A while back Joel and I agreed it was time to make my return to the
VanDewerker Family Reunion. I had not been to one since I was 12 years
old, plus what a great way to visit many family members all in one
place! More on that later....
Our first stop was in New York City! I won't lie... I didn't have very high expectations of the Big Apple. I had been when I was 13 ishh and remember being indifferent to the trip... maybe my mom will say otherwise? Anyways I was pleasantly surprised by the city.
When we arrived we headed straight to meet Daniel at his place in Williamsburg. He offered to let us stay with him. He took us around the neighborhood and there was the most PERFECT colorful sunset with the Manhattan skyline so perfectly defined.
The next day we moved our stuff to a hotel in Manhattan. There were already a few people at Daniels place and we just wanted to be a little closer to everything. So we dropped our bags and headed out for our day. First top was Times Square. I felt like Time Square was soo much calmer than when I was younger. Maybe because it was Sunday morning? We had plans to meet up with my friends at 2pm in Central Park. While we were walking around we saw that like everyone and their mother had the Puerto Rican flag, people dressed up, a marching band in our hotel lobby... after a quick google we realized it was the Puerto Rican Pride Parade! Google maps showed us the parade route. So we wandered back and forth in the parade route and along the next street. It was a lot of fun to watch and see the crowd. We had a little monk hanging out at one point dancing and getting in on the action and selfie bombing us. Eventually we made our way down to central park where we had the best reunion with friends from Korea!
Eugene, Jason, and Jerome all lived in the same city as I did in Korea and were there as teachers. We had some amazing times together in Korea and did sooo many activities festivals, parties, and just the best time together. We all planned to bring some snacks and drinks to picnic in Central Park together. First they gave us a short tour of half... ish of the park. It was the perfect sunny day! There was so much life in that park. We found our patch of grass and went deep into catch ups! It felt like we never skipped a beat. Then a few hours later Nichole joined in the party! After several hours, we headed to Korea town together to relive the old days and eat some Korean BBQ together, drink Soju and flip the soju cap. We pushed that button on the table and got our kamsahamnidas and anyangs on. The Jongrang BBQ was sooo cute and such an authentic experience. The place was also FULL with Koreans.
While we were picnicing, Eugene and Jason told us that many of their friends had stayed in the Hotel Penn (where we had yet to check in), and not to expect much. Just open the door, go straight to bed and don't turn on the lights. Expectations were very low... The line to check in was like the hotels in Vegas, a huge line that wraps all around and takes forever. Oh and tons of crazy, really drunk and out of control people everywhere. When we finally got to the front, it seemed like the guy was happy to deal with normal people. He told us we had a view of the Empire State Building from the 16th floor and then gave us extra free drink coupons for the beer garden across the street! :O Bonus! So we had the amazing surprise that the room wasn't so bad and the view of the Empire State Building was incredible and a direct shot! The furniture and room was outdated but it was clean and everything was working.
The
next day the weather was looking a bit cloudy and rain was supposed to
come later on. We walked part of the way to the Intrepid Air and Space
Museum. We explored for a while, went through a submarine. It was a nice
way to stay out of the rain. We were signed up to join a free walking
tour of Harlem, and made our way there.. when the rain was no joke. I
was hopeful that the guide would be able to find some places to stop
under cover and surely we wouldn't be completely soaked... I was so
wrong. Our little rain jackets aren't made for down pours with no
umbrella. So I awkwardly apologized after about half of the tour that
Team Portugal was leaving because we were soaked. The beginning of the
tour was very interesting and I wished we could have stayed but we were
so uncomfortable. We had some delicious Thai food for dinner.
The next day we covered all sorts of ground! Google maps definitely agrees, we were everywhere!
We started the day off walking around the Hudson Yards where there is a a beautiful new shopping mall, which we only went inside to use the toilet but after walking around to find it, realized there were tons of cool art along several of the walls. After that we saw the weird honeycomb type structure (I totally forgot the name). It was super interesting and fun to take pictures around. After that we made our way through the High Line (elevated park) which was really cute and reminded me a lot of Melbourne, specifically Brunswick. From there it was on to Little Italy and Chinatown. We were a bit bummed that there isn't a huge market like in Shanghai or other asian cities in Chinatown. Joel wanted to show me his super negotiation skills after so many trips to Shanghai. But the best we could do was bargain with a street guy for one pair of sunglasses.
After a delicious lunch in Chinatown, we headed to walk across the Brooklyn Bridge.
