Simon’s pilgrimage ends
Day 9 - New York City
It was a bit of a slow start after last night’s events but we finally got it together and headed for 5th Avenue. I’ve never seen Simon walk so fast as he headed toward his heaven - The Apple Store. It was absolutely packed in there with every Apple product under the sun. I finally managed to drag him away with the agreement that he’s going back to buy some things before we leave.
We headed to one of my favourite places, Central Park. I haven’t been to NYC in Spring so it was lovely seeing all the trees starting to blossom. It still amazes me to think that such a huge park is smack bang in the middle of the city - I love it! We walked around for hours just taking it all in, it’s so peaceful.
After heading back to the hustle and bustle we decided to give the Empire State Building a miss and instead went to the ‘Top of the Rock’, being the top of Rockefeller Centre. It’s amazing being able to see the whole island of Manhattan and the edge of the boroughs. I think we were quite lucky with the queues and seemed to be in the right place at the right time.
Heading back to Broadway, the diner we wanted to have dinner at had a huge queue so we took this opportunity to have a drink with Sue (mum’s friend whose apartment we’re staying in). We headed to a nice bar, Glasshouse, where I had a pomegranate martini and some nibbles. An hour or later we tackled Ellen’s Diner on Broadway where the wait staff sing hit songs from Broadway shows. Guess at least they can say they sing on Broadway! It was a very stereotypical American diner where we had a coke and burger. Quite yummy though!
We are stuffed after our big day so time for some shut eye before a big day of shopping tomorrow!!
New coat, new scarf, new pretzel :)
Rugged up in Yankees gear
Yankee Stadium
Day 8 - New York
We woke to a very cold looking NY. After checking the temperature we confirmed yes, 5 degrees is cold and yes, we’re going to need jackets if we’re going to be sitting outside at the baseball all day. What a great excuse to go and check out Bloomingdales! Simon got himself a nice slate coloured leather jacket and I got a light coloured short trench. Perfect! We got the subway to the Yankees Game. The train was super hot but on time and efficient. I had been to a Yankees game last time I was in NY but they’ve built a new stadium since. The new stadium is huge and includes it’s own Hard Rock Cafe! After finding our seats and accepting we’re still freezing we went and stocked up on Yankees merchandise. We both got headwear and I got a scarf too - much warmer! We then got ourselves a hot dog. It was slightly concerning that the ‘cheese’ was liquid and comes from a heated bottle but nevertheless it tasted good! There is constant action and huge flashing screens at the game. Between each innings they have some kind of quiz or game including the audience and constant advertising. Very different to a Melbourne stadium.
Player 33 Nick Swisher was the star today and quickly became our favourite. It’s good only having about 9 players to keep track of. It was a cold and drizzly day but we enjoyed it anyway and the Yankees beat the Texas Rangers no worries. They played ‘New York, New York’ when they won at the end and as each Yankees player went up to bat they had a snippet of their own little song- some interesting choices- ha.
We intended to get off the train at Central Park and walk back to the apartment but after surfacing at 59th street and seeing the pouring rain we re-entered the station and headed to another train. The trains are so regular here that it was no problem, pity that the same can’t be said for Melbourne’s trains!
We headed to an Irish pub, Hurley’s, near our apartment for dinner and were met there by Anke, who I did an exchange to Germany with. She was visiting her friend Holger in NY so we had the chance to catch up after many years. We had a great night reminiscing and catching up over drinks with lots of laughs. It’s hard to keep track of time here as you can order dessert etc at 1am and there’s always people around. I’m guessing it was quite late by the time we finally reached bed, but a good day/night in the Big Apple.
Approaching Times Square
So much Reece’s…
Day 7 - Mexico City to New York
We managed to wake up early and get everything together to head off to the airport. It was sad to say goodbye to Vanessa and Manuel after such a good time in Mexico, but we had New York beckoning and soon found ourselves back at the airport. Five hours or so later and the Empire State Building was outside the Aeromexico plane window…
With Katie being a US citizen, I was also able to dodge the visitors customs queue and we were through in record time. Queuing for a taxi took much longer but eventually we were headed through Queens for our Manhattan apartment. The apartment is amazing, such a great spot with a corner view from the 37th floor and only a block away from Times Square (48th St between 8th and Broadway, if you want to find us on Google Maps). Needless to say, we are feeling very lucky to be here.
We set off straight away to have a look around and went straight to Times Square. All the sights and sounds made being in New York suddenly real, although it was bloody cold after coming from Mexico. It’s very strange to be in a place for the first time, but know so much about it from books, movies and tv shows etc - it’s new but familiar at the same time.
Lunch was New York pepperoni pizza and cherry cola, plus we stopped off to pick up a few essentials (Reece’s!).
After taking in the excesses of M&M’s World and the Hershey store, we had a look in a few shops for something warmer to wear, seeing as we had only packed for Mexico, but they are all switching to warm weather gear now so we thought we’d try harder the next day and, after a while at Times Square, went home for the night. The constant sound of traffic, horns and sirens means that you can’t really forget where you are, but we got some sleep all the same!
