In a New York Minute

Well another day in New York well and truly knocked out of the park.  I met up with Lezmond and Jodi briefly in the morning, they were off on another bus tour, so I wandered up to the HBO store as I have been meaning to go there since I got here.  I brought a few T-shirts there and then walked up to Grand Central Station.  I think it's hard case going to check out what is effectively a train station - it just seems odd to me - but it's worth it, and it is one of those spots you recognise from movie scenes, although in saying that, just walking around here is like being on a movie set. Something was being filmed while I was at Grand Central - there was a bride and groom and a wedding party waiting out of shot.  There were also camera's shooting from about 5 different angles around the station.  Here they are here;

Once I had ticked that off the mental list in my head of things I want to see in New York -( which is very close to being completed) I wandered back to the hotel to drop the stuff I had brought off in my room.  I then decided I would go and walk the High Line.  It's a really cool walk.  It used to be an elevated train line that would be used by all the factories and warehouses in the Meatpacking District.  At some stage trucks took over as the best way to transport goods, so the line was no longer used.  Recently some locals have campaigned to get it turned into a park - and its pretty awesome.  Here's some shots of it (All photos were off my phone today, as I had a camera battery fail);

Next I walked from the High line up to Union Square, checked out a bookstore there, and then continued walking down to Soho to meet Jussie and ex-Wellingtonian woman called Jemma, who I recognised upon meeting.  I seriously walked my face off today - I haven't worked out how far i walked yet, but it was a good 4 hours or so of serious pacing - and I loved it.

Jussie and I then caught a train up to Central Park and met up with Ben, Abby and Elsa.  They had just got into town and it was great to see them.  I haven't seen Elsa for a while and she is soooooo CUTE!

We then parted ways with them, and went to meet Michelle and Jeremy for a quick beer before heading off to Sister Act.  I had spent a good part of the morning getting the tickets sorted, as I needed them for a different day, and they honor them if you miss the performance you were scheduled for.  So Jussie and I strolled back to the hotel, picked up the tickets and got a taxi back to the area where the theatre is.  What an EPIC fail on my part - well maybe on the part of the guy I spoke to when changing the tickets, as we got there at 7.30pm thinking it was an 8 o'clock show - to find out it had started at 7pm.  Every show I have been to started at 8pm and the tickets I had for the previous date said 8pm, so we missed out.  I will have to try to get them changed to tomorrow night.  So it was certainly a big disappointment, however we jumped on a train and and went downtown to meet Paul, Janine, Michelle and Jeremy at a bar/restaurant that they had recommended to them.  It was called 'Jeremy's' and it was fantastic.  Graffiti on the walls and roof and bra's hanging from everywhere.  It is apparently where the police and fireman hang out after work, and would have been used by the firefighters during the recovery period after 9/11. 

 

I got chatting to this old guy that was hilarious, a real New York character.  He told me about some of the buildings in the area and what they were used for twenty or so years ago.  He also said there was a kiwi bar over the road, to which I told him, "I liked it here" and with his thick New York accent he replied "Your doin' the right thing, this is authentic here" It cracked me up.  He then went on for quite some time about his taste in woman, amongst other things and it was very very funny.  It was a great silver lining, to save an evening that started with disappointment.  There can always be something good come out of something bad, and if we hadn't missed Sister Act we wouldn't have had such an amazing New York experience in a classic NY bar.  One more day in New York city before heading to upstate New York, so I think we are going to go and check out Harlem. Stay well one and all. MIZ