Archive for March 10, 2010

New York Trip – Part 4


“What is the most important thing in life? Necessity. People do whatever is most necessary to them at any given moment.”

Our trip was nearly ending and we still had so much grounds to cover. We wanted to wake up early but our body did not want to move out of the bed. Andrew even tried to wake us up as he was trying to get our tickets ready for the following day’s trip back to L.A. As I recall, he woke us up around 10am.

Anyway, we planned on going to one of the most depressing site of NY, Ground Zero. The place where 7 world trade centers used to stand. We also planned on going to Brooklyn Bridge since it’s just a few blocks away from Ground Zero.

Day 4 – February 27, 2010
– Woke up around Noon. Even though we had enough sleep, we still felt really tired.
– The snow finally stopped falling but it was still cold outside. I think it was around 30 degrees.
– And to get our day started, we had……………………….not coffee. Instead, we had lunch!
– We decided to go to the Grand Central Terminal dining area as one of our friends had suggested that serve some really good food.
– Edgar and I decided to have Indian food and let me tell you…… the curry was just delicious! The chicken tasted like chicken.. like how it’s supposed to!
– Myson and Andrew had some Cuban sandwiches. They gave up rice for lent. Too bad guys! You had to sit next to us enjoying our curry with rice!
– After eating, on our way back to up to the substation, a man in his 50’s asked us if we were tourist.. Geesh, I don’t know what gave him that idea but I was thinking it was my camera. I was taking pics of every corner of the station. LOL.
– Anyway, he showed us a really cool thing right underneath the station by the dining area on Lexington and 42nd. It’s called the “Whispering Wall”. Basically, he asked me and Myson to stand in opposite corners of the large arched entryway. He told us to face the corner and whisper……..WOW!!!! I heard his voice as if he was right next to me!
– Because we were both excited, we called Andrew and Edgar told them about the cool thing we learned! We all went to our separate corners and started whispering. LMAO. Imagine four grown men standing in 4 corners faced against the wall whispering. Hahaha.
– And off we go to ground zero!
– After a 20 minute ride, we finally arrived at the WTC location. First thing we noticed was the new building! It looks really good.
– After walking down the steps and on the street. We met a very nice gentleman holding books and a tip jar. We originally thought that he was a regular bum but later learned that he was actually one of the survivors.

“We met a gentleman in his 60s while looking at ground zero and he stood out of the crowd because he was loud and wanted to be heard. He looked at us and asked “How many buildings are there in the World Trade Center?? How many?” Myson answered: Seven! There were 7 buildings! The man approached us with a smile and said, “Correct! There were 7 buildings! 
Him: Where are you guys from?
Us: We’re from L.A.
Him: My west coast people!!! I am glad that you guys know this as some people who live in NY don’t even know that there were 7 buildings. They’ve always thought there were only 2.
After telling us a brief history of the WTC’s and what had happened. He told us that on 9/11 at 8:46am, he was working in the building next to the twin towers. When the first building was hit, his gut instinct automatically told him to get out of the building and go pic up his son from school. He hurriedly left the building and ran towards the Brooklyn Bridge. By this time, I can see and feel the man’s emotions and I just gave my undivided attention (For those that know me, it is really hard for me to do this. lol. I tend to go from one topic to the next and interrupt with questions. haha – but this time was different). He then continued his story when he heard the next attack and he noticed that a lot of people were going towards Manhattan and they were going underground to take the subway. During that time, all trains were halted to a complete stop and so people were trapped and had nowhere to go. When people panic, some know exactly what to do but most people freeze and breaks down. He then told us the worst part… When the building collapsed, a lot of people were underground and as we all know, these underground tunnels were not built as a bomb shelter. I think you guys know what happened there is no need for me to go into details. The man was in tears and I closed to giving in but I had to control myself.. I was in public! lol. Nonetheless, I enjoyed the man’s story and he thanked us for listening to him and to keep “representin’ westcoast”.. lol.. His exact same words, I swear!. “

– After listening to the nice gentleman, we went to ground zero preview site where they have a nice model of what the WTC would look like in the future.
– By this time, we were tired and needed coffee. So, we headed over to Starbucks and learned about the earthquake that hit Chile and the Tsunami that is going to hit Hawaii and other countries near the Pacific.
– We then walked to Brooklyn Bridge to take some pics. We only went to the first arched foundation since they all looked the same anyway. lol
– After about an hour, we decided to head back to our hotel to get some rest since we are going to have a long night.
– After resting for a few hours…. We met up with Amy and Marc to have dinner at a nice hidden Japanese restaurant called “Saka Gura”.
– After dinner, we decided to walk to a bar a few blocks away and had a few drinks. At first I thought I was at the MTV show “Jersey Shore”. People were fist pumping all over the place!.. I gotta say though, the music was good that I started doing it too! I was dressed for it!… Tight shirt that I got from baby gap.. it was size 6-12 months.. lol.. I sporting a spike hair and got a nice tan.. All I needed was to find a dolled up girl to dance with me and it was Jersey Shore dance off!… here’s what I noticed though.. Why is it that men that work out tend to wear the smallest shirts! I saw this guy picking his shirt at baby gap!….. okay I didn’t, but it would have been funny! lol.
– After a night of drinking, we decided to have some pizza at some place a few doors down the bar.
– After dinner, we decided to call it a night and go back to the hotel.

I have one more day to blog, so keep checking back! Goodnight 🙂

Click the album below to view our pics: Part 1 and Part 2

New York Trip – Part 1
New York Trip – Part 2

March 10, 2010 | Categories: Travel | Comments Off on New York Trip – Part 4