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errrrrrrrr...
Dec. 5th, 2009 11:05 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
akteso...we haven't updated in ages. oops. We've been busy having fun instead :)
Here's a couple of photo's I took last night of Pittsburgh, from around the corner from Tina's apartment.
( behind a cut 'cause they are kinda large )
Here's a couple of photo's I took last night of Pittsburgh, from around the corner from Tina's apartment.
( behind a cut 'cause they are kinda large )
Last day in NYC :(
Nov. 21st, 2008 03:51 pmakteOn Friday, we woke up to pouring rain, but we were determined to have a good day. It was our last day in the city and we wanted to make the best of it. After our showers, we got dressed and headed to the subway, which we took to the west side, then got off in midtown. We had been looking for Indian food for a week, and decided today was the day. After we looked up a few places online and decided on a place on 52nd street that everyone and their mother recommended called Bombay Palace. Once we got off the subway we went searching for the place. We went the wrong way on 52nd street and ended up at a place called Bombay Eats, which we decided to try.
It was not what we expected. The meat dishes were hard to discern from the vegetarian dishes, so Kate was not sure about what she could eat. The naan was good, but otherwise, it was pretty terrible. After we were done, we headed down to the West Village and wandered around. We weren't looking for anything specific, but I saw Amy Poehler in a Starbucks, and Kate saw Selma Hayek in a juice bar. Wee...
We also went to Chinatown and Little Italy, but we quickly ran out of steam. We had one more thing we had thought about doing, which we had a running bet over. They have carriage rides in Central Park and I was pretty sure it was about $40US to take a ride, but Kate was convinced that I was way off, but she wouldn't tell me how much she thought it would cost. So, we took a bus up to Central Park and looked for a carriage. We found one easily and the guy said he would give us a thirty minute ride for $40US. I win.
The ride was lovely, we went around the south end of the park, he took us by the skating rink and the lake. It was really, really lovely. We took a lot of pictures of ourselves, which we have a habit of doing, since we are adorable... and suddenly the ride was over. They offered a longer ride, but with it being so dark, there wasn't really a reason to, so we decided to get off the carriage and head home.
After the carriage ride, Kate and I were pretty destroyed. We didn't care what we had for dinner, we just knew that we wanted to bring it back to the room so we could start to pack. We were also starting to get sick, so we didn't want any fuss. So, we headed to a restaurant. It looked really nice on the outside, so we went in, they sat us, and we looked at the menu. There was not one thing that Kate could eat on the entire menu. My worst nightmare had become a reality. So, we left. Next door, there was a little place that we always passed on the way to the bus downtown and we made fun of the sign. It read: "Fish, Shrimps, and Chips."
When we got inside, it was your stock italian place. Pizza, calzones, garlic bread... and it also had sub sandwiches and all that stuff, so there was plenty for us to eat, right?
Wrong.
Kate asked for fries, and I was going to get mozzarella sticks and a calzone. Went up to order, and the guy said they had the fries, but no mozzarella sticks. (?!) So, I asked for a calzone, and they said they didn't have those either. (Okay... if anyone knows what this is... its basically an inside out pizza! They had the dough and the cheese, I mean... GAH!) So, I got cranky pants and asked what they did have, and decided to get a steak sandwich. I went to sit down, and we waited for about ten minutes. Nothing. Kate decided she also wanted garlic bread, so I went to order it. They had no garlic bread, but he offered me garlic knots. Fine, no problem. Then the other guy behind the counter shook his head and SURPRISE! they were out of those too. So, they said they could make it on the sub bread and I said go for it. I went back to wait for the food, and about ten more minutes later, they called me over to pay. It was way less than I thought it would be, and I asked about the bread, since I hadn't seen it. They said they didn't make it. I told them to forget it and we went home.
The food was pretty gross.
We started to pack and get ready to go and a few hours later, Kate and I decided we were hungry again. There was a bodega on the corner so I said I would go get us a sandwich.
Tomato and Muenster cheese sandwiches for the win.
So, after we ate, we quickly fell asleep and then it was time to leave, which was sad... but we were ready.
It was not what we expected. The meat dishes were hard to discern from the vegetarian dishes, so Kate was not sure about what she could eat. The naan was good, but otherwise, it was pretty terrible. After we were done, we headed down to the West Village and wandered around. We weren't looking for anything specific, but I saw Amy Poehler in a Starbucks, and Kate saw Selma Hayek in a juice bar. Wee...
We also went to Chinatown and Little Italy, but we quickly ran out of steam. We had one more thing we had thought about doing, which we had a running bet over. They have carriage rides in Central Park and I was pretty sure it was about $40US to take a ride, but Kate was convinced that I was way off, but she wouldn't tell me how much she thought it would cost. So, we took a bus up to Central Park and looked for a carriage. We found one easily and the guy said he would give us a thirty minute ride for $40US. I win.
The ride was lovely, we went around the south end of the park, he took us by the skating rink and the lake. It was really, really lovely. We took a lot of pictures of ourselves, which we have a habit of doing, since we are adorable... and suddenly the ride was over. They offered a longer ride, but with it being so dark, there wasn't really a reason to, so we decided to get off the carriage and head home.
After the carriage ride, Kate and I were pretty destroyed. We didn't care what we had for dinner, we just knew that we wanted to bring it back to the room so we could start to pack. We were also starting to get sick, so we didn't want any fuss. So, we headed to a restaurant. It looked really nice on the outside, so we went in, they sat us, and we looked at the menu. There was not one thing that Kate could eat on the entire menu. My worst nightmare had become a reality. So, we left. Next door, there was a little place that we always passed on the way to the bus downtown and we made fun of the sign. It read: "Fish, Shrimps, and Chips."
When we got inside, it was your stock italian place. Pizza, calzones, garlic bread... and it also had sub sandwiches and all that stuff, so there was plenty for us to eat, right?
Wrong.
