NYC in 2012!
Don't even know where to get started~ @_@ I was basically anticipating this trip for two years! But it did not disappoint! Courtesy of L'arc~en~Ciel, yet another weekend of legend! An ichigo-ichie once-in-a-lifetime meet-up of bonne chance!
*cough*
I had to arrange my flight via Newark to keep costs down. Geez, I was lucky to get what I had too :/ I was trolling flight sites for a bit after the concert date was announced, and ended up being extra glad I waited, because the day I was planning to go ahead and buy tickets, the date CHANGE was announced. Even so, I put the flight I ended up with on hold at AA to think about it, and the next morning all flights were up to $100 higher. Since my itinerary hold included price, I was golden. So the money I had saved ended up being almost enough to cover my plane ticket. I took a little bit more out of savings, and just set cash aside from my next couple checks. I got my state tax refund, not much but everything helps. My dad, being a DAD, offered me cash to have fun on my trip T-T I wavered, but then took him up on it as an early birthday present. He even gave me a little more pocket money in the car on the way to the airport T^T ♥
Ugh, flying is insane these days. :/ Had to get everything down to carry-on only, because I was already resigned to having to pay for a checked bag on the way back. At least I got my med stuff sorted out and got my refill in time - only missed 2 days that month waiting on it. And I did not get hassled a bit by security on it, which was a relief. I've learned that even if something is totally within bounds, you never know when a worker is going to freak out over having to deal with it suddenly.
A mild flub on the way, with getting to Dallas and finding out my connecting flight had been cancelled due to mechanical difficulties. But since that's not my fault at all, they were obligated to get me to destination another way. I just worried about time, because when I was looking up flights it was hard to get a flight after 11am and before 6pm. Seeing my face when given options, the person working the desk offered a flight straight into New York, and even got me an early one, so I arrived at La Guardia around the same time I would've gotten to Newark. Only I didn't really know how to get to the hotel from La Guardia, I had planned for the other. Luckily, there was a shuttle that cost the same as the train from Newark would've, so I stayed on budget, but it was a heck of a wait. The next ones that came were full by the time they got to us, so they called in an extra one. I was trying to hurry into town because I knew poor Laura was already derping around waiting for check-in to start. When we got to the meet-up for shuttles, everyone else changed, but when the guy at the stop heard my destination, he just got the driver to take me there direct, so I made sure to find a couple bucks to give him when we got there.
Man. I tell ya. Sitting in that shuttle, watching the crazy driving and the crazy route our Chinese driver was taking, just watching the streets, the people... Trying to form an impression, and my brain was blank. The first sentence I was able to form was, New York City... does not give a FUUUUUCK XD;;;;;
Aw, Laura was sitting in the lobby looking tired when I finally arrived. I'd put her name on the room so she could check in, but she was so tired she just spaced out in a chair n_n She got her bags sent up to the room though. Aw man, that room was a bit smaller than I was thinking, but it was good. The pretty art stylings actually did make it feel more comfortable, and our window actually gave us a peek at the front of MSG. Philosophy bath goods in the bathroom, extra blankets, coffee mugs, a mini-fridge. Not bad.
Aw man. I forget what we even did. I know I changed clothes. I had layered expecting it to be freezing, but it was freakishly in the mid 70s! Everyone remarked on how bizarre it was. Aw, and Laura had brought me chocolate covered macadamia nuts from Hawaii! X3 I had forgotten! I think we ate? Oh! Oh, I believe we went to the Macaron Cafe! :3 The smaller location was just down the street from us. We both got two macarons each and ate them while we tried to figure out directions and such on the street. I had just gotten my new smartphone literally two days before, so I was learning about my gps on the fly. Laura had heard from a friend who lived in Jersey, and we were trying to figure out how to meet up with him. It involved buses and such. The public transport in NYC area is great, but it's not especially user friendly, at least not compared to Tokyo.
