Glen Meets Manhattan - Part III: Including the chapters "Viewing Works of the Great Painters" and "Paying a Visit to Ground Zero"

Previously on “Glen Meets Manhattan”…

Glen recovered (albeit painfully and slowly) from his hangover. Witnessed the neighborhood of Harlem, Central Park and the American Museum of Natural History. Glen also witnessed the beautiful wonder that is the Christmas tree in Rockefeller Center.

The question now is weather or not Glen can survive venturing out into Manhattan on all by him self!

You see, on Sunday, December 9, Andy had to head up to Albany for his brother’s graduation and I was left on my own to venture through the bustling borough of Manhattan. So, was I up to the challenge?

You better believe it!

I started the day early (around 9ish) by taking the N train and transferring to the 7 train at Queensborough plaza. I managed all that by my self without getting lost! I arrived in Manhattan… at the Grand Central Terminal. Absolutely beautiful! There were so many train and subway tracks and platforms. The large interior space inside was truly an amazing sight. It was still busy even on a Sunday morning. I took a moment to have breakfast there mimicking Holden Caulfield in “The Catcher in the Rye”.

From there I walked uptown on Park Avenue… and then I turned around and began to walk uptown for real when I realized the streets were declining in numbers rather than increasing (!)… one of the few times I got disoriented that day. I worked my way back over to the Rockefeller Center to look at the big Christmas tree again. This time I got a little bit more “up-close” and got some pictures of the Prometheus Sculpture and Ice Rink.

I then headed a few more blocks uptown to the Museum of Modern Art. This place was an incredible experience. I saw several impressionist and post-impressionist paintings that have become famous. Beautiful! A special exhibit of Seurat’s drawings, including a series of paintings that he made before completing his famous “A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte” were on display. I saw my first Picasso! I saw many works from Monet and Matisse. And the big one for me… I viewed Van Gogh’s “Starry Night”. Such a beautiful painting! I did not spend too much time viewing the other 2 floors of works (there’s about 6 all together). I wanted to continue and see more of the city.

With that done, since I was in the neighborhood I headed back over to the Bryant Park Christmas Village to do some Christmas shipping. After that I got on a subway and headed downtown to the Financial District, getting off at Wall Street. I wanted to get a feel for what it would be like to be walking through the “concrete canyons” of the city where there is concrete, glass and steel sky scrapers of hundreds of feet on both sides of you as you walk at the bottom on a concrete and pavement covered street. It was like nothing I had ever experienced. I located the New York Stock Exchange and Trinity Church. I headed cross town to the former World Trade Center site.

As you emerge from the financial district towards Ground Zero you suddenly see this wide expanse of skyline in front of you that is completely empty and seems rather out of place. This is where the towers would have been. My interest in the events of September 11 is very extensive so being there to see it first hand and up-close was a noteworthy experience for me. It just hits me very hard to see the large scale of the damage. There is not much of a memorial yet, but the whole area is a construction site at this point. I took the time to navigate around the entire area and take pictures when ever I could. I can not imagine being there on those streets on that dreadful day. A particularly good viewing area (as suggested by our tour guide on Friday’s cruse) was the Winter Gardens at the World Financial Center.

After viewing Ground Zero, I headed down to Battery Park. There I found the sculpture that was previously located in the courtyard between the Twin Towers. The sculpture was recovered from the ruble in badly damaged condition and put on display in Battery Park with an eternal flame as a part of a memorial. From the park I was also able to view the Statue of Liberty in the distance.

By this time I was feeling cold, tired and a little sick. I headed back uptown towards the Christmas village in Columbus Circle to do some more shopping. With a headache and an increasing feeling of sickness… I grabbed dinner and headed back to Queens. I collapsed on the couch and watched football for the evening!

So that concludes my 3 part series on my experiences in New York City. Awesome experience! I want to go back and do all the things I missed and do some things all over again!

Glen Meets Manhattan - Part II: Including the chapters "I am Glad I Saw Harlem from the Safety of a Bus" and "Natural History with a Hangover"

Previously on “Glen Meets Manhattan”…

Glen met Tony the audio tour guide on the top of the Empire State Building… was introduced to hot cider + a cinnamon stick at the Bryant Park Christmas Village… survived a freezing cold sight seeing cruse… and toped things off with a bar outing (with an unknown number of rounds of drinks) that ultimately ended up with Glen’s first trip to a strip club!