Kate asked for fries, and I was going to get mozzarella sticks and a calzone. Went up to order, and the guy said they had the fries, but no mozzarella sticks. (?!) So, I asked for a calzone, and they said they didn't have those either. (Okay... if anyone knows what this is... its basically an inside out pizza! They had the dough and the cheese, I mean... GAH!) So, I got cranky pants and asked what they did have, and decided to get a steak sandwich. I went to sit down, and we waited for about ten minutes. Nothing. Kate decided she also wanted garlic bread, so I went to order it. They had no garlic bread, but he offered me garlic knots. Fine, no problem. Then the other guy behind the counter shook his head and SURPRISE! they were out of those too. So, they said they could make it on the sub bread and I said go for it. I went back to wait for the food, and about ten more minutes later, they called me over to pay. It was way less than I thought it would be, and I asked about the bread, since I hadn't seen it. They said they didn't make it. I told them to forget it and we went home.
The food was pretty gross.
We started to pack and get ready to go and a few hours later, Kate and I decided we were hungry again. There was a bodega on the corner so I said I would go get us a sandwich.
Tomato and Muenster cheese sandwiches for the win.
So, after we ate, we quickly fell asleep and then it was time to leave, which was sad... but we were ready.
New York - Wicked day!
Nov. 21st, 2008 12:51 pmakteWICKED!!!!!!!!!!
We went to Wicked on Thursday night and OMG. Just...OMG. SO FREAKING FANTASTIC!!! I can't rave enough about it, but I don't want to go on and on and on, so suffice it to say, it was brilliant. I would go again and again and again if I could. We both would. We both loved it to freaking death. Oh, and the theatre it is in had the most comfortable seats. Even for two fat chicks, we could both wiggle our butts around with plenty of room to spare. Loved that.
( a couple of Wicked-themed pics )
After Wicked, we went back to Big Nick's for a slice of Pizza each (OMG best cheese pizza ever. EVER EVER EVER!) and decided (after my random obsession with them for the past few days) to share a banana split. Pizza consumed, banana split ordered. We're sitting there chatting away when a very cute, well dressed guy comes and sits at the table right next to ours.
"Are you girls sisters?"
"No."
"Best friends? Lovers?"
"Yeah."
"Really? You're lovers?"
"Yeah."
He knew this, he said, because he could see how comfortable we were around each other, and how there was no tension between us. He then continued to talk to us, telling us he had just come from court, and that he was going through a divorce at the moment and his ex-wife was dragging him through the courts and that it was a sad day for him, and that he felt good seeing us happy together because it gave him hope etc etc etc. He was a nice guy, just needed someone to talk to I think. Tina was a little bit disturbed, but we both chatted to him for a while. Eventually it occurs to us that it's been a while since we ordered our banana split. Tina looks up and see's one of the guys who works there walking in the front door with a banana in his hand. 2mins later our banana split appeared at our table. THIS IS WHY I LOVE NEW YORK! No "oh sorry, we've run out," when you order something they don't have. No. At a little after midnight, they SENT SOMEONE OUT TO BUY A BANANA to make our banana split. AWE-SOME! The guy next to us finished his pizza slices and headed home, then not long later so did we. Great night :D
We went to Wicked on Thursday night and OMG. Just...OMG. SO FREAKING FANTASTIC!!! I can't rave enough about it, but I don't want to go on and on and on, so suffice it to say, it was brilliant. I would go again and again and again if I could. We both would. We both loved it to freaking death. Oh, and the theatre it is in had the most comfortable seats. Even for two fat chicks, we could both wiggle our butts around with plenty of room to spare. Loved that.
( a couple of Wicked-themed pics )
After Wicked, we went back to Big Nick's for a slice of Pizza each (OMG best cheese pizza ever. EVER EVER EVER!) and decided (after my random obsession with them for the past few days) to share a banana split. Pizza consumed, banana split ordered. We're sitting there chatting away when a very cute, well dressed guy comes and sits at the table right next to ours.
"Are you girls sisters?"
"No."
"Best friends? Lovers?"
"Yeah."
"Really? You're lovers?"
"Yeah."
He knew this, he said, because he could see how comfortable we were around each other, and how there was no tension between us. He then continued to talk to us, telling us he had just come from court, and that he was going through a divorce at the moment and his ex-wife was dragging him through the courts and that it was a sad day for him, and that he felt good seeing us happy together because it gave him hope etc etc etc. He was a nice guy, just needed someone to talk to I think. Tina was a little bit disturbed, but we both chatted to him for a while. Eventually it occurs to us that it's been a while since we ordered our banana split. Tina looks up and see's one of the guys who works there walking in the front door with a banana in his hand. 2mins later our banana split appeared at our table. THIS IS WHY I LOVE NEW YORK! No "oh sorry, we've run out," when you order something they don't have. No. At a little after midnight, they SENT SOMEONE OUT TO BUY A BANANA to make our banana split. AWE-SOME! The guy next to us finished his pizza slices and headed home, then not long later so did we. Great night :D
New York day 3 & 4
Nov. 21st, 2008 11:51 amakteTuesday morning, we both set out armed with a list of things we wanted to see and do. Monday had mostly been spent saying things like, “Oooh, we need to get back there!” and “Ahh! I forgot about that place I wanted to see.” So, we decided a list of things were in order.
On this day, we decided to be very touristy. We took the train down to South Ferry and hopped on the Staten Island Ferry. For anyone who is thinking about visiting NYC, this is a great, free way to see the city and take pictures, as well as see the Statue of Liberty. We got some great shots of Manhattan and the water surrounding. It gave the city an… island look, if you will.
By the way, I would like to take this time to mention our luck and impeccable timing. We have had a tendency the entire trip to get somewhere just as the subway was coming, or the ferry was being loaded up. It really saved time for us, which allowed us to get things done.
Anywho… after we disembarked back in Manhattan, we decided to walk until we found a bus that would take us uptown in the direction of Times Square. What we stumbled upon was an enormous street fair, which we assume was for Veteran’s day. We spent a bit of time walking through that, and when we reached the end, we decided to hop on the subway instead.
