St. Patrick's day NYC

Another week has gone by here in the US and It was a tiring one with a lot of work to do for the office, but it was also a fun week with new experiences both in the office - as can be read in my previous post - and in the city. Generally speaking, the weather up here is amazing, it was a beautiful sunshiny week with temperatures rising to 22°C. I also decided for myself for every weekend to make a trip to the "big apple". In doing so I get to experience all the amazing aspects the city has to offer me. On this point right now, I can easily orientate myself in the city but only uptown because the naming of streets and avenues is very logical. The propensity of getting 'lost' downtown on the other hand is way higher because streets have different names hence this high likelihood. Anyhow there are plenty of more opportunities to discover the downtown area of the city.

Saturday, 18/03/2012: St. Patrick's Day


There is probably only one day a year, other then New Years Eve on Times Square, that the city attracts people from all over the country and the world: St. Patricks day. It's a day where you can't look away or you see inebriated people dressed in green shirts and skirts, green make-up and hair, green freakishly cool outfits; I saw everything that day. This green madness started already on the train to New York and this was just the beginning. The moment I walked in Grand Central Terminal I was overwhelmed on how crowded the place was, pictures of which are shown here below.

 

Now I have to say that my plan for that day wasn't hanging around in bars all the time and watch the parade on fifth ave; you have to be with more people to do that. So I just left the crowd for what it was and I headed for my first stop: the United Nations building on the banks of the east river. As this whole complex is built after the second world war it's outdated hence the renovations that are being performed. My visit consisted of a 1hr during audio-tour which guided me along the General Assembly Hall and the UN security council and many other exhibits on landmine sweeping, the millennium goals, the history and the current problem the world is dealing with. Depicted here below are some pictures that I have shot during the tour.

 

I can definitely recommend people who are visiting the city to take this exciting tour on the main facilities and the history behind the UN. The entrance prices for students is $11 and $16 for adults and the visitor center is situated on first ave, 46th street.

Afterwards I decided to go and have a nice breakfast in 'le pain quotidien'. It was just delicious: a soft boiled egg, a glass of fresh orange juice and three different slices of bread. This breakfast gave me renewed energy to face the massive crowd on sixth, fifth and madison avenue to take some pictures of the parade and the green madness surrounding it. Honestly I didn't want to waste my time on the last row of a 10-row thick crowd just to have a glimpse of the parade. I did took some pictures which are shown  hereunder.

So I was quickly back on my way to something more 'quiet'. My plan was to take to subway to Washington square park and walk all the way uptown alongside broadway. Washington Square park is situated in the middle of the buildings of New York University and is very well-known for the Washington Square Arc very much looking like the Arc de Triomphe in Paris. It's a quiet place where people can play chess, play with their children, watching and listening to people playing music and doing some crazy performances... I spent some time there to have a rest, listen to the live shows and enjoying the sun of course. I spent about 30 minutes there and I was back on my way to the following stop: Union Square park, which is a very picturesque park with a lot of people reading, playing their children and enjoying the sun. The spring is kicking in here so it makes the parks even more idyllic and beautiful. The birds are whistling, the threes are blossoming, people are in a happy mood... The third and last park for the day was Madison Square Park and the very famous conjunction of broadway and fifth avenue; A conjunction shown in many movies and TV-series such as Friends...

Madison Sq Park

 

I had also this magnificent view on the Empire State Building from where I was sitting on Madison Square Park. So as this was a beautiful day, I assumed that the view from up there would be as magnificent as the weather conditions. So my next stop was the Empire State Building, the tallest building of the city and presumably the world. At the ticket booth you could either choose for the regular view on the 83th floor or you could choose to go all the way up to the 102th floor. So adventurous as I am, I decided to go all the way up and it was worth it. The view you had up there was just incredible, definitely on a beautiful day as that day. No words can of course describe how beautiful it was but pictures. So without further or due, some pictures of the incredible view depicted here below.

 

 

By the time I got back down, it was already 5pm. So time for me to grab a bite to eat and get back on my way. I almost forgot that the new iPad went on sale friday the 16th, so I went and take a look at the Apple store on 5th ave. As you might have expected, it was crowded as hell in there. Everyone wanted to get their hands on the new iPad, it was madness.

My last stop before going back home was the Adidas store downtown to buy some running shoes in order for me to blow of some steam after work and to stay in shape during weekends. Depicted here below is the beautiful Adidas store on Broadway.

This was also my last stop for that day, afterwards I headed back to Grand Central Station and took the 'drunk' train (reference to the HIMYM-fans) around 8pm. As you might have expected, the train was stamped with people who celebrated St. Patrick's day in the city. Some of them were shouting and swearing the whole train ride, others were just sleeping and some others had to stand in the middle row because there was just no place to sit down. I arrived at my apartment at 9ish and went almost straight to bed because I was really tired.

Sunday, 19/03/2012


I went to bed the day before around midnight and woke up around 10am. I actually set my alarm that time because there was a live stream available for the soccer game in the second division between KV Oostende and KSV Roeselare. Sadly the latter team lost with 1-0 after a rather weak game from both teams with not many scoring opportunities on both sides.

The rest of the day I spent cleaning my apartment, watching a movie and testing out my new running shoes; it must have been ages that I went for a run just like that. Sadly my condition let me down so I didn't run at a good pace, rather a pace with many breaks in between. During which I took some beautiful pictures from the city bathing in sunlight. In total I ran 3,5k in 22.46min, which is pretty bad for a guy like me who loves to sport. Luckily I have plenty of more opportunities here to work on my condition.


I came home around 5pm, took a nice shower and started writing my blog as well as working on a 1000word summary of the company for school due friday the 23th. In the evening I went to the restaurant and had a really good diner: Halibot with rice. Lovely!

Cold Spring

To finish my blog for the day some pictures of the environment here. I hope you enjoyed reading my blog so far. Stay tuned because plenty of more exciting stories to come.