It's New York and I don't need to say anything else. Blog entry over LOL
But that's not going to happen..
First things first OMG I have never been so cold....ever....not sure what the wind chill factor was but geez I know it was in the minuses...and somehow my layers missed a small patch on my calf, think my socks must have slipped down or my leggings rode up...and I am now suffering from a patch of chillblain or wind burn....and that patch hurts like hell.
I love New York, and everybody I've ever spoken to either loves it or hates it....and I'm the former but I think Samara may be the latter. She came here under protest (to squeeze that trip to Niagara in) and I have a feeling she's going to protest it all the way (because it's not Japan...come to the realisation that in hindsight we should have done the USA first and Japan last which I will touch on at another time)
I was keen and eager to be up and about asap but...not wanting to rock the boat and put Samara into a mood (we've survived this long without an argument so lets hope we can last a little longer) I let her set the pace, so we leave the hotel later than I would have liked.
My first thought as I set foot out of the door of the hotel was .....oh crap it's cold....the second thought was who cares? It's NY....
(In hindsight I say I should have listened to the first and gone up and put a different pair of underleggings on LOL )
We found a great diner and had a big breakfast and the first of many hot drinks and set off to explore.
New York is a great walking city and I know we'll do plenty of that while we are here but it's Samara's first time and she needs to decide what she wants to do while we are here (as NY was the only place she didn't give me input on. )
I mentioned it on my first day in Japan that I think in a new city you should do a half day tour or a hop on hop off to orientate yourself and that's what we chose to do, the hop on hop off.
I like how from one bus to another you get different things, depending on who is doing the commentary, yes you get a generalisation...that this is the Empire State building and that is Wall St, but than you get different things from other people, one of the guys was really into history so we probably got more history of some of the buildings, another was into the theatre and knew some great stories about old Broadway stars and would point things out, another was a foodie and pointed out great places he liked to eat...so I have a feeling that each time you take the trip (apart from the route and the main site-seeing spots) that it will be a little different (I wish I had taken notes or a recording because they all had some great stories to tell)
We did three of the four routes, the Downtown tour, the Brooklyn tour and the Uptown and Harlem Tour and got off and on taking lots of photos on the way, taking side streets and going off the route and then linking back on to it for some more information.
I love the architecture in NY, the new buildings mixed in with the old and because there are so many beautiful buildings that I am probably driving Samara crazy as I stop one more time for yet another photo.
By the time we were on the last leg of the tour we really noticed the cold, and maybe sitting upstairs in the open was not the brightest of choices (but you get better views up there) I think at this point I wasn't sure I would ever feel warm again
and to be honest I think we were too cold to get off and on the bus any more we just wanted to get off, so when it circled into Times Square again we got off and went back to the hotel. It was nearly 5pm at this stage anyway and as we had tickets to the theatre we thought that grabbing something quick to eat and thawing out was a good idea before we headed back out into the cold.
I have no idea why I don't have a photo of my sandwich but I should have,I had a Reuben like you wouldn't believe...for those that don't know...corned beef, Swiss cheese, sauerkraut and Russian dressing on rye bread)Omg the best sandwich ever!!!
Thank goodness I thought to set my alarm....because we were cold both of us crawled under the bedcovers trying to get warm and I'm not sure which one of us fell asleep first.
Showered and changed and rugged up against the cold we walked up 8th Avenue to 51st St and the Gershwin Theatre which is maybe a 10 minute walk to
see Wicked, which I have been hanging out to see. The theatre is beautiful and if we weren't pushed for time I would have taken time to have more of a look at the Hall of Fame photos that are displayed here, but Elphaba and Glinda await.
I loved the show, and the take on the story that things aren't always as the seem, and how looks can hide the real person inside. The score was brilliant and the songs...Defying Gravity and For Good just to name a couple....oh wow!! I think I could watch this show again and again.
We headed back to the hotel, stopping for pizza and pecan pie on the way back. I love the fact that there's still so much open so late at night. I've had a thoroughly good day (despite the cold) but after only one day we're heading out of NY ...for Niagara but at least after our hopping on and off we have a plan for the days when we get back.