6 Days in New York. Day 5

Today we got up early with the intention of taking a helicopter trip over New York in the afternoon.  Our morning plan was to go cruising the rivers and bridges of the city.   The Hudson River is four blocks walk down 42^nd Street from 8th Avenue so of course we had to stop on the way to eat!   When we enquired about the helicopter trip it was another twelve blocks walk so we ditched that idea as our legs were developing muscles that even Superman would be proud of.

Actually we were absolutely knackered and falling into our bunks each evening but it was totally worth it.  Sleep is quite sporadic in the hostel on account of (mostly) pissed young girls coming in at four or five o`clock in the morning and falling about, putting the light on and off, banging the door, screaming, laughing, crying, talking loudly, rambling mindlessly, we have been most patient and reasonable.  This morning we lost our cool though.  Since they have completely ignored the fact that we are sharing a room, Patti and I got up at 6.30am and made a lot of noise, rustling, sorting, coughing, laughing, singing, tripping over their bags and yelling, “Oops!” and telling one another jokes until we had woken all of them up.

Yes I know,  It`s childish.

We took a cruiser down the Hudson River past all of the Manhatten skyline which is a treat in itself.   We sailed on into the East River past a tumble down beautiful brick building that was once a hospital where people with leprosy were looked after.  It`s going to be demolished which I think is a terrible shame.   Eventually we reached the Harlem River and sailed on past Spanish Harlem where there is a rose…..  alongside Harlem itself, back around the Jersey Pallisades and Inman Park  (my married name was Inman so that was rather nice).   Both these last two places I mention are quite staggeringly beautiful and I wasn`t expecting so much wild countryside in New York.  It was a fascinating trip under some magnificent bridge architecture and we both really, really enjoyed the day.  It was sunny to boot!

Tomorrow is our last proper day before catching our flight home.  my own bed!  My own bath……..

6 days in New York. Day 2.

Today me and Patti have been out and about in New York for twelve hours.  We visited…..

The Garage, which is a huge antique flea market on West 26th Street.  We were there for hours and bought so much stuff we had to buy a wheelie bag to take it all back to the hostel.  It was rainy and there were flood warnings all day so we decided to buy two New York brollies and shop til` we dropped.    We paused mid morning and went to Starbucks for a coffee where Patti was party to a very interesting coversation between two men, one seemed to have paid the other 1100 dollars instead of 1200 for something.   Hmmmmm, we wondered what the deal was about, one of them was not pleased at all and sounded angry.

We walked to the famous Macey`s store where there was a fabulous fresh flower display right through the entire shop and a truly beautiful window display all along 34th Street with sound effects of bees and other insects out on the street.  We drank Australian coffee in the coffee bar in Maceys, then we moved on and spent more money in a 99 cents shop which which was absolutely fantastic, a two storey warehouse called Jacks.  It was crammed with millions of cheap and crappy items and me and Patti bought most of them.  Then we shopped at a clothes store and bought tons of t-shirts and all sorts of gear for people at home.

Following that, we walked to Madison Square gardens and took photographs of steam coming up through the pavements and then big yellow taxi`d it back to our hostel from hell.  We were on the point of collapse, we were so tired Patti could barely speak, a state so unusual I was quite worried about her….. 

Once we had rested and to close the day we strolled downtown to Harlem, where we found a restaurant called Miss Mamies and ate a lot of soul food.  I had two Harlem beers which were lovely, they tasted like a sort of barley wine and then we went back to our beds and I slept like a baby.  I felt absolutely great when I woke up the following morning……