The Late Edition

The day after the tennis we went to a large shopping outlet called Woodbury Common and we were there most of the day on Friday hunting for bargains. It is about an hour away from Manhattan so we got the bus there. Being ‘early people’ we were at the bus station 45 mins before the bus was due at 8.30 and the queue was already SO long we couldn’t believe it! It was worth it though as got some nice stuff - jeans, sunglasses and of course some outdoor walking gear (guess whos idea that was!)

After shopping most of the day we came back dropped our bags and headed to the Empire State Building for our romantic views of New York. The romance bit is pretty much ruined by the queues and security checks and Bruce was not a happy bunny when he wasn’t allowed to take his tripod up to the observation deck (are we imagining the petted lip?!). He still managed to take plenty of pics though - it must be one of the hardest places to get good photos - too many lights!

Every day has been jampacked here with us leaving our hostel most mornings by 7:30 (which was late considering Bruce has been wide awake at 5 most mornings - thank goodness for the laptop or I would have been driven mad!) and not getting back until 22:00 or so most nights. I’m afraid we have not really been party animals as after walking so much during the day we have been exhausted. We have eaten our fair share of bagels - the cream cheese and jelly is really yummy. We have also eaten at a great fast food place a couple of times called Villa Pizza - really good pizza and also huge salads that the guy mixes up for you. Bruce would have gone there for every meal if he’d been allowed!

Saturday was our last day and we wanted to see as much of Central Park as we could. On entering the park we were looking at the park map and a lady out walking her dog gave us some advice on what to see. This place has everything - lakes, playing fields, running tracks (and billions of runners - I thought there was a race on! The runners even have their own lanes on the paths), a theatre, zoo, even a castle! The lakes were huge with Canadian geese and turtles and had nice wee benches to relax on. The Belvedere castle was cute and had great views of the city (and of course wonderful photo opportunities!)

After walking through the park we spent most of the mid morning shopping and sightseeing. We visited a great diner that Chris had recommended called Pershing Square which is located underneath the road to Grand Central. The food was amazing. Bruce was very impressed by the fanciest and best tasting salad he had eaten in ages - and of course we have a photo of it! The afternoon was spent shopping and sightseeing and still there was not enough time to do things that we thought we would like to do. Never mind there is always next time!

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