There's something I've been meaning to tell you for some time

Finally, inspired by Outi and Mai, here's our travel diary from our trip to New York in May 2009. We are already planning our next trip, so watch out NY, we are coming..

Bubba & Bean (this place was a real find and well definately go back), Lexington Avenue ("our" street), Central Park: Bethesda Fountain and Terrace & the Ramble and Lake (the birds singing and woods rustling almost coverd the noices of the city [and those turtles bathing in the sun, cute]) & Alice in Wonderland statue near Conservatory Water (children and child-minded sailing their boats) & Hans Christian Andersen's statue (copper all polished from the loving hands of it's visitors), Twin Towers of Central Park West (where celebreties live, we are told;)), John's Pizzeria (Eastside, 408 E 64th St: ours and also Woody Allen's favorite:)), Bloomingdales,

Best Buy, Central Synagogue, Christ Church United Methodist, Lexington Candy Shop (highly recommended by TimeOut, but where the waitress tried to overcharge us - luckily Bean quickly spotted the rip off - my clever man [and the food was nothing to write home about either]), Coors (the label in the bottle changed it's colour when the beer was cold enough, yay!),
Starbucks (one must, so Bean volunteered), Metropolitan Museum of Art & Petrie Court Café and Wine Bar (amazing museum and delightful cafe with nice food), Dean & Deluca Deli, Food Emporium, In Touch Weekly, Joy Burger (great burgers and friendly staff), Burger King (blaah), Associated Supermarket (the place to get your drinks, but that's all), Guggenheim (buildings architecture was beautiful and we found nice coasters:)), Passione Pizza & Restaurant and their delicious pizza pie, Gourmet Garage (try: Three Lentil Chili Soup, New England clam chowder, wonderful baguette, fresh fruit salads, Sushicado & California rolls, the cheese selection, fresh guacamole..this is heaven),
New York CityPass (very convenient), Finlandia Cheese (yes, really!), New York State Volunteer Ambulance (the volunteer-part sounded peculiar, but makes sense on their webpage), huge thunderstorm and rain, rain, rain (it rained whole months worth in our two weeks, but we didn't mind, we addapted our plans according to weather :)), Primeburger (we ended up here, because La Bonne Soupe had fire in the kitchen - fun and a bit strange atmosphere, but plain food), Saint Patrick's Cathedral, MoMA (so much to see, favorite),
rapper 50 Cent on the street in front of Peninsula New York hotel (this was our obligatory celebrity spotting;)), Eli Zabar E.A.T. , People Magazine (time for gossip) , Sutton Place & Queensboro Bridge (quiet area with lots of nannyes with children), Carl Schurz Park & Gracie Mansion (lots of locals in the park - mayor's residence looked like a lovely doll's house), (Marisa's Famous) Sandwich Shoppe & our favorite American Me panini (fresh and delicious, despite not so prominent appearence of the shop), Sauza Gold Tequila & ever so nice Liquor-Store-Guy who wanted to know about us and who we disapointed by telling that Finlandia Vodka was no longer Finnish brand (this was something many asked from us!), and yes, they sell their stuff behind a plexi glass..), softball match in a field (all-girl team in their uniforms and that nice New Yorker guy who commented the game to us:)), Lemon Tea Snapple from a street vendor (not to our taste), readymade fruit salads sold everywhere (loved these),
MetroCard for convenience, rush hour subway (it's packed, of course), Man vs. Food in tv (quantity over quality?), Meals on Wheels van on the street (this concept is familiar to Finns from TV series Twin Peaks:)), crosstown bus to Upper West Side, Sarabeth's (Eggs Benedict and great coffee), American Museum of Natural History, (well, the dinosaurs were great, but..) Hayden Planetarium & Cosmic Collisions film narrated by Robert Redford (Robert really sucked us in to this story), Central Park & Great Lawn (it is big), Egg salad (not to our taste), Bass Pale Ale & Anchor Steam Beer in White Horse Tavern & Bob the Bartender (great beer and chatty landlord), Empire State Building (where the view is beautiful, but you feel like cattle rushed to corral), Les Halles (a tiny bit of France [even the waiter greeted us in French!]),
Flatiron Building (the mandatory picture spot) and Garment district street markets (where Crumpet found her inner haggler for the very first time in her life:)), hot dog from a street vendor, Madison Square Park (New Yorkers having their lunch), Greenwich Village (nice, but rather upmarket atmosphire), Washington Square Park & Washington Square Arch with buskers (people listened to jazz and danced with their partners, lovely), El Paso Taqueria (1642 Lexington Avenue, served us the most delicious mexican food [Sopa de Mariscos, Soft Tacos and Marinated Grilled Chicken Breast and Burrito de Carne and Guacamole]), Budweiser,
subway service change & shuttle bus to our destination (there was always someone giving directions and telling what to do, so we didn't mind at all), Sherman Creek & Fort Tryon Park (it was foggy and warm and almost no people around - were we really in Manhattan?), The Cloisters Museum and Gardens (almost in the northern tip of the Manhattan island, this gem emerged from the fog (we had almost lost hope of finding it) - this medieval collection is definately worth a visit), Broadway (it is very(!) long), Harlem (stereotype or not, but this was the only time we heard people talking about shooting), Malcolm X Boulevard (we walked from through Harlem to our b&b and still felt totally safe, so go for it), Sylvia's (serving soul food, so we had: Bar-B-Que Ribs, Oven Baked Half Chicken Black Eyed Peas, Baked Macaroni & Cheese, Candied Yams and the result=stuffy tastes [and bad service]), Little Africa Shop & and loads of earrings, Harlem Meer ,
Spanish Harlem (loving it's energy and informal atmosphere), Miller's Golden Draft, Shorty's Bar & Amber Ale (we were thirsty, what can I say :)), Port Authority Bus Terminal (where would you like to go, dear?), Gramercy , Garment District , James Farley Post Office (General Post Office), Times Square (and all the tourists in NY), Midtown (and money talks), McDonald's (everything is always packed to go even if you are eating in, so loads of waste :(, Hell's Kitchen and still walking (my legs are killing me:)) Union Square, Madison Square Garden (it´s huge, even from the outside), romantic picnic in Central Park (where Bean got hit by a little boy's baseball:D), NY Times Sunday Edition (takes hours to finish), New York Post, Papaya King (for us Seinfeld fans), Dunkin Donuts (Bean sacrificed himself, 'cos Crumpet does not like sweet food:)), Shanghai Pavillion & great dumplings & Kung Pao Chicken, Laytner's Linen (where we got some lovely hats),
AMC Loews & Star Trek movie (we little trekkies), Pastrami Queen & Hot pastrami (too much meat, definately!), Barnes & Noble (books, books, books; yay), East Village, Other Music (all these hip/alternative record stores look the same around the world), Dumpling Man (yes, oh, yes, they are the best!), yard sale on the street (little old ladys selling their junk, but it was fun anyhow), Giovanna's Restaurant & Pizzeria (Penne Alla Vodka, Fettucini Alfredo: just heaven), Jewish museum (beautiful collection of judaica), United Nations Headquarters (we drove by on a bus), Lower East Side (we didn't walk here, thank..), New York City Hall, New York County Supreme Court (familiar from Law & Order :)), walking over Brooklyn bridge with gazillion tourists and few local joggers), Manhattan bridge, Statue of Liberty (far away in the distance), Clocktower residences (it rules Brooklyn), Song restaurant (nice thai food and some bubbly),

