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Old 20 Mar 17, 03:00 PM  
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neilhd
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NYC Without the Kids! Jan 2017 - Day Five

Thursday 12th Jan 2017

I awoke at about 06:30 this morning. I made a cup of the tea we had kindly been given. Given the lack of coffee we were very slow in getting up and out the door, and it was nearly 9am before we did so. Today the plan was to explore some parts of Manhattan that we had never been to.

But first - breakfast! We went back to our now-usual haunt of the Times Square diner, to discover that it was completely packed. Our previous visits had been a bit earlier and had been fairly deserted. Today we actually had to wait for a table, but only about 2 minutes. I ordered pancakes today (with bacon, which always puts the "Making bacon pancakes" song from Adventure Time into my head. In fact, just writing this has put the song into my head, so now I have to suffer with that all day. Thanks a lot). The pancakes were absolutely enormous. Each one was about half an inch thick, and the diameter of a good-sized dinner plate. And there were 3 of them. I actually couldn't eat them all, despite them being very good indeed. It is not often I am defeated by a meal! Ele had french toast. I'm sure you wanted to know that.

We waddled off to the subway on 49th Street and headed south to Canal Street. We walked briefly down here before turning into Chinatown. I was a little disappointed in Chinatown. I don’t really know what I was expecting - as bustling market with street food stalls and strange shops selling Mogwais probably - but it was just a rundown, dirty-looking area with not very interesting looking shops and restaurants. So we crossed the road and headed into Little Italy.

It was really hot today, and I actually had to take off my coat and carry it. It was actually 17C, which given it was -13C 3 days before is quite unbelievable. That's a 30C difference in temperature - i.e. the difference between freezing cold winter and the height of summer. My coat is ridiculously thick, warm and heavy and totally the wrong thing to be wearing. I had already stuffed my jumper in the rucksack and was just walking around in a t-shirt! 3 days ago we had thick jumpers, hats, scarves, gloves and thermals. Today, a t-shirt. Unbelievable.

Little Italy was a bit nicer, but still not much to see really. We popped into an outdoor-equipment type store that was enormous, but didn't buy anything. Really I was just thinking I might buy a t-shirt and ask for an enormous bag to put it in so I could put my coat in there!

We decided now to walk to Greenwich and the West Village. We walked west until we got to Broadway, then headed up for a bit before going west a bit more. It didn't take too long. Greenwich was nice - small, narrow streets and some nice apartment buildings. At one point we walked right past the Friends building (the one used for the exterior shots in Friends), but didn't actually realise at the time!

We were heading for the Big Gay Ice Cream bar, but it was closed when we got there (only opened at 1pm) and it was only about 11:30 I think. Instead we had a Starbucks, and decided to walk up to the Meatpacking District to go to the Black Tap instead. It was quite a pleasant stroll up to there and we found the place easily enough.

Inside we were told we weren't allowed to sit in a booth, as there was only 2 of us, and instead we must sit on a stool at a high table. We didn't want to do that, and only after we said that Ele has a bad back and can't sit there were we allowed to sit at a booth. Incidentally, there were about 10 booths, only one of which was being used, and nobody else there. The poor seating girl was obviously under strict instructions from her manager and was quite nervous about seating us there!

We had heard of this place before coming - they specialise in monstrous milkshakes and enormous burgers. We each got a shake (going for their regular ones, not one of their crazy ones. I had strawberry and Ele had chocolate), and we got a burger with sweet potato fries to share. We weren't massively hungry but had heard good things.




The shakes and burger were both really good. It was also nice to have a sit down after walking all morning!

We looked at the map and realised we were near Chelsea Market, so we had to go in there for a visit. It is, without a doubt, the most hipster place I have ever been to. It was very cool. Lots of quirky food places and some cool shops. The interior is amazing and actually quite old, unlike most of New York.



After we'd browsed around here we thought we should head back. There is a way up to the High Line from outside the Market, so that was obviously going to be a good plan. We walked the entire length until the end. It was a very nice stroll, and much easier and quicker than walking on the streets (no traffic lights for starters). I can imagine in summer, when the greenery is, well, green, that it would be quite busy. There were quite a lot of people up there even now. It gave good views of the NY streets:

This one is below:






Clever way to stack cars:



The temperature had mercifully dropped a bit by now so we weren't sweating too much anymore, and I could put my coat back on again. Once back on the street we walked across to 9th Avenue, which was a couple of blocks away, and walked up there heading back towards Midtown. We passed a lot of construction of new office and apartment buildings - this area is really undergoing some massive regeneration. It'll look great when some of them are finished. We went past B&H, which is nothing to do with cigarettes, but is instead a huge, famous photo/electrical store. I kind of wanted to go in, but there wasn't really much point so we didn't. We pushed on, eventually crossing 40th, where we could see the Distrikt hotel that we stayed at in the summer, and finally reaching 48th to get back to our hotel. 9th Avenue is not quite as nice as 8th to walk up I must say.

