I have to admit, I was a little unmotivated waking up this morning for our last day in New York. Jamming so much into the last three days has really worn me out. Feeling completely drained, I well and truly had to drag myself out of bed. Five weeks of travel and I honestly feel I need a holiday to recover. I wonder how that would go down at work????
Although my pedometer tells me we have done 20000 steps today, we have had a much quieter day. Our only plan was to visit Central Park. There was no way we were going to see the 800 odd acres of park, but we did spend an hour and half wandering to some of the south end sights.
With such tired feet, I was tempted to rent a pedicab to be chauffeured around the park. Unfortunately, $8 a minute (WTF) doesn’t fit with a tight arse’s ways. On top of that, I’m not sure I would actually trust the pedicab drivers. Some quite clearly are unable to read English (see the no parking sign) and several were smoking joints as they waited for customers.
Walking from the park back to our hotel, we stopped off at Empanada Mama for lunch. This was another YouTube recommendation. We ate dinner here one night earlier in the week, but both visits I forgot to take a photo. We were back at the hotel with plenty of time for resting before packing up our suitcases and heading off to the airport.
So here I sit at JFK waiting for our 7.30pm flight to LA. When I booked the flight I thought that it was the perfect plan for making the most out of the day and still arriving in LA at a reasonable time (11pm). What I hadn’t factored in was the time zone difference and the reality that we will be landing around 2am in the time zone we are used to. I imagine that there might be some tired bickering between a certain married couple soon! I seriously hope there isn’t a repeat of our flight into LA five weeks ago.
Before I sign off for the day, let me tell you why I am a winner today! Looking at an Uber to the airport, it was going to cost around US$140. On top of that, thanks to the current United Nations meeting, there are multiple road closures and the traffic is hideous. Driving to the airport just seemed risky. Instead, we opted to take the metro and the airtrain.
Unfortunately for hubby, carrying two heavy suitcases down subway stairs isn’t a fun task. Being the trooper he is, he did it without complaint. At least it wasn’t upstairs (easy for me to say). Safely onto the metro train, it was an easy ride to the airtrain station and we had only spent $2.90 each.
Arriving at the airtrain station (I think hubby sighed in relief at the escalators), I lined up ready to buy our train tickets. Just as it was my turn to buy the tickets, the speakers announced that they were going to let everyone onto the train for free. It was like a stampede of people racing to the entry before the free time finished. The poor suckers who had just purchased tickets must have been well and truly miffed! Needless to say tight arse Tanya was in her element.
Our run of winning continued after arriving at the airport. I will put aside the mayhem of checking in and going through security (OMG it was nuts) and share the joy of being able to use our Qantas Club membership in the American Airline’s lounge. Tight arse Tanya loves free food (yes it was chicken) and drinks! So all in all, we are winning today. We just have to hope that our flight sticks to schedule.
I am sure today’s blog title captured your attention and you are reading with anticipation at what we might have gotten up to. Sorry to disappoint, but there are no exciting stories to be shared about attending strip shows. It has been raining all day though and one could have easily morphed into a duck. With sore feet, wet weather and general tiredness (we have walked a marathon in three days), we opted to try the subway.
I have to say, one confusing thing about the New York Subway is their non-colour coding of subway lines. Unlike many other countries (logical countries if you ask me), the blue line isn’t the blue line. The blue line is the A line or the C line or the E line. On a map, they are all on the blue line. Go figure. Don’t go looking for the blue line. You will only get lost. Don’t even get me started on the uptown, downtown, express, local! Did we survive the subway? Of course we did. One can achieve anything with google maps in hand. Even an old timer like me can adjust to a non-colour coded system. I did tell you I am now flexible!
Our first stop this morning was Ladder Eight fire station. No we weren’t looking for hot fire fighters. Well hubby wasn’t. Rather, we were back on the movie location hunt again. The exterior of this building was used in one of the Ghostbuster movies as Ghostbusters Headquarters. Rest assured we weren’t the only stupid tourists trekking out in the rain to photograph the building. As it is still a working firehouse, I do wonder if the firemen, and women, look out thinking how stupid the tourists are.
A quick photo op and “who you gonna call” ringing in my ears, we were on our way. With the rain getting heavier, we took shelter in a Starbucks and warmed up with a cuppa. Unlike our rookie error yesterday, our morning snack was a very small cake and we shared it. Who said you can’t teach an old dog new tricks?