The subway took us up to 50th street, and it spit us out right by the Gershwin, which is where we are seeing Wicked on Thursday. We puttered about a bit by there, then saw a diner across the street from there. It was the most deliciously cheesy place ever called Ellen’s Stardust Diner. The whole thing is decorated with old fifties nostalgia, and they play old TV shows on a projector. Also! The waiters take turns singing oldies. Some were better than others, but it was fun.
Next, we went to Rockefeller center and watched the people ice skate. We were considering going up to the top floor to get views of the city from up high, but at $20 per person for an elevator ride, we decided we had better things to do with our money. More walking and we ended up in Grand Central Station, which is a really gorgeous old building. We took a bunch of photos, then headed to the subway to get the shuttle over to Times Square. While on the subway a guy who used to be homeless and in jail for 12yrs got on and recited a poem he had written called ‘Bum’. It was… lovely.
After we hightailed it off of the shuttle, we wandered around Times Square and decided we needed to use the restroom. We went into the Times Square info center and were relieved to discover facilities, however, we were not so relieved to discover old blood on the floor. No, really… blood. Between the stalls. Yikes. So, after copious amounts of anti bacterial gel, we went into the Hershey’s store. It was insane! They had all types of Hershey’s candy, some of which they don’t sell in the stores. There was also an M&M shop. They had a lot more selection, but it was all based around one candy. There were dozens of different colours to choose from to make mixes with, but we refrained. We then stuck our head in to a popcorn shop that promised the world, but smelled entirely unpleasant.
A hasty retreat later, and we were on our way to put our names down for the Avenue Q lottery. Where we stood next to 8 of the most painful people we have encountered on our trip. They were actors, darling and we both wanted to smack the crap out of them a few minutes in. Funny enough, all of them managed to get chosen for the RANDOM lottery. There must have been thirty people there hoping for twelve tickets, and all eight of them ended up getting into the show. Funny how that works, right? Especially when then know someone in the show, and also the guy who was pulling the names out of the bucket.
The two of us then made a decision to do something more fun and a lot cheaper. We went down to the Upright Citizen’s Brigade and bought two tickets to their 8pm Harold night. Cost? Ten bucks total. We were quite pleased with ourselves. The show was awesome. A Harold is a form of improv comedy when one group takes a suggestion and they just do about 25 minutes worth of improv on that one suggestion. It was great. We saw six different groups and we couldn’t decide which was better. After the show ended, we decided we were hungry, and we went to Serendipity 3. They had a huge menu of crazy desserts and we settled on a ‘Can’t Say No’ sundae that had a slice of humble (peanut butter) pie, vanilla ice cream, bananas, and hot fudge with whipped cream and a cherry. It was wonderful and the perfect amount to share. By the time we left there it was almost midnight so we hopped on a bus and made our way back to our room.
This morning was a much slower start. We slept in pretty late and had a much slower day. We had lunch at a tiny, cafeteria type place. After that, we went to Dylan’s Candy Bar which is an insane three level candy shop. We bought a little bit – mostly stuff we’d never tried before – and got a free scoop of ice cream each. We settled down in the café on the top level to eat our ice cream and there was a woman there being interviewed. I thought nothing of it until it becomes obvious that she is the owner of the store. I looked at Tina and said “She’s incredibly young to own a place like this.” Which is when she informed me that she is Dylan Lauren. Ralph Lauren’s daughter. Maybe not so young to own a place like this then…
We went to FAO Schwarz and had fun checking out the toy store. They have the big piano that you can walk across and it plays and lights up from the movie Big, and they have a section where you can create your own Muppet! You design it and come back twenty minutes later and they’ve made it for you! I WANT ONE!!! It’s the only place in the world that makes them, and they are seriously awesome. But they are also $103US. So…no.
After we left the store, we waited for a bus to take us downtown. A man approached us and asked us to buy candy. We declined, and he left. About five minutes later, another man approached us and got REALLY REALLY close to Kate, and asked her to buy candy. She said no. He pressed her. I said no, go away, and as soon as the bus came, he did. Apparently, he had been touching her ass the whole time, in a lame attempt to pick pocket her. But, since Kate is smart, she had her hand in her pocket on her wallet and my bag was between us out of his reach. We win against the con artists! WEE!
From there we headed down to Times Square and the big Toys R Us so we could ride the indoor Ferris wheel. We were lucky enough to get the Mr. Potatohead car. (All the cars were of different toys, such as My Little Pony, Cabbage Patch Dolls, Monopoly, Little Tykes, etc.) It was a nice, long ride for the $4US we paid for it.
Toys R Us is cool, because it’s in the middle of Times Square and its got a Ferris wheel and a big animatronic T-Rex, but it doesn’t really hold a candle to FAO Schwarz. The latter is just a totally sophisticated, neat place.
Next, we headed downtown for dinner. Kate said she wanted pasta, so we went right to Little Italy. We found a nice, hole in the wall place with less than fifteen tables and went over the menu. We ordered (Manicotti and Linguini Marinara, and garlic bread to share) and were almost done eating when a group of three people came into the place. They sat just in front of us and we knew as soon as they sat down that they were going to be entertaining. So, we stayed.
We were not disappointed. First, they asked for the owner. He wasn’t in. The group wanted a specific wine that they ordered a year ago. All that they knew is that it wasn’t a pinot grigio (cause it apparently tastes like “pee water”) and that it was expensive. (uhm, thanks?) So, they perused the wine menu, talking about this wine. They thought they found it, and the waiter brought it over, uncorked it and poured it for the man at the table. He drank it, decided it was great, and they all got a glass. About half way through their glasses, they decided, no, that was wrong, and they called the waiter back over. He told the waiter that “this is just table wine. I want your expensive bottles.” And once the waiter left to find another bottle as the man perused the wine list again he said to the two women with him that he “couldn’t imagine what a $30 bottle of wine would taste like.” Several opened and tested bottles of wine later, they began trying to describe the man who had served them the wine a year ago. It was established that the “portly white man” was indeed the manager. So of course the guy said that they should “call him at home and ask him what wine he recommended to them.” A year ago. Needless to say, the waiter was a little flustered by the whole thing.
