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As our 2 weeks in New York City draws to a close we are now on our way to Boston for 3 nights including another NBA game! We've done so much in our 14 days in the big apple that the only realistic way we can blog it is with a bit of a list:
Day 1 - included our first NYC bagels in Central Park, a visit to Columbus circle with its Christmas market and Whole Foods (an amazing gourmet supermarket chain), a walk through Times Square and a visit to the famous Christmas tree at the Rockefeller centre!
Day 2 - we firstly walked the High-line, a stretch of abandoned overground rail line on stilts that used to operate alongside the Hudson River and which has now been converted into a funky arty walkway with great views of the west side of manhattan. We then grabbed some burgers for dinner (epic in size and cholesterol of course in the USA) before heading to Madison Square Garden for an ice hockey game which was great entertainment.
Day 3 - our Brooklyn day, we began with brunch at a cool cafe started by Heath Ledger, then walked down the main funky road in Brooklyn known as Bedford Avenue popping into shops. After this we grabbed coffees and walked the 2.2km across the Williamsburg bridge with views of Manhattan and then went home via the cinema and The Hobbit!
Day 4 - Xmas eve! The day started with a visit to the flagship Tiffany & Co store on 5th avenue for a little bit of Xmas shopping, then we popped into Trump Tower, Whole Foods for ingredients to cook ourselves an Xmas dinner, and then headed home to Skype families for about 6 hours!
Day 5 - merry Christmas!! One of Ant's dreams came true as we headed back to Madison square garden this time to see the New York Knicks in a game of NBA basketball!! Although the Knicks lost by a lot it was a great game to watch with some big dunks and lots of celebs sitting court side to keep Nat interested! Afterwards we headed home to cook ourselves an epic Xmas dinner and watch a movie.
Day 6 - Metropolitan museum of art for one of the biggest collections of art, sculptures, fossils etc in the world, New York public library walking tour, grabbed a coffee at Hugh Jackman's cafe and walked along the west side of manhattan in battery park city to an amazing subset behind the Statue of Liberty and New Jersey city across the Hudson River. Dinner was a classic NYC pizza slice and then we went to an off-broadway show called Avenue Q which was very funny.
Day 7 - Natural history museum and then seeing Chicago on broadway took up most of our day.
Day 8 - the arrival day of the bear and the goat, we checked into our sweet as 9th floor deluxe apartment in the heart of manhattan and then set about getting food and drinks ready for the house and their arrival. This included picking up some fruit and cheeses from the famous Union Square Greenmarket, bread from the amazing Sullivan St bakery, and some Verve champagne for celebrations!
Day 9 - Alex & Nicole's first day in NYC was the worst weather day we'd had to date, as it poured with rain the entire day. We did some shopping, grabbed some burgers for lunch, had a drink at the pub and then went home to change and defrost before heading to the Michelin-star steakhouse in Brooklyn known as Peter Luger's for our special dinner. The steak was amazing as expected and we all overdosed on lots of meat!
Day 10 - after walking around a few sights we headed to a popular Vietnamese restaurant for some amazing ramen and pork buns and then a few drinks at a pub near the aforementioned Highline.
Day 11 - the day started slowly after a few too many drinks the night before. We mainly just visited Wall Street this day and then headed home to prepare for our big New Year's Eve party at Rosie O'Grady's facing Times Square! The night was a lot of fun with great food, plenty of drinks and good music for dancing.
Day 12 - another slow starter thanks to our New Year's Eve celebrations, we started the day after midday and walked the Brooklyn bridge to Grimaldi's; a New York pizza institution that is a must try while in NYC. We weren't particularly impressed with the pizza having been to the best pizza place in the world with Karen in Naples as well as some great joints in London! After that we cruised back to Manhattan and saw anchorman 2 before hitting the hay for an early night.
Day 13 - our final day in New York City had somehow already arrived. Unfortunately we still had a number of things on our to do list, so we headed off by 7:45am to pack in as much as we could. This involved; breathtaking views of manhattan and the Empire State Building from the 'top of the rock' (the Rockefeller centre) observation deck, a ferry ride to Staten Island to view the Statue of Liberty up close, a visit to the 9/11 memorial at 1 World Trade Centre with the most intense security we've ever experienced, and another coffee at Hugh Jackman's cafe before the two couples going separate ways for the afternoon to tick off our last item each; Alex & Nicole went to the metropolitan museum and Nat & Ant visited the famous artisanal market at Chelsea! Phew!
Day 14 - after hearing our train to Boston was cancelled due to an impending blizzard we were lucky enough to be put onto another train which happened to be express and almost entirely, which is where this is being written from right now! Boston here we come! NBA again tonight!!
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Fi Thompson Great to read what you are both up to, I certainly miss chattimg to your Mum on a daily base about our families and...... everything else