Rich and Cat's Travels: New York

So we landed in New York safely and headed off to our airbnb apartment but we soon found out the airtrain that we had planned to use was not working and the airport was full of people all trying to get around the airport. It was mayhem but we battled our way through and made it out of the airport alive! Once we found our apartment we checked in and decided to head straight out to get our bearings. We soon decided our area was interesting (the Yankee stadium was just up the road) and there was a court house over the road. For the next few mornings we played the lawyer game as you could quickly spot who was a local and who was a lawyer was heading to court.

The next morning we headed out to the Statue of Liberty which involved a ferry ride over to the island and a walk around the island before heading up to the observation platform. The only issue is that despite being security checked they wanted our bags to be put into a paid locker which was ridiculous and over the top. After trying to throw a little strop we decided to abide by their petty rules and proceeded up into the statue. The audio tour they provided were rather boring and a bit longwinded but we did enjoy the island. Next we hopped back on to the ferry and got take to Elis Island, which was a big immigration port in its day. It was interesting but as it wasn’t that relevant to us we soon decided to head back to the main land. After that we decided to have a walk around Wall Street to see all the financial buildings and the “Rushing Bull”. We then walked around the area a bit longer before heading over to time square to have some dinner, have a look around and just soak up the New York craziness.

Over the next couple of days we powered around several of the sites including riding a bike around Central Park, going to the 9/11 museum and memorial area, going to Grand Central Station, we walked over the Brooklyn Bridge and we walked in a park called Highline which is a converted rail line. We also did a little bit of shopping and visited Bloomingdales, Macys, Century 21 and of course Tiffany’s (even though we didn’t actually buy much at any of the stores as we are too used to living on a budget and have no space in our bags). We also ate lots of food including a massive pizza, some street food from pop up restaurants in central Manhattan, cupcakes, milkshakes and burgers. Essentially we have managed to put on any weight we managed to lose with all the travelling! We ended up in the West Village a lot which seemed to be our go to place as it had great bars and restaurants and always something new to discover.

We also decided to go to a speakeasy which is a bar heralding from prohibition times and is hidden. There are a couple in New York and the one we went to requires entering a hot dog shop and going into a phone booth and dial one to speak to the hostess who helps you. We hadn’t booked but they did have a table for us after about 15 minutes so we popped in elsewhere for a quick drink before we headed back to the phone booth. Once we were allowed in the secret door opened and we headed in to a dark bar with a classic feel. It had a luxurious and glamourous feel yet it did have some strange stuff animals on the wall, including a rabbit head that seemed to have antlers.

This is the end of our travels now and we have to head home after what seems like a short 6 months. Hope you have enjoyed reading and looking at the pics. Back to our boring lives (for now)