After that we headed towards the 9/11 Memorial. What they have done with the area is very well thought out. The roses placed next to people's whose birthday it was made it all so real and really brought me back to the morning. I remember it perfectly, my mom woke me up for school and told me to turn on the TV. At school we also watched the news during some classes. My dad was in Seattle at the time for work and had to come home a few days later and head to Canada to catch a flight. Anyways, For pride month, the museum had put out a bunch of free tickets on Tuesday evenings. We met Jason and Eugene again to visit the museum. While the free tickets were really nice, it was a mad house inside, and I think might have been worth it to visit again and pay the ticket just so you could read the signs better and feel a bit more connected with what you were reading. Again, everything is so well planned and nicely done. I was really impressed, and what a great tribute to say many different aspects of the tragedy. Plus the album of information from every person who died, with details from their families or friends about them. I cannot imagine all the work to compile that information.
Anyways
after the intense museum visit, Jason and Eugene took us for an amazing
sushi dinner! As I said above, soo much fun catching up with them!
After dinner they took us around NYU campus area and Washington Square
Park. Even around 11pm was so full of life. People playing music, people
dancing, people meditating, I loved it! We are looking forward to
Eugene and Jason's visit to Portugal one day! :)
The next day we woke up to the great news that we had won cheap tickets in an online lottery to see Aladdin! Eugene, Jason, Joel, and I all entered to increase our chances and thinking there was no way, the last email I opened had that CONGRATULATIONS! This was so great considering how many shows we entered the lottery in.
Anyways
it was our last day, so we packed up our stuff and checked out of the
hotel. We headed to the One World Observation Tower. It was really neat
to see all the different angles of the skyline. It was a perfect and so
clear so we could see pretty far away. I would say we weren't super
amazed, but still enjoyed the experience.
We enjoyed Korean food for lunch again at at the same place we had eaten on Sunday with friends. There is just not enough Korean food one can eat!
Afterwards,
we headed to the Staten Island Ferry just to cross the channel and see
the Statue of Liberty from afar. Joel didn't have much interest in going
there but it was nice to see from the ferry.
Then we made our way back to Time's Square to see Aladdin! We picked up the tickets from the digital lottery. We had no idea what the seats would be like. We entered into the theater and the ushers told us to go to the third floor, so we assumed we must be near the top. When we arrived there, the usher then told us to go down to one of the side boxes! We had super fluffy chairs and the box to ourselves. When you have a box, why not take your shoes off and enjoy the show right? We liked the seats, you did have to kind of angle yourself but it was cool to see the orchestra underneath the stage as well as the side stages! We LOVED the show so much. It was done so well and we were singing and dancing along.
Afterwards we got some pizza and then headed back to the Beer Garden for our free drinks before we made our way to the airport. It was very easy to go from Penn Station to Newark Airport. Our flight was at 5am so we decided not to waste money on a night of the hotel when we would really only be there for a few hours sleeping. 5am by the way is a terrible time for a flight! Never again. Newark airport isn't exactly the most comfortable one to sleep in. We were quite cold and all of the chairs have armrests so you can't lay on them. Then most of the areas have tile floor, the one area (United Customer Service Area) with carpet was full of other people sleeping. I am not sure about the other terminals but that was the United Terminal. That terrible "night" of rest in the airport finished our our incredible time in NYC.
Our first stop was in New York City! I won't lie... I didn't have very high expectations of the Big Apple. I had been when I was 13 ishh and remember being indifferent to the trip... maybe my mom will say otherwise? Anyways I was pleasantly surprised by the city.
When we arrived we headed straight to meet Daniel at his place in Williamsburg. He offered to let us stay with him. He took us around the neighborhood and there was the most PERFECT colorful sunset with the Manhattan skyline so perfectly defined.
The next day we moved our stuff to a hotel in Manhattan. There were already a few people at Daniels place and we just wanted to be a little closer to everything. So we dropped our bags and headed out for our day. First top was Times Square. I felt like Time Square was soo much calmer than when I was younger. Maybe because it was Sunday morning? We had plans to meet up with my friends at 2pm in Central Park. While we were walking around we saw that like everyone and their mother had the Puerto Rican flag, people dressed up, a marching band in our hotel lobby... after a quick google we realized it was the Puerto Rican Pride Parade! Google maps showed us the parade route. So we wandered back and forth in the parade route and along the next street. It was a lot of fun to watch and see the crowd. We had a little monk hanging out at one point dancing and getting in on the action and selfie bombing us. Eventually we made our way down to central park where we had the best reunion with friends from Korea!
