Big Apple

Does any one know why new york is called Big Apple? well i though big apples are grown in NY ;-) and i wanted to eat them. Well on a serious note NY is called Big Apple because of many reasons and Google it you will be a bunch of stories, in brief "that answer about horses and racing is true however The Big Apple was a nyc mayoral campaign during the 1980's to promote nyc and attract tourism." So yes I did go to NY. It was tempting to drive all the way but the distance, time and loneliness was not encouraging. I flew down to NY, landed in La Guardia airport. This airport has a section of the runway on water. When i landed the weather was gloomy, dark and cloudy. looked like it had rained all night. my first destination was to Mukund's place. Mukund my host and guide from my trip. I first met Mukund in Kalpakam,Chennai in a quiz contest and next in Delphi as my colleague after a long long time. Well no there in no Delphi in NY, he works for Bloomberg in the financial district of Manhattan playing around with others money he he he he;-). When i landed in NY it was sure that driving here would be like driving in Bangalore. Lots of traffics unlike in Flint. Anyways we were traveling by metro or foot. Our first destination was Metropolitan Museum of Art, best place to spend time in a bad weather. we went there by train and it was an interesting journey. the system is pretty old and at some places there are two levels. at many places the trains are running on a elevated track on steel bridges, man it can get so noisy. Well the museum has a lots of artifacts from all civilizations. yes all the civilizations from all over the world. interesting how the Americans got hold of them. in some cases the artifacts were donated for preservation. there was a lot to see but less time. so my guide made sure i see the important ones. the best ones were the mummies and temple of Dendur. there were a lot of sculptures from India too, making me think where are these things on display in India? by the time we were done here it was almost 2PM. Next was food.Saravan Bhavan, yes in NY. Indian food after one month, felt good to eat some good food.
Next was Brooklyn Bridge. It is a beautiful bridge, built in the early 19th century. you can walk in the center of the bridge, giving you a beautiful picture of Manhattan sky line. we walked across the bridge and went to a location where a couple of scenes for the movie Kal Ho Na Ho was shot. from here the bridge looks majestic. From there we walked to Ground Zero. the place where once WTC stood long and tall. I got goosebumps when I was there just thinking how the palace could have been when the towers came down. Now they are building a memorial here and the construction is in progress. NYSE was the next place we went, it was just to see the trading place. Here at the Bull we shot some crazy snaps. Yes they sure are:-D. Next we visited Mukund's office. It is a nice place to work. Beautiful environment. we have lot of catching up to do in our MNC offices. Next we went to Time Square. Boy what a place. Awesome place with bright lighting and big, big displays. Lots of people out here just to see the lighting and displays. It would be nice if i could just sit on the pavement in open air and have a chilled beer. Just perfect. By the time we reached back home it was mid night. Guess what the trains run 24X7. Well had a nice nap because of all the walking around in the city.
About NY, the place is not USA. Yep you wont feel like you are in USA, there are people from all over the world all races. It is so full of energy. It was energizing to be there after living in this small town. Life here is fast always on the move and people are not fat:-). they are thin and fit. I felt i should be here for some time. I should look out for a company who has a center in NY ;-). Day two. We were headed to Central Park. The lung space of NY. Yes this is only place in entire city where there are trees, trees and only trees. Outside this park it is only koncrete. People here were engaged in different activities, sun bathing, football, ball or something. there were a lot of shows going on in different place. dances, music and acrobats. all for free, enjoy it and uf you want pay for it. there are some lakes here and you can boat also. we walked a lot here in the part almost 20 blocks. Then we went to Grand Central Station. as the name says, it is GRAND. A huge station and beautiful architecture. on the ceiling of the main hall there are constellations painted. it looks beautiful up there. After this we went to Madam Tussauds. Time to meet the celebrities. this is also in times square. Well they are so near to life you just can beat it. If you are good you can get people confused as to who is real. Here posed with all the big shots and who's who and and some crazy pose. to end it we saw a 4D movie. Well the 4th dimension is the feel of the movies you are watching. Then we went to Empire State Building, 5th tallest building in the world. Getting in the building was like having darshan in Tirupathi. We were moving around in the same floor for ever and there are so many people. We first went to the 102 floor. It was sight from there, entire NYC was visible. all lit up bright and beautiful. one hell of a sight, from there we came down to 86th floor. You can go out and see the city. Got some pics here. We returned back from here and called it a day. In these two days i realized that i have a pairs of functional legs and could feel every god damn muscle.

Last day last stop Statue of Liberty. Gifted by the French to the USA to commemorate the signing of US declaration of Independence. The statue is suppose to welcome the visitors and immigrants to the US. The statue is of a robed woman holding a torch. I did this trip with gube and some of her friends. Well all good things must come to end. Shortly i was headed back to Flint. Thanks to Mukund who took the pain of taking me around the city and planned it well and not to mention his cooking. Mate that was good, not to mention the mommy he can be taking good care of people;girls are you listening:-). As I am writing this i realize that i will be flying back home. Well what am I going to miss, well my car Dodge Charger, popcorn in the theater and few restaurants here that served some amazing fish :-D. Yes that is it.Adios amigos. Oh yes i did eat an apple courtesy Mukund.