Post by Twillie on Jun 18, 2015 14:55:07 GMT -5
Last week, from 4:30 AM on Tuesday, June 9, to 11:00 PM Saturday, June 13, I went on a New York City tour with friends and family, visiting about every museum and landmark the place has to offer and enjoying the gift of walking. So much walking.
After getting home past midnight, I toyed with the idea of sharing it all here, seeing as there'd be so much to talk about and so many pictures to upload to Photobucket, but then I decided why not? I expected the trip to be fun, but the city really surprised me with how friendly it is, so it'd be good to share it all with you.
Often when people think of New York, they imagine rude inhabitants and high crime rates, but we experienced quite the opposite. Whenever we needed directions, we could ask any bystander and they'd happily guide us, and I personally put to heart when I dropped my phone and a Jewish man with headphones let me know that it fell *tears*. As long as you have common sense in the streets, the city has a lot to offer with its citizens.it's also a haven for hipsters
The city's appearance in of itself has undergone restoration for years now, and from the subways to the streets, everything's been cleaned up.
An example of this actually is at Grand Central Station, with the constellation ceiling in the main lobby. A cleaning project kicked off in the late 90's, but one brick up there was left untouched.
That's what over 100 years of smoking did to the building before. (to my understanding, this train station has been around since at least the Gilded Age, which is around the 1880's)
But anyway, let's just get the skyscraper shots out of the way:
so tall
such height
very flag
Of course, we also went inside the buildings rather than just gaped at them, and a number of them were stores. Toy stores.
One of them, FAO Schwarz, is actually closing soon, so we visited while we still could. Their bottom floor is an abundant candy store with some rather interesting products.
I don't actually watch SNL; I'm a Markiplier fan, and if you've seen his GMod horror map crossovers with Yamimash, you'll know why I got excited with this X)
The store did have actual candy too, though.
I had my first ever macaroon there, one of those dark purple ones. Probably my last macaroon as well XP
On the top floor, there's the large piano from Tom Hank's Big. I've never seen the movie, but I still played on the piano (for free!
) and failed to take any pictures.
Next door was an underground Apple store, where we briefly visited.
This is just a large box to signify a store is actually there. An elevator or stairs is necessary to get to the actual store floor, which is one room of tables holding Apple products.
This is a Smart Watch. It has a touch screen to navigate all those little widgets, and it has the same functions as a cell phone, including texting and holding contacts. You were free to play with all the products down there, so long as they stayed shackled to the tables.
Off in Times Square, (sudden pictures!)
Hey, it's the ball they drop on New Year's!
The place is mostly full of large billboards and lights, and there's some pavement in the center with red bleachers where you can sit. We didn't stick around here too often, and I'm not sure if there's really that many stores here compared to other parts of NYC. However, it was cool watching from the observation deck of the Empire State Building everything light up during the evening.there were two stores we visited: the Disney and Hershey's stores.
Disney honestly didn't have anything too interesting in there, just a bunch of Mickey Mouses and princess dolls. I must say though that these were the only two Princess and the Frog toys I could find.
Two floors, two toys.
I was impressed with myself though when I recognized the music they were playing, which was the soundtrack to Dinosaur (I even knew which scene it was from, I don't even like that movie, why).
Don't go to the Hershey's store. It's just one level with nothing fun in it.
On the subject of Times Square, though, if you ever go, please be cautious around the people wearing costumes like the Statue of Liberty or Spiderman. They're looking for money, and whether you get a picture with them or take one from a distance, they will ask for money. If you refuse to pay them, they can get aggressive. New York is currently working on regulations of who can dress up like that, but for now, literally anyone could be under those costumes.
They usually come out later in the day, but just be careful in Times Square. It's a strange place.
(continued because I don't want to risk losing all of this...)
After getting home past midnight, I toyed with the idea of sharing it all here, seeing as there'd be so much to talk about and so many pictures to upload to Photobucket, but then I decided why not? I expected the trip to be fun, but the city really surprised me with how friendly it is, so it'd be good to share it all with you.
Often when people think of New York, they imagine rude inhabitants and high crime rates, but we experienced quite the opposite. Whenever we needed directions, we could ask any bystander and they'd happily guide us, and I personally put to heart when I dropped my phone and a Jewish man with headphones let me know that it fell *tears*. As long as you have common sense in the streets, the city has a lot to offer with its citizens.
The city's appearance in of itself has undergone restoration for years now, and from the subways to the streets, everything's been cleaned up.
An example of this actually is at Grand Central Station, with the constellation ceiling in the main lobby. A cleaning project kicked off in the late 90's, but one brick up there was left untouched.
That's what over 100 years of smoking did to the building before. (to my understanding, this train station has been around since at least the Gilded Age, which is around the 1880's)
But anyway, let's just get the skyscraper shots out of the way:
so tall
such height
very flag
Of course, we also went inside the buildings rather than just gaped at them, and a number of them were stores. Toy stores.
One of them, FAO Schwarz, is actually closing soon, so we visited while we still could. Their bottom floor is an abundant candy store with some rather interesting products.
I don't actually watch SNL; I'm a Markiplier fan, and if you've seen his GMod horror map crossovers with Yamimash, you'll know why I got excited with this X)
The store did have actual candy too, though.
I had my first ever macaroon there, one of those dark purple ones. Probably my last macaroon as well XP
On the top floor, there's the large piano from Tom Hank's Big. I've never seen the movie, but I still played on the piano (for free!
) and failed to take any pictures. Next door was an underground Apple store, where we briefly visited.
This is just a large box to signify a store is actually there. An elevator or stairs is necessary to get to the actual store floor, which is one room of tables holding Apple products.
This is a Smart Watch. It has a touch screen to navigate all those little widgets, and it has the same functions as a cell phone, including texting and holding contacts. You were free to play with all the products down there, so long as they stayed shackled to the tables.
Off in Times Square, (sudden pictures!)
Hey, it's the ball they drop on New Year's!
The place is mostly full of large billboards and lights, and there's some pavement in the center with red bleachers where you can sit. We didn't stick around here too often, and I'm not sure if there's really that many stores here compared to other parts of NYC. However, it was cool watching from the observation deck of the Empire State Building everything light up during the evening.
Disney honestly didn't have anything too interesting in there, just a bunch of Mickey Mouses and princess dolls. I must say though that these were the only two Princess and the Frog toys I could find.
Two floors, two toys.
I was impressed with myself though when I recognized the music they were playing, which was the soundtrack to Dinosaur (I even knew which scene it was from, I don't even like that movie, why).
Don't go to the Hershey's store. It's just one level with nothing fun in it.
On the subject of Times Square, though, if you ever go, please be cautious around the people wearing costumes like the Statue of Liberty or Spiderman. They're looking for money, and whether you get a picture with them or take one from a distance, they will ask for money. If you refuse to pay them, they can get aggressive. New York is currently working on regulations of who can dress up like that, but for now, literally anyone could be under those costumes.
They usually come out later in the day, but just be careful in Times Square. It's a strange place.
(continued because I don't want to risk losing all of this...)
A member of our group texted us this 
