Hello to you all...this blog is coming to you from the beginning of the end of our trip at JFK Airport NYC on our way back to LA for a couple of nights and a few days swimming and shopping with the bodies beautiful.
NYC is a magic place and way too big to cover in 4 days, we need another week to even touch on the things we wanted to do. The title of the blog is inspired by the themes of NYC...the subway (metro), the Met Museum and the NY Mets baseball team...not to forget the Met theatre off broadway.
Broadway was our introduction to NYC as we stepped off the train with heavy suitcases and it was the middle of the lunch hour...the place was busy and we never thought we would get to our hostel...the task of pushing 2 25 kilo bags through a crowd of pushy people at every corner was a difficult on. Our hostel was in a handy location just off Times Square and the last minute decision to switch to a private room was worth the few extra dollars.
The first Met that we experienced was the Subway....difficult to understand and navigate the first few times, b ut convenient a nd quick nonetheless. We headed to Little Italy for a bite to eat and thought we were about to see a few Carlton Blues jumpers around as it's very similar to Lygon Street. We passed up the opportunity of reflexology in nearby Chinatow n and walked up to the Brooklyn Bridge. Tip from Jeff is to watch out for cyclists in this part of town as you may - as he almost did, get knocked over if you don't pay attention. We wandered down to Wall Street and ran into a girl that had a puppy that was a sheltie cross and got talking to her and picked up a few tips on Manhattan (who knows if people in Manhattan get off the island to Jersey or the other boroughs? One gets the impression they may not!). We ended up on the river across from the Statue (you know the one with the girl in a big dress with a lit cigarette in her hand) and watched the sunset before walking back to the subway via the WTC. On the ride home we were ëntertained"by a group of breakdancers hustling for cash and also a few beggars...they're quite common on the trains from what we've seen.
As has been the theme of this trip we got up late the next day and as a result we only hit a few attractions like the continuous line at the Empire State Building...waste of time...lining up all day and not the best view anyway. More interesting in the afternoon was the visit to the Bodies exhibition where they had real cadavas on display and body parts in glass cases...it was an amazing experience, educational and thought provoking and didn't even feel weird to be so close to dead bodies in interesting poses, though you were n't allot to touch!! I think Stacey got a grope in somewhere..
We picked up tickets to a play - Mary Stuart - on thbe way home and hit broadway that night. The play was great and we were three rows back. Recommended, as are the shish kebabs that we had on the way home from there, bought from a street corner stand. According to the egyptian who sold them to us all the women in NYC are "b@tch@s because of the way they dress...hmmm tolerance is a wonderful thing!
Stace promised a trip to the Met the next day and I got all dressed up for the baseball. We walked through Central Park and she pronounced that we were there...no baseball in sight, just lots of artsy fartsy paintings and sculptures...lucky me. It was time for crisis talks. Sure her birthday was coming up but there was no need to play such games. As we walked through harlem we hired a few negotiators and ended up agreeing to hit the baseball that night. That and we better get outta there before dark hit.
And so on saturday night we went out to near the US Open stadium to Citi Field - the home of the NY mets, We had seats on the top of Pepsi Porch and enjoyed a great game...won by the Mets as a result of a "Grand Slam"by Angel Pagan (he had god and the devil on his side - how could he go wrong?)...The team song was going on about how we should root in the stand...but as it was our first time we decided not to, modesty! We filled up on hot dogs, soda and kettle korn. What a night.
On sunday we went out to Liberty island. It was a short trip - not too much exciting about a french gift to the US made of copper and holding a fag in her hand. That and it was puring down rain and jeff was angry at the deprivation of his liberties by security as they confiscated his grand canyon swiss army knife. Apparently it's a prohibited item....maybe he was going to stab the statue....only problem was the knife was no goood anyway...could never get it out!
Miss Maimse and her spoonbread delights in Harlem soon lifted the spirits! This place is a gem and thanks to Patrick for the tip. Jeff dined on Southern Meatloaf and Stacey the fried Chicken. Bill Clinton is a fan and we are now as well. Mind you the food was served in good size portions requiring a meander through and around central park to wear it off. Not to be put off, we still managed to go out for dinner to a cool brazilian place in Alpabet City (lower east side manhatten) where we indulged in cocktails as we enjoyed the entertainment.
We spent this morning exploring SOHO, with the plan to hit the shops for stacey's birthday. Unfortunately we didnt get to stay for long, as we needed to run the gauntlet back to the trains in ordr to get out to the airport.
We have been upgraded again (premium econonmy, but in business class seats- Qantas being nic e as it is stacey's birthday today) cant wait for the flight! hopefully we will get to post another blog entry before we head home where we are under no illusions that we will get another upgrade....we are sure the 13 hours in economy on the final flight will bring us back down to reality, but until then we will enjoy lliving the high life!
