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Published: June 27th 2006
OK so we arrived in the Big Apple to thunderstorm conditions which stayed with us for the entire time we were there...but was a little rain going to stop us? I think not!
We arrived at 11pm last Friday night and went to Catherine's room to give her much needed hugs and kisses given it's been 13 years since we last saw each other. Then, because Stu and I hadn't eaten since breakfast and because American airlines appear not to feed you on domestic flights, we headed out for something to eat and a bit of a catch up. Headed to a place called TGI Friday's (stands for Thank God It's Friday) and had a great meal but we were a bit puzzled at the end when we received the bill and had to scale the tip according to whether we thought the service was good, really good or excellent (good you had to leave a US$7.63 and excellent was something like $15!). Being bloody foreigners none of us knew whether it was obligatory so because we thought it was really rude, we left a $2 tip and hightailed it outta there. Well, Cath and I did anyway...Stu was a
Bonding with Catherine
It's been 13 years...but feels like just yesterday that we were clowning around like this in Europe!little slower and got caught by the waitress for apparently not paying the complete bill. Cath was mortified and i thought it was a combination of hilarious and god damned rude...but that's New York for you.
After a good sleep we headed down to Ground Zero the next day to check out the carnage of that terrible day for ourselves. From the time we stepped out of the WTC subway station, an eerie calm settled over us and we only got more sombre as we circled the whole site. There's pictures drawn by the children who lost parents in the tragedy that totally pull at the heart strings, as do the many tributes to the thousands lost all around the perimetre of where those awesome towers used to stand. We read the history, watched as an African American guy, consumed by what we can only put down to outright anger, made people understand that it was 9 buildings not 2 that went down on that day...and that the 10th one, still standing but structurally unsound would probably be the next victim.
After that sober experience (well worth it by the way) we were meant to head for Staten
Hanging out at Central Park!
In the rain, but we were there!!! Island to see the great Statue but the weather got so bad we got soaking wet and the fog set in which meant it was pretty much a write off for the ferry trip. So instead we headed for Times Square to check out what discount tix we could get for a show the next day and then wandered around some local flea markets which was cool - doing it like the locals. And that was where we experienced one of the highlights of the trip...the Naked Cowboy! This is a guy who walks around in his white Y fronts, in cowboy boots and a cowboy hat belting out cowboy tunes and posing provocatively for tourist photos whenever he's asked. Seriously, only in new york and it was bloody hilarious. Of course, Cath and I got in on the action, as you can see by the picture I've attached! It will long be known as one of the highlights...perhaps not by Stu though 😊
Then we were pretty much on a mission back to the hotel to get ready for the catch up with the Antarctica crew. We met at a great restaurant called Public, near to Soho and
Getting Big (Tom Hanks) at FAO Schwarz
Just like in the movies, Stu and Catherine getting jiggy with it at FAO... very swanky, and i got met with kisses and cuddles from Mike, one of my co-sailors who was already waiting at the bar. We chatted for a while before Jen and her husband josh turned up, followed by Helen and her hubby, and so began a beautiful night full of reminiscing, catching up on the past 5 years, many wines, many more wines, a couple more bottles of wine, - did I mention we had some wine? After a 3 course dinner (financed entirely by mike, he beat Helen for the privilege and I can only imagine what the bill was) we headed to a bar down the road. more wine, more beer and then the bar wench got us all on to Sake (Japanese wine) shooters. Can I just say that was the beginning of the end! 3 bottles of sake later i think we all left...and that's when the party began...well for Cath, Stu and I anyway.
We were waiting in the rain (yes, still raining!) for a cab when a ghetto blasting cab speeds round the corner and picks us up. Little did we know we were all in for the most memorable taxi ride ever.
He wishes....
The toy Ferrari in this pic was $50,000!! It doesn't even have a bloody motor! From Soho to madison square gardens, the taxi driver and us 3 rocked that bloody taxi to an inch of its life. bloody hilarious. We were rockin to some neighbourhood rappin' tunes....none of which we knew but that's completely irrelevant! The ride was over too soon (about 10 minutes) but it was so good we gave the guy $20 for an $8 ride! Because we hadn't had enough to drink at this stage, we decided to crack out the duty free Vodka and Jim Beam from the wedding because it's bloody heavy lugging it half way around the world and we wanted to make a dent in it. We did! At least the hangover the next morning for all of us told us it had been a good night.
