EXILED FROM CHINATOWN: the girls take on the big apple! THE END!!! p.25

[punkin413]

so after our lunch we hopped back in the car and headed towards manhattan. jon took a tunnel there and it kinda freaked me out knowing we were underwater!

when we came out of the tunnel i got so excited to be in manhattan! i have to say, jon impressed me with his NYC driving skills. he jumped right in there with the cabbies, cutting people off and all that fun stuff. now i know why people who live in manhattan don't buy cars - not because of the subway system but because the cab drivers are maniacs!

we drove right by the empire state building on the way to the hotel.

hmmmm.....we'll have to remember this place for later.

i'm TOTALLY kidding!

i thought this building was cool....

these "don't honk" signs were everywhere! and they did NOT work.

look....it's sponge bob!

i knew we were getting closer to times square as the ad signs got bigger.

we would be seeing this the next night!

when we made it to our hotel jon pulled up and parked in front on the curb. the bell man told him it would be fine for a few minutes. i got out of the car and looked up at our hotel to see.....SCAFFOLDING! what was supposed to be our really cool old hotel was covered up in scaffolding. not pretty! i didn't even take a picture. this is what it's supposed to look like.....

when we got inside the lobby looked the same: scaffolding all over the place and a big white sheet of plastic hanging up in the middle of the lobby to separate the public area from the work area. and all the cool furniture was covered with white slipcovers. this is the only picture i have, which i took while i was waiting in line to check in.....

this is what it's supposed to look like.......

i was disappointed that i couldn't see the staircase because it was blocked by the plastic, but oh well. i guess improvement doesn't always coordinate with everyone's plans. i was glad to learn that the room renovations were all done so that was no problem.

our room wasn't ready and wouldn't be until 3:00 (it was around 1:30 at that point) so we decided to go check out times square. the bell man said he'd take care of our luggage and then we said our goodbyes to jon, who was going to meet some friends in another part of town and hoping to score yankees tickets for the next day.

so we headed one block over towards times square. the location of our hotel was awesome. you just took a left out of the lobby and walked a block over - less than 5 minutes to times square!

continued in next post: http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=32072826&postcount=62

 

[punkin413]

we saw this on the way. it's a parking deck where they use sort of an elevator system to move the cars around. very strange!

look what was playing a few doors down from our hotel......

when we got to times square i was OVERWHELMED! it's so BIG and FLASHY! i knew it would be but it's just different to be standing in the middle of it. i know new yorkers hate it because it's so tourist-y but i guess that's what makes it times square! it was really cool to be there.

anna asked a guy to take a picture of us and this was our first encounter with rude tourists. he just gave her a nasty look and walked away. now he may not have spoken english but i think we all can infer what's meant when someone is passing you their camera in the middle of times square. he could've just said, "no" or "no english" with a smile but whatever. keep on having a miserable day, mister!

luckily, not everyone was so rude.

look what they were advertising! i know several of you went to see this this weekend.

the hershey store. we actually didn't even go in here. i'm not much of a chocolate person myself and we just never made it into the store.

as we were strolling down the street a young blonde man wearing a cowboy hat and HIS UNDERWEAR passes me. i later learned that this is the naked cowboy who tends to hang around times square a good bit. i couldn't get my camera out fast enough to get his picture from the front but i managed to get a decent angle.

i guess this is where TRL used to be filmed?

we came upon toys r us and that was on my list of places to see, so we went in to check it out. the first thing we saw was the ginormous ferris wheel.....

and then a ginormous giraffe!

we bolted to buy tickets for the ferris wheel. i think they were either $4 or $6 but i can't remember for sure. i snapped these while we waited in the short line.

took this for ray - it's eli's namesake!

so cool!

we got the monopoly car....

this guy was behind us. he looks scared!

me too!

brooke and rich uncle pennybags.....

anna enjoying the ride....

looking down....

looking up....

the ride actually lasted longer than i thought. i figured we'd go around once and that would be it but it was a decent ride!

continued in next post: http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=32072840&postcount=63

 

[punkin413]

after that we just sort of walked around the store and looked at all the cool stuff.

superman!

the lego area with the statue of liberty....

....and king kong on the empire state building.

a big t-rex!

i thought this spiderman was really cool!

i took this for ray. i wish that was the real anakin skywalker. hayden christenson is so handsome.

anna bought a couple of things for luke and while we were waiting in line to check out brooke decided to pretend she was a princess......um, yeah right!

after we left toys r us we turn the corner to see this lovely lady........

apparently there is also a naked cowGIRL in times square. only she wasn't young and good-looking. well, i shouldn't be so judgmental. i'll let you decide.....

hey, more power to her for standing out there like that! and don't worry - i used antibacterial hand gel after that picture was taken. and i did tip her for the picture, too.

at that point it was around 2:40 so we went by starbucks and got a pick-me-up (an iced caramel macchiato for me) and shared a sweet snack of which i don't remember, then headed for the hotel. when we got back we got the keys to our room, then when i asked about our luggage, the girl asked for our ticket, to which i replied, "um.....no one gave me a ticket." she said, "you don't have a ticket?" NO, I DON'T. she asked who helped us with our luggage and luckily i remembered the bell man's name was brian. she disappeared and after 30 minutes of talking to 3 different bell men and having to go into the luggage storage area to find our luggage OURSELVES, we recovered it. crisis avoided! i don't know why we didn't get a ticket but i wasn't happy about it. i'm just glad we didn't lose any of our stuff. i'm sure the confusion of the remodeling had something to do with it. i felt bad for the bell man that eventually ended up helping us because it wasn't his fault!

we made it up to our room, room 711 on the 7th floor. i really loved the decor of the rooms. it was small but it was nice. we expected the tight quarters though - it's NYC and from what i hear you pay LOTS more for space! it was fine for us though. brooke and i actually ended up using our windowsill as a primping area with the stand-up mirror i brought so it all worked out.

here are the pictures i took of the room.

oops. please ignore the weird girl in that picture. she jumped out just as i was taking the picture. this is what i meant to take a picture of.

this is mine and brooke's bed....

anna's bed.....

the TV....

the bathroom.....

oh, and the best part, THE VIEW!!!!!

yep, that's scaffolding.

up next....our first ride on the subway and a DELICIOUS dinner!

