Posted by As alluded in my last post, we went back to New York City, a city that I love and a place that will always be a part of me. Even though I lived in this city for a few years when I was doing my medical training in Pulmonary and Critical Care, and had visited it several times after we left, there are still some places that we have not explored before.
This time around we stayed in Flushing New York, in the borough of Queens. We were some distance from Manhattan, but we could see Manhattan’s skyline right from our hotel room, across the East River.
As we stayed in the middle of Chinatown in Queens, the biggest Chinatown in New York City, this meant there were several good restaurants that were a few steps away from our hotel. The subway station was also close by that we can be in Manhattan or any part of the city in a heartbeat. The hotel was also near La Guardia Airport where we flown in and out of, which made it quite convenient for us.
There was one night that the moon showed up in the backdrop of this skyline and it was beautiful, but the photo I took with my phone did not give justice to it, so I’ll just brag about it. It was that grand that I broke into singing Christopher Cross’ song: “When you get caught between the moon and New York City, I know it’s crazy, but it’s true” (my wife thought I was going crazy).
Below is time lapse video I shot from our window. You can tell that we were near the airport as there were a few planes (12 planes to be exact if you care to count) that crossed the screen in a relatively short period of time.
We met with old friends of ours, and one dear friend from New York treated us for lunch in a place that we have not dined before. The restaurant was right in the heart of Manhattan, sitting atop of the Museum of Arts and Design.
The lunch treat was actually a celebration for my son’s college graduation (look at the cute desert plates below) who came with us on this trip.
The food was outstanding, but the view was even more superb. You can see Columbus Circle below, some part of the New York skyline, plus the southern region of the Central Park.
Here’s a short time lapse video that my son recorded while we were in the restaurant.
Our friend also brought us to the newest observatory deck in NY city. There are 5 observatory decks in the city. The most iconic of course is the one at Empire State Building which I have been before, at least twice, and has been operational since 1931 (that’s almost 100 years!).
The one we went this time is called the Edge NYC, which was in Hudson Yards along the Hudson River. This observatory deck opened in March 2020.
Below is the view of the Hudson River and the financial district of NY City at the distance, including the One World Trade Center (tallest building in NYC and also has an observatory deck).
The next photo is midtown New York as viewed from the Edge platform, including the Empire State Building (partly obscured by the glass building).
We also went to familiar places we visited several times before, like the Lincoln Center, Central Park, and Rockefeller Center. Below is the photo of Rockefeller building, which also has an observatory deck on top.
Though our time in the city was short, we had a memorable time spending it with friends, riding the subway, navigating the the busy streets, and admiring the famous New York skyline (while singing “when you get caught between the moon and New York City”).
From the top of New York City,
Pinoytransplant.
