Prelude.

4:45am, Binyamina, Israel.
Stumbling downstairs after a long, white night.
You search your head for things you might have forgotten, only to find it so blank that you could've forgotten to turn yourself on.
*Insert coffee here*
Cab driver's 10 minutes late, (to your distress) call him up, (to your dismay) wake him up.
...everything's fine now, bags are packed, cab is moving.
When you're in motion, everything is suddenly easier to endure.
The same old dance of beurocracy at the airport, the same old drag.
*Insert more coffee here*

Part I - The Journey.

Boarding pass at the ready, and your mind soars into flight long before you will.
You'll be suprised to find a weight lifting from your chest when you take your designated seat - a sense of "getting somewhere".
They say landing is the thoughest part - personally I find the take off much harder on the stomach, and the nerves.
Thank god for that white night, it helps you sleep between one rotten air line meal to the next.
6 hours and 4 coffees later, I take it back - landing IS the toughest part.
But once you're out of the flying tin can, through the sleeve, the rat-maze lines and endless security checks, there's a temporary euphoria in your veins.
It quickly yields it's place to the heavy notion of having to go through the whole deal again - this is just a flight connection stop.
4 hours of pointless roaming in a British air port and no less then 5 coffees later, you find yourself once again relieved to be in your seat and have a purpose - as if an imagionary play button was pushed to end an icy pause.
Pretend you just read the whole thing again, and we can continue.
Finally setting foot on New-York soil, I realize that air ports are air ports, and no matter where they are - I probably hate them.
Tin Can... Sleeve... Rat-Maze... Security... Now go get the luggage and out!
A nice black man was waiting for us, holding a sign with the name "Lahav".
He walked way too fast and let us carry the bags, but he was leading us to a magestic Limo, so no one held a grudge.
Tip the man, and the beurocratic nightmare is taking on a whole new level - checking in at the hotel.
They insist we're booked for 10 days, though we clearly booked 6, and got phone, email and fax confirmatinos.
Apperantly you need more then just their official, signed promisses to get them to change their minds about your money.
(Say what? Drinks on the house? Don't mind if I do!)
Shower, dress up, and hit the streets of New York for the remainder of the evening!
Oh, and have either a coffee or a brain meltdown...

...coffee it is.

Part II - Happy 4th!

The second day of our trip happened to be the 4th of July!
Everyone was happy, smiling, wishing a "happy 4th" in a variety of foriegn accents, and then talking a language you can't understand straight to your face.
(Be a good drone and take the bus tour, willl ya?)
Sarcasm aside, it was actually quite fun, until Roger destroyed it with the same joke smashing against our ears time, after time, after time...
A stroll down Union Square... so many shops, and one ginormic Guitar Center that blew my mind to 6 stringed oblivion!
Walking out of there with my very own, Cubase 5 Pro pack, and 10 string sets bought for 21$ (tax included), I set out on a seemingly endless search for a place to eat.
When you don't know the streets, it's easy to wonder for 20 blocks before you find anything, which explains why even my mother was grateful to find a Burger King!
In Israel, I avoid Burger Kings as a strict rule, but here I must admit - they just taste GOOD!
Plus they have Transformers cups, show me a human male who can resist that and I'll buy you a double whopper meal and chocolate sundae.
Some more shops, a nice drink break at an Irish Pub on 5th, and off to the Empire States Building for a nice view of the Fireworks!
To give you a general idea - I'm 1 block away from the entrance, fireworks start.
A few rat mazes and two very fast elevators later I'm at the top - no more fireworks.
On the bright side, the view is amazing none-the-less, and a stylish sax player was playing beautiful varations of Real Book standards, as if to remind you you're in New-York City!
Back to the hotel and boy, am I glad to see those revolving Roosevelt doors again!
All I can say is good night, and a happy 4th well spent!

Part III - A Fare, Mickey Mouse and Italian Food.

