Let's Hear It for New York!

Or to quote Saturday Night Live, "live from New York it's Andre Sanabia's blog!" Well actually I'll probably be back in Virginia by the time I post this (with pictures) but at the moment that this is being written it's 12AM and I'm drafting this on my iPod in the darkness of my hotel room. 

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The day started out blissfully with me sleeping in until 7:30 (as opposed to all of my classmates who probably woke up 2 hours earlier ha!) and then quickly making my bag for New York City, New York. I got to drive my parents and grandmother for most of the trip which is great since it counts for my 45 hour driving log that is required for my license. 

Anyways, when we got to the Hotel (it's in New Jersey since my mom has an irrational fear that New York Hotels are swarming with bed bugs) I wasn't sure what to expect. The last time I was in NYC was when I was like 10 with my Aunt Carmen and so I only remember flashes of what it was like. I was blown away. Not necessarily because of the city's beauty (it's not that pretty) or the people that inhibit it (they're very different) but because of all of the different little quirks that the city had. Every street had something random happening on it! So here is New York City I'm order in which the randomness transpired. 

For those of you that are uncomfortable with too much skin being shown please close your eyes and scroll down a little. But for those of you that aren't, behold! It's the Naked Cowboy!!!

Don't ask who that random woman is...

Apparently this guy has been strumming his guitar in the (almost) complete nude for several years. It doesn't matter if there is hail, rain, snow, sleet or shine you can always find this guy in Times Square. He even trademarked his title and had a big lawsuit with Mars Inc. recently. Regardless of all of that I find it funny how this guy makes a licit off of playing his guitar in his tighty-whities. Oh and according to Wikipedia he is running for the 2012 presidential bid as a member for (wait for it...) the Tea Party (What could he possibly have in common with the Tea Party?!?)

Next up we have all of the crazy bulletins in NYC. Believe me when I say that they are EVERYWHERE. New York has a ridiculous amount of advertising going on. Here are some of the more interesting ones:

How not-subtle (unsubtle? insubtle? blatant?)

Woot Woot Dominican Republic!

And here's a little shout out to one of my favorite TV shows 30 Rock =]

Liz Lemon is frequently underneath this entrance!

And here's a nice picture with my dad, notice the Glee ad behind us!

Once we were in the city we took forever to find a suitable restaurant to eat at. We finallydecided on a little diner because we were so hungry. I had the most amazing (and overpriced!) cheesecake ever. It was so delicious and I scarfed it down so quickly that this was all that was left. It was SO good though, I plan on buying another one tomorrow. 

So we were in times square and I was texting or something when I look up and see this line of 6 foot tall goddesses giggling by. It was the Miss America contenders! I'm not sure why these beauty queens were in New York but damn as my Government teacher says, "they were getting things done". What made the situation even funnier was that there was a random wedding going on as well. So what could be better than joining the best of both random's?

After that my family and I strolled down 5th Avenue walking into some of the stores. It was pure awesomeness! The Hollister and Abercrombie were HUGE and not only that but The Abercrombie and Fitch was THREE stories high! They had the jeans in counter displays and then had "clerks" behind the counters who would get your size. And then I was really confused about the Apple store when I saw it from far away since it was just this big glass structure but then when I got closer I saw that the whole store was *underground*! how awesome is that?

An awesome glass elevator.

The Apple Store was very close to Central Park which also blew my mind. It was enormous we barely got halfway through. I loved how the city is so big an yet they dedicated all of this space to nature.Let me assure you when I say that Central Park is HUGE. We only traveled about a fifth of the way in.

I like how the skyscrapers are visible behind the trees.

The trees were so huge!

Some of the little benches had plaques on them and I went to read this one:

I thought it was cute but then I got a little creeped out when I saw the bench next to it!

Freaky...anyways after we found our way out of the park (we got a little...disoriented) we walked a lot more looking for a Pret A Manger since my mother insisted we go there (even though it took us forever to find one). However, I noticed that the city that doesn't sleep in fact DOES sleep. Most if the Shops and cafés where closed by 9. We did find a Pret A Manger though and after that we went to Times Square again to just take it all in and say goodbye until tomorrow.

UYL,

Andre