An oldie but a goodie! - New York - Sep 2014 - Day 5

[AJ86]

We are finally getting used to the time difference and we manage to wake at a decent hour. We have to check out of the Distikt today so we spent a bit of time enjoying the room and packing up out last little bits.

We checked out and the staff stored our luggage for when we returned. As we cancelled our walking tour of Greenwich village, we thought we would have a wonder around and see some of the sights. We started our day in the usual way and got bagels from a nearby deli and headed out onto the subway.

Before coming I had found out about the Central Perk pop up shop, so we caught the subway to Broadway-Lafayette Street and headed down to the Coffee shop.

We took some snaps and queued up so we could have a look inside, the queue wasn’t that bad I think in the end we queued for around 40 mins before being able to get in.

Once inside they had some costumes and props from the show and little bit of memorabilia. They even had things I have never even seen in the episodes like Emma’s birth record and Chandlers and Monica’s wedding invites.

Defiantly worth a visit if you ever did or still enjoy watching friends, I’m not sure how much longer it is there for but if you are around and have an hour or so go! Anyway they give away free coffee and give you the chance to sit on the big orange sofa and have your photo taken, I thought there would be an extortionate cost for this but it was free! What a bonus!

So we headed on our way and keeping with the Friends theme we went looking for the apartment. On the way we walked up Broadway and enjoyed the shops and had a little browse and I purchased a couple of pairs of converse, they are so much cheaper than the UK!

We continued on and ended up in Washington Square Park, this is a lovely little spot with the Arch and the various street performances going on. We sat and listened to a band and then a jazz player, and generally watched the world go by while resting our feet.

We then continued on and walked around the streets of Greenwich, they are so peaceful and some of the houses and apartments where gorgeous. I bet the owners here have paid a pretty penny for the privilege!

We end up at the corner of Bedford and Grove and see the exterior of the building where Monica’s apartment was supposed to be set, we take the usual photos and enjoy the surroundings of the area.

We continue on much to the displeasure of our feet and head on to the Highline. We start at Gansevoort Street and walk up, the Highline is an amazing space and such a wonderful thought out project involving a piece of land that would have otherwise been demolished.

I love the way they have still kept the rails and managed to grow various vegetation around them. We continue on until Chelsea market, and enjoy one of the vendors where we had a pulled pork roll and the bun was amazing, one of the best I have tasted.

We sit and enjoy these while watching everyone walk by and again another excuse to rest our feet. We carry on the highline taking in the sights and enjoy the experience or seeing New York from a new perspective.

We leave the Highline at W30th St, but first have a little peak at the new part, which I think we were about a week too early to enjoy. We continue on and back to the Distrikt Hotel to collect our luggage.

This is when we should have originally gone home, but I love New York and when the airline changed our flight times a few months before we came they gave me the opportunity to change free of charge to alternative dates, so I took them up on their offer and extended the trip for another 2 days!

The Distrikt was too expensive for the remainder of the trip so we moved to the Row NYC.

So we have moved from a lovely intimate hotel to one of the biggest in New York and boy could you tell the difference. I’d pick the Distrikt any day over the Row! We Checked in and got a nice corner room on the 25th Floor with views over 8th Avenue and views down W44th and 45th Streets. We rested for a little while longer and had a well needed shower.

Our evening was to be taking in a game at Yankee Stadium – Yankee’s v Toronto Blue Jay’s. We got the subway to the stadium and misheard what the driver was saying and managed to get off a stop early, but we followed the crowd and got on the next train.

The stadium is huge, and I paid for the cheapest seats I could find on Stub hub and for $11 each I got 2 seats at the back of block 415. They were not bad seats, you could still see what was going on and the atmosphere in the stadium was amazing.

Now I have not got a clue about baseball except it’s long game with not much action. We stayed for around 7 innings, and out of that majority of balls were a strike out and we witnessed 2 home runs. I enjoyed the atmosphere that goes along with the game and the highlight was when the crowd went crazy for Jeter’s home run. The typical food we associated with baseball was a hot dog so we enjoyed these while watching and trying to understand the game.

If you have a spare evening and there is a game on I’d definitely recommend it, if anything just to say you have been and to enjoy the atmosphere and hope to get your face on the big screen!

We left earlier and thought this was a good idea to save getting crushed in the crowd and left on a relatively quiet subway ride back to Times Square.

I don’t mind Times Square and I enjoy sitting on the steps watching the world go by and watching all the crazy goings on around you. I had not got a clue what had been going on during the day but we were sitting there and then a massive group of people come along dressed in full civil war uniforms along with their replica guns and swords, I’m sure there must have been some re-enactment going on somewhere as during our stay we had seen numerous people dressed up in their battle gear, but it was great to see these guys just strolling around enjoying themselves.

Feeling a bit peckish we found another cheap pizza slice bar and headed back to the hotel.

Day 6