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I had a mini bucket list for this trip. Number 1 on the list was a fresh bagel with cream cheese for breakfast - TICK!
More about food later. Here is how we spent our last 48 hours.
Wednesday morning in Brisbane brought much excitement, off and out the door to the internatinal airport being chauffered by Brian who took the scenic route (AKA the slow route). After much biting my tongue we arrived at the airport, said our goodbyes and sailed through check in and customs. Met up with the O'Brien's and Casey's who were waiting for their New Zealand flight and looking forward to two weeks in the cold and the snow. After today in NYC, cold and snow would be welcome (more on that later).
We flew into LAX, arriving on time after a late departure and spent 4 hours in the Qantas Club waiting for our flight to New York. Our plan was to stay awake the whole time, get into NYC around 6pm on Wednesday evening and have an early night! This we proclaimed would mean no jet lag - WRONG! We arrived into JFK around 7.30pm and took a taxi to Times Square where we are staying. Checked in and then much to Oliver's horror, I dragged him to the corner store to stock up on provisions (AKA midnight munchies) which I knew we would need when jet lag struck in the middle of the night!
In bed my 10pm, awake at 12.30am, 1.27am, 2.10am and 3.14am - thank goodness for the provisions which were devoured during the night. Off to sleep again and woke up this time at 9am - what we had already missed at least 2 hours of sight seeing - bloody jet lag!. We were off by 9.30am. Our first stop was of course breakfast and this is where I had my toasted bagel with cream cheese (thought of you MJ as I ate it - sorry luv) washed down with coffee (definitely not Merlos but palatable).
Times Square was next on the list - what a place, the electronic billboards everywhere! Colour, noise, street performers, people, people, people everywhere. One of the billboards is a CCTV billboard that takes pictures of you standing in times square - brilliant!
Next stop TOYS R US - I had been told it was a huge store with a ferris wheel in the foyer but you have to experience it to believe it. Oli marched in and asked the first attendant where the Monsuno's were (the next phase of his imaginative world). I held my breath as you can't buy these in Australia. He said "oh yes sir, we have a large range of Monsoonos on the second level). Oliver bolted and was in heaven. We spent about an hour in the store and I was amazed at what you could buy. Sales are on here at the moment and toys are a lot cheaper than in Australia!
We then planned on familiarising ourself with Manhattan and jumped on the Grayline open top bus. It takes 2 hours to circum navigate the island. You can hop off and hop on at a number of stops such as the Rockerfeller Centre. The idea was lots of sunlight would cure the jetlag - if only it wasn't 40 degrees - we lasted about an hour, turned bright red, went through 4 bottles of water and got to Battery Park and caved. Jumped off and took a taxi back to the hotel and air-conditioning. Too hot even for a Mt Isa girl and for the IPhone which shut itself off after telling me it was overheating!!
Stopped in at a local deli and got more provisions and this is where I have a rave about the food. You can buy absolutely anything you want from just about every corner store/ deli you pass by - from fresh salads, massive containers of fresh fruit, pre-cut, fruit smoothies, fresh pastries, doughnuts, muffins, biscuits and cakes. You can also choose from about 10 different soups (all take away), bagels, baguettes, sandwiches, roasts, lots of fried food such as chicken, crab cakes, fishbites and then the desserts such as pieces of any pie you like. I didn't buy it all but we did sample a few things - lucky we will be doing lots of walking over here!
We are now in lockdown in our very cool airconditioned room and ready for a quiet night munching on our deli purchases. Tomorrow we have planned to do the Rockerfeller Centre, Top of the Rock Viewing Platform and Nintendo World - all airconditioned as it is going to be another hot day.
I hear it is cold back in Brisbane - stay warm and I will blog again tomorrow!
Lots of Love
Lisa and Oli
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- comments
Megan Glad your having a great time Eat,sightsee and most important shop
Lynette Reynolds Hi Lisa. I say head straight to Macy's and keep eating.