Did I survive…

No I did not. I was severely hung over the following morning on December 8. *BLAH* So all sight seeing planned for that morning was put off until I re-gathered my mental and physical capacities.

By about 1 PM, I was ready to go. Andy and I hoped on the m60 bus that goes from Queens, across the Triborough Bridge and down 125^th street, which is the main street going down the center of the famous neighborhood of Harlem. The bus went by the famous Apollo Theater. We also drove by Columbia University… I was completely unaware that it was located so far uptown adjacent to Harlem. We were dropped off somewhere near 106^th street… where we saw “Toms Restaurant” which is the famous diner from Seinfeld.

Following that, we went to the American Museum of Natural History. The space section was pretty cool… they had a 15 ton solid iron meteorite on display. Part of the admission included a 20 minute planetarium video… which was a good time for me to sit down and do nothing, since I was still dragging from the previous night out. The museum was HUGE… 4 whole floors taking up an entire city block. We only spent 2.5 hours there and barely saw it all. Lots of animal specimens on display… lots of dinausaur bones… lots of displays of all sorts of ancient races of people. There was also a pretty neat geology section with mineral and gemstone collections on display.

We left the museum and it was already about 3:30 PM (!)… Being hung over in the morning made the day go by so fast! At that point, Andy and I took a walk through Central Park heading downtown. It was at this point that I realized I was seeing grass for the first time in about a day and a half! He showed me the Delacourt Theater, where they put on Shakespeare shows, Belvedere Castle and the Great Lawn, with some magnificent views of the city skyline. It took us a good hour to walk about 2/3 the length of Central park. We ended up at Columbus Circle where there was a second Christmas Village (and more hot cider!) set up at central park south.

From there, Andy took me to see Radio City and the Rockefeller Center… along with the great big Christmas Tree and famous ice rink! Absolutely beautiful to see at night… also SUPER CROWDED!

Following that, we headed back up town to meet Andy’s roommate (Courtney) and another friend whom we attended Naz with (Jess). We had dinner at a Thai restaurant. By that point… Andy and I were running completely on empty, but we still went to see Jess’ friend (and a few other singers) sing some opera songs (Christmas tunes and other songs) at a place called O’Niels near the Julliard School. We were tired, under dressed and had to wait a LONG time to get a table in the corner where we could not see the singers.

By 9 PM, we called it quits and headed back to Queens. Sleep felt amazing that night!

So how do you think I would fare with adventuring through Manhattan all by my self… check out part III to find out!

Glen Meets Manhattan - Part I: Including the chapters "Where to buy pizza the size of your face" and "Baby's first lapdance"

WOW! That’s about all I can muster up the energy to say at the moment. For those of you just tuning in, I have recently went on a trip to New York City to pay a visit to my friend, Andy, whom was a former college roommate of mine while I was at Nazareth.

I spent 3 whole days exploring Manhattan. There is so much to tell, I will break down the trip into three different posts over the next few days. I want to get as much down on paper as I can so I do not forget it… and even as I type this account, there will be many details that will still slip my mind!

Here goes:

On the first day (December 7), Andy and I started off at the Empire State Building. This was a fitting place to start because you get the entire birds eye view of the city before jumping into it close-up. It was freezing cold! But it was also very quiet relative to the crowded noise of the streets below. From the 86^th floor observation deck, the audio tour guide (his name was Tony... that frikin guy, he's the guy I tell ya!) I was equipped with pointed out many of the bridges, buildings and neighborhoods that make New York City famous. I was able to see the East River, Central Park, the Hudson River, New Jersey, the Chrysler Building, the Financial District… and SO MUCH MORE!

Following that chilly start, we took to walking. Andy led me to Bryant Park, where an ice rink was set up along with a small “Christmas Village” of booths selling a variety of gifts for Christmas. It was there that Andy introduced me to hot cider. Mmmm… when you are freezing your ass off in Manhattan, there is nothing that can warm you up better than a cup of this stuff with a cinnamon stick floating in it.