We got the plans from him finally, and went to purchase NJ transit passes and find the bus. Unfortunately, because of a mix-up we got on the wrong bus, and eventually got this confirmed and heard that we should depart, so we got off at Weehawken, NJ. We had an excellent view of the city across the water, and several bus stops nearby, but no idea which one we should take. Basically, everything wrong happened on that first day, so we got terrible mishaps out of the way quickly on this trip T_T Laura had had a debacle with her bags and the trains on the way from the airport, and had already spent too much on the subway. I was less enthused by the minute at it getting dark and us stuck in Jersey having already paid for a two-shot fare. Eventually we were able to hear back from him and get walking directions from where we were to his place T_T At least there he had a kitty to pet X3
We talked a bit, and he took us to a kaiten sushi place he knew, and treated us both! Can't think too badly of the night after that X3 Eeks, kabocha tempura...!
Aw, his kitty was such a sweetie. And we played some video games at his place while he called us a taxi..! All in all, it wasn't such a bad first day :3 And it definitely left us tired enough to just tank once we got back X3
Day 2! So, Friday was the Guggenheim :3 We had heard from Mitsu, who was getting passed from Kitsu in NJ to El in Brooklyn X3 She was joined by Colin and then Lola, but it was hard getting us all met up before mid-afternoon. She wanted to try to see the Guggenheim, but we didn't manage it that day. Once we figured out how to get there, we got lunch from a felafel cart near the station and hopped in a cab X3 Figured why not splurge, at least the once. I hadn't spent hardly a thing on Thursday, after all, so I bought us both felafel gyros and soda, and figured that it shouldn't be quite $20 for a cab (which it wasn't, even left me enough to tip him a bit). Couldn't help but be amused at how our foreign cabbie found another cabbie to chatter with ever time there was a lull in traffic X3 He just kept his window down and whenever we slowed he looked to his left and there was invariably another cabbie right there. Also amused at how somehow breakdancing has come back in. What the heck. What, are people able to put "The Worm" on their resume now? (With it's own bullet point..?)
It was another freakishly lovely day! The cabbie asked us not to eat in the cab when he saw us nomming, so we held off and sat outside the Guggenheim, eating felafel and just enjoying the day. Laura was taking all opportunities to have soda, away from the jeers of her fellows XD;;; The Guggenheim has a low wall around the edges, so lots of people come to sit outside, and it's across from one side of Central Park too (on the reservoir). There were several street vendors out front. I ended up getting a magnet from one artist, who was on his phone when I flagged him over and got in a conversation with us about what women want from him in a relationship X3;;; Laura got us both ice cream at a van on the corner, and near that there was a Japanese guy selling brush paintings of character print - either your favorite character or saying, or your name in character print. Because we're huge jerks, we went halvsies on a small card of "arashi" for Mitsu XD;;;;;;; And because Laura had taken her L'arc 20th bag (veeeeerrry attractive, I'm jealous!), she got to carry all sorts of stuff during the day X3;
The Guggenheim was having a special exhibit on the Bauhaus featuring Kandinsky! Apparently the Guggenheim has one of the premier collections of Kandinsky too. The entire building is done in a spiral, very artsy. It's also not so terribly expensive, and I had printed out a coupon for $2 off, so it was only about $16 X3;;; Lots of people were leaning back like pez dispensers to get photos of the museum spiral from the ground floor. 9_9 We photobombed a couple of them at various points on our way up. Aw, but it's too bad they didn't have any mobile art up down the middle while we were there. I saw pictures of another exhibit they'd had that way, and it was impressive! Also, that must've be a lot of art, to stretch six stories or so!