 

[joy13]

Great update! I knew about the naked Cowboy (didn't see him though) I didn't know about the cowgirl though. That ferris wheel is cool - I saw it, but it was late when I was there so it wasn't running.

 

[hlrababy]

Aww, love the update!!

But, I am still a little ticked off though. I really can't believe my mother-in-law didn't tell me she flew up to NYC the same weekend you were there....and she wore the naked cowgirl getup!! Hmm, we wondered where she was!!

 

[Charleston Princess]

Naked cowpeople??? Wow! That must have been interesting to see!

I would never be able to peel my children away from Toys R Us -- it would be an all day excursion for us!

 

[BrooklynnsMommy]

I so want to go to NYC now. Oh yeah and John saw your picture with the cowgirl and said "Your friend Dawn totally took a picture with a half naked drag queen. Look at those fingers. They belong on a dude!!!"

 

[KatGarcia]

Yep I am one of those NYer haters of Times Square except I end up there often. LOL. The hotel looks pretty cool but the room was REALLY tiny! I never saw the naked cowgirl LOL, scary lady.

Did u end up getting my text that day BTW?

 

[scottny]

all caught up.

Got your pm but with the move I have been swamped with getting set up for next as we have 40 people over for a housewarming in a 2 bedroom apt.

I am a hater of Times Square and Herald Square (34th street area) and China town. All of them are mob scenes.

Love the shots of the city from the plane.

Toys R Us is a fun place to go to.

That lady is scary. Never seen her before and never want to again.

Looking forward to more.

 

[winkers]

i]

I wonder if Jordan's church knows he works there?

]

is it just me or is writing "naked cowboy" on the back of his undies a little redundant?

!

I think she could use a little more underwire!

 

[AussieAngel]

Waaaahhhhhh!!!!!! (Why isn't there a tantrum smiley when you need one!?)

We watched that ball drop!! I woke up this morning and for some reason I couldn't stop thinking about New Years Eve in New York and how much fun we had, while I was driving to work! I even played New York, New York as my own little tribute!!

I don't know if it's your trip report, or the fact that it's almost 5 months to the day that we were right there watching the ball drop.... but I'm massively homesick for New York! And it's not even my home!! Waaaaah!!!

(See that Bubba Gump sign on the bottom right of your photo? That's where we were on NYE!!)

Hehee, anyway. Sounds like you had a great explore of Times Square!! Weird naked cowpeople and all!!

 

[k_reile]

how is it not illegal for someone to be wearing that little clothing on the street?? I agree she needs some support but for being that old...she does have a nice body...i guess that is soemthing nice I can say...I still wouldn;t be parading myself liek that...but to each their own!

I'm with Jill...I want to go to New York now! Someday!

Edited to add: Just realized are her earrings candy earrings or are they fruit loops??

 

[xoktenox]

Yayy an update! That stinks that your hotel was filled with construction but at least it wasn't the rooms. And, you then knew your room had most likely just been refurbed so thats a plus.

So cool you got to see the Naked Cowboy...and Cowgirl. I've seen the cowboy a number of time and honestly, could have gone without seeing the cowgirl She was....different. Anyway, I think its funny because I was in NYC 2 days before you got there and was walking the same spots as you. We went into the Hershey's store, small nothing to rave about.

Cool shots from the ferris wheel! The Toys R Us is so huge and cool there and I enjoyed those pictures too Can't wait to hear about your night!

 

[Eventer98]

Love the update Dawn! I was there in 93 and 03 but don't remember much of it! Super nice to see all your pictures

 

[MA pigletfan]

Great update!!! yah, you see all sorts of interesting people in Times Square..the Naked cowgirl though, that is new to me!!!

 

[LISAMWDW]

Love the update! So fun! Love the naked cowboy! haha!

 

[tinkgurl]

Wow, NYC is crazy!

EW.....the Naked Cowgirl! Yikes. A)Does she own a mirror? B)A new top would be wonderful-something that actually LIFTS them.

 

[troobabiee7]

Oh my looord The Naked Cowboy's been around for like 10 years, but I've never in my life seen the Naked Cowgirl and I'm SO glad!

The hotel looks nice despite the construction! I love all the art. Did you hear any noise from all the renovations?

 

[monkey68]

The naked cowboy is like a Times Square staple, he's been on MTV many times as well, when TRL was filmed there. I'm another Times Square hater, chances are, most of the people in Times Square are not actually from NY. Sucks about the hotel, but it seems like things around here are constantly getting refurbished, there's always scaffolding all over the city.

 

[Spartangirl]

hey, more power to her for standing out there like that! and don't worry - i used antibacterial hand gel after that picture was taken. and i did tip her for the picture, too.
[SIZE]

So funny.......I would have used hand gel too......ick!


Looks like you're off to a good start! I love your pics of Times Square. I haven't been to NYC in over 15 years so it's nice to "see and experience" everything again.....makes me want to head back!