean THE CONCORDE. And then they had lots of other planes. The museum had an actual size air-traffic control room where they had the actual air-traffic monitoring equipment with little buttons when pressed or turned will give the sound or the indication of the actual flight conversation. If you are an aeronautics freak like some friends’ of mine, then you’ll love it a great deal. If you are not into planes but go crazy for super sized toys, like me, then you will love it even more. There was the Air-Force One used by former presidents like Johnson, Nixon and Kennedy, and the Lunar Rover which was used by the Astronauts during their terrestrial exploration of Moon. Outside the Museum, arranged by a private group was a Bi-Plane ride, which you can see in the movies about world war. Couple of colleagues of mine decided to air raid the imaginary Nazi-Occupied area over Seattle bay and went on an excursion, which seemed like an ecstatic experience. If looking at and touching the planes was fun, actually riding it must be surely nothing less than a thrill. You can see them all (not all, a few of them) here.
By the time the Air-attack ended the sun had half settled on the western horizon and we decided to visit Seattle downtown, and once we reached there, we started on foot hunting for a coffee shop. Apparently, on Sundays, they close the coffee shops after 5-ish pm. In the unofficial home of American Coffee-Seattle, we roamed around fruitless-ly for about an hour before we could locate a Starbucks. After the caffeine fix, we headed out for the next reach for the sky, the Seattle Space Needle.
The Space Needle was built as an icon of the American achievement in science and space constructed in 1962 for the World’s Fair held in the same year. It was during the era of space war between U of SSR and US of A and this tower was seen as a symbol of the heights that American innovation had scaled and its future. Indeed, once you visit it, you cannot resist going up. The tower is 605 ft (184m) from the level to the air-traffic beacon on top and it houses an observatory, revolving restaurant and, as mandatory in all American landmarks, an over priced gift shop, at the floor level. It houses an elevator, which carries tourists at an astounding speed of 10 mph (16kmph) reaching the top in 43 seconds. All said and done the view from the top is stupendous. We were lucky to get fogless night that day, and the city of Seattle simply shined with little blue, red, yellow lights. There were on-board cameras at the top providing panoramic 360 degree view around the needle. It takes no effort to understand the size of this tower and almost too easy to appreciate the splendor it provides to the landscape. We got so immersed in it that we forgot about dinner, till our stomach's reminded us with the typical grumble.
We enjoyed a nice dinner at an Indian restaurant and bagged some for later. We drove to our hotel room in Seattle, which was comfy enough for a round of cards. As expected, I was ruthless in my victory and when they could not take it anymore, I called a satisfying day and went to bed.
Coming up next, our final day in Seattle, when we visit Boeing’s cave where they magically turn toy planes to real ones and a market that reminds me of home!!. Join me for the fourth and final installment of “The Seattle Expedition”.
Click here for Pics
Disclaimer: All names, places, accounts and events mentioned in the narration can be partially or entirely false. Reading this narrative can cause sudden increase in awesomeness and attractiveness, blinking-eye syndrome and body hair. Other Side effects include loss of time, increased knowledge, read rage and erectile dysfunction.
THE SEATTLE EXPEDITION
It was a long time ago, since I had been to a small town/village and it was almost new to be in a place that had no trace of urgency, whatsoever. Not that I am too busy in phoenix, but the idea of having no tight schedules, tight corners with yield signs and blaring horns was such a refreshing experience. Morton, the place where I woke up on today (story’s today, not the actual today), was the place I described in the previous sentences. Yesterday (again, Story’s Yesterday) we visited Mt. Rainier and since due to weather conditions, we couldn’t reach the top and had to turn back, today we planned to visit another active strata volcano St. Helen. I am not sure if the residents thought if they named it after a female Saint the volcano might feel indecent to throw up all the hot lava when everyone is watching, but apparently, the name had no impact on its behavior. She blasted her nice tapering cone in 1980 during a violent eruption caused as an effect of a 5.1 Richter scale earthquake, drastically changing her and her surrounding’s appearance forever. The current crater on the top is a direct result of that eruption and she has been blowing up in smaller scales since 2004, which finally subsided in July 2008. So, that’s where we were planning to go. And we picked the city of Morton for its closeness to St. Helens.