With a very fragile start, we had brekky and then went to see The Producers musical on Broadway. Very very good show, well worth the $58 price tag. From there we headed to the Empire State Building, bought tickets, queued for an hour and by the time we got within 10 minutes of the front of the line we were informed there was now nil visibility at the top of
Drunk and debacherous with the Antarctica crew...
Big night...copious wines, then Sake and Vodka shooters...yesterday was justifiably a write off! the building. Yep, just gotta love that! But hey - we can use the tickets any time within the next year...so it's OK! yeah right. We tried to go the next day but it was still raining (surprise) and fog everywhere, so we paid $50 to see the inside of the building! Ah well, these things happen.
We headed out for a quiet dinner, which was gorgeous and savoured the last night of being a 3-some before Cath flew back to Canada and we were London bound. on our way home, we saw another 'only in New York' sight. A guy, completely passed out, fly undone, one thong on his foot the other on the ground, in a flowerpot opposite madison square gardens. It was so hilarious I made Catherine take a photo...which prompted the next 10 people who passed him to pull theirs out too for a memorable happy snap from the Big Apple. Yet another highlight.
After a quick walk around on monday, a sad realisation that the empire state was not going to eventuate, a trip to FAO Schwarz (big toy store where Tom Hanks was filmed in BIG playing on the piano keyboard) was
New York highlight...Naked Cowboy
This dude walks around like this and apparently earns in excess of $100,000 per year US from tourist tips...he was WORTH IT!! Bloody hilarious. Az, reckon you could get rich doing this! in order. After drooling over the toys (waist sized stuffed elephant, gorgeous, $15,000, child's ferrari, no motor, $50,000) we left and because it was (still!) raining we decided to do something constructive and head to the laundromat. Yes, the trip is a once in a lifetime experience but there's still everyday things like laundry which need to be addressed and we were both seriously running low on some essential items! So, we spent the last couple of hours as a 3-some in a new york laundromat..told you we were doing it like the locals!
After a very tearful farewell to Cath on the corner of west 30th St and 8th Avenue which was quite like the one with Flip and I in Thailand for those who were there to witness that, Stu and I headed off to JFK for the next leg of this amazing honeymoon. And we were there longer than we expected! We had the best check in out of any place we've been (including when we left perth!), when we expected the worst one, had icecream to pass the time, boarded the plane on time and then sat on the tarmac for 2 hours while chaos descended upon JFK. Fog had settled in, planes had to be re-routed to different runways....it was bedlam. The only thing that made it even half bearable was the fact that united airlines allow you to tune in to the air traffic control channel so you can hear everything that's going on. Full on and at times very entertaining, it helped alleviate the frustration at not getting in the air until 2 hours after our scheduled departure time.
And so...here we are in London. It's only about 17C at the moment so it's a little colder than we're used to, we've had no sleep, just spent an hour loitering in Macca's waiting to check in to our hotel and now we're loitering even more at the Internet cafe just waiting and willing that room to be ready so we can crash. It's 11am in the morning here, but in New York it's 6am and we haven't slept since the night before last. The time zone changes are killing us!
So - we're thinking it will be an investment to sleep today and sightsee tomorrow. We just say BRING ON THE BED!
And that's about it my friends...you are up to date on the adventures of the honeymooners. We are absolutely exhausted but both loving the new experiences we are being part of everyday and there's nothing better than that.
Hope you are all well and taking care, will talk again soon.
Ky & Stu
xox
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deb
non-member comment
omg
i am absolutely exhausted just reading this. The sleep deprevation is good for you though, you will need to get used to that soon!! Sounds like you are having the time of your lives - can you ask Stu if he could smile in one of the next photos, just one, that is all I ask! Get him on a drunken moment ky!!! SOunds like you had a ball catching up with all your old pals, how cool was the ny guy in the YFronts - loving it! Take good care and rest up well. Pls tell me Stu has a couple of days when he gets home before heading back to the mines - he will be asleep at the pit! Luv yas Debs and Family