Last Morsels (for now!)

Our last day in New York came around far too soon, as fun travels always do. I had already fallen a bit in love with the city and was hopefully planning my return during a College break.

Heading straight over to West Village we got coffee at an Italian cafe; breaking the Starbucks trend that pervades New York. We casually wandered along Hudson street which was filled with lots of nice restaurants and bars. Samantha Jones style we walked around the Meatpacking district and looked in on some nice places to eat such as Pastis. Before heading onto the highline (like Paris' "Jardin Plantée") we got Dad a hat that I deemed socially acceptable as the day was hot and beautiful. I loved the highline, a garden in the New York sky filled with locals and tourists, eating ice creams, getting food along the way or just basking in the sun. Our leisurely stroll left Dad and I with a fierce appetite and so Mum took us to the famous "Shake Shack". A burger and shake bar in Madison Park, "Shake Shack" is apparently New York's best burger place and can have lines for hours. We only waited 45 minutes for our delicious double cheeseburgers, shared fries and thick creamy milkshake (Mum and I shared).

We had previously contemplated going up the Empire State building, but debated whether it was worth the cost for all three of us.  Thinking it would be a nice family activity we headed towards the skyscraper. We dodged the ticket sellers outside with their "wonderful deals" that were "not" that much more expensive than the tickets inside and headed up. Our line was short and the few was spectacular. Seeing the whole of New York City, all the sights we had visited from Downtown Manhattan, to Times Square to Brooklyn to the Statue of Liberty stretched out before us was a wonderful way to visually condense our holiday. High up above the city the taxis look like toy cars, splashes of yellow in a miniature world. It was a great experience, akin to that of the Eiffel tower though the wind up the top did cause me to have a Marilyn moment or two…

I wouldn't be Tierney if I didn't get some souvenir shopping snuck in before dinner and so pretty soon I had postcards and a t-shirt to add to my pajama pants and hoodie, (baggage weight limit…what weight limit?) Now the plan for dinner had been to go to Budakkan but we blew off our reservation as we were having too much fun exploring the atmosphere to rush. After investigating the very authentic Skyline diner we walked several blocks to the Frying Pan, a groovy New York bar, on a barge. The sun was just setting, the place was full of people and a live band was playing. It was a beautiful, atmospheric ending to a spectacular holiday.

New York wasn't exactly what I was expecting, it was much more diverse and in some respects European than I had anticipated though I enjoyed it just as much as I had thought. Though with Mum's tour guiding skills we saw much more than any ordinary tourist family I can't wait to return and explore one of my new favorite city's further. The people do not live up to their reputation at all, they are simply delightful, stopping us to see if we need help, giving us advice, wanting us to love their city.

To the Big Apple: I wear my I heart NY t-shirt with pride and look forward to returning to you very soon.

Nibbling Further

New York continued to surprise me as we explored some quintessential areas on our second to last day. 

Once you stepped away from Times Square the bustling "big lights" city, had a distinctly charming, almost Parisian feel. Ignoring the drizzle we wandered through SoHo and Greenwich Village in the morning. The streets were quiet, trees draped over little front gardens whilst people adorned the cute cafes. It was another world to Times Square. Everywhere we had gone in New York French was to be heard, it seemed that the entire country had just relocated for the summer. I now understood why, it was Paris with a twist and American accents.

We then wandered to sample Joe's Pizza, supposedly the best in New York. Now, I've eaten some pizzas in my time from cheap greasy takeaway to gorgeous Italian crusts with fresh oozing mozzarella so I was curious to see how Joe's measured up. Sold by the slice, decorated most popularly with chili flakes and consumed standing Joe's has gotten raving reviews throughout time and is known for celebrity visits. Needless to say it was delicious, the portions were huge and toppings simple (either pepperoni or mozzarella) but we loved it so much, after walking away we ditched sampling another pizza shop and came right back to Joe's.