Eugene, Jason, and Jerome all lived in the same city as I did in Korea and were there as teachers. We had some amazing times together in Korea and did sooo many activities festivals, parties, and just the best time together. We all planned to bring some snacks and drinks to picnic in Central Park together. First they gave us a short tour of half... ish of the park. It was the perfect sunny day! There was so much life in that park. We found our patch of grass and went deep into catch ups! It felt like we never skipped a beat. Then a few hours later Nichole joined in the party! After several hours, we headed to Korea town together to relive the old days and eat some Korean BBQ together, drink Soju and flip the soju cap. We pushed that button on the table and got our kamsahamnidas and anyangs on. The Jongrang BBQ was sooo cute and such an authentic experience. The place was also FULL with Koreans.
While we were picnicing, Eugene and Jason told us that many of their friends had stayed in the Hotel Penn (where we had yet to check in), and not to expect much. Just open the door, go straight to bed and don't turn on the lights. Expectations were very low... The line to check in was like the hotels in Vegas, a huge line that wraps all around and takes forever. Oh and tons of crazy, really drunk and out of control people everywhere. When we finally got to the front, it seemed like the guy was happy to deal with normal people. He told us we had a view of the Empire State Building from the 16th floor and then gave us extra free drink coupons for the beer garden across the street! :O Bonus! So we had the amazing surprise that the room wasn't so bad and the view of the Empire State Building was incredible and a direct shot! The furniture and room was outdated but it was clean and everything was working.
The next day we covered all sorts of ground! Google maps definitely agrees, we were everywhere!
We started the day off walking around the Hudson Yards where there is a a beautiful new shopping mall, which we only went inside to use the toilet but after walking around to find it, realized there were tons of cool art along several of the walls. After that we saw the weird honeycomb type structure (I totally forgot the name). It was super interesting and fun to take pictures around. After that we made our way through the High Line (elevated park) which was really cute and reminded me a lot of Melbourne, specifically Brunswick. From there it was on to Little Italy and Chinatown. We were a bit bummed that there isn't a huge market like in Shanghai or other asian cities in Chinatown. Joel wanted to show me his super negotiation skills after so many trips to Shanghai. But the best we could do was bargain with a street guy for one pair of sunglasses.
After a delicious lunch in Chinatown, we headed to walk across the Brooklyn Bridge.
After that we headed towards the 9/11 Memorial. What they have done with the area is very well thought out. The roses placed next to people's whose birthday it was made it all so real and really brought me back to the morning. I remember it perfectly, my mom woke me up for school and told me to turn on the TV. At school we also watched the news during some classes. My dad was in Seattle at the time for work and had to come home a few days later and head to Canada to catch a flight. Anyways, For pride month, the museum had put out a bunch of free tickets on Tuesday evenings. We met Jason and Eugene again to visit the museum. While the free tickets were really nice, it was a mad house inside, and I think might have been worth it to visit again and pay the ticket just so you could read the signs better and feel a bit more connected with what you were reading. Again, everything is so well planned and nicely done. I was really impressed, and what a great tribute to say many different aspects of the tragedy. Plus the album of information from every person who died, with details from their families or friends about them. I cannot imagine all the work to compile that information.
The next day we woke up to the great news that we had won cheap tickets in an online lottery to see Aladdin! Eugene, Jason, Joel, and I all entered to increase our chances and thinking there was no way, the last email I opened had that CONGRATULATIONS! This was so great considering how many shows we entered the lottery in.
We enjoyed Korean food for lunch again at at the same place we had eaten on Sunday with friends. There is just not enough Korean food one can eat!
Then we made our way back to Time's Square to see Aladdin! We picked up the tickets from the digital lottery. We had no idea what the seats would be like. We entered into the theater and the ushers told us to go to the third floor, so we assumed we must be near the top. When we arrived there, the usher then told us to go down to one of the side boxes! We had super fluffy chairs and the box to ourselves. When you have a box, why not take your shoes off and enjoy the show right? We liked the seats, you did have to kind of angle yourself but it was cool to see the orchestra underneath the stage as well as the side stages! We LOVED the show so much. It was done so well and we were singing and dancing along.
Afterwards we got some pizza and then headed back to the Beer Garden for our free drinks before we made our way to the airport. It was very easy to go from Penn Station to Newark Airport. Our flight was at 5am so we decided not to waste money on a night of the hotel when we would really only be there for a few hours sleeping. 5am by the way is a terrible time for a flight! Never again. Newark airport isn't exactly the most comfortable one to sleep in. We were quite cold and all of the chairs have armrests so you can't lay on them. Then most of the areas have tile floor, the one area (United Customer Service Area) with carpet was full of other people sleeping. I am not sure about the other terminals but that was the United Terminal. That terrible "night" of rest in the airport finished our our incredible time in NYC.
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