There were sculptures all around the roundabout, a lot looking like they were made from old cars. It felt rather American, but I suppose a lot of things involve big steelworks and cars do. There are side galleries on every floor all the way, some media, with video works etc, and others just regular galleries. One was a review of "masters", which a lot of great art! It was interesting to see all the Seurat close up :3 And there was a Gaugin that just reminded me strongly of Haiti X3 That gallery was also when I got scolded twice by attendants for taking pictures D: But but but, I'd just seen several people take really close-up pictures of art, so I thought it must be alright! And the first one I took was just of the floor, a wide shot. I just wanted a feel of the place. The next time I was trying to get a picture of Laura with art and everything in the background, just a pic to prove we were there, but she misunderstood and tried to get out of the way, and another attendant scolded me ;-;
The exhibit of Kandinsky was actually smaller than I expected, but still impressive. It was really interesting to see how his art was different through different stages. Renee told me a little about him when we went to an art exhibit in Kyoto, since she took a class on him. I asked Laura questions too. She's been doing a lot of art history and such lately for her classes, so it was all fresh and pouring out her mouth. I think it's interesting how Kandinsky was able to use duller color pallets and still make some pieces seem brighter and happier than others. But in his abstract pieces he really plays with color in addition to form. I ended up getting a magnet set since they had my favorite one of the pieces there in it X3 "Several Circles." It's like a photo-negative image of another circles painting I saw, at the show in Kyoto. This way I could give Renee a magnet too, so that was one present down :3 I also thought it a bit odd the special Guggenheim kitchenware they have there for sale, the cup and plate sets... X3;;;; They look a lot like some dish sets I had in Japan, and saw cheap in hyakkuen stores! I mean, it's nice and architectural-looking and all, but I didn't see how it was so especially special X3;;;
The top floor had a gallery with exhibits using sound :3 Central was a small square rock garden, with some greenery, some rocks, some sand. It looked about the size of a kid's sandbox, like it could fit in the living room of an apartment X3 Actually, if I had a large house, I think I'd like a small garden like that inside one room. It was very calming and cheery. There were speakers and sensors around it, and people were invited to walk on it. Just as Laura was wondering if we could jump around, the attendant said, two and a time, and no jumping XD; So we both made our way across it, trying not to get in the sand too much so we wouldn't have sand in our shoes all day. There were sensors that measured pressure and the noise you made on the patch, and the speakers at each corner played amplified noises from the walkthrough and changed according to how heavy you went through X3 Pretty neat though! A great thing to have at the top, to finish up. There was also a cone not far from the box, and when you stood under it it sounded like you were outside. Sometimes raining, sometimes traffic. In it's own way, that was a bit calming too. It was a very refreshing display X3
We had gotten to the Guggenheim late, but it didn't take all that long to get through! We actually got out of there about half an hour before it closed, and we were still waiting to hear from Mitsu about meet-up plans. Figured we would see them for dinner if nothing else. In the meantime, I suggested we go across the street and look out at the reservoir while we waited. We passed by a big church that had turned the rectory area into a coffeeshop X3 It was called "Heavenly Rest Stop." The walkway around the reservoir was part of the general walk around the park, lots of people running/jogging. We texted Mits in turns, derping around, looking at ducks, sitting up on the stone wall. Finally we agreed to meet at Ippudo, a nice ramen place downtown, one that Akane had recommending to me. We ended up getting there before the others, and not as long as it said it would take either. We passed by a big cube sculpture on the way X3 Always odd to see all the semi-famous things just THERE around the city.
They couldn't put our name down to definitely wait until the whole party was there, so best we could do was put it on reserve and they gave us an hour to be safe. It was pretty crowded, but I've missed real ramen! Not sure when the others were gonna get there, we waited outside, and I derped around with my gps, looking at what was around us, and noticed there was an ice cream place around the corner, so to kill time we walked over X3 Turned out it was a cute Asian ice cream place, and it was delicious! Called "Sundaes and Cones", and I had great coconut ice cream :d Laura had blood orange sherbet, I believe, also delicious X3 We got a call that the others had arrived while we were sitting eating ice cream XD; Lola literally still had her bags, she hadn't been back to El's place yet. Colin upped his man points all weekend, toting anything heavy, lifting objects, wrestling bears.