The couple then decided they wanted food. They looked at the menu and only noticed one thing they wanted, so they ordered that, then asked the waiter to make them a “plate of a bunch of things and make it special.” Err, OMGWTFBBQ? So, poor waiter went to get their order. Meanwhile, the group was talking about their friends, but being really mean at the same time. For instance, they were talking about a friend, “Oh, yeah, she got all that work done, and then started exercise videos. Too little, too late if you ask me!” Yikes.
The waiter came back with a final bottle of wine. He showed it to the man and they recognized it. The man then had his wife use her iphone to google whether that was a good year. While this was happening, he brought us our check, which was super reasonable, since he didn’t charge us for the garlic bread. He came back to get our money and we were waiting for our change. We waited. And waited. And continued waiting some more, until finally Tina (who could see the till from where she was sitting) said that he was not bringing out change. We had given them $40 for a $23 meal. Now, we had already decided to tip very reasonably since the food had been excellent and they hadn’t charged us for the garlic bread, but $17 was a bit much in my mind. After the waiter uncorked the third bottle of wine for the group, we got his attention and our change. As soon as we tipped him, we hightailed it out of there. It was getting to be a bit much.
Our last stop was at a small Italian bakery for cannolis and after getting them, we headed home for an early night. Tomorrow will be a big day.
On this day, we decided to be very touristy. We took the train down to South Ferry and hopped on the Staten Island Ferry. For anyone who is thinking about visiting NYC, this is a great, free way to see the city and take pictures, as well as see the Statue of Liberty. We got some great shots of Manhattan and the water surrounding. It gave the city an… island look, if you will.
By the way, I would like to take this time to mention our luck and impeccable timing. We have had a tendency the entire trip to get somewhere just as the subway was coming, or the ferry was being loaded up. It really saved time for us, which allowed us to get things done.
Anywho… after we disembarked back in Manhattan, we decided to walk until we found a bus that would take us uptown in the direction of Times Square. What we stumbled upon was an enormous street fair, which we assume was for Veteran’s day. We spent a bit of time walking through that, and when we reached the end, we decided to hop on the subway instead.
The subway took us up to 50th street, and it spit us out right by the Gershwin, which is where we are seeing Wicked on Thursday. We puttered about a bit by there, then saw a diner across the street from there. It was the most deliciously cheesy place ever called Ellen’s Stardust Diner. The whole thing is decorated with old fifties nostalgia, and they play old TV shows on a projector. Also! The waiters take turns singing oldies. Some were better than others, but it was fun.
Next, we went to Rockefeller center and watched the people ice skate. We were considering going up to the top floor to get views of the city from up high, but at $20 per person for an elevator ride, we decided we had better things to do with our money. More walking and we ended up in Grand Central Station, which is a really gorgeous old building. We took a bunch of photos, then headed to the subway to get the shuttle over to Times Square. While on the subway a guy who used to be homeless and in jail for 12yrs got on and recited a poem he had written called ‘Bum’. It was… lovely.
After we hightailed it off of the shuttle, we wandered around Times Square and decided we needed to use the restroom. We went into the Times Square info center and were relieved to discover facilities, however, we were not so relieved to discover old blood on the floor. No, really… blood. Between the stalls. Yikes. So, after copious amounts of anti bacterial gel, we went into the Hershey’s store. It was insane! They had all types of Hershey’s candy, some of which they don’t sell in the stores. There was also an M&M shop. They had a lot more selection, but it was all based around one candy. There were dozens of different colours to choose from to make mixes with, but we refrained. We then stuck our head in to a popcorn shop that promised the world, but smelled entirely unpleasant.
A hasty retreat later, and we were on our way to put our names down for the Avenue Q lottery. Where we stood next to 8 of the most painful people we have encountered on our trip. They were actors, darling and we both wanted to smack the crap out of them a few minutes in. Funny enough, all of them managed to get chosen for the RANDOM lottery. There must have been thirty people there hoping for twelve tickets, and all eight of them ended up getting into the show. Funny how that works, right? Especially when then know someone in the show, and also the guy who was pulling the names out of the bucket.
The two of us then made a decision to do something more fun and a lot cheaper. We went down to the Upright Citizen’s Brigade and bought two tickets to their 8pm Harold night. Cost? Ten bucks total. We were quite pleased with ourselves. The show was awesome. A Harold is a form of improv comedy when one group takes a suggestion and they just do about 25 minutes worth of improv on that one suggestion. It was great. We saw six different groups and we couldn’t decide which was better. After the show ended, we decided we were hungry, and we went to Serendipity 3. They had a huge menu of crazy desserts and we settled on a ‘Can’t Say No’ sundae that had a slice of humble (peanut butter) pie, vanilla ice cream, bananas, and hot fudge with whipped cream and a cherry. It was wonderful and the perfect amount to share. By the time we left there it was almost midnight so we hopped on a bus and made our way back to our room.
This morning was a much slower start. We slept in pretty late and had a much slower day. We had lunch at a tiny, cafeteria type place. After that, we went to Dylan’s Candy Bar which is an insane three level candy shop. We bought a little bit – mostly stuff we’d never tried before – and got a free scoop of ice cream each. We settled down in the café on the top level to eat our ice cream and there was a woman there being interviewed. I thought nothing of it until it becomes obvious that she is the owner of the store. I looked at Tina and said “She’s incredibly young to own a place like this.” Which is when she informed me that she is Dylan Lauren. Ralph Lauren’s daughter. Maybe not so young to own a place like this then…
We went to FAO Schwarz and had fun checking out the toy store. They have the big piano that you can walk across and it plays and lights up from the movie Big, and they have a section where you can create your own Muppet! You design it and come back twenty minutes later and they’ve made it for you! I WANT ONE!!! It’s the only place in the world that makes them, and they are seriously awesome. But they are also $103US. So…no.