This morning was just terrible, there's nothing worse then waking up sick during a vacation...
By the afternoon I was feeling well enough to hit the streets again!
Following the 4th of July, a huge fare has popped up all along 6th Ave., the stands was varied and interesting, and I found some nice percussions for practically nothing!
Taking a right on 52 st. and heading for the "World of Disney" shop, which made me feel like a little kid again.
A few fairy tales and happy endings later we were on our way to Little Italy to grab a bite to eat, and let me tell you - they're NOT kidding about the word "Spicy".
A slight glimpse at nearby Chinatown, but everyone's tired so I find myself in cab fare before we even walk down a single street.
This pretty much sums up a strange, short third day of the trip, hopefully I'll be better tomorrow and can see more places!

Part IV - Shopping Vol. 1.

Evidently, even NYC sucks when your tummy feels funny.
I spent the whole morning in the hotel, missing out on a bus ride to Brooklyn, McLunch and several other things.
Getting better in the afternoon enabled a brief walk, that ended abruptly at the doorstep of a huge "Toys R' Us" branch.
To my surprise, the lowest floor had a rather large music department, with everything from bongos to guitar picks, folding soft keyboards and pink guitars.
Pocketing a set of picks and moving on to the candy department, past the giant FARIS WHEEL INSIDE THE BUILDING.
DAMN!
Not to mention a full size T-Rex model that moves and grunts, a nice Lego rendition of King Kong on the Empire States Building, and some guy in a Spiderman outfit walking around in the crowd.
A few other shops and a bagel, then back to the hotel, and I wonder if they'll let me play that grand piano down at the lobby...
Turns out they did, and I played it for approx. 30 minutes before hunger struck, and we had no choice but to order Chinese.
To sum it up, nice day, hopefully tomorrow will start a tad bit earlier.

Part V - One Giant French Lady & lots of Sweets.

That's right - the Statue o' Liberty!
To be honest, the lines weren't so bad, and the Ferry ride was a lot of fun, and covered Liberty Island and Ellis Island.
On top of that Battery Park was nice, and there were squirrels everywhere!
Subway back and out into a very sudden, pouring rain!
A few minor stops on the way to Times Square, at night it really comes alive, however the trip was cut short due to tiredness.
We squeezed in two sweet visits, "M&M World" and the "Hershey's Shop", both of which were large and surprising!
"M&M World" wins the day though, for an M&M boxer that says "Just Nuts!", and a huge rack of M&M dispensers!

Part VI - The Past, The Square and the Chicken.

Past stands for the Museum of Natural History, what else?
No less then the set of "Night at the Museum", and no less repeatative, either.
Sarcasm aside, the first hour was exciting, the other two and a half....... not so much.
The highlight was an amazing Planetarium show that gave me a serious head ache for the rest of the day, partly because it was narrated by Whoopie Goldberg.
What does SHE know about astronomy?!
A quick stroll off 81st to Central Park, I sampled my first (and last) New York hot-dog, frankly - I don't know what you people see in those things.
On to Times Square, specifically 48th st., one of the largest music shopping cetners I've seen, with the huge "Sam Ash" and a few smaller music shops around.
Music shops with my brother are always fun, and among the items in our bag were a Yamaha Tenor Recorder, a 6 Stringed Bass String Set, Alto Sax Reeds, every single free magazine they had, and some other bits n' bobs.
KFC reminded me why I hate fast food places...
Some evening gift-shopping and off to take a two hour shower.
Good night!

Part VII - All Over the Place.

This day started out with a trip to Ground Zero, which was as big a time waste as I thought it'd be.
We then proceeded to a quick visit at the Seaport Museum, lunch at one of the nearby BBQ places, and a client at a nearby table was so happy with her food that she suddenly burst into a very bad, amateur rendition of Puccini's famous Aria, "Nessun Dorma".
Instead of the lyrics, she decided to use "ahh"s, and "ohh"s, and I was just about ready to slap her square on the mouth.
Then some more gift shopping on 7th Ave., and a bus ride to Brooklyn, where we found none of the places we wanted to see.
Heading back to Manhattan for some (more) shopping, and calling it a night.
Gotta love NYC.

