Saturday, October 15, 2011

New York - the "skyscrapers and vile drinks" edition

After our trip to the 9/11 Memorial, we headed down Wall Street for a little mooch about. That got dull very quickly - Wall Street isn't exactly the most fascinating part of Manhattan... Plus, I think we were somewhat emotionally drained after the 9/11 Memorial. Apparently no one on Wall Street drinks coffee, because our search for a cup of tea and a sit down ended in nothing. So we headed back to the hotel via Grand Central Terminal. 

We spent a fascinating couple of hours at the hotel watching total rubbish like Beyond Scared Straight before heading a couple of blocks up the road to have drinks with my brother's best friend, Paulie, who just happened to be in New York at the same time as us and staying at a hotel two blocks away. Very convenient! Although I have to say, it's kind of weird meeting someone you usually see at the pub or at your parents' house in a hotel lobby on the other side of the world. We may have planned the whole thing, but it still made my head spin a little bit.

The bar at Paulie's hotel was in the midst of some kind of Happy Hour, so cocktails were $5. Considering they're usually at least $15 in Australia, this was a total bargain. 

Or so it seemed. In truth, they were completely vile. I'm pretty sure I made this face every time I took a sip:
 You're welcome, by the way, for the bonus Spike in that picture. #BtVSfanforever

After an hour or so, the friends Paulie was travelling with were settling in for the long haul, and we were slightly tipsy and very hungry. So we told Paulie he was welcome to join us for a little museum jaunt the following day, and headed off in the direction of Fifth Avenue. We ended up at yet another Irish pub for dinner, American serving sizes crammed onto the teeny tiny table, before strolling the couple of blocks over to the Empire State Building. 

Random tip: if you're going up the Empire State Building, go after 9pm. It's open until like 2am, you get an amazing view of the city at night (save Top of the Rock for during the day because you can see Central Park), and after 9pm you barely have to queue at all. #score

Thankfully, there was no one there acting out one of my most hated movies - Sleepless in Seattle. Just a bunch of annoying people who felt it was their right to push in front of me to get the photo they wanted. RUDE... Anyway, insert obligatory photos of New York at night here:

I also took advantage of our trip to the Empire State Building to replace one of my favourite things. I bought an absolutely enormous New York mug at the Empire State Building when I was there back in 2006. In one of my many Canberra moves, it disappeared. Luckily, you can still get them. And they were on sale if you bought two, so Kat bought one for her boyfriend and we saved ourselves some money. Hurrah!! 

I neglected to mention in my post about the Statue of Liberty that we paid a visit to the gift shop on Liberty Island. First of all, you can get walking Statues of Liberty. If anyone can explain WHY, I would greatly appreciate it. Anyway, I may have purchased a couple of things while I was there. One of them was gummi candy. Said gummi candy was shaped like this:
Wheeeeeeeeee, ridiculous novelty candy!

I made the mistake of reading the ingredient listing, based on curiosity about the fact that they tasted slightly odd. The reason for this, I discovered, was that the sweetener used was derived from beetroots. 


Mmmmmm, delicious *gags* They were also flavoured with random fruits, like elderberry. All in all, the novelty of gummi Statues of Liberty was NOT worth the unpleasant taste. Thank God they only cost $2...

Up next, museums aplenty, a weird parade, and Law & Order: SVU takes over my brain.

K xx


  1. The only reason why you should ever be able to get a walking Statue of Liberty is to re-enact a scene from Ghostbusters 2 in your living room. That's the only thing I can think of. Seriously.

  2. Yeah, that was the only reason I could think of too... It would be epically disappointing without the pink slime though!

  3. Bonus Spike has made my day :)

  4. Glad they still sold that cup.

    Also, I am pleased to here that sleepless in seattle isn't one of your favourites. Is it jsut me or is that movie just boring?

  5. @Marita - bonus Spike makes anything better!
    @Deidre - SOOOOOOOOOOOOOO BORING. OMG. I just don't understand the point in its existence...



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