23rd September - Thursday - New York
The train trip was loooong - 13 hours but it did seem to go rather quickly, if that makes any sense?? Got out at Madison Square Penn St Station where an ice hockey game had just finished so kinda crazy. Pete having a cigga where this random guy comes up and wants to offer lift. I am not keen as he is NOT a cab driver and I have read warnings about accepting lifts with randoms. But Pete says yes and I try to get out of it by saying I have no US dollars. He is like no worries, I will take you to 42nd street. So nervously I get in (admittedly nice car) and we finally get to hotel and as expected ripped off. We travelled 10 blocks max and got charged $40 - barstard - but hey at least we made it. Welcome to NY! After 10pm by the time we checked in so went walking and of course, like insects, we were attracted to the lights of Times Square. Didn't make it the whole way, instead found the Pig and Whistle (lots of Irish pubs in this place!). Had a bite to eat and a couple of drinks. Back to hotel about 12.30am and sleep time.
24th September - Friday
Longest walk this trip, for sure - equivalent of 80 blocks me thinks! Brooklyn bridge, river park, chelsea piers, greenwich village. dinner in, pete out. And it was so hot today - we have been really lucky with the weather - only whinge is the stifling heat at times. But can't complain - rain makes things a lot harder to do.
25th September - Saturday
Yankee stadium today. Walked again in morning - all this walking really is tiring. I feel guilty on days when I don't want to do anything but seriously it is needed - and I guess that is what holidays are for!
Boston Redsox won - yipee! Big Papi had a couple of hits and RBI's. Had no troubles getting on subway and getting out to the bronx. Got on wrong train at 59th on the way back but no worries, just got off at 50th (dodgy looking place) and got on the right one - 2 blocks from unit - cool!
26th September - Sunday
So we buy the hop on hop off tickets today - allows us 2 days travelling and we can do uptown, downtown, Brooklyn, Night tour, museums and boat cruise.
Today we do the downtown and Brooklyn tour. We got off at Statten Island ferry first and took the trip over to Statten Island and got to see the big green lady. She is amazing and I can imagine how she inspired hope for people immigrating to America. Raining most of the day but only lightly. Pity though, because when wanting to take photos in the rain, they are never very clear. At least the memories will be bright, even if the photos are a bit drab. Our eating habits continue to be all over the place. Had breakfast, no lunch and dinner??
27th September - Monday
So today we set off again (on foot) and it is pouring. But I am determined to do uptown tour. We do it, with our little ponchos on and it really was funny - getting drenched on open air bus. I can only imagine what the locals think of us tourists LOL. Go through harlem and the area we went through was West Harlem - pretty nice area actually. Except for when one little brat through a broken off car antenna up into bus. Seriously, it missed me by one foot. The bus driver stopped, and the guide took it over to a policeman and pointed out the prat. Apparently they do that (because it is sooo funny!) and police have asked that the bus stops and lets them know when it happens. The aerial could of done some serious damage if it hit me - it was pretty ragged. Lucky for me, God was on my side when it was thrown. Got off at the American Natural Museum and spent a few hours in there - good way to spend a rainy day.
The guide told us as more residents live down 9th and 10th avenue that is the best place to get cheaper good food. Obviously owners charge through the roof where the tourists go, so we headed down and found another cool little Irish pub - Daltons. Met Collette the barmaid from Ireland and had a few drinks with her (she shouted our last Stellas) before heading down to Circle LIne cruise for our 2 hour night cruise. It left at 7pm and we got there at 6.30pm - only to find out it had left! WTF? Our ticket clearly says 7pm. They try to argue with us that we should have checked the net but there is nothing anywhere that suggests you need to check. We were not happy so Pete spoke to manager and they told us to come back tomorrow. So we trudged home in the pouring rain, a little despondant.
28th September - Tuesday
Best day on our trip. Well it didn't start that way. I called Circle Line and they told us NO refunds. I was really upset and told them it was a really shabby way to treat paying customers. We decided to walk down and we strucky a helpful girl who suggested we take the 3 hour island tour leaving in 5 minutes instead. So we did and even though it poured rain (more drab photos), it was great - getting to see all of Manhattan from the water. They have about a million bridges and about a trillion buildings - old mixed in with the new. Really amazing. And the guide knew everything - twas great.
Had some lunch at Daniella's Trattoria - very nice and very late. headed home to change so we could go to see Wicked. OMG it was unreal - we both absolutely loved it.
29th September - Wednesday
Home..yeh!! currently sitting in One World lounge after a smooth flight over from NY. LA to Sydney then one more leg to Brissy - happy to be heading home now:)
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