After the nice shower and having previous night leftovers for breakfast, we marched out to our car and began the journey. We drove along the irresistible beauty, which is Washington’s greenery, which we were getting used to by now. The road started to get narrower and the trees started to get denser as we moved closer to mountain and as we got closer to within a few miles from it, the rear side of luck showed its metaphorical face as we entered the road that leads the foot of the mountain off the main intersection. Apparently there had been a bad rain a few weeks back, which resulted in a land slide which ‘slided’ the land, which was a part of the road we were supposed to travel. There was a big signboard along with the area map of the landscape, showing another roundabout route to our desired destination, but that would offset our overall travel plan by several hours. So, we decided against it and traveled back to or starting point- Morton which would lead us to our next destination, cheap lunch.
It was disappointing- not being able to set foot on a very recently active volcano and that too after being so close- and on top of that we had wasted that many hours driving to and fro without any apparent gain. Anyway, I think almost all of out miseries can be fixed by a good lunch that doesn’t cost that much. Enter Subway Five-Dollar Sandwich. With 5 types of bread, a couple of them actually tasting well, around 10 types of dressings and even more number of questions from the sweet girl behind the counter, its hard not get satisfied. And that’s the Lunch.
Since we were not about to scale the height of the volcano, we decided to go higher- Aviation. Again, since we couldn’t possibly learn all the principles of aviation and start flying in the given time frame, we decided to visit the flight museum is Seattle. The drive was long and at the end of it we were out of the real woods and into the wilderness of concrete jungle called Everett in Seattle. Inside the museum they had all kinds of aircraft, real and scaled models, civilian, space and military, those that land on runways on earth and those that land on the surface of the outer planets. Another category is those that you can touch, and those that you are only allowed stand behind a counter and just look. I worked on these categories for sometime before typing them. There was the SR-71 Blackbird which was used as a spy plane during cold war, there was the Boeing 747 – 1 which was basically the first 747 ever built, and then there was British Airways’ Concorde, yes I mean THE CONCORDE. And then they had lots of other planes. The museum had an actual size air-traffic control room where they had the actual air-traffic monitoring equipment with little buttons when pressed or turned will give the sound or the indication of the actual flight conversation. If you are an aeronautics freak like some friends’ of mine, then you’ll love it a great deal. If you are not into planes but go crazy for super sized toys, like me, then you will love it even more. There was the Air-Force One used by former presidents like Johnson, Nixon and Kennedy, and the Lunar Rover which was used by the Astronauts during their terrestrial exploration of Moon. Outside the Museum, arranged by a private group was a Bi-Plane ride, which you can see in the movies about world war. Couple of colleagues of mine decided to air raid the imaginary Nazi-Occupied area over Seattle bay and went on an excursion, which seemed like an ecstatic experience. If looking at and touching the planes was fun, actually riding it must be surely nothing less than a thrill. You can see them all (not all, a few of them) here.
By the time the Air-attack ended the sun had half settled on the western horizon and we decided to visit Seattle downtown, and once we reached there, we started on foot hunting for a coffee shop. Apparently, on Sundays, they close the coffee shops after 5-ish pm. In the unofficial home of American Coffee-Seattle, we roamed around fruitless-ly for about an hour before we could locate a Starbucks. After the caffeine fix, we headed out for the next reach for the sky, the Seattle Space Needle.
The Space Needle was built as an icon of the American achievement in science and space constructed in 1962 for the World’s Fair held in the same year. It was during the era of space war between U of SSR and US of A and this tower was seen as a symbol of the heights that American innovation had scaled and its future. Indeed, once you visit it, you cannot resist going up. The tower is 605 ft (184m) from the level to the air-traffic beacon on top and it houses an observatory, revolving restaurant and, as mandatory in all American landmarks, an over priced gift shop, at the floor level. It houses an elevator, which carries tourists at an astounding speed of 10 mph (16kmph) reaching the top in 43 seconds. All said and done the view from the top is stupendous. We were lucky to get fogless night that day, and the city of Seattle simply shined with little blue, red, yellow lights. There were on-board cameras at the top providing panoramic 360 degree view around the needle. It takes no effort to understand the size of this tower and almost too easy to appreciate the splendor it provides to the landscape. We got so immersed in it that we forgot about dinner, till our stomach's reminded us with the typical grumble.
We enjoyed a nice dinner at an Indian restaurant and bagged some for later. We drove to our hotel room in Seattle, which was comfy enough for a round of cards. As expected, I was ruthless in my victory and when they could not take it anymore, I called a satisfying day and went to bed.