After we left the store, we waited for a bus to take us downtown. A man approached us and asked us to buy candy. We declined, and he left. About five minutes later, another man approached us and got REALLY REALLY close to Kate, and asked her to buy candy. She said no. He pressed her. I said no, go away, and as soon as the bus came, he did. Apparently, he had been touching her ass the whole time, in a lame attempt to pick pocket her. But, since Kate is smart, she had her hand in her pocket on her wallet and my bag was between us out of his reach. We win against the con artists! WEE!
From there we headed down to Times Square and the big Toys R Us so we could ride the indoor Ferris wheel. We were lucky enough to get the Mr. Potatohead car. (All the cars were of different toys, such as My Little Pony, Cabbage Patch Dolls, Monopoly, Little Tykes, etc.) It was a nice, long ride for the $4US we paid for it.
Toys R Us is cool, because it’s in the middle of Times Square and its got a Ferris wheel and a big animatronic T-Rex, but it doesn’t really hold a candle to FAO Schwarz. The latter is just a totally sophisticated, neat place.
Next, we headed downtown for dinner. Kate said she wanted pasta, so we went right to Little Italy. We found a nice, hole in the wall place with less than fifteen tables and went over the menu. We ordered (Manicotti and Linguini Marinara, and garlic bread to share) and were almost done eating when a group of three people came into the place. They sat just in front of us and we knew as soon as they sat down that they were going to be entertaining. So, we stayed.
We were not disappointed. First, they asked for the owner. He wasn’t in. The group wanted a specific wine that they ordered a year ago. All that they knew is that it wasn’t a pinot grigio (cause it apparently tastes like “pee water”) and that it was expensive. (uhm, thanks?) So, they perused the wine menu, talking about this wine. They thought they found it, and the waiter brought it over, uncorked it and poured it for the man at the table. He drank it, decided it was great, and they all got a glass. About half way through their glasses, they decided, no, that was wrong, and they called the waiter back over. He told the waiter that “this is just table wine. I want your expensive bottles.” And once the waiter left to find another bottle as the man perused the wine list again he said to the two women with him that he “couldn’t imagine what a $30 bottle of wine would taste like.” Several opened and tested bottles of wine later, they began trying to describe the man who had served them the wine a year ago. It was established that the “portly white man” was indeed the manager. So of course the guy said that they should “call him at home and ask him what wine he recommended to them.” A year ago. Needless to say, the waiter was a little flustered by the whole thing.
The couple then decided they wanted food. They looked at the menu and only noticed one thing they wanted, so they ordered that, then asked the waiter to make them a “plate of a bunch of things and make it special.” Err, OMGWTFBBQ? So, poor waiter went to get their order. Meanwhile, the group was talking about their friends, but being really mean at the same time. For instance, they were talking about a friend, “Oh, yeah, she got all that work done, and then started exercise videos. Too little, too late if you ask me!” Yikes.
The waiter came back with a final bottle of wine. He showed it to the man and they recognized it. The man then had his wife use her iphone to google whether that was a good year. While this was happening, he brought us our check, which was super reasonable, since he didn’t charge us for the garlic bread. He came back to get our money and we were waiting for our change. We waited. And waited. And continued waiting some more, until finally Tina (who could see the till from where she was sitting) said that he was not bringing out change. We had given them $40 for a $23 meal. Now, we had already decided to tip very reasonably since the food had been excellent and they hadn’t charged us for the garlic bread, but $17 was a bit much in my mind. After the waiter uncorked the third bottle of wine for the group, we got his attention and our change. As soon as we tipped him, we hightailed it out of there. It was getting to be a bit much.
Our last stop was at a small Italian bakery for cannolis and after getting them, we headed home for an early night. Tomorrow will be a big day.
New York day 1 & 2
Nov. 21st, 2008 10:51 amakteWe both wrote these NY posts, passing the computer back and forth.
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New York.
We woke up at a silly hour the morning we were going to leave, then pottered about for a few hours before finally leaving for New York at 8am. We spent a majority of the day driving through Pennsylvania, parked the car in New Jersey and got the train in to New York city. I experienced my first cab ride, first bus ride and first subway ride all in the first night I was there. We went to dinner at one of Tina’s favourite restaurants where I discovered just how incredibly good a plain cheese pizza can be. I had a couple of bites of her two slices that she ordered and was hooked. I’m definitely getting a slice of my own next time. We spent the night wandering around and ended up back in our room pretty early as we were both pretty tired from the long drive. OH! I didn’t mention! I drove! It was fun. It took me a few minutes to get used to everything being backwards, and in those few minutes Tina was panicking a lot, but once I was used to it I was fine.
This morning we got up, got the bus down Fifth Ave then got off where all the swankified shops are and walked the rest of the way down to 42nd and Times Square. That place is CRAZY! We wandered about, took photos, Tina got accosted by a guy wanting her to ask a question about the financial crisis on camera, which she did so she will be on some news program on Fox tomorrow morning. Yes, Fox. She is ashamed. lol.
We jumped on the subway and headed out to Coney Island and wandered around. It is all closed because it’s not in season, but it was still cool to just wander. We relaxed on the beach for a while, I tried some Funnel Cake, then we eventually made our way back in to Manhattan. We lined up at the TKTS booth for Avenue Q tickets, but then decided after a few minutes that we would risk the $21.50 lottery for seats so after more wandering we headed to the Avenue Q theatre and put our names in the big bucket. No luck. We’ve decided to try again tomorrow night and if not then we’ll just buy some tickets. After that we jumped back on the subway and headed up to where Tina used to live. She showed me her old building and we were disappointed to discover that the place that she had promised me made brilliant guacamole had closed down! But all was well, because we went to a proper old school diner for dinner J I even got a burger! Veggie burger, but a burger all the same. More wandering, more subway rides and eventually we decided we were too damn exhausted and headed back to our room. Tina passed out mid-conversation (good to see I’m so enthralling…) and is now happily sleeping next to me, while I’m wide awake.
