New York, New York!

What started out as an old craving to see the Big Apple and a desperate need for a mental health break (from work and nagging personal problems) eventually turned into a full-blown vacation in New York!  I even got a new camera for this trip (a beautiful Nikon Coolpix 950) so photo quality is way up!  Unfortunately I couldn't post the full high-res pictures onto this site, lest people out there using modems start screaming at me for causing them horrendously long load times.  But click on the pictures below, and if you'd like to see a much higher quality photo just email me and ask me to send you the full versions.

My travelogue isn't quite done yet, but I thought I'd put up the pictures from the trip now as I've gotten lots of requests to see them.  Feel free to email me and prod me to get cracking on finishing the journal!  Until then....

  A picture taken from the back seat of my first New York cab...  on the way to Manhattan from the airport.

  From left to right, my friends Kelley, Mireille, Amanda (Kelley's Roomate), and in the very corner Lori (Kelley's other roomate).

  Kelley, Amanda, and Anton (Amanda's boyfriend) right before Amanda spilled candlewax on him.  *chuckles*

  Chad, Mireille, and myself at a Greek restaurant.

  Incriminating photo of Kelley, myself, and Mireille.

  Some nice folks we met at "Puffy's" - a nice little dive in the Tribeca district where we got rip-roaring drunk.  The girl's name was Melinda, I believe...  she was kind enough to take the next photo (below) of us, and I told them I'd send them this link if they would email me.  Unfortunately they haven't yet.  =(

  Here's Anton, me, Kelley, and Amanda...  terribly, terribly drunk near 4am (wow, now drinking cutoff time!)

  Artsy martini glass shot at the shi-shi bar, "Potion", complete with bubbling glass windows.

  View from atop the Empire State building

  A somewhat nauseating view straight down from the top of the Empire State building.

  Another pic from atop the Empire State building... this one taken from a reflective wall up there.  (Oooh, is that girl eyeballing my camera???)   =)

  The Empire State Building (or as much of it as I could get from the base).  A truly impressive structure.

  This is as close as I got to the Statue of Liberty.

  Prometheus holding up, ermm... something, in front of the Rockafeller Center.

  Action photo of Grand Central Station... what a madhouse!

  Me, Lori and Kelley at the shoe store (Harold's).

  Interesting little sidewalk message somewhere in Soho.

  Me, with yet another shot off of a reflective surface.  (Well hell, people keep complaining to me that I don't have enough shots of myself on my site!)

  Interior of a New York subway!

  Hehe, I just loved this poster hanging above a subway entrance near Kelley's place.

  Sidewalk market in Soho.

  Sunday shoppers in New York....  the concentration of people in Manhattan is pretty intense.

  Artsy photo with my new trick-cam.  =)  Hi Lori!

  Ah, the Met (or officially the New York Metropolitan Museum)... they had the finest display of arms and armor I've seen yet in any museum (or at least the most visually pleasing to me....  even better than the Hermitage or the Louvre).  Here's the centerpiece of the wing...  fully armed and armored calvalry.

  Near the Met in Central Park, Cleopatra's Needle (I thought this thing was just some imitation until I red the inscriptions...  it's a bona-fide obelisk from Egypt, complete with ancient hieroglyphics on its surface. 

  Fantastic sculpture in the Met.  Come on, CLICK on it!!!  The most striking I've seen of a woman, by a woman...  unfortunately I can't remember the sculptors name... Harriet something.  (Ya, I'm a dork).

  Another one of my favorite sculptures (Canova).  This one's just a bronze cast though... the original I saw in France.

  This painting really got to me...  reminded me (in a very interesting way) of someone I know.  It's called "The Storm"

  A bona-fide temple, taken straight from Egypt, given as a gift to the Unite States for helping them save several ancient structures from getting submerged by rising waters of the Aswan Dam.

  Mounted Samurai armor.

  Turtle pond... an idyllic spot in Central Park.  Yes that's a castle in the background.

  A couple of performers in Washington Square... hell of a funny/impressive show!  Yeah, he's really spinning that guy around on his head.

  Same performers, I choked on the picture here but he is jumping way over his partner here, a running jump several feet off the ground.

  Another "performer", lying on a bed of nails.

  Squirrel having a drink in Washington Square.

  That's me outside the theater where Kelley and I saw "Miss Saigon".  Talk about bawling at a show!  It was pretty amazing.

  Times square at night.  Gaudy but impressive.  (Heh, kinda like Vegas)

Once again, if there are any of the pictures above that you'd like to see in their full glory (and size) write me and I'll send them to you!  Oh, and PLEASE drop by my message boards and say hello if you have a moment.....