Part VIII - Chocolates, Technology and Toys.

The morning began at a nice big Max Brenner shop, coffee, nice chat with the people who work there about the chocolate being made in Israel, and on we go.
Browsing the Hallmark store we found some nice items, with not-so-nice price tags.
Moving on to the Sony Technology Lab, personally I was pretty bored, but everyone else seemed to have a good time, so...
*shrug*
On to F.A.O. Schwartz, which wasn't nearly as exciting as I'd hoped, what with all the annoying kids running up and down the floor piano.
But I must admit they have some pretty awesome toys and I did feel kinda childish walking around there, childish the good way that is.
The best part of today was the Standard book store, where I got 5 old, rare music books - for 5$!!
Overall, nice day, even if not the most productive.

Part IX - It's raining rain, Hallelujah!

Waking up early to catch up on gift shopping...
*Insert coffee here*
Farmer's Market at Union Square, and what a huge market it was!
Stretching down 6th Ave. as far as the eye can see!
From the abstract market to the neat department store - K Mart.
I was blown away by the size of that place, seriously...
Before I knew it, most of the day was gone and we were heading back to the hotel, with bags loaded with goods to the point of having to buy another big bag to transport everything back to Israel...
Then to Times Square, to catch "Ice Age 3", which was much better then the previous two (which I didn't care for even the slightest bit).
I walked in the theater with lowered expectations, and besides the cheesy plot lines - I pretty much enjoyed it, and found it very entertaining.
And the music was memorable, which is more then I can say for the previous parts!
The best aspect of it was the voice acting, which started out pretty lame and mediocre in the first Ice Age, but has come a long way since.
Stepping out of the theater to find ourselves in the midst of pouring rain, with only one umbrella.
Attempts to catch a cab that can hold 5 failed time and again, when a nice man selling umbrellas came along, and we could walk to the hotel.
I can't believe I stopped to post this before taking a shower, which is what I'm going to do now.
Good (dry) night!

Part X - Time to Say Goodbye...

The last day in NYC started off with a trip down Madison, where the market was set.
We visited all our favourite shops and places, booked flight seats for tomorrow, and spent most of the rest of the day packing, which proved to be a considerable challange with all the shopping we've done!
We had dinner in the most beautiful Italian restraunt around 5th Ave., and went back to the hotel for the last night's sleep in The Big Apple.
Good bye, New York :)

Epilogue - The Journey Home.

Well, what can I say... check out was surprisingly quick, a few brief visits before lunch (Italian again), and once again I find myself in cab fare.
The driver had Miles in the stereo, which was a refreshing change of mood.
I did enjoy the bluesy ride, the arrival at the airport.... not so much.
Turns out we had a few more bags to carry this time around, my god, did we really shop that much?!
The first and longer flight (JFK to Heathrow, London), was pretty smooth, I actually caught some shut eye between movies.
British Airways' "Audio on Demand" library is surprisingly limited, I found myself listening to "St. Matthew's Passion" twice.
(I'm not complaining, it's my favourite piece of music in the world - regardless of genre. Not surprisingly, it's Bach).
Heathrow's pass-time options are also very dull... lucky the next flight is only 2 hours away.
For some reason, security here is much steeper, and more agressive.
I don't think I saw a single British employee in that air port, or maybe I was in India and didn't know it.
Thank god there's a star bucks here.
14$ for a cup o' coffee... "oh whatever, just give me the damn cup already!"
Though shorter, this flight was much worse... no "on demand" entertainment, and no sleep for me, add air line food to that mix and you've got yourself some slow torture.
Landing on Israeli soil again was the closest thing to pure joy I've known in years.
Even the train ride was bareable with the thought of home, like a beacon.
And the first step I took into the house, I could swear angels sang, it was simply, divinity.
Now to visit my room, sleep for two days and get back to my favourite thing - making music, and this time... armed with Cubase 5!

Thanks for reading :)
Good night!