Yellow cabs and slippery roads

NYC Adventure: Part 3

We looked at it and gulped. At barely nine in the morning, we wondered whether only crazy people showed up here. If they were, there were a lot of them- enough to form a two-block lineup at the Empire State building. Just like boxing day at Future Shop. And it was colder than the previous two days, I actually needed a hat (and started to get sick).

This is why I recommend taking a tour if you plan on visiting NYC. Our tour guide had already bought our tickets, and knew another way to get in. It was probably a weird sight to see a bunch of Canadians get off a tour bus and head straight for the pharmacy next to the Empire State building, but that's where our secret doorway was.

No NYC trip is complete without a trip up to the 86th floor of the Empire State building. Doesn't matter if you're scared of heights, the view is awesome. Just ask CJ, she survived it.

We then had a few hours of free time before heading back to Montreal. After a coffee stop at a nearby Starbucks, we decided to take a cab (NYC streets are packed with yellow cabs) and head out to the Metropolitan Museum of Art. It's a really nice, big museum- from the outside on 5th Avenue, the Met, with its tall columns and windows, immense stairways and water fountains, looks like it could be an emperor's palace. It's got everything in it, from renaissance paintings to an Egyptian art gallery, which includes a whole temple that was shipped to America as a gift. We spent awhile in that section and didn't even need a guide- Sabrina, who is obsessed with Egypt made up for that.

After dragging Sabrina away from her Nile haven, we rushed off in yellow cabs again, this time to Times Square. While it was not as packed as on new year's eve, there were still a lot of people. We got to see the famous Naked Cowboy- New York's equivalent of Montreal's Ogilvy Spoonman. This guy is out in Times Square everyday, no matter how cold it is, wearing nothing but his cowboy hat, tightie-whities and guitar. I really wonder how he's able to do that.

We then went into the giant Toys R US- and trust me, it's really giant. There is a ferris wheel in there. 4 floors filled with every toy you can imagine. You could probably sue them if they don't have the toy you're looking for. You can also find a 20-feet high animatronic T-Rex in the Jurassic Park exhibit... a two-floor Barbie house...the Candyland shop, which is a life-size version of the Candyland boardgame, and so much more! Be careful if you bring kids there, they'll never want to leave.

The end of our Toys R US visit marked the end of our trip. It was time to go back to bus and head up to Montreal. It was a long ride back home- hell, we had time to watch three movies, including one whole movie while being tied up at the customs (yes, THAT long). There were something like 12 busses in front of ours, plus the roads were really slippery- the bus in front of us had trouble moving along because it kept sliding into the ditch. A lot of people were getting impatient, but in the end, we weren't tied up for as long as we thought we'd be. So we all made it home in one piece- well, I caught the flu and still have it a bit...