New York, New York - Day 2

August 7, 2006 - A brutal wake up call at 5:30 am reminded us that we have to make it to the lobby by 6:30 am to meet our bus. No one should be late, we were told by our tour guide last night - and I didn't want to be the last one back on the bus!

So I got ready in record time (in less than 20 minutes!) and we were back on our bus once again. It was still dark but the sun was slowly starting to come out. As we make our way to New York City, our tour guide gave us some weird facts about New Jersey. I was too tired to pay attention, plus I was distracted by the New York skyline in the distance.

After going through the Lincoln Tunnel, we were in Manhattan! It was like entering a different world - skyscrapers, cars, cabs, buses, garbage were everywhere. Our first stop was the United Nations building, on the east side of the island. We drove past many famous landmarks: Grand Central Station, 5th Avenue, Central Park - but our schedule was so tight that we didn't have time to stop. The UN building was deserted when we got there. We didn't even get to go in: we were given 10 minutes to snap pictures, and then back on the bus we went. Having said that, from what I remember from my previous trips to NYC, the UN building is probably one of the most boring attractions. We did have fun snapping pictures though.

Next we went to Rockefeller Centre - one of the many places in NYC that I haven't been to. We got there just in time for the live weekend broadcast of the Today show, so that was neat (no Matt Lauer though). We walked around the block to Radio City Music Hall, 5th Ave, and the NBC studios. Streets were deserted, there was hardly anyone around - but then again, it is 8 am on a Sunday morning.

The next stop was Times Square - there's nothing like seeing the world's most famous intersection at 8 am on a Sunday morning! like Rockefeller Centre, there was hardly anyone around, all the stores were closed, and the streets were actually fairly clean. I was just so impressed (and distracted) by all the billboards and signs. We decided to walk along 42nd street - and came upon Bryant Park and the New York Public Library. There's just something about the streets of New York - the tall buildings on both sides, the exceptionally beautiful architecture. It's definitely every planner's dream.

We didn't walk too far - we had to make it back to our bus again. We were shipped to the other side of the island (en route passing by 34th street, Empire State building, Wall Street) for our 1 hour cruise along the Hudson River. Since Amy and I have both seen the Statue of Liberty many times, we took the time to relax, chill and enjoy the sights. It was really funny to see all of my fellow travellers fighting for the best spot to take pictures.

The Intrepid Museum was next. The museum features mainly WWII aircrafts on display, which was definitely really neat to check out. Personally though, I think it would have been much neater to visit the American Museum of Natural History or MoMA or the MET.

The Southside Seaport was our lunch stop in NYC - after a quick lunch and more shopping, we were back on the bus en route to see the former World Trade Centre.

We didn't actually go to the viewing pavillion that they built - instead, our tour guide took us across the street where we were given a great view of the construction work that's currently going on a ground zero. I was amazed to see how big the site is. It was hard to imagine that thousands of people died at this site. Construction work for the new Freedom tower has already begun - we could see the foundation being built already.

Half an hour later, we were back on the bus to Atlantic City. So in total, we had only spent 9 hours in NYC.

The Atlantic City part of the trip is the highlight of the whole tour - we were given the entire night to explore the town on our own. We stuck closely to the world famous boardwalk, visited a couple of the casinos, and went into stores that we normally would never go into (I went into Gucci, Louis Vutton, Coach, Burberry, and Tiffany's all wearing shorts and sneakers!). The town has changed a lot since my last visit (back in 1999) - it has definitely gotten a lot more Vegas-like (though still not as showy or flashy). We sat by the beach, had beer and cocktail (and then coffee) and laughed through out the night - like I said before, it doesn't matter where we go, as long as we have fun doing it that's all that matters. That part certainly did not disappoint me.

Tomorrow though, we were told, would be another long day of travelling.

New York, New York - Day 1

August 7, 2006 - In the end, the whole trip was really a 20+ hour bus ride.

This past weekend, my friends and I went on one of those "Safeway bus tours" to the Eastern USA. The trip was supposed to cover three American cities: New York, Atlantic City and Philadelphia. Not that I'm a stranger to bus tours - I've actually done a 1 week bus tour around Alberta a couple of years ago in addition to the Eastern Canada tour that pretty much every Chinese in Toronto has been on, but personally I have never been a fan. The early wake up calls, the rushed sightseeing, the gross Chinese buffet meals are not things that I want to remember a trip by. However, because my friends and I decided to go pretty last minute, there wasn't enough time (nor money) to really plan out a decent trip. The bus tour, which cost us only $190/person for three days, was the best and cheapest way to go.

So on Saturday morning, at 6:30 am, I joined hundreds, if not thousands, of mainly Chinese tourists at the First Markham Place parking lot, waiting for our bus. There must have been at least 50 buses that morning, going to all sorts of places: Mt. Tremblant, Ottawa/Montreal/Quebec City, Orlando, Boston, NYC - the list goes on. We found our bus fairly quickly and was greeted by our guide, who gave us our numbers and our seats. Once everyone was on board, we were told the bus ride to NYC would take at least 10 hours.

Along the way, we made several rest stops. We also stopped just outside Rochester at an outlet mall (no trip to upstate NY is complete without a stop at an outlet mall!) for lunch and for some quick shopping. Though I didn't go nuts (mainly due to my financial situation), the high Canadian dollar plus the dirt cheap prices made buying things really tempting. An hour or so later, we were back on the bus. The scenery was starting to get boring, the guide didn't do much to help alleviate our boredom, so what was there to do beside sleep?

We made it to New Jersey at around dinner time. We pulled into this strip mall where our buffet restaurant was located. My friend Freeman quickly pointed out the Pizza Hut and McDonalds just around the corner. Why pay 16 USD for gross Chinese buffet when we could spend half of that on pizza? So Freeman marched up to our guide, demanded a refund, and off we went to Pizza Hut. Another hour of really quick eating later, we were back on the bus - on our way to our hotel in Jersey.

We made it to our hotel in New Jersey shortly after 9 p.m. In the end, we didn't see NYC the whole day - we actually barely did anything that day. It was just a long long bus ride. I was pretty disappointed - mainly because I vaguely remember that on my previous NYC bus tour trip almost 7 years ago, we actually managed to get into the city (and saw a few attractions) before it was dark - so why did it take us so long to get to New York this time around?

Tomorrow, we were promised - we would see the city.

Viva Italia!

July 10, 2006 - Italy celebrates its world cup win! Here are some neat pictures taken in Rome as Italians celebrate. Note all those Roman landmarks!

Toronto Street Festival

July 9, 2006 - This weekend, Jason and I had the chance to check out the Toronto Street Festival. Despite having been held every year since 1998, this was actually the first time that I had actually gone. The festival closes several key intersections in the city and transforms them into "festival sites" with music, food, carnival rides, and performances. Since Yonge and Eglinton was one of the four intersections closed off this year, there was no reason for me not to check it out!

The coolest act we saw had these 5 meters high dinosaurs that walked around the crowd and freaked out all these kids! Apparently these dinosaurs were part of a street theatre group called Close-Act, where "the audience becomes part of the performance and existing architecture become the performance area." The group specializes in using large mobile costumes and involving the crowd as part of the performance.

It was a busy weekend here in the city, the World Cup Finals, the Outdoor Art Festival, and the Corso Italia Festival on St. Clair. Gotta love summer in the city, where there is always things happening. Anyway, check out our pictures here.