Next it was a wet walk to Chinatown. This is one of the largest Chinatowns I have come across in our travels. It spans many blocks and we really only captured a small part of it. If the weather hadn’t been so horrible, it would have been a nice place to explore further. It would have been even better to eat in some of the delicious smelling restaurants. Determined that we would not do a repeat of yesterday and be too full for Katz again, we continued to our next stop without any snacking. Not even one egg custard! What is the world coming to?
If we thought Chinatown was big, Little Italy was even bigger. Again, we only saw a small amount of the area as the weather was putting a dampener on the walking (no pun intended). Block after block and in every direction, something was happening in Little Italy. If we didn’t already have plans for the night, this would have been great to see lit up. My original plan had been to get a cannoli for a snack but again, we didn’t want to ruin our appetite.
The rain was still coming down and it was still a bit of a walk to Katz Delicatessen. Although it was only 30 minutes, in the crappy weather it felt like forever. It’s amazing how far you can walk without realising it when the sun is shining. Add a bit of rain and it drags on. Finally at Katz, it was time to try the infamous Pastrami on Rye. With an empty stomach, I was set for the challenge.
At US$35 (plus tip) for a sandwich and a can of soda, this was more about coming to an institution than getting a tight arse feed. The place was packed and we were lucky enough to come just before the lines started snaking out the door. When you walk in you get a ticket. No ticket, no food. No ticket, no exit! When you order you hand over your ticket and they write a price on it. When you exit you hand in your ticket and pay. Quite a clever system to keep the money away from the food.
Katz is famous for the fake orgasm scene in the movie When Harry Met Sally. Sally didn’t actually have the pastrami on rye so I wasn’t able to do the quote “I’ll have one of what she’s having”. You’ve got to have seen the movie to understand what I’m on about. Behaving myself and not wanting to embarrass my loving husband, I refrained from reenacting THAT scene and chose to quietly eat my sandwich. The sandwich was huge, the pastrami was warm, and the one sandwich easily fed the two of us. That was lucky as tight arse Tanya wouldn’t have wanted to shell out for two. I actually walked out feeling full from half a sandwich.
Was the pastrami on rye good? Yep it was delicious. Was it worth the equivalent to $46 Australian? Probably not. You do get to soak in the history and atmosphere of Katz so I guess it was worth it.
With the rain continuing, we decided to spend the afternoon at the Intrepid Museum. Back on the subway and a bit of a walk, and we arrived at the retired aircraft carrier. Given hubby had previously put up with my dragging him around to Sex and the City locations, this was his thank you. I have to say, the size of this thing was incredible and it was much larger than I anticipated. Perhaps size really does matter. The top deck holds an abundance of fighter planes as well as the Enterprise space shuttle. Seriously, the space shuttle took up only a small part of the ship. There was a lower deck with a range of other planes and a heap of space stuff (yes you can tell I was really into it). There was also a submarine but I chose to wait outside as hubby explored this. I wasn’t confident my butt was going to squeeze through any of those tight holes. Hubby enjoyed nerding out and I went along for the ride.
So that brings me to what was the highlight of our day. We had planned to go to Ellen’s Stardust Diner for breakfast tomorrow but did a change of plans and decided to try it for dinner. Yes more evidence I am becoming flexible. We were really lucky as there is normally a huge line of people waiting to dine at Ellen’s. It seems the downpour of rain had put people off and we were able to walk straight in. By the time we left, the rain had stopped and the line was there.
WOW was this place fun. All of the wait staff are budding performers and trying to get a break on Broadway. Some have had parts in the past and are doing extra study (voice and acting lessons) while they work at the diner. As you eat, the wait staff take it in turns to sing. The songs range from stage show songs to modern pop. Our waitress (the big photo) was amazing. She sang in English and French (she was American) and even managed to ring up our bill and bring it to us mid song. They perform walking between people eating and climb up onto a walkway and sing around you. The food is okay, typical diner food and nothing to rave about. The portions are enormous and there was no way I was able to finish mine. The meals are the usual Times Square higher prices for what they are. But in all honesty, you are getting a stage show at no extra cost. They did walk around once with a tip bucket (on top of the automatic 20% gratuity on the bill) and I have to say they deserved extra tips. They really were talented and it was a fun night.
