Day 31 - Poughkeepsie, NEW YORK to Manhattan, NEW YORK

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Breakfast today was very ordinary at the hotel with the options very limited, but no real drama as I was not really hungry anyway so I just had the cream cheese on some stale bread and a raspberry yoghurt.



The drive to Manhattan looked pretty clear of traffic and was scheduled to take us a tick under 2 hours being a Saturday (no commuters on the road) and we went via the Tacoma Parkway which was a lovely drive through the hills with plenty of fall foliage and no trucks allowed.



It was amazing that we saw no buildings at all or any signs of sighting New York City until we were only about 20 km away. Google maps suggested a late route change which worked out well to avoid some congestion heading onto Manhattan Island and we arrived out the front of our Hotel just before 1pm. Check in is not until 3pm so I parked illegally on the road (no parking was available anywhere) and Kerry jumped out to ask where we can park and they said just leave your car where it is and luckily our room was ready so we dropped the bags in our room 4C and went back to the car to drive 3 blocks to the Avis depot which I missed on the first effort so we just went around the block again which was easy as they are all one way streets here, so took a right turn followed by right turn, followed by right turn and another right turn and we are there !

As I was doing the loop I drove past a place called John’s coffee shop which looked full of people so as we were walking back to our hotel (Best Western Plus Hospitality House) we popped in and it’s actually a diner. Perfect, as it’s now 1.15 pm and time for lunch so I had Lentil Soup and Kerry had the Tuna Sandwich (great vibe here). They were selling John’s Coffee Shop T-shirts and I felt the urge to buy one but unfortunately they had no stock in my size which I am now referring to as “XL - extra larger”.

Weather is perfect. Sunny and 19 degrees with no wind. We quickly settled into the room 4C on the fourth floor and it was exactly as we had remembered from our visit here several years ago except only a 1 bedroom this time. Lovely timber floors to walk on and a huge apartment that you could easily live in.

We then took the subway to The Vessel which one of NYC’s latest architectural masterpieces and whilst it was closed to climb it, we still got some cool photos in this area known as Hudson Yards which is a good example of regenerating an old area of NYC where the subways go to sleep when they are not in use. We then walked along the High Line which is an old rail track that used to be above ground between midtown and downtown and a section has been restored and converted to a pedestrian only space and allows you to have an elevated view as you walk from block to block. It took about an hour to walk the whole length and was so quiet and tranquil in this busy city and then we went to Chelsea Markets and had a quick look around but it was too busy and stuffy indoors so we caught the subway across town to Little Italy and it is an amazing place that we are referring to as “Lygon Street in Melbourne on steroids !.” I’ve already spotted two souvenir shops selling licence plates and t-shirts so that is cool.



There are so many restaurants to choose from here that they are all competing against each other and if you are not any good you just won’t survive here. It is mostly on Mulberry Street for a few blocks and we found a nice place to dine alfresco style at Il Piccolo Buffalo. As we were walking by having a look at the menu the host started explaining what they are good at and how they make their own pasta and whilst he talked so fast we could not take it all in, he had “sold it to us”.



As soon we sat down there was music playing for ambience and first song was Video Killed The Radio Star followed by Never Tear Us Apart by INXS an Aussie classic. We had made a good choice and we had seats facing the street which is closed to cars so plenty of people watching to be had (one of our favourite pastimes).



We started with some garlic flatbread and then we both had the special Cheese Ravioli Manicotti which he explained was similar to Canneloni with spaghetti and meatballs for only $13.95 and it was delicious. Kerry ordered a Rose and I had their Peroni on tap (we are in Italy after all !).



We caught the subway back to the hotel around 7pm as we don’t want to be out too late around NYC. Our Metrocard to use the subway costs $33- each for unlimited use for 7 days so we will use this as much as possible to save our legs and enable us to explore as many neighbourhoods as we can. The only problem with arriving on a Saturday is there is a rooftop bar very close to our apartment and from 10pm the music was playing really loud and did not stop until around 1am. We are staying here for 5 nights so let’s hope we don’t have to put up with that noise every night we are here.

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Photos

This sign was in Grand Central Station
I’m not sure it is really appropriate for women to go his office to do their business ?