From there, we worked our way on foot up towards Times Square (which is not really a square at all… I never really figured that one out). We quickly got the hell out of there because it was just way too crowded and frankly, it’s just full of neon billboards anyway. Nothing terribly unique seemed to be there.

We continued towards 9^th Avenue (or Columbus Avenue) uptown. Once we got WAY uptown (110^th or 111^th street) we ate at Koronet’s Pizza that sells slices of pizza the size of a cafeteria tray for $3. NO JOKE! Totally worth the walk!

Following that, we headed downtown where Andy pointed out the Metropolitan Opera and Julliard. We continued to head downtown to the 42^nd street pier to take a Circle Line Sight Seeing Cruse. It was at this point that it started to snow! SO FREAKING COLD! Our tour was from 4 to 6 PM, so as it was snowing, it got dark too. Many of the pictures I took (including those of the Statue of Liberty) did not turn out. But, we watched the whole city light up as we rode the boat. We saw many views of New Jersey, the United Nations, the numerous different piers, Financial District, Empire State and Chrysler Buildings, the Brooklin Bridge and the Verazano Narrows Bridge. The guide also pointed out where various tunnels were located as we floated over them. INCREDIBLE… despite the sold, snow and dark!

After that, Andy and I had dinner at a diner on 9^th avenue in a neighborhood of the city called “Hells Kitchen”… so called for the rough and tough Irish immigrants who lived there. It’s calmed down a bit over the years.

We were exhausted at that point, but we were scheduled to meet Andy’s friends from work (Jon, Zak and Nate) and another former roommate of ours (Joel) at a bar called Barcelona. Here’s where things get a little dicey! After a few rounds of drinks… Andy and I were not tired at all. And we also decided to go to a strip club. (!!!) Prior to that, neither Andy nor my self had ever been. I think Zak knew the bartender at the bar because he returned with a final round of drinks and 6 passes for free cover to the Hustler Club on 51^st street. So I had my first experience with a strip club Friday night. It was especially entertaining for all of us due to the fact that Joel is gay… and he also managed to attract the attention of two stripers who were all over him within a matter of minutes of entering!

Following the strip club… we returned back to the bar we were originally at where Zak bought us another round of drinks and Joel bought us a round of shots called Flaming Moes (yes, just like the Flaming Moe from the Simpsons)! That was pretty much where the night ended up… Andy and I took the drunken ride on the N train back to Queens.

How did I fair the following morning… tune in later and find out!

*UgggHhHhHhgggggggg...* No more turkey...

Hey everybody! What a great holiday break. Pardon my extended absence but things have been a little bit crazy lately.

I celebrated Thanksgiving last weekend with my family. It worked out to be more like 3 different Thanksgivings... the first one being just my parents and I, second grandparents, aunt/uncle and cousins from mom's side of the family and third grandparents from dad's side of the family. Turkey was had on all three days, hence my disdain for that particular food for the time being!

On my mother's side of the family, I have two little cousins. My aunt and uncle just got married about 3 years ago and made a few new additions to the family. Rosario is 2 years old now. She's the rambunctious one in the movie clips above. So full of energy! My apologies for the horrible quality video clips but I can't help to experiment with stuff like this. I took them with my cell phone. They also have an infant, Jon Diego... no more than 3 months old. He's adorable! When I first saw him about a month ago at his baptism, he basically did nothing but sleep! It was only a week ago that I finally saw him with his eyes open. Apparently he does have eyes after all! I will post a picture as soon as I can.

Other things that happened on my break... watched "Evan Almighty" and "Dodgeball", completed reading "The Accidental Tourist", went to Teresa's birthday party (happy 24th!), Jon also came into town for that. He got to meet my family and see my home town of Derby for the first time. Overall it was pretty cool. Very relaxing.

At the moment I am busting my ass trying to get things done and in order in the laboratory before a major quarterly meeting with all of the collaborators of my research. I leave for New York City immediately after the meeting. Then I return and have a few days to polish up my interim seminar for my masters thesis. DAAAAAAMN! Tough to find time to do much of anything other than work lately!

Now you see why I have not been active with the posts recently.

I'll try to write some more before my departure for NYC. I am sure that I will have LOTS to say upon my return!