Live from New York...

Obviously, getting into bed at 8 am after being out all night will affect when I eventually awoke...around 1 in the afternoon! If I was back home, I probably would've hibernated until 3, but I didn't have this luxury since it was my last day in NYC! Plus, I had planned to get together with my cousin, Amanda, for the day since I don't see her very often (who'd actually just arrived in NYC a couple of days ago to visit some friends). Despite only getting about 5 hours of sleep, it was very solid rest, so I was feeling completely refreshed haha. We decided to meet up in Wall Street since she was hanging out with her boyfriend that day, who happened to live in the Wall Street area, which was great since I hadn't seen Wall Street yet.

A film crew just down the road from the hostel...I wonder what they were filming?


Another shot of McSorley's Old Ale House, this time in daylight.


Near Wall Street, about to meet up with my cousin.


After meeting up, her boyfriend, Wayne, showed me around Wall Street for a bit since he knew the area pretty well. It was hard to get good photos, especially of the New York Stock Exchange (1st photo) since the really tall buildings created some very heavy shadows.

We actually were heading towards a subway station to get over to Brooklyn, since none of us had eaten lunch (I didn't even eat breakfast yet haha), but it turns out the 2 subway stations we tried (on the same line) were closed this Sunday?! So headed back to Wayne's place since was nearby to search Google Maps for the nearest open subway station to get us to Brooklyn. I actually had a small subway map in my pocket in my entire time which I completely forgot about hahaha; but then I wouldn't have gotten to see Wayne's apartment - let's just say it was in a very nice location and not affordable for me haha.

Why Brooklyn? We were going to Grimaldi's Pizzeria, rated as one of the best places for pizza (again, being NY, arguably the best) in NYC. I actually almost went to Grimaldi's when I walked the Brooklyn Bridge a few days earlier (it's right next to the bridge) but decided it'd be too tough to navigate my way there (the streets aren't nowhere nearly as organized as Manhattan), and plus, they only sold whole pizza pies (ie. no individual slices). After being unused for a while, my compass watch came through in a pinch here since we didn't know which way to head after getting out of the subway. And when we finally got to Grimaldi's, there was a line all the way out the door onto the sidewalk, even though it was after 2 pm! But after 10 - 15 minutes or so, we finally got in.

Outside Grimaldi's, waiting in line.


Finally seated, watching the staff work their magic.


A look around inside; it was constantly packed.


We ordered 2 pizzas: Wayne ordered the larger no topping pizza (just tomato sauce, cheese, and herbs, the way pizza started) (1st photo) and Amanda ordered the smaller sausage and sun-dried tomatoes pizza (2nd and 3rd photos). We were all starving at the beginning so we thought we'd easily be able to finish everything...we ended up struggling with the last few slices hahaha. The pizza was really good, probably the best I've ever had, and the real star was the dough - just the right chewiness, crispiness, flavour, moisture, and thickness (actually pretty thin, the way real pizza dough should be in my opinion).


The intersection near Grimaldi's.


After a very filling pizza brunch after 2 pm hahaha, we headed back into Manhattan, where Wayne took us to one of his favourite coffee shops, in Tribeca, so we could just hang out with a good cup of coffee. He was not wrong when he said the coffee was really good here - it's probably the best cup of coffee I've ever had so far, and it really hit the spot (only 5 hours of sleep after a long night!). And believe it or not, it was my first and only time I had coffee while in NYC! I had a Brazilian blend that had a strong rounded flavour but not overly bold, little bitter aftertaste, and a warm rich aroma. I really wish I remember where he took us, because I'd love to visit it again if I ever go back to NYC (I think it was Kaffe 1668...not sure). After finishing our coffees, it seemed like a good time to take a group photo: the cousins in the 1st photo, and all 3 of us in the 2nd photo.

We spent quite a while just hanging out and chatting in the basement of the cozy little cafe, so by the time we left, the sun was already almost set, and Amanda and Wayne had planned to join some friends for dinner. They kindly asked me to tag along, so we headed back to the hostel so I could drop off my DSLR (and they got to see how a hostel was like!), and then they took me for my first cab ride in NYC (since we were running a little late now)!

I tried to get a good shot inside the cab, but again, using a compact camera sucks for night shots. The cabs are so advanced now! There was a touchscreen inside that showed our GPS location on Google Maps and offered weather info, news, and other entertainment. And the cabs are now built to really protect the cab driver - most of the division between the backseats and the driver was made of this hard black plastic.


