Finally, the last installment of 'Aussie Invasion' - NYC! After saying our farewells to Luke and Nic in Rome, Robert, Bronwyn, Fiona and I began our long journey from Rome to London, and then on to JFK. While the flights were relatively painless, our slight concerns at check-in were unfortunately validated when we arrived in NY minus several items of luggage. Poor Bron was hit the worst, with her entire wardrobe being left somewhere between Rome and London. Fee and I were a little luckier - they only lost one of our small bags with a few shoes, souvenirs etc. Needless to say at 1.30am our first impressions of the place weren't great! At least the traffic was good in our taxi ride in to Manhattan....
Despite not having slept for many many hours, I had a really dodgy night's sleep in our first floor hotel room which was right on a busy street. We had a bit of a sleep in and found it to be a lovely morning. Right around the corner we found the Empire State building (above).
We took the opportunity to wander through Macy's.
We then made our way down to Times Square, where we met Bob and Bron outside Toys R Us.
Fee in Times Square. It was amazing how familiar everything was despite having never been there before.
New York's finest.
Toys R Us was more like a themepark....still regret not picking up some toys while we were there....maybe next time!
The Radio City Music Hall. Famous for its shows, and especially the Roquettes, a troupe of dancers.
We signed up for a tour through the music hall, before which we went and had a look at the Rockafella centre.
The costumes of the Roquettes. Our tour guide for the day was one right out of the box. I think he was more excited to be there than we were.
The main stage of the Music Hall.
Bob and Bron had won tickets to the Late Show of some guy in the street. (Fee and I weren't smart enough to answer the question) After dropping them off at the studio, Fee and I took a walk through Central Park. The photo above is taken down either 3rd, 4th or 5th avenue (can't remember). We were struck by the perspective the street layout produces - you can pretty much see right down to The Battery (downtown).
Plenty of shopping on 5th Avenue. We wandered through a number of them on the way back, Barney's being the ritziest, and most expensive, of the lot of them. From Central Park it took an absolute age to walk back down to our final destination - BRGR for a genuine NY hamburger and shake - fast food, but so good....
The Chrysler building. Our favourite.
Another favourite spot - the top of the Empire State building. We couldn't have asked for a better day - we could see forever.
The view to downtown.
Coming down from the heights of the Empire State, we made the trek over to the ferry terminal (via Midtown Comics, which was a highlight for at least me.) to catch a circle line Ferry around Manhattan. This is the view over what is left of the World Trade Centre area. The twin towers stood just behind the small 'arch' building, and would have been about twice the height of the tallest surrounding buildings. The ferry commentator told us that on the day of 9/11, all the ferries were shipping thousands of people stranded downtown - they said there was even a guy in a rowing boat picking up two passengers at a time, just to get them off the island. It seems as though the event actually brought the people closer together.
Ms Liberty.
The Brooklyn Bridge.
Down towards Harlem, where they collect disused train carriages and take them out to the ocean to become artificial reefs.
The plan was to head out to the baseball, but before that we needed some sustainance, so we ended up in an ubiquitous 'grill' on 42nd street, which was great, despite the lack of 'green stuff'.
Bob's goblet of beer...
The 'brown meal'.
A train ride out to Flushing, Queens, and we were at Shea Stadium to watch the Mets play the Cubs. The 'brown meal' unfortunately didn't go down well with Bron however, and she and Bob sadly had to have an early night. Fee and I stayed on, and watched the Mets win the game 4 - 1.
Mets pitcher Johan Santana in action.
Due to 'technical' phone difficulties, we were unable to get in touch with Bob and Bron, so Fee and I decided to walk from Midtown to Downtown. Above is the Flatiron building, just south of Madison Square.
Fresh food markets near the flatiron district.
Cafe in the East Village.
Katz's deli in the Lower East Side, famous for the 'When Harry Met Sally' orgasm scene. Much more popular for its Pastrami on Rye. Our sandwich maker was a real classic, with a mouth like a sailor, and a personality like a sledgehammer, he soon confessed he was looking to make a name for himself as comedian. Nonetheless, he made an unforgetable P on R...
The cavernous interior of Katz's deli.
After catching up with B & B again, we decided a trip over to Brooklyn was in order.
Bob and I couldn't go to Brooklyn without visiting the Brooklyn superhero supply store. A little disappointing, but worth a look. That night, we went back up to midtown, and after a bit of Macca's, we all went to see a Broadway muscial - hairspray, with the fat guy from Cheers as the mum. It was a really good night, and we finished our time together at a little bar near Bob and Bron's hotel. It was really hard saying goodbye, after all the adventures we'd had over the previous weeks, but we did, with the knowledge that we would soon be back in Australia to see everyone again.
The next day, our last full day in NY, we figured a little retail therapy was in order, so we took the underground down to Soho to do a bit of window shopping. We also found a sensational burrito hut, The Corner Deli, which made us cheap, very tasty mexican food for lunch.
After our big day, we checked into our third hotel, which for Fee was a bit of a surprise. The London NYC (ironic, I know, coming from London) which turned out to be fantastic, with big views over the city to Central Park.
We decided to make the most of it, and seeing as we couldn't get into Gordon Ramsay's restaurant on the ground floor, we got him to cook us something up room service style. It was truly amazing food. You can see Fee's entree above...
Night time view from the room.
In the morning, over central park.We really did enjoy ourselves in New York, and it would be nice to go back again on day. Not sure when that will be, but I'm sure we'll visit again.
