They were here. It was AWESOME!
On Sunday we showed them our apartment and then walked to Carl Schurz Park, which is my regular hangout spot. Then we went for sushi at our favorite sushi restaurant.
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| Sushi good! Stomach hurt! |
By the time we were done Marly and Joël were completely beat, they had a long flight and had been up for almost 24 hours, so they went back to their hotel to get some sleep.
Monday was memorial day, so Bram didn't have to work. We met Marly and Joël at the Brooklyn Bridge (they had been roaming the city since the early morning already, jetlags are fun that way) We sat and chatted for a bit, looked at this old lady blasting loud Jesus-praising gospel music through an extremely crappy boombox;
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| Christ, turn it down will ya? |
and then we joined the vast tourist crowds trying to cross the bridge.
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| The flag was flown at half-staff in honor of memorial day. |
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| Stop taking pictures and hurry up! |
After almost burning to a crisp on the Brooklyn Bridge we headed to Greenwood Cemetery, because it is a fantastic place to see!
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| But we were thankful when we finally found a place to sit in the shade. |
Then, having spent the whole day in the sweltering heat, Bram took us to Times Square because that's where New York's best Dallas BBQ franchise is located. They have cocktails.
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| Manly cocktails! |
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| We didn't mind drinking manly cocktails. We're badass. |
On Tuesday, Bram had to go back to work. So sadly we had to make do without him there. I met Marly and Joël at Battery Park, where we headed for the Staten Island ferry to go see the Statue of Liberty from a safe distance. (New Yorkers don't want anyone to know that she likes to smite tourists with her torch. Just a heads up.)
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| Good thing the Coast Guard was there to protect us from Lady Liberty. She was looking particularly vindictive that day. |
After returning safely from our dangerous mission we strolled towards Wall Street to take our mind off our narrow escape from the Statue of Liberty. But lo and behold, there we came across another statue, charging violently into the throngs of tourists!
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| RUN PEOPLE! RUN FOR YOUR LIVES! |
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| In a sick display of morbidity, this graveyard was located not far from the charging bull. It seemed an eerie warning sign. |
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| Trinity Church was lovely though... |
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| Everytime I see a church organ I take a picture for my dad. |
After we left Wall Street we went to see the 9/11 memorial and the new Freedom Tower.
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| A good place for reflection. |
We stayed there for a while, letting the history of the place sink in. I've been there a few times now but it makes an impression every time.
From there we took the bus to another place that was on Marly and Joël's most wanted-list (and with good reason because it is fantastic!)
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| Finally walking the High Line! |
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| Amazing display of Manhattan, made from a big block of marble. Hey, I can see my house from here! |
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| I never pass up a chance to take a picture like this one :) |
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| There was water running down one small section of the park, for everyone to cool their feet! |
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| And for kids to have fun with, these two were having a blast! |
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| Tired but happy! |
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| ....and a bit weird. |
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| ....Ok, VERY weird. |
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| To be fair, we asked Joël to be the subject of our silly picture-ideas. He just sighed and got it over with. ;) |
By this time we had picked up Bram from the office and together we went to Chinatown.
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| Proof. |
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| A nostalgic moment for Bram... |
We went to Prosperity Dumpling again to get some dumplings (naturally) and sesame pancakes. After that we scoured the other neighbourhood stores to collect a complete dinner and we sat in the park (between shamelessly loud spitting old people and rats that were casually wandering around) and managed to eat our dinner enjoying the authentic Chinatown scenery. It was an experience. (nowhere else in New York can you get a complete dinner for 4 people for less than $15. Chinatown is amazing that way)
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| The food was fantastic as ever! |
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| Sambal Blij! |
But the night was young! And we wanted to go to the Top of the Rock! We went there, got our tickets, were told we had to wait an hour before we could get in, so we headed to Saint Patrick's Cathedral across the street to enjoy the (relatively) cool evening breeze.
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| I asked Marly to look devout, here she is trying to remember how to do that. |
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| Nailed it! |
When our waiting time was over, we went to stand in line for at least another half hour (Marly was completely defeated by this time, I've never seen her this tired in my life, but she soldiered on!) and we were rewarded with this fantastic view!
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| Mehh, it looks okay I guess.. |
While Marly was torn between extreme exhaustion and a pretty deep-seated fear of heights, Bram and I made our way to the top level and took some more pictures.
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| Looks much better already! |
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When we finally got back to the ground floor Marly and Joël went back to their hotel to get some much-needed sleep, and Bram and I went home to do the same. It was a LONG day!
And then it was Wednesday already!
The weather had gradually become more and more hot and humid, in anticipation of a thunderstorm. It was so hot we didn't even want to spend the day outside, so I met Marly and Joël at the entrance of the American Museum of National History.
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| I narrowly survived another statue attack on my way there! |
The lines at the museum entrance weren't very long, which was promising. And the airconditioning worked fine, which was great! We made a beeline to everyone's favorite section;
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| Yaaaaaaaaaaaay!!!!! |
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| Marly had clearly recovered from her lack of sleep. Or had she..? |
Of course, the most fun was had in the gift shop.
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| Völlig losgelöst von der erde. |
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| HELP! THE VELOURSIRAPTORS ARE ATTACKING! |
We completely voluntarily left the dinosaur and space sections without the need for any of the guards to ask us to leave. And then we went to explore the rest of the museum (not all of it, it's HUGE!)
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| Everything here is HUGE! |
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| Ok not everything. |
But then we had seen all the good stuff, so we went to Central Park to hang out until we could pick up Bram at the office again. We walked to Belvedere Castle where we heartily chuckled at the American definition of a "castle" and then explored The Ramble and actually saw a Bluejay! He flew off before we could take a picture, and he refused to come back, but he was gorgeous! Joël then fed some squirrels with the peanuts I brought.
We picked up Bram again, went to Dallas BBQ (again!), had more cocktails and heaps of meat and headed to the movie theatre. Bram had gotten us tickets to see Mad Max!
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| Woah mama! |
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| Aww yiss. |
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| We never want to go to a regular movie theatre again! (Oh, Mad Max was really good too!) |
And thus ended Marly and Joël's last night in New York... The next day we met at the Public Library with Bram, to have lunch together and say our goodbyes...
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| Chipotle turned out to be a good choice. |
after which I accompanied them to the bus stop..
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| Even the Ghostbusters came to say goodbye! |
They got in the bus, I waved until they were out of sight, and I made my way back home where Kitty was EXTREMELY happy to see me again!
Marly and Joël got home safely and I think they're still sleeping off the insane overload of sights and impressions ;-)
