A long drive through Pennsylvania...

Current location: Manhattan, NYC

After just over a week in New York, we're on our way to Chicago tomorrow!
Here's the route.

1st stop: Philladelphia, duration 1 day
2nd stop: Pittsburgh, duration 1 day - Andy Warhol museum visiting period.
3rd stop: Chicago!

Total travel time will take around 21 hours. Thank god for the stops in Philly and Pittsburgh!!

We'll be coming back to NYC the following Monday. That's FLYING :P

Here's a few highlights for today and the last few days.

United Nations
Yesterday we had a tour inside the UN. It's on International Territory so we officially left USA for those few hours. Getting in included metal detectors and scanning of bags. Our tour guide was this Asian dude so I had no idea what he was going on about - I had to think twice about everything that he said - and so I was cooped in my own world and admiring the things that we saw and assuming my own descriptions are somewhat correct. We got to see the Security council, the Socio-economic council, (god damn I forgot the name of the other council...! That's how much I learnt... Trades Council?), and the General Assembly. Very inspiring to sit in these rooms where so much important and influential disccussions take place from representatives from all member countries around the world. Looks exactly like what it does on TV! Actually... a lot bigger...

Disturbingly, we also learnt that $700 billion is spent annually on military equipment world wide. And less than 1/3 of this amount is spent on people (i.e.: clean energy, health, infrastructure, etc). It is really sad and cliched as it is but its "so 1984".

Throughout the UN there is artwork including sculptures that promote the theme of peace. It is remarkable and incredibly heartwarming because you get the sense that such a big organisation is working towards this one common and important goal. And to think that the George Bush decided to go to war against the UN's will!! *gasp* How disrespectful!!! :(

I think everyone who visits New York should go on this tour. The UN promotes so much tolerance, acceptance and knowledge about the world we live in. The bookstore has a lot of really good publications including "Children in the world today", reports and journals on the AIDS progression in Africa, economic reports, and so so much more.

Kristeen Young / Staten Island Ferry
So last night we had another go at this over 21 event - Kristeen Young's gig. Got there and we couldn't get in... and even when my friend (who's friends with Kristeen) tried to get us in, the manager wouldn't budge. *sigh*. The Delancey is a cool place it seems apart from the friggin 21+ limit.
I got 2 free Kristeen Young CDs of which I always wanted (not available in Australia) so that was sweet!!

Failing that we went to take the free ferry to Staten Island and then back to Manhattan again. The view was beautiful as you travel right pass the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island... with the night Manhattan skyline. We stood right at the front and the sea breeze was just beautiful. The view was slightly haunting. It was rather foggy and the lights from the distance made the sky glow red. Going towards Staten Island was like going towards this huge fort - the imagery can just allow you to imagine cannon balls shooting out from the tops of buildings.

On the way back to Manhattan it was like it was on fire... the sky was so glowing red. A little flaming island in the distance.

Chinatown
So crowded. So big. So humid. So many asians.
What else can I say? Just imagine Melbourne's Chinatown 20 times bigger. It's big enough to be a suburb.
We had afternoon tea in this very nice old coffee shop and ate cha-sew-paus and filtered chinese coffee. There was a resident cat in the coffee shop and he's so friendly!!

Empire State Building
Hahahahahaha... typical.
The view was great but the line was irritatingly LONG. I was busting to go to the loo too.
Standing there and looking over Manhattan and beyond just really shows what a huge city New York is. HUGE.

OK i have to run and pack for my trip...
Til then... Happy Lollapalooza-ing! Oh, that will be me ;) HAHAHAHA
I'm so lame.

xoxoxo