Ippudo ramen... was very good T-T ♥ We almost all had the akamaru modern, but it was so great~ thick broth that was delicous, and pork that melted in your mouth! I got a tofu appetizer that did not say at all how it was going to be super spicy DX; I had a couple of bites but then offered it around. Lola liked the spiciness, so I offered her half of it freely, and what little was left I just dumped in my ramen. The noodles were a bit thinner than a like, but it was still good. Sorta weird how they train all the staff to do things the Japanese way, down to all the things they call out o_o It just doesn't fit their faces at all.
After ramen, El took us to get tea at St Alps Tea House, which was also delicious! Well, first we failed at getting a cab, because there were too many of us to fit into one. Walking back to the metro station, we passed the cube again, and it moooooves :O I had seen a girl bracing herself against one corner on the way up there, but I didn't see it move. I just assumed she was uh, resting or stretching or something. But with our powers combined we compelled the cube to almost, kinda, halfway turn. A bit. And caught it on video.
I... o_o I am blanking on whether Picc was with us during dinner or the cube...! I know we met up with him at the station that night...! He came in to Penn Station, and since that's just across from the hotel, we met up with him, hugged and punched him, and then all sacked at the room for a bit before heading out to karaoke~
There was a karaoke place that specialized in Asian music just a block away~ X3 We ended up going there again after the concert XD; But we got a room for two hours, during which we failed to figure out how the many many books of songs were arranged at all. We did manage to get everyone on board for "I'm On A Boat", and then "Cruel Angel's Thesis", with a few Japanese songs smattered in there where we could find ones that were acceptable. There was one book with songs arranged by anime in the back, so we also got a manly rendition of the theme to Mangizer Z?! XD;;; Also on film ♥
Poor El. She had to get up for work the next morning, and we were keeping her up past midnight yelling vaguely on-beat, and then she had to go home with most of those jerks and put them to bed like a nursemaid XD;;; El really took on the challenge of being a great host though. She was able to loan money when Mitsu had card troubles, and got them all out of the house before it got dark, and made Mitsu rest after her foot started swelling up later on. She took us to great restaurants and knew were clean bathrooms were X3; She truly was El Capitan ♥ And I say this as someone who was acting independently of her most of this trip XD; She had anywhere from 1-4 people in her house at any given time.
Ugh, can't believe how long that took and I know I forgot stuff XD;;;; Saturday can wait~
*cough*
I had to arrange my flight via Newark to keep costs down. Geez, I was lucky to get what I had too :/ I was trolling flight sites for a bit after the concert date was announced, and ended up being extra glad I waited, because the day I was planning to go ahead and buy tickets, the date CHANGE was announced. Even so, I put the flight I ended up with on hold at AA to think about it, and the next morning all flights were up to $100 higher. Since my itinerary hold included price, I was golden. So the money I had saved ended up being almost enough to cover my plane ticket. I took a little bit more out of savings, and just set cash aside from my next couple checks. I got my state tax refund, not much but everything helps. My dad, being a DAD, offered me cash to have fun on my trip T-T I wavered, but then took him up on it as an early birthday present. He even gave me a little more pocket money in the car on the way to the airport T^T ♥
Ugh, flying is insane these days. :/ Had to get everything down to carry-on only, because I was already resigned to having to pay for a checked bag on the way back. At least I got my med stuff sorted out and got my refill in time - only missed 2 days that month waiting on it. And I did not get hassled a bit by security on it, which was a relief. I've learned that even if something is totally within bounds, you never know when a worker is going to freak out over having to deal with it suddenly.
A mild flub on the way, with getting to Dallas and finding out my connecting flight had been cancelled due to mechanical difficulties. But since that's not my fault at all, they were obligated to get me to destination another way. I just worried about time, because when I was looking up flights it was hard to get a flight after 11am and before 6pm. Seeing my face when given options, the person working the desk offered a flight straight into New York, and even got me an early one, so I arrived at La Guardia around the same time I would've gotten to Newark. Only I didn't really know how to get to the hotel from La Guardia, I had planned for the other. Luckily, there was a shuttle that cost the same as the train from Newark would've, so I stayed on budget, but it was a heck of a wait. The next ones that came were full by the time they got to us, so they called in an extra one. I was trying to hurry into town because I knew poor Laura was already derping around waiting for check-in to start. When we got to the meet-up for shuttles, everyone else changed, but when the guy at the stop heard my destination, he just got the driver to take me there direct, so I made sure to find a couple bucks to give him when we got there.