After dinner we decided to do a night walk of Times Square. We had been too tired to see it last night after the Broadway show and given this was our last night in NY, it was our only chance. It really is a sight to see at night with so many lights, sounds and people.
It is all the more busy with the UN General Assembly happening in New York this week. Walking along together, me being the dawdler I ask, I was a few steps behind hubby. Hubby was halfway across the road when multiple police stepped in front of me and closed off the road on both sides with barricades. With no chance of reuniting, I stood on one side and hubby on the other. Unfortunately, my lack of sign language and hubby’s inability to see distances without his glasses meant that it was a waiting game. Speaking to one of the police officers, I made a comment that I had lost my hubby. He asked if that was a good thing. MMM depends on the day. Waiting, waiting, waiting and eventually a convoy of cars go past with the president in tow. One would think once the cars had cleared that they would move the barricades. Nope, it was more waiting, waiting and waiting until finally hubby was able to be reunited with his beloved. Yes I am laughing out loud!
Today’s adventures in New York had been meticulously planned to incorporate a mixture of sights, movie landmarks, food, food and more food. What more can one ask for when travelling the world. Having organised the day well in advance to our trip, the reality of sore feet required some adjustment to my overzealous plans. Flexibility is definitely becoming my second name. I hereby rename myself flexible tight arse Tanya!
I’d like to say that we had a restful night and were eager to go this morning, but our hotel didn’t exactly facilitate a good night’s sleep. Location, fantastic. Price, fantastic for New York. Bed, imagine sleeping on a rock slab. Quiet, imagine a rattling aircon and doors opening and shutting all night. We were so lucky (insert sarcasm) to get a room directly at the top of the first floor stairs. There are a lot of people who need to walk up those stairs to get to their rooms…..at all hours of the night. In hindsight, perhaps flexible tight arse Tanya should have shelled out more than $350 a night (yes you read that correct, New York is expensive).
Finally ready to attack the day ahead, we headed out around 9am for the 20 minute walk down to Hudson Yards. Wanting to feel like a real New Yorker, we stopped in at a local Bodega to get an egg, bacon and cheese bagel. I’m not calling this a second breakfast. Firstly, the measly amount of cereal I’d eaten at the hotel would barely class a meal. Secondly, a shared bagel is hardly a meal. It is literally a four bite snack.
As it turns out, this ‘not a second breakfast’ was the commencement of our downfall and the cause of needing more flexibility later in the day. Note to self: my mother was always right…..my eyes are bigger than my belly. I really didn’t need a bagel. Even a four bite, half a bagel.
Arriving at Hudson Yards, we checked out the Vessel. This artistic piece came at a cost of US$200 million. Quite amazing considering that it is now indefinitely closed to the public. Apparently, whoever designed it didn’t have the forethought of how someone wanting to take a jump without a bungee cord might find it appealing.
Vessel snaps done, we walked to the entry of the High Line, a 2.3km elevated walkway through the city. I have to say, the walk along the High Line was really enjoyable and offered a range of views from garden to art, from buildings to traffic.
Part way along the High Line is the Chelsea Markets. Planned from my YouTube viewing (yes so old school and not all hip with TikTok), my main aim of this stop was to visit Los Tacos No.1. Highly rated in many a video, I had high expectations. I was crossing everything that a repeat of my lobster roll experience wasn’t about to happen. And for the record, I have let it go.
This place is really popular. We were there 25 minutes before it opened and there were others waiting already. This was only meant to be a snack stop. Given that we had eaten an unplanned ‘not a second breakfast’ bagel, we probably should have stuck to the original plan of sharing one taco. That was definitely the plan…..until I got to ordering. Excitement got the better of me and we (yes I know it was down to me) ordered two. They didn’t look that big, but in reality there was a lot of meat in them. So should I be revisiting my rendition of ‘let it go, let it go….’? Nope, they were good. Should we have shared one? Absolutely.
Well fed, we headed back up to the High Line to continue our walk.
Exiting the High Line near Greenwich Village, our next destination was the stairs of Carry Bradshaw’s apartment. For those non-Sex and the City fans, this would be a complete waste of time. Just ask my husband. It is obvious that the owners of this beautiful brownstone building have had enough of dumb ass tourists climbing up their stairs. As we stood waiting to take a photo, yes another line, idiots (possibly not able to read English) stepped over the chain to get their posed photo. I, the sensible rule follower, took my quick snap and took off. The streets and homes around this area are absolutely gorgeous.