The Brooklyn tour on Grayline's open-air bus was next on our agenda, and we caught interesting glimpses of New York's most populated city. Determined to get a good photo of us on the bridge we walked part of the way in the scorching heat and snapped some pics. I somehow managed to squeeze in a little souvenir shopping at the vendors' stalls on the bridge (typical) and Dad managed to squeeze in a dollar hotdog (also typical).

Now as a frequent traveller, I know my public bathrooms. The automatic self cleaning, squats, tiny ones in backs of cafes and the nonexistent or frightening. New York had so far impressed me with the number of clean, free public bathrooms. Years ago Mum and I had even developed a scoring system. There has only been a perfect 10 once in history, and it was nice enough to live in. Laugh if you may but I know you all secretly judge a country on its bathrooms.

Unfortunately Chelsea Markets, our next stop, had a only 4 toilets in an enormous complex and had over 50 people in line. A quick trip to Starbucks with some other tourists solved that issue and we explored the labyrinth of shops and eateries back within the markets.

After treating ourselves to a burger we strolled to the waterfront, where a public rec centre lay, complete with ping pong tables. We located Buddakan, a restaurant recommended to us numerous times and made a booking for the following day. Though tired from our activities we hopped on the night tour to see the city in the dark, lights twinkling and streets busy. A city always looks different at night, and New York looked simply beautiful. Yellow taxis dotted the street in front of us, people walked into bars and restaurants laughing and the architecture was lit up, the whole city aglow.

Something never to be missed, New York at night In the night New York has a magical, ethereal glow and its bright lights represent all the wonderful things the city has to offer. 

Crunching In

Unlike the day before, we woke to brilliant sunshine for our second day of touristy fun!

We had invested in Grayline open-air bus tickets, paying a deposit that got us on a bus to their office where we would purchase the proper ticket. So after waiting 45 minutes for a bus, a competing company took pity on us and dropped us at Grayline office. Complete chaos then followed, as we waiting for over an hour and a half in line to purchase our full ticket. Grayline hadn't impressed us so far.

Luckily for the company we had a great tour guide on our trip uptown. We saw lots of beautiful sights, interesting architecture and learnt fun facts about the city (e.g.: it was originally hilly but was commissioned to be flattened out). We hopped off at Central Park, by which point we were very hot. We picked up lunch at the Plaza food court and had a picnic in Central Park, which was beautiful. The New Yorkers stared as Mum and I discovered the "SQUIRRELS!", and chased after them with cameras. Apparently squirrels in NY are not deserving of any form of attention…

After pausing for a quick jet-lag induced siesta on the grass we headed off to the shops. Bloomingdale's, Madison and 5th street all got a visit. The tempting taste of shopping began seeping in and so I took an important break from sight seeing, and bought some cheesy souvenirs. 

I had been getting more and more excited all day for the event that was sure to be the standout of the trip. Posters were strewn around the city, I had been humming the songs underneath my breath and gathering advertisement material…It was finally time to see Wicked on Broadway!

It was a spectacular show, the soaring voices, dazzling costumes, clever humour, lovable characters and clever plot made it my all time favourite. It was a really special experience to share with mum, right down to our intermission toilet dash, sneaky photo taking and joking for weeks after. I left "Wicked" buzzing, singing "Defying Gravity" and clutching my souvenir cup. 

The tale of the Witches of Oz was indeed Magical.

I settled into bed, with "Wicked" themed dreams already forming. I had hoped for a long, jet-lag quelling sleep but… When the fire alarm goes off in your hotel at 5am, you move…fast…and apparently so does the FDNY.

Clutching valuables in hand, with Dad off playing the hero waking everyone up, Mum and I made our way outside, the smell of smoke lingering in the air left me worried about Dad's absence. My concern was short lived. The evening's dramatic turn was caused by a small microwave fire and we, accompanied by other sleepy guests made our way back in to retrieve Dad (luckily it wasn't a real fire!)

Sudden, false yet alarming awakenings may not be always desired, but they do make for interesting memories. It's not everyday you have the FDNY sprinting to your rescue!

From the glamorous lights of Broadway to the flashing sirens of the fire department, it's safe to say I had a dramatic evening!