Man. I tell ya. Sitting in that shuttle, watching the crazy driving and the crazy route our Chinese driver was taking, just watching the streets, the people... Trying to form an impression, and my brain was blank. The first sentence I was able to form was, New York City... does not give a FUUUUUCK XD;;;;;
Aw, Laura was sitting in the lobby looking tired when I finally arrived. I'd put her name on the room so she could check in, but she was so tired she just spaced out in a chair n_n She got her bags sent up to the room though. Aw man, that room was a bit smaller than I was thinking, but it was good. The pretty art stylings actually did make it feel more comfortable, and our window actually gave us a peek at the front of MSG. Philosophy bath goods in the bathroom, extra blankets, coffee mugs, a mini-fridge. Not bad.
Aw man. I forget what we even did. I know I changed clothes. I had layered expecting it to be freezing, but it was freakishly in the mid 70s! Everyone remarked on how bizarre it was. Aw, and Laura had brought me chocolate covered macadamia nuts from Hawaii! X3 I had forgotten! I think we ate? Oh! Oh, I believe we went to the Macaron Cafe! :3 The smaller location was just down the street from us. We both got two macarons each and ate them while we tried to figure out directions and such on the street. I had just gotten my new smartphone literally two days before, so I was learning about my gps on the fly. Laura had heard from a friend who lived in Jersey, and we were trying to figure out how to meet up with him. It involved buses and such. The public transport in NYC area is great, but it's not especially user friendly, at least not compared to Tokyo.
We got the plans from him finally, and went to purchase NJ transit passes and find the bus. Unfortunately, because of a mix-up we got on the wrong bus, and eventually got this confirmed and heard that we should depart, so we got off at Weehawken, NJ. We had an excellent view of the city across the water, and several bus stops nearby, but no idea which one we should take. Basically, everything wrong happened on that first day, so we got terrible mishaps out of the way quickly on this trip T_T Laura had had a debacle with her bags and the trains on the way from the airport, and had already spent too much on the subway. I was less enthused by the minute at it getting dark and us stuck in Jersey having already paid for a two-shot fare. Eventually we were able to hear back from him and get walking directions from where we were to his place T_T At least there he had a kitty to pet X3
We talked a bit, and he took us to a kaiten sushi place he knew, and treated us both! Can't think too badly of the night after that X3 Eeks, kabocha tempura...!
Aw, his kitty was such a sweetie. And we played some video games at his place while he called us a taxi..! All in all, it wasn't such a bad first day :3 And it definitely left us tired enough to just tank once we got back X3
Day 2! So, Friday was the Guggenheim :3 We had heard from Mitsu, who was getting passed from Kitsu in NJ to El in Brooklyn X3 She was joined by Colin and then Lola, but it was hard getting us all met up before mid-afternoon. She wanted to try to see the Guggenheim, but we didn't manage it that day. Once we figured out how to get there, we got lunch from a felafel cart near the station and hopped in a cab X3 Figured why not splurge, at least the once. I hadn't spent hardly a thing on Thursday, after all, so I bought us both felafel gyros and soda, and figured that it shouldn't be quite $20 for a cab (which it wasn't, even left me enough to tip him a bit). Couldn't help but be amused at how our foreign cabbie found another cabbie to chatter with ever time there was a lull in traffic X3 He just kept his window down and whenever we slowed he looked to his left and there was invariably another cabbie right there. Also amused at how somehow breakdancing has come back in. What the heck. What, are people able to put "The Worm" on their resume now? (With it's own bullet point..?)