I love this city. It’s crazy and busy, but it is awesome. There is SO much to do all of the time that you could never be bored. Anyway, bed time. Hoping for an early start tomorrow morning. It will be the Staten Island ferry for Statue of Liberty views and a trip to the top of Rockefeller Plaza assuming the weatherman didn’t lie to me. Oh, and that Sex & The City cupcake shop that I can’t remember the name of.
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New York.
We woke up at a silly hour the morning we were going to leave, then pottered about for a few hours before finally leaving for New York at 8am. We spent a majority of the day driving through Pennsylvania, parked the car in New Jersey and got the train in to New York city. I experienced my first cab ride, first bus ride and first subway ride all in the first night I was there. We went to dinner at one of Tina’s favourite restaurants where I discovered just how incredibly good a plain cheese pizza can be. I had a couple of bites of her two slices that she ordered and was hooked. I’m definitely getting a slice of my own next time. We spent the night wandering around and ended up back in our room pretty early as we were both pretty tired from the long drive. OH! I didn’t mention! I drove! It was fun. It took me a few minutes to get used to everything being backwards, and in those few minutes Tina was panicking a lot, but once I was used to it I was fine.
This morning we got up, got the bus down Fifth Ave then got off where all the swankified shops are and walked the rest of the way down to 42nd and Times Square. That place is CRAZY! We wandered about, took photos, Tina got accosted by a guy wanting her to ask a question about the financial crisis on camera, which she did so she will be on some news program on Fox tomorrow morning. Yes, Fox. She is ashamed. lol.
We jumped on the subway and headed out to Coney Island and wandered around. It is all closed because it’s not in season, but it was still cool to just wander. We relaxed on the beach for a while, I tried some Funnel Cake, then we eventually made our way back in to Manhattan. We lined up at the TKTS booth for Avenue Q tickets, but then decided after a few minutes that we would risk the $21.50 lottery for seats so after more wandering we headed to the Avenue Q theatre and put our names in the big bucket. No luck. We’ve decided to try again tomorrow night and if not then we’ll just buy some tickets. After that we jumped back on the subway and headed up to where Tina used to live. She showed me her old building and we were disappointed to discover that the place that she had promised me made brilliant guacamole had closed down! But all was well, because we went to a proper old school diner for dinner J I even got a burger! Veggie burger, but a burger all the same. More wandering, more subway rides and eventually we decided we were too damn exhausted and headed back to our room. Tina passed out mid-conversation (good to see I’m so enthralling…) and is now happily sleeping next to me, while I’m wide awake.
I love this city. It’s crazy and busy, but it is awesome. There is SO much to do all of the time that you could never be bored. Anyway, bed time. Hoping for an early start tomorrow morning. It will be the Staten Island ferry for Statue of Liberty views and a trip to the top of Rockefeller Plaza assuming the weatherman didn’t lie to me. Oh, and that Sex & The City cupcake shop that I can’t remember the name of.
Pittsburgh, PA
Nov. 9th, 2008 01:51 pmakteOr, Kate finally gets to her girl :D
Tina thought we were meeting in NY on Sunday. I lied to her. I flew to PA instead of NY :D So I got to her house about 3mins after she got home from work. She came running down the stairs, saw me and said "fuck off!!" and was smiling SO wide :D We hugged the life out of each other, then lugged all my crap upstairs. The next couple of hours just involved lots of "omg. you're here!" pokes and cuddles and kisses. Mum called on Skype and said hi. Tina's mum called and was all "DID YOU LIKE YOUR SURPRISE!?" hehehe. Everyone knew except Tina :D
We went to dinner at Olive Garden, and I officially love their bruschetta. Then we hit up Walmart 'cause we need stuff for our roadtrip. Walmart is Woolworths and Big W rolled together, on crack. It's a little crazy. Then we came home and curled up on the couch to watch some 30 Rock.
I haven't stopped smiling since 5:30 yesterday. She's so damn beautiful in real life. I just feel so lucky and so comfortable and so loved. It's awesome :)
And now we just woke up and are going to make pancakes for breakfast. I love life :D
Tina thought we were meeting in NY on Sunday. I lied to her. I flew to PA instead of NY :D So I got to her house about 3mins after she got home from work. She came running down the stairs, saw me and said "fuck off!!" and was smiling SO wide :D We hugged the life out of each other, then lugged all my crap upstairs. The next couple of hours just involved lots of "omg. you're here!" pokes and cuddles and kisses. Mum called on Skype and said hi. Tina's mum called and was all "DID YOU LIKE YOUR SURPRISE!?" hehehe. Everyone knew except Tina :D
We went to dinner at Olive Garden, and I officially love their bruschetta. Then we hit up Walmart 'cause we need stuff for our roadtrip. Walmart is Woolworths and Big W rolled together, on crack. It's a little crazy. Then we came home and curled up on the couch to watch some 30 Rock.
I haven't stopped smiling since 5:30 yesterday. She's so damn beautiful in real life. I just feel so lucky and so comfortable and so loved. It's awesome :)
And now we just woke up and are going to make pancakes for breakfast. I love life :D
San Fran – Day 3, 4, 5 & 6
Nov. 7th, 2008 01:51 pmakteDay Three was spent at the Institute of Science, which was really interesting. They have an aquarium and a planetarium there as well. We spent several hours there and had a lot of fun J
Day Four Kimma and I went to Muir Woods. BEAUTIFUL. I took a bunch of photo’s, but of course none of them have even remotely done it justice. Absolutely stunning. We went on a walk and thoroughly enjoyed ourselves. After that it was off for Kimma to vote, then back to her place for election watching. I’m not even American and Obama’s acceptance speech made me tear up.
Day Five I was on my own. I caught a commuter bus in to the city at 7:45am and spent the day on the hop on hop off tourist bus seeing all around the city. I also went over to Alcatraz, which was freakin phenomenal. I don’t get claustrophobic, and when I went in to the solitary cells I started to feel really short of breath. I couldn’t imagine actually spending time in any of these places. The energy in the place was smothering. That night I went to meet up with L and she took me for cheesy fries with ranch dressing. Okay. She won. I liked them. And oh my god the ranch dressing here is different to at home and SOOOOOOOOOOOO good. We (L and two housemates) all piled in to a car because there was supposedly a rally going on in town to protest something to do with Proposition 8 (They are trying to write in to the Californian constitution that gay marriage is illegal after it was legalised a couple of months ago) but by the time we got there we couldn’t find anything.