Sticking to our TV location theme, not far away was the building from Friends. Having recently rewatched the sitcom, I wondered if anyone else picked up that the apartment from the show didn’t actually make sense to this exterior building they used. Where was the balcony they used to climb out onto? Are you telling me TV lies?
Back to our eating plan, our itinerary had another ‘snack stop’. Now the plan was to stop in at Bleecker Street Pizza (yes highly rated on YouTube) for the infamous Nona Maria pizza. Although we had walked for hours and should have been ready for a piece each, in this case my eyes weren’t bigger than my belly as my belly was full from the snacking all morning. To force pizza in, it meant that we needed to share a piece. Sharing a piece meant that hubby wouldn’t like Nona Maria so we went for pepperoni. The pizza was good! Nona Maria will just have to wait for another day.
A short distance from Bleecker Street Pizza was another YouTube recommendation, Porto Rico Importing Co. Selling coffee and tea, walking into this unique shop was like inundating the senses with coffee. I’m far from a fan of coffee, but I could appreciate the aroma of this store. Hubby got himself a coffee and we headed out to our next stop.
A short walk away was Cafe Wha? and the Comedy Cellar. Both spots known for a range of famous performers, it was a matter of a photo stop and continuing our journey. I imagine they would be great places to visit in the evening.
This is where our plans completely unraveled. Don’t panic though, remember I am now flexible Tanya. We were going to head to Katz Deli for a pastrami sandwich for lunch. I was going to reenact the fake orgasm scene from When Harry Met Sally and we were going to share a sandwich. Note to self: making funny joke about faking an orgasm with hubby would be highly inappropriate about now. Eating at Katz would have worked out brilliantly, if only we hadn’t been snacking all morning. Damn that bagel. Deciding that neither of us could fit in any more food, we decided to skip this stop and possibly do this tomorrow.
Instead, we headed down to Washington Square Park. Whilst resting our feet and relaxing on a park bench, I googled a bit around the history of the park. As it turns out, the grounds had once been a Potter’s Field and as we sat, approximately 20000 bodies lay below us. Although the dead were below, above ground was a hive of action with performers and many enjoying the beautiful weather.
A walk (limping at our 20000 plus steps so far) up 5th Ave brought us to the Flatiron building. Well, I am saying it was the Flatiron building. Anything could have been hiding behind that scaffolding!
To finish our day and bring us to a total of 27443 steps and just over 18km, we went to see The Book of Mormon on Broadway. Not for the easily offended, we finished of the night with a lot of giggles and some deciphering of the American accent. I learnt that when in doubt just follow the laughter of others. Another big day in New York!
With much sadness our 26 nights on the Emerald Princess came to an end this morning. We had a great cruise, even with Simon coming down with a dodgy stomach in Mexico and me ending the cruise with a bit of a head cold. That lovely stick up the nose has come back negative so I am hoping it is only a short lived thing. Surely I can’t be unlucky enough to get the dreaded C twice on a cruise. I am going to thank the very considerate lady we dined with a couple of nights ago (yes that’s sarcasm) for coughing and spluttering all over the place and insisting on touching me when she spoke to me. I don’t like being touched at the best of times. Touching by a clearly sick stranger is asking for a physically violent response!
Disembarking, we decided to give the ride share app Revel a go. An all Tesla fleet and only in New York, they are bright blue and not hard to miss. Thanks to my tight arse ways (pays off sometimes), I had managed to get a 30% off discount code, making the ride from Brooklyn to Hells Kitchen affordable. It also prevented the stress of us dragging luggage (who am I kidding it would have been Simon dragging) onto the ferry then dragging it to the metro. It was a fair price to pay for convenience. Revel virginity lost, we enjoyed our ride in the Tesla.
As one would expect, I had planned our day in Manhattan with multiple places to see and specific places to eat. Unfortunately, with my feeling under the weather and my lovely ankle deciding it doesn’t want to be attached to my body, we did a bit of editing of the itinerary. More proof, Tanya is becoming more flexible. Thank goodness we did edit the day as we still managed to clock up 22500 steps by 7pm.
