First full day in New York New York, NY

New York, NY

Jet lag? What jet lag? Up and at ’em at 8AM after a very good night’s sleep, the room is really quiet, no traffic noise which is nice. We didn’t have any set plans today (in case we did get hit by jet lag), so just went for a wander, starting with a healthy(?) breakfast at Dunkin’ Donuts then generally heading north. One thing I love about this city insists simple street numbering system – for pretty much the first time in any city, I can actually tell which way I’m heading – if the street number go up, you’re heading north. If the avenue numbers go up, you’re heading west. Ok, ish… It’s more north-east for streets and north-west for avenues but whatever… It’s a refreshing change for someone like me that otherwise has absolutely zero sense of direction. Just like countless movies and shows on the telly, yes steam really does rise from the streets at times. Not sure if it’s a byproduct of the subway, the sewers, or some other under-road facility. Perhaps it was done at the request of countless movie makers who wanted their gritty urban crime dramas to have a little more atmosphere 🙂

Wandered along Broadway seeing some of the theatres we’ll be visiting in the coming nights. Also saw the Ed Sullivan theatre, home to Letterman’s Late Show. Was nice to see 42nd street – when I saw the musical in Sydney 20-odd years ago I never thought I’d be walking down the actual street one day.

Eventually we reached 58th street – the start of Central Park. It was really quite different to what I was expecting, perhaps I was just expecting a big flat park with trees, grass and walking paths, but there’s so much more than that. Arches, bridges, rocky outcrops, lakes, buildings, a merry-go-round, Central Park Zoo … And we probably only covered 10% of the park today if we were lucky. Tourist item: find a squirrel. Check! So many park benches, almost each one with a plaque of dedication, some famous, some funny, and many dedicated to those who can visit the park no more. Central Park Zoo was cool – not very big, but we turned up in time to see the Sea Lions being fed, which was good fun.

After that, time for an ice-cream (imaginatively called “The original ice-cream on a stick”, yes, really) and more wandering, where we drifted out of Central Park and on to 5th Avenue. And of course, the very cool 5th avenue “glass cube” Apple store. Really big, really busy, but only a two minute wait for the Genius Bar if you had an issue that needed solving. There were at lest 25 staff walking around, probably more.

After that was FAO Schwarz the famous toy shop with its even more famous giant piano…which was kinda underwhelming to be honest. Walked past all the other fancy-schmancy 5th Ave shops – Louis Vuitton, Gucci, Prada, Armani, Tiffany’s (no breakfast), and Saks fifth avenue. Saw the New York Public Library as seen in Ghostbusters. 🙂 A quick and delicious lunch at a sandwich (i.e subway-esque) place called Potbelly (hey, it seemed appropriate 🙂 was in order, and a welcome chance to rest the feet for a while.

Then on to Macy’s which was nice – it’s pretty clear the Myers executives must spend a fair bit of time there, as it has a fairly similar look and feel to it. Except at Macy’s you can actually find salespeople when you need them. You can also find three different Starbucks, a few cafes, ice cream shops and goodness knows what else…it’s a big shop.

Finally returned to the hotel late afternoon to give our poor feet a rest, before heading out for dinner. We walked west over to 12th Avenue to have a look at the Hudson, which wasn’t what you’d call pretty, rather, pretty industrial. Dinner was at Applebee’s Times Square, and it was kinda disappointing. Despite a Mojito the size of a bucket, and very tasty food, the service was slow and the appetiser arrived well after we’d finished the main meals… felt like they had a team that just don’t work well together. Dessert at Cold Stone (I.e cold rock) helped make things better though 🙂 Then off to bed for some well-earned rest. Ready for the all-day city tour tomorrow. Sweet!