At 11, we went over to the bubble tea place and we both ordered the same thing we had the other night. It's so good. I know that when once we're home I'm going to miss it.
Then we walked to 42 and 12th and got on a boat. It was cold and very windy and I hated it. We sat on the boat for a while before it left at noon. It took us past the Statue of Liberty. She's smaller than I imagined.
Liberty Enlightening the World
The part of Chinatown that we were dropped off at was much better than that dung hole we were in the other day. This place was crowded and had a lot of shops and people walking around.
There were lots of vendors and open markets with food hanging out on the streets. Some of it smelled terrible.
Hold your breathe
We went inside a stationary and book store. Everything was cheap. I bought 5 pens that have multi color ink, 3 little red banner things and a cute notebook. It costs about $16. After that we got lunch at a noodle place. I ordered a vegetable han-pulled noodle and my mom ordered roast duck han-pulled noodle. The food portions were huge and very cheap. Mine cost $5 and my moms was $6.50
Vegetable han-pulled noodles
It was very good! I wondered if Ian would have liked it. I don't think either of us ate more than half. Then we walked out of Chinatown, past Little Italy, and into Soho. Along the way we passed a lot of people trying to sell stuff despite not being in front of a store or having a kiosk or table set up. "Rolex" watches and "Chanel" purses to Baby's First A, B, C kids books could be bought on the street. I'm curious about these people's lives.
There's a lot of more legit shopping to do in Soho but about a quarter of the stores there are also in South Dakota, and of the stores that aren't I could find most of them online for cheaper. Then the rest of the stores I didn't care about. The shopping was disappointing.
We stopped by a candy store and we each bought something, then we stopped in a I Love New York store and ended up buying gifts for everyone. I don't remember how much it cost. From Chinatown to our hotel we walked about 40 blocks. Along the way there were these large bird sculptures made out of trash. Making art out of trash is the new thing.
Art.
My mom had to go to the bathroom so we stopped by a McDonalds and ordered some fries and a coffee. The bathrooms were located downstairs. My mom went in first and I waited. Several minutes later she came out pretty wide eyed and wanted to leave. I had to go too and told her so.
"That was the worst bathroom I've ever been in in New York." She told me dead serious. It couldn't have been that bad. I went inside.
The bathroom was small with 2 stalls and 1 sink to wash hands. It smelled bad. But that wasn't what got me. In one of the stalls, I could hear a woman going "Oh my gawd, oh my gawd..." She came out, looked me in the eye, and gave it to me straight. "It's bad." The woman said. "I did not do that. It's so bad..."
I had to see. I went into the stall and it wasn't bad. Nothing was smeared on the wall, the toilet wasn't clogged. Just as I was thinking everyone was being dramatic, it hit me. The smell was so putrid I started to gag. I thought I might throw up so I did my business quick and made to run out of the bathroom without washing my hands. Another girl was waiting to use my stall, so I stopped her on my way.
"It's bad." I warned her through watering eyes. Then I left before I threw up my vegetable han-noodles. My mom was waiting as far away from the women's bathroom as possible. We had a laugh and left. I ate her french fries. I think she lost her appetitie.
At the hotel, we hung out for maybe thirty minutes before it was time to leave for our Broadway show, Lion King.
We got there at 7:30 and the show started at 8. The lobby was very pretty.
The show was what I expected, but better. It was very good, the singing, music, acting, costumes... I enjoyed it. My mom loved it. It was better than the Lion King show in Disney World.
It lasted an hour and a half. We left and had to find food because my mom was hungry. We wandered into Hells Kitchen before finally stopping at a pizza joint where my mom bought 3 huge slices for $16. We went back to the hotel and ate in the room where we have no internet.
Tonight was our last night in New York. Our car picks us up at 8:30 and our flight leaves at 11 tomorrow. I should be home at 4 when I can update this blog. I look forward to having internet again.
REFLECTION!
If I was rich, I would live here. Or at least this would be one of the many places I would own real estate. The point is I very much like New York. I'm so glad I got to go and I love my mom for going with me (or taking me with her). She is very easy to travel with and I can be a bit difficult so thank god she can put up with me. We did everything we wanted to and then some. With some vacations you know exactly when you will be back, or you know that you will never come back at all. New York was somewhere in between. I'll come back some day, but I don't think I'll be making any special trips in the near future.
Don't cry for me New York.