Day Six (today) Kimma & I had a lazy day just hanging out. Eventually I packed all my stuff and she dropped me off at the airport bus. L then picked me up from the airport and we hung out for another couple of hours (and watched the new ep of CSI with Lady Heather. purrrrrr) then she dropped me back at the airport, which brings me to here.
Photo's will come. Right now I'm too tired and it all seems too hard.
Day Four Kimma and I went to Muir Woods. BEAUTIFUL. I took a bunch of photo’s, but of course none of them have even remotely done it justice. Absolutely stunning. We went on a walk and thoroughly enjoyed ourselves. After that it was off for Kimma to vote, then back to her place for election watching. I’m not even American and Obama’s acceptance speech made me tear up.
Day Five I was on my own. I caught a commuter bus in to the city at 7:45am and spent the day on the hop on hop off tourist bus seeing all around the city. I also went over to Alcatraz, which was freakin phenomenal. I don’t get claustrophobic, and when I went in to the solitary cells I started to feel really short of breath. I couldn’t imagine actually spending time in any of these places. The energy in the place was smothering. That night I went to meet up with L and she took me for cheesy fries with ranch dressing. Okay. She won. I liked them. And oh my god the ranch dressing here is different to at home and SOOOOOOOOOOOO good. We (L and two housemates) all piled in to a car because there was supposedly a rally going on in town to protest something to do with Proposition 8 (They are trying to write in to the Californian constitution that gay marriage is illegal after it was legalised a couple of months ago) but by the time we got there we couldn’t find anything.
Day Six (today) Kimma & I had a lazy day just hanging out. Eventually I packed all my stuff and she dropped me off at the airport bus. L then picked me up from the airport and we hung out for another couple of hours (and watched the new ep of CSI with Lady Heather. purrrrrr) then she dropped me back at the airport, which brings me to here.
Photo's will come. Right now I'm too tired and it all seems too hard.
Day Two - San Francisco
Nov. 7th, 2008 12:51 pmakteI'm now at Houston airport, waiting for my next flight so you get another update!
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This morning we were off to a slow start. Everyone was a little bleary eyed, so we took it easy which was nice. Kimma and Keith had to meet with their wedding planner at midday, so I tagged along and found it incredibly educational. The woman seems really in to it too, so they’ve decided to go with her, so big yay for that.
After that we headed in to town again and in to Golden Gate Park which is BEAUTIFUL. We were going to go to the Science Museum (not the correct name) but realised we wouldn’t have enough time to do everything we wanted in there because it is a Sunday and they close early. So we had momentary plans to go to the zoo, then Keith came up with the idea of going to Pier 39 since the weather was pretty decent. BIG YAY for that idea. Pier 39 is incredibly touristy, but as a tourist I found it awesome. We had mini doughnuts (donuts. Pfft.) and wandered all the shops. They took me in to this big candy store where I discovered Taffy and Junior Mints. OMG Junior Mints are YUM! And the couple of pieces of taffy I’ve tried have been nice too. We also went in to a crazy huge chocolate shop there. I escaped only spending $5. Go me. The sea lions were cool, although smelly and noisy. But still a good photo. Keith tried to take a photo of me with the Golden Gate Bridge behind me but it was too damn foggy to be able to see it. The fog is incredible! Anyway, after that we headed back home and had some delicious Thai food for dinner, and I got to explore their cable TV. Crazy stuff. Spoke to Tina for about 40mins tonight, which was nice, and she (hopefully) set up my pre-paid mobile. Although they say it takes 1-2 days to set it up. Hopefully it’s done by tomorrow. I’d like that. Being completely without phone or interbutts is a strange feeling. I want to growl at Telstra. I called and asked for international roaming, but methinks they didn’t set it up.
Tomorrow Kimma and I are going in to the science museum, and maybe going to hit up a few shops. I think Tuesday is going to be the Muir Woods day, and then Wednesday and Thursday I’m in town on my own with my hop on hop off bus ticket. Wednesday I have a ticket to go on the 11am ferry to Alcatraz. YAY!
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This morning we were off to a slow start. Everyone was a little bleary eyed, so we took it easy which was nice. Kimma and Keith had to meet with their wedding planner at midday, so I tagged along and found it incredibly educational. The woman seems really in to it too, so they’ve decided to go with her, so big yay for that.
After that we headed in to town again and in to Golden Gate Park which is BEAUTIFUL. We were going to go to the Science Museum (not the correct name) but realised we wouldn’t have enough time to do everything we wanted in there because it is a Sunday and they close early. So we had momentary plans to go to the zoo, then Keith came up with the idea of going to Pier 39 since the weather was pretty decent. BIG YAY for that idea. Pier 39 is incredibly touristy, but as a tourist I found it awesome. We had mini doughnuts (donuts. Pfft.) and wandered all the shops. They took me in to this big candy store where I discovered Taffy and Junior Mints. OMG Junior Mints are YUM! And the couple of pieces of taffy I’ve tried have been nice too. We also went in to a crazy huge chocolate shop there. I escaped only spending $5. Go me. The sea lions were cool, although smelly and noisy. But still a good photo. Keith tried to take a photo of me with the Golden Gate Bridge behind me but it was too damn foggy to be able to see it. The fog is incredible! Anyway, after that we headed back home and had some delicious Thai food for dinner, and I got to explore their cable TV. Crazy stuff. Spoke to Tina for about 40mins tonight, which was nice, and she (hopefully) set up my pre-paid mobile. Although they say it takes 1-2 days to set it up. Hopefully it’s done by tomorrow. I’d like that. Being completely without phone or interbutts is a strange feeling. I want to growl at Telstra. I called and asked for international roaming, but methinks they didn’t set it up.
