New York, Day One

Well, I arrived in New York on a Saturday evening. Was met by my friend Raphael, who's place I was staying at. Went back to his place & settled in... then weighed the options for entertainment that night. LOL. We ended up deciding on dinner at the Jackson's Hole diner with Charlene and Fred (one of their regular hangouts), and then that night, a party upstairs at R's sister's place. Good times all around! and... mmmm... jager.


The next day, we had a pretty jam packed day ahead of us!
We started out with a traditional Columbian breakfast with his parents in Queens, then headed into Manhattan for a fun-filled day of adventure. We started out with some random shopping... Went into the Manhattan Mall because I wanted to see what Steve and Barry's was all about... and saw a sign that said EVERYTHING in the store was $8.98!!! I was so overwhelmed! But we decided that we should probably just have a quick look around the store and then go back the next day, because the next stop on our to-do list was Skating at Wollman Rink in Central Park! It was amazing, even if the skates were really stiff and I hadn't been on skates in like, at least 5 years, if not more. Raphael had a little bit more trouble, but he had fun anyway :)

After a little bit of that, we strolled around Central Park for a while... saw some familiar sights, as well as some things that I didn't have a chance to see last time. And I've realized that no matter what time of year, it's always beautiful.

Then we strolled around the city... had a hot dog at Gray's Papaya that was SO delicious... Lincoln Centre... random shopping... LOTS of walking... we ended up at 5th Avenue... sadly, by the time we got there, Tiffany's was already closed :( ... but the World of Disney store was still open, and I bought myself the cutest shirt with this logo ... super cute.

I think after that point, we were pretty beat.
On the way home, we ended up stopping at this super cool Columbian place in Queens called Xtasis to bring home food. I wish I had taken pictures in there - it was all done in neon pink and crisp white, super modern looking. Here's a blog post that someone else has written up about the place: click ... Unfortunately, I totally did not have the taste for the "Xtasis burger" ... a burger with ham, some kind of pineapple mixture, crushed potato chips... and some other mystery ingredients.... so when we got home, Charlene and I indulged in some McDonalds, while the boys ate their special burgers :) Definitely an interesting flavour though... I'd be willing to try it again at some point when I'm not so tired that I need comfort food. LOL.

Okay, there's day one... photos are below! Stay tuned for blog posts about the rest of the trip :)