Our first destination, after dropping off our luggage, was Schmackarys. It had been a good two hours since breakfast so morning tea was definitely calling. Having seen this small cafe on YouTube, I had high expectations of the cookies. My chocolate chip was yum but I wasn’t fussed on Simon’s maple bacon. Why anyone would want to eat a cookie that tastes of bacon has me beat.
What’s more touristy than a visit to Times Square? Yes, that was a rhetorical question but I am giving you an answer. Visiting Times Square wearing a ‘I love New York’ T-shirt. Rest assured, I didn’t shell out for a T-shirt. I have to question the sanity of those tourists who don these very touristy shirts. They just scream, rob me! Noisy, busy and a Mecca of tourist traps, our visit in Times Square wasn’t very long. We are seeing a show tomorrow night so will visit again to see it all lit up. I can guarantee I will still not be wearing a touristy shirt.
Next was off to the Rockefeller Centre. Hunting for a toilet, the place is a labyrinth of walkways with limited signage to point you in the right direction. With desperation rising, it was like Xmas had come when that familiar toilet logo finally appeared. I half expected to go back up to ground level and see the infamous Rockefeller Xmas tree.
Locating the entrance to Top Of The Rock was just as easy as locating a toilet (yes that’s sarcasm again). Walking around in circles in the labyrinth of walkways, I finally asked a security guard for directions. I think I may have interrupted him watching a soapie on his phone, as his directions were short and sharp – ‘down the escalators’.
Heading down the escalators, we were lucky enough (yes just a bit more sarcasm) to find another labyrinth of walkways. When one’s feet are going out on strike, walking around in circles can tend to irritate one. Add on a bit of illness and poor hubby was trying to keep me calm. Eventually we located the entrance and lined up to buy our tickets. I am starting to think New York is the place of lines, as finally getting tickets just meant that you joined another line to enter the building. Did I mention the line for each of the two lifts? The benefit of waiting in lines is tapping into free wifi. We were lucky enough to get an email from Top of The Rock offering us 20% off our ticket prices! That would have been useful before buying the tickets. Finally making it to the top, the views were amazing though!
A quick visit to FAO Schwarz and Radio City, and we were off to lunch. Heading to another YouTube recommendation, we arrived at Margon Cuban cafe. If you were walking down the street, you would likely go straight past it thinking it was nothing special. It definitely is a unique place with quirky staff. We shared a cubano sandwich for US$12 and it was really quite good.
By this point we were both about ready to call it a day but decided to see a couple more things before making our way back to the hotel. We headed to Grand Central Terminal to see the main concourse ceiling, $20 million opal clock and the whispering gallery. It took a few goes for us to get the whispering gallery to work. Standing in opposite corners of the concourse hall, you talk into the wall and the person on the opposite side can hear you. It is truly bizarre. Strangely enough, it wasn’t too hard to locate as there were multiple people standing there looking like fools talking into the corners. If only I had done some dirty talk. I could have been in the naughty corner.
Not on today’s itinerary, but conveniently located in the terminal was Magnolia Bakery. Made famous in an episode of Sex and the City, YouTube had convinced me that the banana pudding was to die for. Luckily for me, hubby hates banana so I got to eat the tub by myself. Was it as good as they said? Absolutely. I hate to think how many calories are in this little tub but they were worth it.
A short walk away was another Sex and the City iconic location, the New York Public Library. For some reason (has got me beat why), hubby didn’t share my excitement at seeing the staircase where poor old Carrie was stood up by Mr Big on their wedding day. We could have done a whole reenactment but I think that would have been pushing someone’s patience! Putting the TV moment aside, the building itself is absolutely beautiful. It was about now that tiredness had set in so we didn’t visit any of the free (usually my favourite thing) exhibitions in the library.
Beside the library is Bryant’s Park, a busy place on a Saturday afternoon. Hobbling through the park, we decided to head back to the hotel for a couple of hours of rest before dinner. Yes we are sounding like oldies.
Rest done, our last stop for the day was another YouTube recommendation, Adel’s Halal food truck opposite Radio City. Turning up at 5.30, there was already a huge line. By the time we got to the cart, the line was snaking a block away and around the corner. Chatting to a local, he assured me that the combo on spicy rice was the best. This local was also kind enough to smoke his joint for the 30 minutes we stood in line and provided me enough second hand smoke that I risked getting the munchies.
