Thursday, 19 June 2014
Related posts: Paris 1 night, NY Day 1 and 2, NY Day 3 and 4, NY Day 5, NY Day 6
Today the plan is to have a group tour at major New York attractions. Our first destination is to visit the Statue of Liberty. From the hotel, we took the subway to South Ferry, which is located at the south end of Manhattan Island. At South Ferry, we bought the ferry tickets to go to Liberty Island. It was USD18 per person.
Built in 1886, the statue was a gift to the United States from the people of France. The statue was designed to face south east, with the intention of greeting ships entering the harbor from the Atlantic Ocean. It later became a famous sign of welcoming immigrants to the city in the late 19th and early 20th century. Imagine the feeling of the immigrants after weeks at sea, they finally see the large statue welcoming them to the New World!
After we got back to South Ferry, we took the subway to Grand Central Terminal. Built in 1871, the famous station has been featured in many Hollywood movies. In fact, in most Hollywood movies that I remember, Grand Central would always be destroyed in some way (Man of Steel, Day After Tomorrow etc).
It was around lunchtime and my colleagues were feeling like having Chinese food. We quickly Googled it and found a decent Chinese restaurant nearby called Hop Won Express (Address: 139, E 45th Street). Turns out the friend rice and chicken was very tasty. It was a satisfying lunch!
From there, we went our separate ways as most of them wanted to do some shopping. I showed them the way to Macy’s, and I went to 5th Avenue again to look for Aliaa’s things.
At the corner of 27th Street & 5th Avenue, I saw the Museum of Sex (MoSeX). I didn’t realise there is such a thing so I decided to give it a tour. They had some interesting exhibits on the history of sex and the porn industry.
From 5th Avenue, I went to the Empire State Building. As I got there, I was shocked to see the queue was so long that it went outside the building and around it! Since waiting in line seems like a waste of time, I went to do other sight seeing that evening. I plan to come back early tomorrow morning to avoid the crowds.
For dinner, me and my friends decided to eat at this famous New York restaurant called Carnegie Deli (link). It’s on 7th Avenue, quite near to our hotel. The restaurant had a nice deli feel to it, with photos of famous New Yorkers/Americans on the wall. However, the service was quite disappointing. I had to call the waiter a few times to get his attention before we could order, and the same thing when we were about to pay. It was as if they were not interested in serving us. From the waiters body language, I gathered the guy that was suppose to wait us is busy at the back, and his colleague from another section had to cover for him. Well, too bad. I don’t care what is the problem. You work in F&B and if a customer wants something, just attend to it.
The food on the other hand, despite it’s well known reputation, was horrible. I was shocked at how bad the corned beef was. And these guys are supposed to be famous for this? Unbelievable.
Tomorrow is our last day in New York so most of us spent the night packing our stuff. The plan is to wake up early tomorrow and go for some last minute sight seeing and shopping before heading to the airport.
Imran Jaafar 