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September 5th 2008

Published: November 10th 2008

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Neddy

Brownstones

Reckon I could give living in one of those a go

When I heard that my mate Rachel was going to be in New York during the US Open, the decision to travel over to meet her for a 4 day weekend was a no-brainer.

It was fabulous to see her after 15 months, and the trip was worth it for that alone, but NY NY had so much more to offer.

Day 1 we headed to the Open at Flushing Meadows- seeing the 'Bryans' win the men’s doubles, as well as both the women's semi finals (Serena/Safina and Jelena/Elena - no wonder they use the latter's last names!). We also saw Martina Navratilova play a couple of matches in the masters, but missed out on Pat Cash - oh well. What a great day! Rach stayed impressively awake given the time difference - must have been all the great tennis.

Now a day at the tennis means only three days of shopping and sightseeing - NOT ENOUGH!!! However we certainly made the most of it. What did we manage to fit into our three days in New York?

* Shopping on 5th Avenue - what a bargain, even if the pound was not as strong against

Flushing meadows entrance

the dollar as it used to be.

*Shopping at bargain basement prices at Century 21.

* Wandering the New York streets and ... um … shopping.

* A free trip on the Staton Island Ferry to view the Statue of Liberty and Manhattan from the water.

* Brunch in Central Park followed by a walk around, although not over all 843 acres - no squirrel photos though. We checked out the buskers, the joggers, the squirrels, the lake.

* Checking out the view from the 'Top of the Rock'. With impeccable timing, we managed to both avoid the queues and see the sunset (although that did not mean there were not crowds with us also enjoying the sights!!!).

* A trip to a Broadway show - Wicked.

* Dinner at an Italian restaurant which purported to be a favourite of Frank Sinatra. Now the food was not that great, and I have doubts about that assertion, but there were certainly lots of pictures of famous people with the chef/owner all over the walls.

* A trip to the Metropolitan Museum of Modern Art. I loved the layout - it was so open.

No one up in the gods with us when we arrived

at Arthur Ashe stadium

However, we did not spend that long checking out the art, we were mainly there to head to the rooftop and see the views over central park. It's not quite high enough for overviews of the park, but the views of the city skyline are well worth it. In a weird link to my recent trip to Spain, the Met had a exhibition by Jeff Koons, whose art we saw at the Guggenheim.

* A look at Wall Street - just before the crunch really took hold.

* Drinks at a rooftop bar overlooking Times Square (how posh are we?)

* Wine and cheese at an awesome wine a cheese bar (where else?) with my uni friend Lucie and Sean.

* Attempting to change our lives by eating the 'world's best cupcakes' from Crumbs. Unfortunately, I did not think that they were that great ... oh well, perhaps some other foodstuff will change my life.

* Eating bagels and cream cheese (can you get a more New York meal than that?)

* Riding the subway - it was great to be on an air-conditioned train - unfortunately the platforms felt like they were 100