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It's been a while since I've done one of these and I really need to pull my finger out and finish them before they become little more than faded, fond memories.
The morning of day ten was beautiful and sunny and we had already decided that we would spend the morning doing the Brooklyn leg of the bus tours we'd bought tickets for the day before. So we zoomed through breakfast and getting dressed and hopped on the subway heading downtown to the pickup point at South Ferry Seaport.
Of course in my own unique, coffee snob way I couldn't let a day go by without trying to find a drinkable coffee, so as we were heading down Fulton street to the seaport I had to stop in at McDonald's for a latte. I'm not entirely sure what I ended up with, but it was milky and sweet and vanilla flavoured and certainly like no latte I've ever consumed in my lifetime. Hmmm.
We arrived at the seaport with around fifteen minutes to spare, and so we filled in the time taking random photos of tall ships and buying hot chocolate for Helen when she found out that her blood-sugar levels were dangerously low.
Once they let us on the bus, it soon became obvious that the coach we were travelling in was not going to be as good as the double-deckers we'd been on the day before. Where the double-deckers had a clear roof that gave you a great view no matter where you sat, on the coach only the passengers in the window seats were able to see very much, and those sitting on the left hand side of the bus saw nothing at all. GRRR!
After a while both of us got a little frustrated with out inability to see anything, so once we made it to the drop-off point near Junior's we decided to call it a day and went to get some lunch.
We were told that Junior's was famous for their cheesecake, which was enough to convince us that it would be a reasonable place for lunch. Thusly we entered the hallowed establishment where we were ushered to a quite corner booth. We ordered out drinks (classic margarita for me, whiskey sour for Helen) and then we spent some time perusing the menu. In the end we both settled on cob salads because a) we were feeling the lack of vegetables in our diets and b) we wanted to save room for cheesecake and we proceeded to bamboozle the waiter by ordering one salad with ranch dressing an one with no dressing at all. What? I don't like dressing!
The salads were good and it really was the most vegetables I'd eaten in over a week. The drinks were so good that we ordered a second and then a third round and once we moved on to cheesecake we both died and went to heaven. My strawberry cheesecake was topped lashings of whole strawberries and Helen's choc-cheery cheesecake was just like a cherry ripe. YUM!
While we were there I saw the cutest little old lady sitting opposite us. She ordered the chicken with mashed potatoes and vegetables, coffee and cheesecake (of course!) Judging by the way the wait staff spoke to her she ate there on a regular basis and she didn't even have to ask for a container for her leftovers. I spoke to her briefly when she dropped her knife and I picked up up for her, and she was just so adorable I wanted to tuck her into my bag and take her home with me.
When we finally waddled out of juniors, stuffed full of salad and cheesecake and feeling slightly floaty after our drinks, we decided to wander around a little and take some snaps of the brownstones we'd passed while we were on the bus, but all of a sudden school let out at the local high school and we were surrounded by hoards of hoarding teenagers. As we shouldered our way the crowds, we could help but comment about how teenagers world-wide at all the same. Be it Brooklyn or Melbourne, they all congregate in their cliques and social circles, rarely straying out side of them and all thinking that at sixteen, they know everything there is to know about life. I wouldn't be sixteen again for a million dollars!
After escaping from the teenagers, we had no other real plans for day so we decided to make our way back to Manhattan to indulge in our favourite leisure time activity; shopping. So we jumped on the nearest train and soon we were zooming over the Manhattan toward Soho.
Except we didn't quite make it as far as Soho and had to spend a little time walking through Chinatown to get there. But once we did arrive we soon found out why it is no longer a down-market factory district and now one of the shopping meccas of the western world. Wow!
We both became a little starry-eyed as we wandered through the narrow streets looking at all the fabulous stuff on offer. Along the way I bought a hat, Helen bought (more) shoes, I giggled over finding Vegemite at Dean & DeLuca and then I lost my gloves. I was a bit peeved about that partially because I really liked those gloves and moreover, but mostly it was getting to late afternoon and while the day had been sunny and mild, once the sun went down it'd get damn cold and I wasn't looking forward to making my way back to Chelsea with no gloves. I ran around for a while, hoping that I'd dropped them in one of the shops I'd been in, but they weren't to be found. Resigned to the fact that I'd never see them again, we walked over to Bloomingdale's so I could buy a new pair, only to find that they'd had no gloves to sell me. it was still winter. How could they have not gloves??? Didn't stop me from buying more tights though ;~)
But across the way was a H&M store, a chain that hasn't yet made it to Australia, and I had the feeling I'd be able to pick up a cheap pair from there. So we wandered across, ostensibly so i could buy gloves (and I did, two pairs for $5. What a bargain!) and then of course when I saw the loved dress that was the exact same style as one I'd bought I Melbourne last year except in a different fabric. Well, I had to buy it, of course, and Helen also found a couple of hard to resist bargains.
Once we tore ourselves away from Soho for the good of our credit cards, we got on the train back to Chelsea, getting off on the corner of 23rd and 7th. The problem of getting off on the corner of 23rd and 7th was that we had to walk past this particular bar that had fascinated us both since we arrived in New York. Flushed from out shopping antics and still slightly tipsy from lunch, we decided that a post-shopping cocktail wouldn't go astray and so we popped in for an apéritif.