It was another freakishly lovely day! The cabbie asked us not to eat in the cab when he saw us nomming, so we held off and sat outside the Guggenheim, eating felafel and just enjoying the day. Laura was taking all opportunities to have soda, away from the jeers of her fellows XD;;; The Guggenheim has a low wall around the edges, so lots of people come to sit outside, and it's across from one side of Central Park too (on the reservoir). There were several street vendors out front. I ended up getting a magnet from one artist, who was on his phone when I flagged him over and got in a conversation with us about what women want from him in a relationship X3;;; Laura got us both ice cream at a van on the corner, and near that there was a Japanese guy selling brush paintings of character print - either your favorite character or saying, or your name in character print. Because we're huge jerks, we went halvsies on a small card of "arashi" for Mitsu XD;;;;;;; And because Laura had taken her L'arc 20th bag (veeeeerrry attractive, I'm jealous!), she got to carry all sorts of stuff during the day X3;
The Guggenheim was having a special exhibit on the Bauhaus featuring Kandinsky! Apparently the Guggenheim has one of the premier collections of Kandinsky too. The entire building is done in a spiral, very artsy. It's also not so terribly expensive, and I had printed out a coupon for $2 off, so it was only about $16 X3;;; Lots of people were leaning back like pez dispensers to get photos of the museum spiral from the ground floor. 9_9 We photobombed a couple of them at various points on our way up. Aw, but it's too bad they didn't have any mobile art up down the middle while we were there. I saw pictures of another exhibit they'd had that way, and it was impressive! Also, that must've be a lot of art, to stretch six stories or so!
There were sculptures all around the roundabout, a lot looking like they were made from old cars. It felt rather American, but I suppose a lot of things involve big steelworks and cars do. There are side galleries on every floor all the way, some media, with video works etc, and others just regular galleries. One was a review of "masters", which a lot of great art! It was interesting to see all the Seurat close up :3 And there was a Gaugin that just reminded me strongly of Haiti X3 That gallery was also when I got scolded twice by attendants for taking pictures D: But but but, I'd just seen several people take really close-up pictures of art, so I thought it must be alright! And the first one I took was just of the floor, a wide shot. I just wanted a feel of the place. The next time I was trying to get a picture of Laura with art and everything in the background, just a pic to prove we were there, but she misunderstood and tried to get out of the way, and another attendant scolded me ;-;
The exhibit of Kandinsky was actually smaller than I expected, but still impressive. It was really interesting to see how his art was different through different stages. Renee told me a little about him when we went to an art exhibit in Kyoto, since she took a class on him. I asked Laura questions too. She's been doing a lot of art history and such lately for her classes, so it was all fresh and pouring out her mouth. I think it's interesting how Kandinsky was able to use duller color pallets and still make some pieces seem brighter and happier than others. But in his abstract pieces he really plays with color in addition to form. I ended up getting a magnet set since they had my favorite one of the pieces there in it X3 "Several Circles." It's like a photo-negative image of another circles painting I saw, at the show in Kyoto. This way I could give Renee a magnet too, so that was one present down :3 I also thought it a bit odd the special Guggenheim kitchenware they have there for sale, the cup and plate sets... X3;;;; They look a lot like some dish sets I had in Japan, and saw cheap in hyakkuen stores! I mean, it's nice and architectural-looking and all, but I didn't see how it was so especially special X3;;;
The top floor had a gallery with exhibits using sound :3 Central was a small square rock garden, with some greenery, some rocks, some sand. It looked about the size of a kid's sandbox, like it could fit in the living room of an apartment X3 Actually, if I had a large house, I think I'd like a small garden like that inside one room. It was very calming and cheery. There were speakers and sensors around it, and people were invited to walk on it. Just as Laura was wondering if we could jump around, the attendant said, two and a time, and no jumping XD; So we both made our way across it, trying not to get in the sand too much so we wouldn't have sand in our shoes all day. There were sensors that measured pressure and the noise you made on the patch, and the speakers at each corner played amplified noises from the walkthrough and changed according to how heavy you went through X3 Pretty neat though! A great thing to have at the top, to finish up. There was also a cone not far from the box, and when you stood under it it sounded like you were outside. Sometimes raining, sometimes traffic. In it's own way, that was a bit calming too. It was a very refreshing display X3
We had gotten to the Guggenheim late, but it didn't take all that long to get through! We actually got out of there about half an hour before it closed, and we were still waiting to hear from Mitsu about meet-up plans. Figured we would see them for dinner if nothing else. In the meantime, I suggested we go across the street and look out at the reservoir while we waited. We passed by a big church that had turned the rectory area into a coffeeshop X3 It was called "Heavenly Rest Stop." The walkway around the reservoir was part of the general walk around the park, lots of people running/jogging. We texted Mits in turns, derping around, looking at ducks, sitting up on the stone wall. Finally we agreed to meet at Ippudo, a nice ramen place downtown, one that Akane had recommending to me. We ended up getting there before the others, and not as long as it said it would take either. We passed by a big cube sculpture on the way X3 Always odd to see all the semi-famous things just THERE around the city.
