Off we go again!

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Geo: 40.749, -73.9916

We are an hour later this morning!!!!

0500hrs - we glug down coffee and some "honey nut loops" that Cathy purchased last night in Duane Reade - just off Broadway and 30th Street..... some 5 minutes "hobble" from out Hotel.

Last night we were "cream crackered" and in desperate search of a small Italian (eatery that is!). Failure.....loads of Delicatessens and Crispy Creme type "street food" stuff. It was suggested by Cathy we go to a self service - tempers failed and grumpy words were spoken!!!!

You don't put on a decent pair of "Saturday Night Fever Trousers" and then have to queue up for chicken fritters in a joint full of sweaty tourists and out of work Mexican hustlers!!!

Fortunately, we found a decent Brasserie serving quirky meat dishes and locally produced single filter Long Island beer! However, the couple adjacent were in the middle of some sort of messy separation scenario (with non present partners) and kept reading out graphic text messages to each other. This made us realise how lucky we were.

Life's pleasures are best kept simple.....for example earlier in the day, we gained great pleasure from venturing into a drug store in Harlem in search of "hand wipes" where Cathy proudly pointed to a tub of Epsom Salts and "squeaked""....... "That is is where we are from"......."Our Home Town!!!" .......OOOOhh geeeee MADAM --------congratulations........ on winning the eeeeer World Cup....

0800hrs - we set off in search of raw materials to construct a decent evening meal. Where do the locals buy their ingredients????? So far all we can find are Dunkin' Donuts, Buffalo Wings, Sushi and Pizza Slices. Another local is given the 3rd degree by Cathy and we are pointed in the direction of "Whole Foods" a few blocks down 7th Avenue. We burst into the store desperate for fresh produce . All we can see are "parsley flavoured" cough sweets and rose hip linctus!!! ARRGH!

HOWEVER......next door is PARIDISE........a fantastic palace of food - fresh fish - cooked fish - squid - steaks - salad carts - olives - woow!. We spend over 50$ and head back to our hotel fridge chirruping about our finds.

0930: We head for Pennsylvania Subway and take a train to Lexington Avenue where we aim to link up with the Roosevelt Cable car to Roosevelt Island. Emerging into a hot and sticky street we soon realise that this is a classy district of Uptown Manhattan. Trendy designer shops selling onyx statues and wood fired pizza ovens made in Milan. We soon find the cable car and eagerly clamber up to the staging platform. The ride is both awe inspiring and reminiscent of those iconic shots of New York in the 1930's.

However, Roosevelt Island is somewhat lacking in excitement apart from a Chernobyl-looking power station. We are directed by the local "security officers" to a diner and tuck into sausage and scrambled eggs washed down by "Diet Snapple". The weather forecast predicts thunder and rain later in the day so we head Central Park using the Island Subway station.

"Popping up" close to Central Park and 5th Avenue we are now in an upscale area. Classy restaurants and "horse buggy rides" abound. We swot the buggy salesmen to one side and enter Central Park. Constructed in the 1850's (20 years in the making) it is an oasis of calm and greenery so close to the hustle and bustle of Manhattans skyscrapers and as a consequence seems surreal. Synonymous of violence in the 1970's it has now been totally tamed and manicured walkways take you past statues, boating lakes, follies and outdoor theatres. Black Youth try to make living by "break" dancing whilst the buggy hustlers still try to sign you up to a ride at 50$ for 30 mins!!!

By midday it is sweltering. Near to collapse we pass Strawberry Fields of John Lennon fame and take the subway back to Penn Station. By this time, the storm clouds are gathering.... we are marooned in our room for 2 hours whilst the rains fall and the thunder crashers. The local TV station report flooding and we hear sirens wail and all sorts of commotion from the relative safety of our 22nd floor apartment.

By 1600hrs things improve and we decide to "HIT" Macys to try and find cushion covers.....what else!!!! Fully of immigrant families and badly behaved children we are sorely disappointed! Nothing to purchase but naff designer clothes and trinkets we head back home for a Tanqueray and the prospect of an early night.

Tomorrow the new World Trade Centre and the 9/11 Museum....

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