New York

I've been in New York for the past week with a friend (Ms V) visiting from Australia. I missed my weekly post on Sunday as we were flat strap the whole time. While I visited New York last year with Deb, this was an opportunity to see the sights again and do a little unexpected clothes shopping. As I sit exhausted on the train back to DC, I’m humming……I have walked 500 miles, and then 500 more to (see the sights of this big city)….or so that annoying song goes. We stayed in an AirBnB apartment, same as last year and love staying amongst the locals rather than tourist crazy hotels.

We started the trip with a Yankees baseball game late on Saturday afternoon. It’s always a great time on the subway going to the game with lots of fans all jiggly before the game. This was the 2^nd last game of the season and Yankees were not going to make the playoffs (finals). I note that the Nats are in the playoffs though !!  It was an absolute cracker of a game. I’ve not seen a game this great at Nats stadium except the game that went into extra innings. Yankees were down in the first few innings and the Balitmore Orioles were in fine form at 3-0 early on. Both teams were smashing at everything so it was just full of action. The Yankees turned the game around to win 7-3. We had the mandatory hot dog and wore our NY hats. Now for those of you who think I’m a dirty traitor, Yankees are my second team – I had planned to follow them when we came over to the US. But baseball teams are grouped into two big leagues as there are so many teams. Yankees are in the other league so I would never get to see them play. So while I still have a very soft spot for them, I had to support Nats as I could always get to their games. So I have a NY hat in the cupboard for those visits to NY. But Nats are my main team and I will continue to be a strong supporter.

 

On Sunday night we saw the Lion King and it was brilliant as expected. I have always wanted to see the Lion King and it was every bit as good as expected. I was overwhelmed with the costumes and puppetry of the animals. It was really cleverly done. I think this show is constantly booked out and it will be a legendry favorite up there with The Phantom of the Opera and Cats.

We also visited the other key NY sites such as Empire State Building, Rockerfeller (Top of the Rock), 9-11 memorial and museum and took a walking tour of Brooklyn including crossing the Brooklyn bridge. The Brooklyn bridge is a real piece of history – I love the story of it’s building and how it stands today as a gorgeous landmark. Look closely between the gap in the bottom tower and you will see the Empire State Building. We also took a harbour lights cruise which was absolutely gorgeous. I’ve done the day time cruise but the night lights are spectacular. We took a bike tour around Central Park with the same bike shop I used last year. Unfortunately it was not great. We didn’t enjoy it and I was not happy given last year it was a good tour.

We spent time shopping various shops and picked up some bargains along the way. No trip to NY is complete without a walk/push through Times Square and a visit to the M&M shop – I wanted to put my mouth under the chocolate machines and pull that handle !!! I also checked out a café called Little Collins that is owned by a Kiwi and Aussie. The coffee was great – really great. I was recommended to go there and glad I did. I will be passing this address to other caffeine deprived Aussies. The café was packed and still in the afternoon when we passed. And of course we went to Tiffany’s. A girl can’t visit NY without browsing amongst the beautiful cabinets of sparkling diamonds and jewellry at Tiffany’s on 5^th Avenue.

 

I finally saw the Naked Cowboy in the Uber ride to the train station on the last day. One day I will get a pic with that dude. It’s been a very long busy week but many boxes were ticked. There’s a bunch of pics to look at and I have to say the photo in Times Square with a guys in his baby outfit was just such a ridiculous thing to do – I just had to do it. He was a scream with his rattle and squeaky toys. I braved a photo with him and he was quite funny. I wasn’t sure what was going to happen but it was all safe in the end.