What can I say about Adel’s. Wow, the serving was huge enough to feed both of us for dinner and best of all, it met my tight arse ways with a total of US$9. Who would have thought that you could get a tasty feed for that price? Well fed and having passively smoked, we were ready to head back to the hotel to rest up for a huge day ahead tomorrow.
Today’s blog is going to be short and sweet. To be honest, I am ready for bed after a busy day. Most of today’s blog will definitely be photos with limited explanation. Sorry in advance for the lack of humour.
Last night we had our 30th wedding anniversary dinner at the ship’s Crown Grill. We rolled out of the place straight into bed thinking we would burst. Both of us only managed half of our steaks. The brain was saying eat this yummy food, but the stomach was going out on strike.
Today ended up being a day that wasn’t meant to be. Thanks to that bloody Hurricane, today’s sea day actually ended up a day docked in New York. This was a bonus extra day that we hadn’t anticipated so we wanted to make the most of it. Unfortunately for us the getting off the ship took longer than we wanted. Eventually we were able to jump onto the local ferry (very handy beside Brooklyn Cruise Terminal) and make our way over to Manhattan.
Our first stop was the 9/11 memorial and museum, about a ten minute walk from the Wall St Ferry. It ended up being a bit of lining up to line up. Wanting to pay for our tickets in cash, we lined for ages to get the tickets. All excited with tickets in hand, we realised that there was now a second spiralling line to get into the museum.
Finally in, we spent a good couple of hours in the museum. We could have spent longer, but to be honest it was just so heartbreaking. You could hear a pin drop as you walked through the museum and it was a place to truly pay respect to the lost lives of such an abhorrent attack.
Opposite the museum is the Oculus Centre. After the obligatory photo we hunted for a very late lunch. We contemplated eating from one of the delicious smelling street stalls but ended up at Shake Shack.
We hadn’t planned on doing the Staten Island Ferry trip, but with a bonus day we squeezed it in. Hoping to get that iconic Statue of Liberty shot, we raced onto the ferry to stand in the back right corner. According to google, this was the best location for getting a snap. I even double checked as we stood waiting to board.
Thinking we had scored the best photo spot, we soon realised that we were actually at the front left corner. No the ferry didn’t turn around as it pulled out! Lucky for us we managed to get in the right position on the return trip though.
So that is it for today. We are back onboard for our last night before disembarking tomorrow. Suitcases are packed and it’s now time to rest up in preparation for a huge four days in New York.
This morning I woke up with Sex in the City stuck in my head. Get your minds out of the gutter as it isn’t what you are thinking! I may have had to google the lyrics to Empire State of Mind for you, as my bastardised lyrics weren’t quite working with a lot of “mmmm-hhhh” for the words I didn’t know. Cue mood music: In New York, concrete jungle where dreams are made of, there’s nothing you can’t do. As it turns out, there’s something you can’t do, walk for extended periods without pain!
Now I say woke up but it was more like dragged myself out of bed to be on deck as we sailed past the Statue of Liberty. Being up at 4.45am on a holiday is insane! Instead of being in bed making dreams, I was up on deck looking at that concrete jungle……and boy was it amazing!
Given we needed to be back on ship by 4pm, we had decided to hang out in Brooklyn for the day. The ship docked at Red Hook, which was conveniently located right next to the public transport ferry. Reflecting on the two plus hours it had taken us to be processed through Border Security when we flew into LA, we thought there might be something similar so got off an hour earlier than the first ferry to Dumbo. One really shouldn’t think, as it was literally five minutes, no lie, getting off the ship and walking through security. Even with the dodgy looks because we had no luggage, it was quick! Explaining that we were in transit and getting back on the ship later was simple and we were ushered through.
Instead of waiting 50 minutes for the next ferry, we decided to walk to Dumbo. As it turns out, we managed to arrive in Dumbo just as that first ferry was pulling up. It may have worked in our favour, as walking did let us see a lot that we wouldn’t have seen if we had travelled by water. It really was quite a beautiful walk and Tanya’s stumpy little legs held out.
Our first stop in Brooklyn was the iconic Brooklyn Bridge. Walking along Brooklyn Bridge Park and the waterfront made it near impossible to get lost on our way to this landmark. Now I say near impossible. We did manage to take a wrong turn looking for the pedestrian overpass stairs, but thanks to the hoards of tourists it was easily rectified.