McCarren Park (people throwing balls and barbecuing), Brooklyn Brewery (why, oh why, was it closed), Brooklyn Pilsner (to compensate:)), Little Italy (filled with tourists), Chinatown (Asian people still living here and getting served on their languages, great), Jimmy's Classic Diner, B Bar & Mohito & Cosmopolitan (where we got carded :)), Downtown Music Gallery (it's boiling hot in the basement, but what wouldn't you do for records:)), Lincoln center, going to a concert in Avery Fisher Hall & to listening to New York Philharmonics perform Jean SibeliusSymphony no. 5 (unfortunately Finnish conductor Esa-Pekka Salonen cancelled, but we enjoyed the concert anyway:))

Notes about something:

- If you walk over 120 blocks a day, it is a lot.
- New Yorkers dress casually, so no preasure like in Paris for example.
- It feels terrible not to recycle, because all the plastic you carry home (you need to buy everything you drink, including water, because it tastes so bad).
- Over 1000 channels in cable TV but it's still mostly Seinfeld, Friends, Frasier etc. (but we loved the local NY TV channel, especially the story about the runaway cow in Queens:)).
- If you are going into a concert where they play music by a Finnish composer you are probably going to run into some Finns.
- NY and especially Manhattan is green (as in loads of trees, parks, flowers etc.) which surprised us, in a very nice way.
- Those yellow cabs are great for fun experiences: when we arrived to JFK, our driver to city was of Russian decent and listened to Russian radio station (are we in the right country?) and when we left, our driver got in to heated argument with some guy repairing the street and cops (really!) came to calm him down.
- Best way to see the city is walk, walk, walk and ride the bus (the locals are there too).
- Tipping & sales tax: to a Finn it takes a awhile to get used to the fact that the prices are not transparent. But remember, that those waiters and waitress' (and people in customer service in general) get big part of their salary from those tips, so tip accordingly when you get good service (minimum 15 percent)!
- Conscientious dog owners, no poo on pavement. Or is this the reason why they are washing the streets constantly?
- Lack of graffiti and stencils in Manhattan, which was a shame in our view. New York has really "cleaned up".
- Happy families and child-oriented parents. People seemed to interact and play with their children, which we liked.
- Choose Finnairs non-stop direct flights from Helsinki to NYC, the flight is long enough as it is with out extra stops on the way.
- Jetlag didn't bother us when going to New York, but when getting back it hit us hard. Reserve couple of days of relaxation and don't drink tequila straight after when you get back home! :D

By Bean & Crumpet