Yes, well, one drink lead to another an even though we bought some bar snacks to appease our hunger pangs, drunkenness ensured. I'm not sure what time we finally staggered out of there, but I do know that when I finally got my credit card statement and saw how much I spent on drinks that night, I was ever so slightly aghast. Hasn't stopped me from loving margaritas for ever after though :~)
The morning of day ten was beautiful and sunny and we had already decided that we would spend the morning doing the Brooklyn leg of the bus tours we'd bought tickets for the day before. So we zoomed through breakfast and getting dressed and hopped on the subway heading downtown to the pickup point at South Ferry Seaport.
Of course in my own unique, coffee snob way I couldn't let a day go by without trying to find a drinkable coffee, so as we were heading down Fulton street to the seaport I had to stop in at McDonald's for a latte. I'm not entirely sure what I ended up with, but it was milky and sweet and vanilla flavoured and certainly like no latte I've ever consumed in my lifetime. Hmmm.
We arrived at the seaport with around fifteen minutes to spare, and so we filled in the time taking random photos of tall ships and buying hot chocolate for Helen when she found out that her blood-sugar levels were dangerously low.
Once they let us on the bus, it soon became obvious that the coach we were travelling in was not going to be as good as the double-deckers we'd been on the day before. Where the double-deckers had a clear roof that gave you a great view no matter where you sat, on the coach only the passengers in the window seats were able to see very much, and those sitting on the left hand side of the bus saw nothing at all. GRRR!
After a while both of us got a little frustrated with out inability to see anything, so once we made it to the drop-off point near Junior's we decided to call it a day and went to get some lunch.
We were told that Junior's was famous for their cheesecake, which was enough to convince us that it would be a reasonable place for lunch. Thusly we entered the hallowed establishment where we were ushered to a quite corner booth. We ordered out drinks (classic margarita for me, whiskey sour for Helen) and then we spent some time perusing the menu. In the end we both settled on cob salads because a) we were feeling the lack of vegetables in our diets and b) we wanted to save room for cheesecake and we proceeded to bamboozle the waiter by ordering one salad with ranch dressing an one with no dressing at all. What? I don't like dressing!
The salads were good and it really was the most vegetables I'd eaten in over a week. The drinks were so good that we ordered a second and then a third round and once we moved on to cheesecake we both died and went to heaven. My strawberry cheesecake was topped lashings of whole strawberries and Helen's choc-cheery cheesecake was just like a cherry ripe. YUM!
While we were there I saw the cutest little old lady sitting opposite us. She ordered the chicken with mashed potatoes and vegetables, coffee and cheesecake (of course!) Judging by the way the wait staff spoke to her she ate there on a regular basis and she didn't even have to ask for a container for her leftovers. I spoke to her briefly when she dropped her knife and I picked up up for her, and she was just so adorable I wanted to tuck her into my bag and take her home with me.
When we finally waddled out of juniors, stuffed full of salad and cheesecake and feeling slightly floaty after our drinks, we decided to wander around a little and take some snaps of the brownstones we'd passed while we were on the bus, but all of a sudden school let out at the local high school and we were surrounded by hoards of hoarding teenagers. As we shouldered our way the crowds, we could help but comment about how teenagers world-wide at all the same. Be it Brooklyn or Melbourne, they all congregate in their cliques and social circles, rarely straying out side of them and all thinking that at sixteen, they know everything there is to know about life. I wouldn't be sixteen again for a million dollars!
After escaping from the teenagers, we had no other real plans for day so we decided to make our way back to Manhattan to indulge in our favourite leisure time activity; shopping. So we jumped on the nearest train and soon we were zooming over the Manhattan toward Soho.
Except we didn't quite make it as far as Soho and had to spend a little time walking through Chinatown to get there. But once we did arrive we soon found out why it is no longer a down-market factory district and now one of the shopping meccas of the western world. Wow!
We both became a little starry-eyed as we wandered through the narrow streets looking at all the fabulous stuff on offer. Along the way I bought a hat, Helen bought (more) shoes, I giggled over finding Vegemite at Dean & DeLuca and then I lost my gloves. I was a bit peeved about that partially because I really liked those gloves and moreover, but mostly it was getting to late afternoon and while the day had been sunny and mild, once the sun went down it'd get damn cold and I wasn't looking forward to making my way back to Chelsea with no gloves. I ran around for a while, hoping that I'd dropped them in one of the shops I'd been in, but they weren't to be found. Resigned to the fact that I'd never see them again, we walked over to Bloomingdale's so I could buy a new pair, only to find that they'd had no gloves to sell me. it was still winter. How could they have not gloves??? Didn't stop me from buying more tights though ;~)
But across the way was a H&M store, a chain that hasn't yet made it to Australia, and I had the feeling I'd be able to pick up a cheap pair from there. So we wandered across, ostensibly so i could buy gloves (and I did, two pairs for $5. What a bargain!) and then of course when I saw the loved dress that was the exact same style as one I'd bought I Melbourne last year except in a different fabric. Well, I had to buy it, of course, and Helen also found a couple of hard to resist bargains.
Once we tore ourselves away from Soho for the good of our credit cards, we got on the train back to Chelsea, getting off on the corner of 23rd and 7th. The problem of getting off on the corner of 23rd and 7th was that we had to walk past this particular bar that had fascinated us both since we arrived in New York. Flushed from out shopping antics and still slightly tipsy from lunch, we decided that a post-shopping cocktail wouldn't go astray and so we popped in for an apéritif.
Yes, well, one drink lead to another an even though we bought some bar snacks to appease our hunger pangs, drunkenness ensured. I'm not sure what time we finally staggered out of there, but I do know that when I finally got my credit card statement and saw how much I spent on drinks that night, I was ever so slightly aghast. Hasn't stopped me from loving margaritas for ever after though :~)
groggy
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