Oot & Aboot: The 11 dollar sausage roll

So I stupidly thought that I had an extra day in NYC than I did. It wasn’t till I re-checked my itinerary that I was leaving tomorrow. Doh! That meant that I would need to squeeze in two days worth of touring into one day. It has been done before, and it can be done again.

I got up early, to make the most of the day, and also because the weather in NYC had started to get really hot. I had my continental breakfast. It was at this breakfast I thought I should try a bagel with cream cheese as so many Americans do. And what can I say other than, feral. I don’t mind bagels, they are just bread, but with cream cheese they are yuck. I quickly binned that I ate what I am used to, toast.

I headed to the subway to get the train uptown to the south end of Central Park. I was going to try and tour Central Park in two hours. I might add that Central Park is HUGE and you’d need about a day to see it all. It wasn’t long after I got out of the subway that I was approached about hiring bikes to ride in the park. Well I had considered this before I left Australia but feared the old theory, ‘it’s like riding a bike’ might not be the case, as I hadn’t been on a bike in about 15 years. Well I ended up taking the challenge and handed over $20 for two hours of fun. I got on and I was rocky. I’d also forgotten how dam uncomfortable bike seats are. It was getting to be a really hot day so I was sure working up a sweat. Central Park is really lovely and you can get deep enough into it to forget all about the city that surrounds it and the noise. SO many people were out and about walking, running, cycling. It must be such a hot spot for NYC locals. The park is separated into areas by different names and there is everything imaginable in there. There’s a baseball field, a swimming pool, a duck pond, a lake, tennis courts, eateries. Everything. I stop off at various points including the Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis Reservoir. It’s a huge lake with a fountain and a running track around it. Then I checked out the woods section of the park, the Great Hill etc. I hadn’t realized what the area was called at the time but started to really struggle on my bike, then discovered it was called ‘The Great Hill’! Riding the bike was great, but the only downfall is that you have to stick to roads, so anytime you want to check something out you have to get off your bike and walk it. I also had a look at Strawberry Fields where the tribute to John Lennon resides. It’s a popular spot to view, the busiest I had seen that day.

I had worked enough of a sweat up for my back to be soaked under my backpack and my time was almost out. I’m really glad I saw the park and locals are very lucky to have it. I got back onto the subway and took a couple of trains to get to the Metropolitan Museum of Art (The MET). The MET is one of the world’s best museums, and houses the best in art from B.C (I can’t quite believe you can view stuff that old) to modern day. I only had about three hours there so I got quickly underway. I was anxious to see the Costume Institute within the museum as it’s often featured in fashion mags. I got there and they had a special exhibit on called ‘’Superheroes & Fashion’ It was an exhibit that looked at the cross over between superheroes in fashion. It was a fantastic exhibition. All the best designers in the world showcased their superhero interpretations. The best bit was the costumes from superheroes in movies. I saw The Dark Knight’s Batman, Michelle Phieffer’s Catwoman (which by the way is so tiny), Toby’s Spiderman, the body application on Rebecca Romijn in X-Men and Christopher Reeve’s Superman costume. It was really cool. After that I kept walking and checked out all that I could. I had lunch at the roof top garden. This place would be awesome for drinks in the summer. Koon’s had an exhibition on the roof so some of his sculptures were on display. One very impressive part of the museum was an area of rooms that had literally been torn down from a 1800’s hotel in Paris and re-created in the museum with all the original furniture, walls, décor etc.

After getting my museum fix I got a taxi to 5th Ave and The Plaza. This was a stupid idea as I could have walked faster, and so I did, I got out and walked. I went to F.A.O Schwarz, the famous toy store, which didn’t impress me all that much and then onto Tiffany & Co in the hope to purchase something VERY small to remind me of my visit to NYC.

Afterwards a short time there I headed way downtown to Battery Park. It’s at Battery Park where you can get onto the ferry that’ll take you to Liberty Island or Ellis Island. Given the time of day I really only could check one out, so I went to Liberty Island to say hello to the Statue of Liberty. It was a rocky ferry over, but it gave me a great opportunity to see the Manhattan skyline from the Hudson River. I got some great shots on the way over and after 15 minutes we had landed on the Island. There isn’t a great deal there. Obviously food outlets, a gift store, and a museum. I was museumed out so I didn’t really try and find where it was. I wondered around and took some pics then headed to the pier for the ferry back. The ferry rocked up 45 minute late! So annoyed as it was ANOTHER huge line of tourists I had to contend with and I was really starting to get over it. I finally got on the ferry and back to Manhattan. Given I was already that far downtown I figured it’s a good time to check out Wall St. I wasn’t entirely sure what I expect other than buildings, but hey. When I get there I am amazed to see the amount of police roaming the streets. More than anywhere else. The other thing I noticed was what they didn’t just carry shotguns, but rather big mother f$%ker guns. I thought it was in some war zone. I asked a cop if something was going on and he just said that it’s Wall St, it’s always like this. Geez.

Tonight I am to meet up with an old school friend, Matt Rigby, so I headed back to my hotel to do the world’s fastest shower and change to then meet him in the lobby of my hotel. After 8 years it was amazing to see how easy you can pick up the conversation and how good it is to catch up and see what had happened to everyone in our grade. Matt had been living and working in NYC for the past two years and is planning to head home in September. Matt suggested The Australian bar in the Garment District. He was desperate for a meat pie, and I wouldn’t mind an Aussie beer. It was a great bar, with the walls covered in scenes of Manly and Bondi, the rugby playing on the screens, and Boags beer on the menu. Matt ordered his meat pie, I ordered my $11 sausage roll. I’m pretty sure that’ll be the last time I’ll be spending $11 on a sausage roll. It was a great sausage roll, but seriously. We had a couple of Aussie beers, had many a conversation on the idiocies of Americans and then called it a night.

What I learnt in NYC today:

You don’t realize how much you miss the Aussie culture until you get some of it whilst overseas and talk to someone from back home. Aussies rule.
Central Park is worth spending time in, it’s a fabulous park
If you keep on the go the entire day you forget just how tired you probably are!
I heart NYC