We ended up in Koreatown, another neighbourhood I hadn't visited yet (to be honest I hadn't even thought about it)! Amanda and Wayne had planned to meet up with their friends to try some new craze in Koreatown - I think it was deep fried goose or duck...something like that, I don't remember...needless to say by now that we ended up not having that for dinner hahaha (the restaurant was packed and the wait was too long). I was disappointed by NY's Koreatown: it's really small, spanning just a street, and the buildings just didn't make it feel like a Koreatown; Toronto's Koreatown is waayyy better.


We ended up eating in another Korean restaurant, where we ended up ordering some fish dishes. And thanks to Wayne's awesome fish bone removal skills (he's Korean and knew how to do it the Korean way), which impressed our server so much (I think the place was family run), we even got a discount on the bill!

Next, we decided to all go for dessert at this Japanese dessert place in the East Village near Astor Place. None of them knew where exactly it was, and it was actually me, the one with the least time in NY and on his first visit, who actually led them through the streets to find the place hahaha! I'm pretty proud of how quickly I learned the streets haha. The place (a really small upstairs restaurant) must be pretty popular because it was full and we ended up having to wait for quite a while to get a table. Unfortunately, after finally getting seated, I had to leave early and couldn't stay for dessert since I had already made other plans for the night...I really wanted to stay too because the menu looked so good, and I was really enjoying my time with Amanda and her friends.


I had to go back to NBC Studios to get in the standby line to see if there was an open seat for me. But first, I decided to stop by Cort Theatre to get Scarlett Johansson's signature! To be honest, I initially didn't really care if I got it or not (I don't really get the craze behind collecting celebrity signatures), but after being snubbed (haha that's what it felt like even though she probably didn't do it on purpose!) by Scarlett the other night, I was now determined to get her signature to compliment's Liev Schreiber's signature. Since I had already seen the show, I knew what time it ended, and the theatre was close enough to Rockefeller Center, so I knew I'd have enough time to try to get her signature and then head to line up.

And I was successful, despite being much farther from the crowd barrier than last time...I just kept saying "Thank you Ms. Johansson!" hahaha. Her signature is the top right one, Liev's one is on the bottom.

Then the Rockefeller Center Hotel came through for me again! I got the signature a lot quicker than I thought I would, so it looked like I had some extra time before I had to go to NBC Studios. I didn't have time earlier during the day to check-in to my flight (which left in the morning), and the hotel offers a very useful service for its patrons to use their free computers to check-in online and print their boarding pass, also free! Now I know I probably shouldn't have done this, but I walked right in like I was staying there, and quickly checked-in and printed my ticket...the way I figure it is, I was just a paying customer a few days ago but hadn't been able to take advantage of this service during my stay since I didn't have to fly out then, so it was like I was only now getting around to utilizing this service...right...right? Hahaha.

Then I headed to the next door NBC Studios, only to find out I had just missed the organizing of the standby line by a minute or two, and that the first 30 tickets (which includes my ticket) had already been brought in! Luckily, there was still room for me, so the staff were kind enough to let me in right away instead of having to wait in line. So I rode the elevator alone up to the floor of the SNL studio, and started down the hall lined with photos of famous past SNL sketches. I was surprised to find that there were actually a lot of empty seats for this show; a lot of people even came in after me. Strange?! I guess there's just not that many Charles Barkley fans? I got seated in the 2nd row in the far left balcony, which meant my view of the far right stages were mostly blocked, but I had a up-close, unobstructed view of the musical performance stage! For those that don't know, the regular people like me all get seated in the balcony and only the VIPs (ie. friends and family of the cast, crew, and NBC execs) only ever get seated on the floor seats that you often see in the opening monologues.


I secretly took a photo of myself in the audience (photos were strictly prohibited inside, and there were a lot of security guards around watching for people trying to take photos). I couldn't believe my luck that I actually got in and all the pain and cold I went through earlier had all been worth it! I'd be watching SNL live! I was so excited; it was my first time ever watching a live show taping and being part of a live studio audience! I've probably said this way too many times now, but I honestly could not have imagined myself in this position at the beginning of my NYC trip.