There were definitely some odd people up on the bridge. One lady was posing in an elegant green dress with a train of flowing material that took over the walkway. Unfortunately, her photographer decided to have her pose in the middle of the walkway and wasn’t happy when people tried walking past. Just a little advice for the photographer, tourist attractions attract people.
Bridge walk done, well half a bridge walk and back done, a toilet stop was required. The Time Out building provided the perfect opportunity to not only meet the toileting need but also the customary ‘we really do need a food stop’. Is it really a holiday if you aren’t tasting the local cuisine?
The majority of vendors were yet to open (downside of heading out so bloody early) but we managed to buy a donut and coffee and rest the tired feet. I was so excited about the donut that it nearly didn’t get photographed. It was broken in half and on its way to my mouth when I remembered.
Brief pitstop over and it was on to exploring the waterfront and photographing both the Brooklyn and Manhattan bridge multiple times. Can one really take enough photos? Oh how our friends are going to love our next holiday movie night….. “this is a bridge”, “this is a bridge” “oh and this is a bridge”.
Unfortunately for us, the foggy morning weather made the iconic Manhattan Bridge and Empire State Building photo difficult. If you enlarge the photo REALLY big, you can just see the feint Empire State Building in the oval of the bridge. Don’t feel bad for us, there were hoards of visitors that also had the same problem.
We walked down to Pebble Beach, which funnily enough is a beach with pebbles. I’m not sure why it is called a beach as you aren’t allowed to swim there. The beach you have when you aren’t really having a beach. The view was gorgeous and the fog was starting to lift. The smell of people puffing on funny weed might be the reason it’s a beach you have when you aren’t really having a beach.
With the early start, Tanya’s anal retentive plan for the day was thrown out. I had desperately wanted to have pizza for lunch at Grimaldi’s or Juliana’s. I’d had recommendations for both and after watching a few YouTube videos (one has to be prepared), I wanted to see if the hype was worth it. Unfortunately, we were ready to eat at 10.30am (hey we had been up at 4.45am). Also unfortunate, both restaurants weren’t ready to feed people until 11.30am.
Un-pizzaed (yes I did just make up a word) and our plan out the window, we threw caution to the wind (you read right) and decided to catch the ferry over to Manhattan. The ferries really are a great method of transport, quick, clean, cheap and conveniently located. It might have taken a little trial and error buying the ticket and locating the correct ferry, but it was easily done with the help of some locals.
Stress – forgetaboutit! Imagine that Brooklyn accent.
Walking, well limping, as the ankle was giving way, we made our way to Trinity Church on the corner of Wall Street and Broadway. Yes I was super excited about the street signs and needed photographic evidence! The ABC, not another bloody church, might have been mentioned and we didn’t go in. Instead we admired the beauty of the exterior and entered the dead centre of town. Apparently everyone is dying to get in there. For the record, blame hubby for the dad joke. Hubby was in his element as he animal charmed a squirrel to strike a pose for my photograph.
Still walking (well and truly limping by now), we went on to the Trump Building, New York Stock Exchange, some museum (sorry brain fog was setting in from the early rise) and loads of spectacular buildings. I might have got neck strain from the constant looking up in awe.
The financial district is also home to the Fearless Girl, a bronze statue that is meant to send a message about the power of women. According to google, there’s a range of messages behind her which must be so powerful that a massive line of people were waiting to stand next to her to be photographed. As much as I want my vertically challenged body to be evident in a photo next to a tiny girl (yes sarcasm inserted), I instead did the covert photo. I quite like my version!
Next was onto another famous brass statue, the Charging Bull. If we thought the line for the Fearless Girl was long, the line to be photographed rubbing the bull’s balls was even longer. Looking at those shiny balls, I think that quite a few people have had a good rub. My need to rub balls has long expired, so again the sneaky photo between posers was enough.
Over 22k steps done and a good 14km, our feet were aching and our stomachs rumbling. Luckily, not only did Bowling Green meet the needs of ball rubbers, it also had a hotdog stand and a park to eat in. We grabbed ourselves our first real NY meal, a NY cheesesteak. It didn’t quite look the same as the picture on the van, but one was big enough to feed both of us and it was like heaven sitting down for a while, enjoying the park and some yummy food.
So here I sit, over 16km for the day, being side tracked by the view above and excited about the next leg of our adventure. Tonight we head off on our New England cruise up to Halifax.
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