They couldn't put our name down to definitely wait until the whole party was there, so best we could do was put it on reserve and they gave us an hour to be safe. It was pretty crowded, but I've missed real ramen! Not sure when the others were gonna get there, we waited outside, and I derped around with my gps, looking at what was around us, and noticed there was an ice cream place around the corner, so to kill time we walked over X3 Turned out it was a cute Asian ice cream place, and it was delicious! Called "Sundaes and Cones", and I had great coconut ice cream :d Laura had blood orange sherbet, I believe, also delicious X3 We got a call that the others had arrived while we were sitting eating ice cream XD; Lola literally still had her bags, she hadn't been back to El's place yet. Colin upped his man points all weekend, toting anything heavy, lifting objects, wrestling bears.
Ippudo ramen... was very good T-T ♥ We almost all had the akamaru modern, but it was so great~ thick broth that was delicous, and pork that melted in your mouth! I got a tofu appetizer that did not say at all how it was going to be super spicy DX; I had a couple of bites but then offered it around. Lola liked the spiciness, so I offered her half of it freely, and what little was left I just dumped in my ramen. The noodles were a bit thinner than a like, but it was still good. Sorta weird how they train all the staff to do things the Japanese way, down to all the things they call out o_o It just doesn't fit their faces at all.
After ramen, El took us to get tea at St Alps Tea House, which was also delicious! Well, first we failed at getting a cab, because there were too many of us to fit into one. Walking back to the metro station, we passed the cube again, and it moooooves :O I had seen a girl bracing herself against one corner on the way up there, but I didn't see it move. I just assumed she was uh, resting or stretching or something. But with our powers combined we compelled the cube to almost, kinda, halfway turn. A bit. And caught it on video.
I... o_o I am blanking on whether Picc was with us during dinner or the cube...! I know we met up with him at the station that night...! He came in to Penn Station, and since that's just across from the hotel, we met up with him, hugged and punched him, and then all sacked at the room for a bit before heading out to karaoke~
There was a karaoke place that specialized in Asian music just a block away~ X3 We ended up going there again after the concert XD; But we got a room for two hours, during which we failed to figure out how the many many books of songs were arranged at all. We did manage to get everyone on board for "I'm On A Boat", and then "Cruel Angel's Thesis", with a few Japanese songs smattered in there where we could find ones that were acceptable. There was one book with songs arranged by anime in the back, so we also got a manly rendition of the theme to Mangizer Z?! XD;;; Also on film ♥
Poor El. She had to get up for work the next morning, and we were keeping her up past midnight yelling vaguely on-beat, and then she had to go home with most of those jerks and put them to bed like a nursemaid XD;;; El really took on the challenge of being a great host though. She was able to loan money when Mitsu had card troubles, and got them all out of the house before it got dark, and made Mitsu rest after her foot started swelling up later on. She took us to great restaurants and knew were clean bathrooms were X3; She truly was El Capitan ♥ And I say this as someone who was acting independently of her most of this trip XD; She had anywhere from 1-4 people in her house at any given time.
Ugh, can't believe how long that took and I know I forgot stuff XD;;;; Saturday can wait~