I actually took a couple of pics of the outside of our hotel:




Just before we got back we grabbed a coke and some sweets (peanut butter M&Ms - my favourite!) from a street stall, and then got to our room and collapsed on the bed. I noticed that we actually had a) 2 coffee cups, and b) coffee not tea. However, it was decaf coffee. Housekeeping were not giving in easily.

We chilled for a bit. Well, I say that, Ele fell asleep. Joe texted me to ask something so I Face Timed him for a bit, showing him our room and the Pen Pineapple Apple School across the road. Ok I should probably explain that. You all know the PPAP Pen Pineapple Apple Pen song thing, right? If not, You Tube it. You'll thank me for it. Anyway, opposite our hotel was some sort performing arts school that had a great big sign saying PPAS, so obviously we christened it the Pen Pineapple Apple School. Right, moving on….

Ele woke up after a time and we packed some of our stuff away ready for tomorrow, and then tried to make a plan for dinner. We (well, she) wanted another steak, so we decided to try the Landmarc restaurant we had seen earlier in the week at the Time Warner centre at Columbus Circle. It had looked like a really nice place. So we got dressed into some smart-ish clothes and took a walk up there.

We hadn't reserved but they had a table. We had some cheese baked thing for starters that were yummy, and a steak each for main. I had a New York Strip and Ele a Filet Mignon. Mine was overcooked I must say (I asked for medium but it came well done). I didn’t complain though, as it was still very delicious indeed and I ate it all. The desserts they do are small - the idea being you try 2 or 3, so we did just that. All in all the food and service was great here. The price, including a half-bottle of wine and service was about $160, making it the most expensive meal of the holiday, but a good way to spend our last evening.

It wasn't that late so we decided to have a little stroll around Central Park before heading back. It was still warm out. The contrast in the park compared to our first night was amazing. That evening we were shivering cold and there was thick snow everywhere. Today was warm and there was not a trace that it had ever snowed.

We took much the same route we had our first night, existing somewhere around 7th Avenue. We crossed to 7th and headed down. Almost immediately we realised that something was going on. You know when there's suddenly some action and the atmosphere seems to change? Well that happened, then all of a sudden 2 police bikes pull up with lights flashing and block the road. Twenty seconds later a massive motorcade starts to go past - several marked police cars, then a few large black SUVs that were obviously secret service, then 2 armoured limos, then more secret service, then more marked cars, then a couple of ambulances, and then a couple more police bikes. Obviously, it was Donald Trump going past with his full-on president-elect protection. Quite a sight actually! There were seriously over 20 vehicles.

With that excitement over we were soon back in our hotel for sleep. Sorry there wasn't many pictures today!
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Old 20 Mar 17, 08:13 PM  
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Melbatb
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I have the same carstacking photo!

How exciting to "see" POTUS!
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Old 22 Mar 17, 08:45 AM  
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neilhd
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Originally Posted by Melbatb View Post
I have the same carstacking photo!

How exciting to "see" POTUS!
I wish I'd filmed it now, but was too slow in getting my phone out!
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Old 29 Mar 17, 09:22 AM  
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Mortimer Mouse
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We queued for 45 minutes in 35degree heat to get into the Black Tap soho branch last summer, due to my teens request (they're an instagram sensation don't you know).

So with that and a trip to Chelsea Market, you are so 'on trend', without even trying.
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Old 30 Mar 17, 07:52 AM  
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neilhd
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Originally Posted by Mortimer Mouse View Post
We queued for 45 minutes in 35degree heat to get into the Black Tap soho branch last summer, due to my teens request (they're an instagram sensation don't you know).

So with that and a trip to Chelsea Market, you are so 'on trend', without even trying.
Wow, I'm hip and didn't even know it! I always suspected I was cool, this just confirms it.
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Old 30 Mar 17, 10:22 PM  
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another great day
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Old 4 Apr 17, 06:53 PM  
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Great day and nice it warmed up - love the highline and Chelsea Market
More great eats too but lol at coffee wars with housekeeping - can they sort it before you leave !
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