There was the NFL NFC Wild Card (playoff) game going on that night which actually ran long, so the show was delayed for 35 minutes! But this was actually really cool because as a result, I got to see Jason Sudekis warm up the crowd and do a little casual stand-up to keep us entertained while killing some time (he is hilarious by the way), then Kenan Thompson came out and performed a song with a couple of the new female cast members as back-up singers, and then Kristen Wiig came out to perform a song while Fred Armisen rocked out on guitar! Then during the cold open (opening sketch), I finally got to hear Fred Armisen announce the words I'd been hoping to hear all day:"Live from New York...it's Saturday Night!!!"

To be honest I wasn't expecting much from Barkley, and his opening monologue was kind of dull, but he actually gave a decent performance the rest of the show. The sketches were all pretty funny and solid - except for the last sketch where it seemed like Barkley screwed up but SNL actually had to cut it short due to time constraints...everyone in the audience was so confused during the last sketch as Barkley just kept reading lines with no pause - and I was laughing almost the entire time. You can even hear me in one of the sketches because I had to cough part way through the sketch (I don't remember which one)! And it was so cool being able to see how SNL worked - how they staged everything, seeing what happened during the commercial breaks, and watching the cast members rush off stage after each sketch to get ready for another. The "Scared Straight" sketch was particularly hilarious, and the audience loved it when Bill Hader tried to hold in his laughter and then finally broke down laughing.

But the best part was Alicia Keys - she was amazing! I got to see Alicia Keys perform 2 of her songs live, for free, right in front of me(!) - my seats turned out to be awesome! I still can't believe I was there; the crowd went WILD for her (and rightly so, she rocked both performances)! Because she was performing, and she's featured on Jay-Z's hit "Empire State of Mind," I know a lot of people in the audience were hoping Jay-Z would be making a surprise cameo appearance. When she started performing her version of the song, "Empire State of Mind (Part II)," I instantly recognized it and even yelled out "Jay-Z?" hahaha, but of course he didn't appear, which didn't matter in the end because she gave an awesome performance.

A shot I sneaked of the main stage after the show wrapped (I know my phone's camera sucks!); I know I wasn't supposed to take a photo, but for now this is probably a once in a lifetime thing for me (I'm not sure I'd want to line up again all night in the cold)!


The wristband I was given to be allowed into the studio audience; a unique souvenir!

Since the show started late, it ended a bit late too, and by the time I got back to the hostel, it was already after 2 am. By time I had finished packing up in partial darkness, it was around 3 am! My flight out was at 7:10 am from JFK Airport, so I didn't have time to catch any sleep or even a shower; I only had enough time to brush my teeth! So with not much else to do, I left the hostel and for one last time, walked down E 7th St. to 3rd Ave.

I initially had planned to ride the subway all the way to JFK (which would've required at least one transfer), but after reading about how dangerous it could be, and especially after Wayne told me another way to get there, I decided against it. I could've saved a little money and walked past Washington Square Park to catch the subway up to Penn Station, but knowing a lot of bums hung out around NYU and parks at night aren't exactly safe, I decided to spring for a taxi to get me to Penn Station. From Penn Station, I took the LIRR (Long Island Rail Road) all the way to JFK's AirTrain to eventually get to JFK.

I was so confused at first when I got inside Penn Station - the train's boarding time was posted but no platform number was shown. It wasn't until a few minutes before boarding that the platform number was finally revealed. I was expecting for a pretty quiet ride where I could rest my eyes even for a little bit, but to my surprise, the entire train became packed...all clubbers (at least in my car) returning home after a night of partying, all drunk, loud, and rowdy hahaha. Luckily I managed to get off at the right stop despite barely being able to hear the PA over all the commotion.

At Jamaica Station, looking down at the LIRR train; my final photos taken in NYC!

To any backpacker that needs to get to JFK from Manhattan, I'd highly recommend this route, it may be much more expensive than just the subway, but it's safe, faster, and doesn't cost anywhere as much as those airport shuttle services the hostels will probably recommend (that's taxi + LIRR + AirTrain). So after a night of little sleep, I didn't get to sleep at all that night! And the service at the Continental Airlines counter certainly didn't help - completely disorganized; now I know why so many Americans hate flying domestic.

I am eternally grateful to Amanda and Wayne for showing me to such a good time, and especially for covering all of my shares of the bills; they wouldn't let me pay for anything! And of course getting Scarlett Johansson's signature to complete my playbill only enhanced the night. And best of all, I couldn't have possibly asked for a better finish to my time in NYC, being part of the SNL live studio audience! What's more New York than that(?) - SNL is synonymous with NYC! An experience I will never forget!