Coming up next, our final day in Seattle, when we visit Boeing’s cave where they magically turn toy planes to real ones and a market that reminds me of home!!. Join me for the fourth and final installment of “The Seattle Expedition”.
Click here for Pics
Wednesday, January 21, 2009
Seattle Story II
Welcome one and all to the exciting second edition to my trip to Seattle. It’s been quite a while since the first one, so let’s get straight to into our first venture in “The Seattle Expedition”.
Disclaimer: All names, places, accounts and events mentioned in the narration can be partially or entirely false. Reading this narrative can cause extreme nausea, simultaneuos boredom and excitement and induce sharp cofee craving. Other Side effects include loss of time, increased knowledge, read rage and erectile dysfunction.
THE SEATTLE EXPEDITION
Seattle has been blessed with a scintilating weather that stays true to its nature all year. With the onset of fall season, chill winds blew from all directions covering the sky with crowded white clouds. Sunshine is mostly blocked away as the whole city gets painted with a serene shade. Throughout our ride to the mountain, the roads were lined with tall green pine trees stacked on either side, so dense that one couldn’t see any trace of light beyond a couple of feet from the edges of the road. The road itself seems endless stretching into the horizon which looked like a painting by the divine hand. Snow clad montians circled the view with the cold air brustling through the trees making them sway in unision as if they were cheering for the four Indian guys driving amidst them. Nature is such a cliché when spoken or written, but when experienced in reality, it is nothing but ordinary.
Then came the winding roads. All the above said elements were there except the road is only a few feet straight and then bends into a moderately fast corner and then straightens back only to curve again. Driving is lot of fun in these roads. Ever since I started riding my motorcycle in the US of A I have come to like roads, along with other things, with curves. It had rained recently and the pools and small lakes that border the roads were aplenty with water. Some of the spots were just too good for us to not stop and take some pictures. We drove along taking lunch, which we ordered to go before entering the park jurisdiction, inside the car stopping by some really picturesque spots to enjoy the scenery before hopping back in. The natural elements and the intensity of their beauty kept increasing as we drove towards the information center at the foot steps of what was to be our hike. By the time we reached it I was so satisfied with the ride and everything that came with it that I suggested that we just stand there, look around and finish the day.
Now obviously, that was not the real reason for me wanting to just stay there. You see the ‘hike’ that everybody kept telling me about was not some walk around the park sort of thing but apparently It was a 2.5 mile round trip across the rigid rocks and frigid snow which would put us at 6560 feet above sea level. Yes, the mountian was exceptional in all of its splendor but its just that I did not want to walk all the way up and down for 2 hours. Anyway, since none of my friends obliged to my humble request, so I had to walk up (You know, being fearless and all that). Playing the sound track of the movie Rocky in my mind, I took the first step in what was to be a never ending hike on the ‘Pinnacle Trail’. One down, few thousands steps to go.
Approximately 2.5 hrs and few thousands minus one steps later we were back where we started, at the information center. We were extremely tired and our hands were shivering due to the cold. I never cared for chocolate milk before because I like chocolate cake. But after that toilsome ‘walk-about’ it tasted as if the angels themselves had brewed it. Every sip of the warm liquid flowing through my wind pipe sent out critical SOS signals throughout my vital organs as the extremities of my body began to unfreeze. I drank the last few drips of that over priced beverage at the eatery located inside the information center and only when the shivering had ceased and cluttering of the teeth had stopped did I realize that I had experienced one of the best nature trails I have ever been to. These mountains and rocks and trees have been there for so many years and that I have become a part of their history, however insignificant that may be for them. Covered in snow and cloud, inhabited by fresh plants and vibrant animals this was one of those few places where peace and serenity was abundant and perenial. After thinking about it for sometime, I realized I could never do justice to that period of time with just words. You will have to imagine that.
After that fulfilling day, it was time get to our bunker. We had booked a hotel in a near by mini-City called Morton. We checked in to our small but comfy hotel room and spoke about general stuff. Like I said in the previous chapter, one of our friends had his birthday the previous day, so we headed out for a nice Mexican dinner, payed by the birthday boy ofcourse. We played cards for sometime and once I crushed them to the ground with my awesome talent, it was time to bed.
Coming up: The second day of our Seattle expedition when we try to see conquer another volcano. Was it as entertaining as this one? Did it erupt engulfing all of us molten hot lava? How many months will the author wait to write this one? Check back for the next installment of “The Seatlle Expedition”
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