Tomorrow Kimma and I are going in to the science museum, and maybe going to hit up a few shops. I think Tuesday is going to be the Muir Woods day, and then Wednesday and Thursday I’m in town on my own with my hop on hop off bus ticket. Wednesday I have a ticket to go on the 11am ferry to Alcatraz. YAY!
Day One - San Francisco
Nov. 7th, 2008 11:51 amakteThe rest of the flight from NZ to SF was long. And sleepless. Not too long in to the flight I started to drift off and was in that half asleep/half awake state only to wake up to a thirteen year old girl straddling my lap. I had the aisle seat, and she needed to go to the bathroom. There endeth my sleep. The insanely awesome thing about Air NZ long haul? They have on demand entertainment. 83 movies, 142 television programs, and a whole buttload of music. I watched a bunch of movies – Baby Mama/Wanted/In Bruges (again)/Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (kinda napped a little through this one) and something else, I think. And I watched some TV shows, Scrubs, Doctor Who (The Stolen Earth/Journey’s End – NOT A GOOD IDEA if you want to avoid crying in public!) and a couple of episodes of Ashes to Ashes. YAY for on demand entertainment!
Going through Immigration took FOREVER! Each person is with the immigration person for about 5mins, and there were a lot of people. Thankfully I legged it when I got off the plane, so I was kinda close to the front. The immigration guy was awesome. We were joking around and having a grand old time. I like nice immigration guys J Customs was non-existent!? Nothing like Sydney. Then I finally got out to find Kimma and Keith waiting for me <3 <3
They are awesomepants. Seriously. And the cutest couple you will ever meet. Especially since they’ve been together nearly a decade. They took me straight in to town, and we drove down Lombard St (freakishly windy street) then went to lunch at the Rainforest Café (see pics) which I really think could have used just a little more foliage. There wasn’t quite enough ;) The wait staff were incredibly…american? Y’know that really friendly/helpful kind of thing? But it wasn’t just ‘have a nice day’, it seemed really genuine. It was kinda cool J
Then we wandered around Fisherman’s Wharf and went to this great place with all these old arcade games – and when I say old I don’t mean pacman. I mean OLD. Like, made in the 1940’s kind of old.
We wandered around a little more then decided that the rain was too much (oh, I didn’t mention. Raining cats and dogs all day…) and jumped in the car again. Then there was driving on the highway that was flooding. Then there was driving over the bridge. The tourist in me loved that. They stopped so I could take a couple of photo’s, but with the rain on my lens and the fog and the fact that I was on my tiptoes to avoid completely standing in a puddle, the photo’s probably aren’t that fantastic ;)
We got back to their house which is in the most gorgeously American neighbourhood. The houses are like nothing we have in Australia. It was about 6pm at this point, and I had been dizzy for a few hours by now (exhaustion) but I was determined to last a little longer so my sleep pattern wouldn’t be horribly messed up. I lasted till nine when I started falling asleep on the couch, so I trundled off to bed and slept a full 12hrs. Nice. Which brings you completely up to date J Today seems like nicer weather.
Oh, and Kimma’s interwebs is currently down, so I’ve no idea when I’m going to get the chance to post this…you may end up getting it all in one hit next weekend. Hopefully not!
( pics! )
Going through Immigration took FOREVER! Each person is with the immigration person for about 5mins, and there were a lot of people. Thankfully I legged it when I got off the plane, so I was kinda close to the front. The immigration guy was awesome. We were joking around and having a grand old time. I like nice immigration guys J Customs was non-existent!? Nothing like Sydney. Then I finally got out to find Kimma and Keith waiting for me <3 <3
They are awesomepants. Seriously. And the cutest couple you will ever meet. Especially since they’ve been together nearly a decade. They took me straight in to town, and we drove down Lombard St (freakishly windy street) then went to lunch at the Rainforest Café (see pics) which I really think could have used just a little more foliage. There wasn’t quite enough ;) The wait staff were incredibly…american? Y’know that really friendly/helpful kind of thing? But it wasn’t just ‘have a nice day’, it seemed really genuine. It was kinda cool J
Then we wandered around Fisherman’s Wharf and went to this great place with all these old arcade games – and when I say old I don’t mean pacman. I mean OLD. Like, made in the 1940’s kind of old.
We wandered around a little more then decided that the rain was too much (oh, I didn’t mention. Raining cats and dogs all day…) and jumped in the car again. Then there was driving on the highway that was flooding. Then there was driving over the bridge. The tourist in me loved that. They stopped so I could take a couple of photo’s, but with the rain on my lens and the fog and the fact that I was on my tiptoes to avoid completely standing in a puddle, the photo’s probably aren’t that fantastic ;)
We got back to their house which is in the most gorgeously American neighbourhood. The houses are like nothing we have in Australia. It was about 6pm at this point, and I had been dizzy for a few hours by now (exhaustion) but I was determined to last a little longer so my sleep pattern wouldn’t be horribly messed up. I lasted till nine when I started falling asleep on the couch, so I trundled off to bed and slept a full 12hrs. Nice. Which brings you completely up to date J Today seems like nicer weather.
Oh, and Kimma’s interwebs is currently down, so I’ve no idea when I’m going to get the chance to post this…you may end up getting it all in one hit next weekend. Hopefully not!
( pics! )
Hello from Auckland!
Nov. 1st, 2008 10:51 amakteI had the BEST flight. I love Air New Zealand. They are awesome. And I didn't even have an individual screen on my flight! But I scored 3 seats in a row, so I got to stretch out, and I had the NICEST flight attendant, and my food was actually delicious, although extremely dry. And the icecream was DIVINE! They even hand out little candy's just as the flight is starting to land so you can suck them and help relieve the pressure in your ears. THEY THINK OF EVERYTHING!!
I got a little nap, now I'm hanging around here for another hour and a half, then boarding again for San Fran.
YAY!
I got a little nap, now I'm hanging around here for another hour and a half, then boarding again for San Fran.
YAY!
