On Friday we went to visit the Intrepid. It was my first time as well, so I didn’t know what to expect.

We started on the hangar deck, where we learned about the ship’s history – from WW2 and throughout the Cold War – and how an aircraft carrier operates. Very interesting to see the advancement in design through the years and how many planes they can fit on one ship.

On the flight deck there were a bunch of Vietnam and Cold War-era planes and helicopters, including a Blackbird and a Super Tomcat. We also climbed in the navigation and command towers and checked out maps of the NY Harbor.

After the main ship we visited the Concorde they have there – which was pretty unimpressive – and the submarine. I had been inside one before – I visited Nautilus, the first nuclear submarine, at the naval museum in Mystic, CT – but it was nice nevertheless. It had 4 huge pods to store its nuclear missiles.

The guests left with some cool souvenirs: mini metallic planes and helicopters, very cutesy-looking. Should have got some myself.

The four musketeers got here on Saturday night, a bit later than I was expecting since they had to go through the wonderful process of US Immigration and Border Protection, meaning they got to my place around 10 PM, a good 2 hours after they landed. We spent the first evening talking about what’s been happening back in Romania and reminiscing over our college days.

On Sunday it was nice out so we headed out into the city. I already had a route planned – I’ve used it before when showing NYC to visitors – so we started at the south-east corner of Central Park and made our way downwards. Fifth Avenue, St. Patrick’s Cathedral, Rockefeller Center, the works. We stopped at a few stores – notably Saks, Nintendo World and Toys ‘R Us – and then from Times Square we headed towards Grand Central.

By this time we already got hungry and started looking for a place to eat. Sadly, we were right in between the lunch and dinner times, when – most of – the restaurants are closed. We ended up having some chips and fruits in a small green space somewhere on 3rd Avenue. Fortunately we made up for it by having dinner at an all-you-can eat sushi buffet where we had our fill.

We spent Monday downtown, around my work place. I took them to see Wall Street and around Financial District, South Street Seaport and City Hall. Around 5 we headed toward the Empire State Building since the guys – experienced photographers – wanted to get up there about an hour before sunset in order to get the best lighting possible. Surprisingly there was almost no line, so we ended at the top much faster than I expected. We spent about 30 minutes up there, shivering from the chilly wind while taking lots and lots of pictures.

For dinner we headed over to a Korean barbecue place and afterward I had them try out some delicious frozen yogurt. Naturally, they loved it. We ended the night in the city by going up on 230 Fifth – the lounge with a beautiful view of the Empire State Building – and sampling some local drinks.

Tuesday I was hoping to get back around Brooklyn Bridge and get to cross it, since we didn’t have enough time the previous day. As it turned out, we still didn’t get to it.

We started the day from Union Square and made our way down toward St. Mark’s Place. We stopped at a bubble tea place since they wanted to know what the fuss is all about – I kept mentioning it almost every time we were chatting over IM. The verdict was an unanimous thumbs-up

After LES we wasted a lot of time in the SoHo shops – I figured I owed the girl some shopping she’ll be interested in (after dragging her through gadgets and comic book stores) – and then went further down through Little Italy and Chinatown. We had lunch there, this making it the third time we had Asian food since they got here (pretty much every time except breakfast), followed by more bubble tea (I told you they liked it) and – in one case – a delicious Dulce Split Dazzler from Haagen-Dazs.

Stuffed, we headed back home. At 8 we had tickets for a Broadway show so we needed some time to change. We got back to midtown a bit early and we took another stroll around Times Square before the show started.

The play was… ok. For some reason I remembered it to be better somehow, which is why I wanted them to see it (still, it was my backup choice, after Avenue Q closed its doors). They seemed to have liked it, at least some of them. After the show we stayed in the neighborhood to sample some of the city’s night life

I’ve got a few phone pics, I’ll upload/link the rest – much better ones – when I get them from their cameras.

Today we had planned a visit to one of the museums – Natural History or MET – and since I’ve seen them so many times recently I decided to let them by themselves and come to work to save on vacation days. I’ll meet them afterward and we’ll probably have dinner at a good burger place around here. After three days of Far-East food, it’s time they experience some American cuisine. At an Irish pub

No you pervs, the title isn’t some sexual reference, I’m talking about actual stuffed chicken here!

It all started with a friend’s post on Yelp (a review site on almost anything, but mostly restaurants and bars) that mentioned a place in Flushing where they served chicken wings, stuffed with all kinds of interesting things. The post included this link (warning, clicking it will get you hungry!), which was all I needed to convince me I have to try it.

After almost two weeks of bugging the hell out of her, we finally managed to get a group going to the place. And it was well worth it…

There’s no point describing how good everything was since there’s nothing I can say that you can’t see in those pictures I linked before. I mean, chicken wings, broiled (I assume), stuffed with veggies, kimchi and shrimp(!) and covered in spices. What more could you possibly want? Add to it a slushy alcoholic drink – Soju – which I had for the first time. And second time, since we didn’t stop at the first pitcher (strawberry) and we ordered another one (apple).

We have some pictures, courtesy of Helena. Definitely a great place, I will go there again. Hopefully in a couple of weeks, when my friends from Romania will get here.