Winter Trip - New York: Part 3

Hello, I'm finally back with some stories from New York. It was Christmas Eve and we woke up quite late (again). Since we didn't really know where to eat within two blocks from our hotel (We just had Applebees the day before, and McD sounds a bit too overrated), we decided to have a little fancy dine that afternoon at Nanking.

Despite the lavish interior and vibe, they actually had a pretty good deal of meal. I had a bowl of Singaporean fried rice that cost up to $8.00 excluding tip. So it wasn't so bad at all.

Later in the day, we were planning to go to New York Aquarium in Coney Island. To go there, we would need to take just one subway ride all the way crossing Manhattan to Brooklyn, and down to Coney Island. It took us about an hour to get there. It was a pretty cold and windy day, but it didn't stop us from going to the aquarium.

Once we got there, I was quite surprised to see how extremely quiet the neighborhood was. There was this seemingly defunct theme park adjacent to the subway station. I'm not sure if it was closed for good or it was just closed for Christmas, but the old, rusty metal visible from afar didn't look so convincing. I don't know much about the neighborhood guys, so if you're from around the area, let me know if my assumption is wrong.

We went to the Boardwalk which should connect us to the entrance of the aquarium. Again, it was super quiet!! People were barely there. I hoped the aquarium was closed. Fortunately, it wasn't closed! The admission ticket was by far the cheapest one we had ever got. Apparently, some parts of the aquarium was closed because of the Sandy storm damage. They were refurbishing some of the areas. Good thing we could see some interesting things inside the aquarium itself. Even though they had no Shamu or big mammals, the vast aquarium tank with colorful fish and sea anemones were enough to indulge me.

The freshwater aquarium looked pretty bad-ass too.

In the latter, Elda and I learned that there would be a sea lion show coming up at 3 pm. The announcement was made so many times - they probably just wanted to make sure the show would at least have a couple of spectators rather than not having anyone at all. It was 2 so we had around an hour to kill in the aquarium (that we finished exploring in just an hour) before the show began. We mostly chose to stay inside despite the sea lion and walrus exhibits in the outdoor part and especially they rarely emerged from the water. I guess they weren't as fond with the cold weather as us.

In a separate building that we had to access through the outdoor part of the aquarium, we found a small souvenir shop. We spent almost an hour just looking at things, taking pictures, and take a picture of this little guy.

Nicki Minaj, is that you?

Approaching 3.00 pm, the stadium was open and guess what, Elda and I were the first ones to come in. After 3.00 has passed, only a few more people came by and I started to worry that the show would lack of audience, which made sense because there weren't so many visitors that day. I started to come up with thoughts that at shows like this, the trainers would request for anyone in the audience tribune to volunteer in the performance, and I don't want to be that volunteer. So Elda and I decided to choose a seat quite at the back (no, actually in the middle).

The show was so interesting! Apparently it only featured just one trainer and two sea lions, but heck it was entertaining, despite the cold and windy weather. Afterwards, Elda and I headed back to the Coney Island train station where we would head back to Manhattan.

We honestly had no idea where else to visit. The sun surely hasn't set yet but we got plenty of time. Having dinner right now would be way too early. Some possible attractions we considered earlier in Manhattan (like museums or Empire State Building) would be closed when we got there. After taking quite some time to think where we should go next, I thought, why not go to Grand Central Terminal? I've never been there, though Elda has, but I heard it has a pretty awesome interior design.

A visit to Grand Central Terminal surely wouldn't require admission fee, so that's one of the good things about that. When we reached the station from Coney Island, Elda and I headed to the main terminal (after going through grand pathways that eventually led us to the iconic hall). The terminal was marvelous. It was huge!! There were tourists just like us who struggled to find a good spot to take picture of the entire hall. Elda and I had to go up to one of the mezzanines for a better view of the terminal. The mezzanine apparently, housed an Apple Store.

Another great thing about the terminal is that, it has this vintage vibe. When I looked up to the left side of the terminal, the schedule board looked like it dated back to the 20s or 30s. I assumed this terminal and station must have held a great role for New York community back in the day where transportation was still scarce. It's great that this place gave us a chance to revisit its past!

After marveling the terminal, we exited through the lobby. The terminal wasn't located that far from Times Square. Next stop, dinner! Even better, we were heading to one of the most renowned Indonesian restaurants in New York: Bali Nusa Indah. Again, since Elda and I rarely ever ate Indonesian food, we took quite a while to decide our meals. We came up with Soto Betawi and Cap Cay (assorted veggies dish).

While we were eating, we were surprised by the sudden arrival of a group of Indonesian tourists on a tour. There were about 20 of them that quickly filled out the rest of the restaurants. They were composed of families eating and having a good time together.

We ended the night soon and walked back to our hotel!