Landed at JFK an hour late at 1pm, long line at immigration. Super Shuttle arrangements at the ground transportation desk in JFK was very fast, though. Finally arrived at On the Ave (77th St and Broadway) at around 4pm. Had to fight off the temptation to curl up underneath the extra thick duvet and sleep the jet lag away. Must start exploring NYC. My original Day 1 agenda was to get to know the Upper West Side where we stayed, but scrapped that and headed off to tourist central, Times Square, for a more relaxed first day. Later on tried to locate MoMA to get ahold of the Citypass booklet, but was distracted by many sights along the way and didn't get there before it closed at 8pm. Headed off to Empire State Building afterwards since it's open until 2pm. Walked roughly 15 blocks down to ESB and saved us $15 on pedicab transportation (bicycle-driven sort-of carriage), but regretted not getting a hitch from one of the cute drivers and not being able to experience this NYC tourist ride.
Queen J was ahead of me by a day and was at LA a few days before our NYC trip so she had pretty much adjusted to the time difference at this point.
First meal at Pax Wholesome Foods. I would later on discover that delis like this would be my go-to place for a quick bite in NYC. The food was fresh and affordable with many vegetarian options.
Ripley's Believe It or Not. I realize now we never got to try Applebee's. Times Square was packed with tourists for the Fourth of July weekend. For most of my stay in NYC, I had to rub elbows with other tourists, plus many unfamiliar faces would be appearing in my photos from here on out.
One of my favorite news websites and witnessing firsthand NYC rush hour traffic. NYC drivers were aggressive and impatient based on my shuttle ride and one too many eyewitness accounts of drivers honking and cursing excessively. Would I ever survive if I were to drive a car around NYC?
Lego replicas of the ESB and Chrysler Building in the enormous Toys R Us.
The M&M experience
Lambskin, Swarovski studded M&M jacket: Would you wear this if you had one of the only 100 jackets made?
Army of M&M Ms Liberty's
Got it? I know it's corny but I love it.
Off to the other candy place. The inside of the Hershey's store was a lot less impressive than M&M's.
Kisses street lamp and NYPD car. Hoping to be able to take a photo with a real cop.
Off to 5th Ave and passing by The Rock. On the right was the start of a long queue, which I guessed was the line to the NBC studio.
The stroll along 5th Ave starts here.
St. Thomas Church at 53rd St, my first encounter with the elaborate architecture of NYC churches. This took my breath away. The more well-known St. Patrick's Cathedral is just a few blocks down.
To the left is Saks Fifth Ave. I reserved an afternoon for actually going into these department stores with enough time to browse through their shoe sections. It turns out Fourth of July was a great time to visit NYC as most stores were on sale. The heat wave, which would start in a couple of days, was not a fun experience, though.
Our ESB experience was quite short for 2 reasons: the throng of other tourists trying to get a spot by the ledge and the unbearably cold summer breeze on the 86th floor viewing deck.
After ESB, we headed home for a relaxing dinner in our hotel room consisting of takeaway from the 24hr Manhattan Diner across On the Ave (which was one of the many places around the area I failed to take photos of including the facade of our hotel).
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