Sights, sounds, smells – there’s so much I wanted to capture about New York, but it’s nothing like experiencing it first hand. What can I say, the city just feels so alive. It’s surprisingly quieter than I thought it would be; I was expecting more honking (like in the movies), more people talking on cell phones…but it’s almost quieter than it is back home.

It’s too bad I couldn’t capture the way the city smelled – the air was cold and crisp, but once in a while you would get a whiff of something delicious cooking up in a food cart. It made a cold day in a big city feel so cozy and warm. I’m in love.

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New York

There’s always things to do, places to go, and people out at all times of the day. I was warned about rude New Yorkers but I’ve only met the nicest people there.

I was out south of Central Park one day and I saw people wearing cool, quirky outfits. Whether outfits was quirky or just downright weird, it was always classy. I’ve noticed that New Yorkers tend to stick to black and greys. And unlike San Franciscans, everyone looks like they’ve taken a shower (hooray)

New York is home of food stands! Yeah! There’s especially a lot of halal carts. Mike got a chicken gyro.

Here’s my absolute favorite – roasted chestnuts. Nothing’s better on a cold day. Mine weren’t as hot as I hoped them to be, but in that weather, I don’t think it was possible to keep any food outside warm.

This was outside of Rockefeller Center. The gold statue is in front of a large ice skating rink. The policeman on the horse saw me taking his photo and sat very, very still for me.

Central Park

I finally went to Central Park! I’ve only seen it in movies, and I had no idea how big it was. There’s no vegetation anywhere in New York other than this park, so there’s good reason for it to take up so much valuable real estate.

The park doesn’t look so good in the photos because, well, nothing’s green right now. You also can’t tell how cold it was. It was soooo cold.

We sat on the park bench for a while. It’s a nice, quiet spot in the city. I froze on the bench a little bit. I have weak California blood.

I watched these ducks from the park bench. They looked cold, too. Actually, it was so cold in New York, the rats weren’t even out in the subways. I’ll have to come by another time to see the rats.

Central Park is surrounded by huge skyscrapers. It’s really, really cool. I didn’t see anyone skating on the thin ice (thank god), but I did see little pawprints all over it.

There were horse and carriages there, all lined up in a row, ready to take the tourists. The horses were beautiful.

Donald Trump owns the ice rink in central park. Even the maintenance car has his name on it. And guess what?! I SAW HIM! Yes, I did. I saw him in an elevator at NBC Studios.

Apple

Of course, while we were there, we had to pay homage to Apple. It’s pretty much the coolest Apple Store in the world. Who would ever think of constructing a glass box in the middle of New York? It’s surreal.

Everything is glass, even the stairs and the elevator.

It’s completely open, you can see the outside from below. This is a photo from underneath the stairs.

It was a weekday afternoon, and the store was packed with people. I didn’t see that many Apple stores in NYC though, but then again I grew up in Cupertino near Apple headquarters, so it’s no wonder why there’s an Apple store every five miles here. Ha.

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