Manhattan Rush

NYC Adventure: Part 2

So after only getting about 2.5 hours of sleep that night (keep in mind that I barely got any the night before), we woke up to a nice continental breakfast, ready for another day of exploring the Big Apple. "Did you guys see the ball last night?" asked a fellow tourmate. Sabrina, CJ and I shook our heads no. "Ohh.." said the guy, who like everyone on the tour but us had this Québecois accent. "The ball and fireworks, vverrrryyy nice...on TV." Heh. I guess I should have taped it.

After breakfast, we took off for a tour of NYC, guided by a French-speaking New Yorker with a Spanish accent. We rode all over the city and got to see Central Park, Harlem, and Soho. We saw The Dakota, the building in which John Lennon lived in the last years of his life. He got shot in front of that place while returning home one day from a recording session as his wife Yoko Ono watched in horror. Yoko still lives in one of the appartments on the fifth floor. We passed by 5th Avenue, the most expensive street in New York- it's got the Rockerfeller Centre, The Trump Tower, Radio City Music Hall, stores like the giant Macy's, Niketown, F.A.O Schwarz and the Disney Store.

The tour ended at Pier 17, kind of like the equivalent of our old port. It's got ships docked at the port, and I don't mean little motorboats like we see in Saint-Anne-de-Bellevue- I'm talking colorful classic-loooking tugboats and sail ships. It was really nice out that day, 12 degrees with sunshine. We actually saw some people wearing shorts. You'd never see that in Montreal in January, unless, as Greg said, you count French sluts in miniskirts.

After a delicious free new year's lunch (two BIG pieces of new york pizza), off we were for shopping in Chinatown and on Canal Street. Chinatown New York is known as the place where you can get fake brand name items for cheaper.

We spent the evening on 5th avenue. The stores were closed, but there there was still a lot to see- the giant Christmas tree, displays in store windows (think of a bigger Ogilvy's xmas window with a lineup to view it). After warming up over coffee in the Trump Tower (it was a bit chilly) we walked all the way to 9th avenue to eat supper in a Chinese restaurant.

After dinner we realized that we were running late and had only 15 minutes to make it to the bus. What to do now? RUN!!! Lucky for us girls, the guys were able to run all the way there, because we couldn't. They made it on time and distracted the tour guide and bus driver. When we got there (last) about ten minutes late, the driver was telling us how lucky we were.

The rest of night was chill with a photo stop to capture a panoramic night view of Manhattan. The party continued in the guys' room with chocolate and brandy...