Days 22,23,24 - 4-6th May NYC The big Apple

Day 22-
Oops been having so much fun, Ive got behind in my blog.
We got up today and tidied up then walked to central park as its a beautiful clear day again and we like walking. Graeme decided we should get a horse & carriage ride around the park instead of hiring bikes, which would give us some info from the driver on areas inside and it would be a lot easier to take photos while having a higher vantage point.

We met Luise who has been driving the carriages for 25 years and he is only 47, so obviously he loves it. He had 17hh Billy who is a big gentle gelding. Luise took us around the bridle paths in the park, it is a staggering 843 acres!! He showed us where a lot of movies have been shot like the wedding planner, ghostbusters, home alone and the fountain from the opening scenes of the tv show Friends. We also got a glimpse of the apartment that John Lennon lived in, where we was also assassinated, which is right on the park edge. It is lovely how you have all these very green, lacy leaved trees everywhere with the office tower blocks like Trump Towers, peeking through. It was a very pleasant hours ride. Was surprised that traffic- mainly taxi's, can drive through the park as well, albeit very slowly as there are bikes and pedicabs everywhere too. But apparently they need this route to get from one side of the park to the other or they have to go a long way round. Central Park is a real asset and has really cleaned up since its days as a dodgy place for drug deals etc in the 1980's.

We wandered into a flash shopping mall afterwards which had 2 massive bronze-like weird statues- the male one had a tiny willy that was rather shiny haha!
We walked the 12 blocks or so back to our hotel after finding a traditional italian pizza place that sold giant pizza slices, hot out of the oven for $3.50- delicious. The went to the M & M shop where there was every type of product M & M related. They have white chocolate filled ones,, caramel ones, mint, black and every colour you can imagine.  It was awesome.

 Later on Louis my longterm FB friend of 23 years came into the city from where he lives in Brooklyn and we went for a beer then wandered through the buzzing city. We decided to go a restaurant called Dallas BBQ, where we had dinner and I had an amazing frozen pina colada- sooo nice!
Then we walked back to the hotel and went into the Bourban St bar next door- sat upstairs outside on the verandah with the lacy fretwork and talked the night away. Had a good night!

Day 23-
Today we didnt rush out as the weather had turned and it was torrential rain but we wanted to go still to the Intrepid Aircraft Carrier, which ideally is only a 10 min walk from us. Luckily the hotel gives you umbrellas, then we were off to splash in the puddles!!

The intrepid also has a submarine at the pier and lots of planes on the top deck of the ship, although it was so wet we had to stay inside after one try but it was almost flooding up there! It was $45 each for the ticket but that included audio and a ticket for one of the motion rides inside and the submarine.
Spent a good few hours in there and really enjoyed it, its been done so well. The aircraft carrier was involved in WWII, the Vietnam war and was also used for picking up astronauts for 2 of the space shuttles on re-entry. They have quite a lot of interactive activities and you can try out things like the space gloves and laying in the tiny ship bunks.

We went upstairs for a bit to see the planes on the top deck but the rain was so bad we went inside and waked through the ship corridors. Then we went out to the Growler submarine and went down in a group into that. It is pretty tight in a lot of the spaces and the men were down there for 3 months at a time, although it was all volunteer as no sailors were made to be down there in such a small space unless they wanted to be.

When we had finished we braved the rain and walked back to the hotel, stopping on the way at a cosy diner to have a hot meat sandwich, washed down with a cold beer, sitting up at the window bar seats which are really common here.

Later we used the subway to meet up with Louis downtown and he took us for a walk up onto the Brooklyn bridge, it is quite wide and really long. Fantastic engineering and architecturally it is very attractive. We dawdled along talking like we had all been friends for years, then walked down to Seaport to a bar for drinks and funnily enough there was a Kiwi restaurant next door! Louis' friend George and his friend Maris joined us later and we enjoyed more beers! Realised at 10.30pm? That we hadnt eaten and had lost track of time so went across the road to a very traditional Italian restaurant for a lovely meal and another drink.
Packed up about 1/2 past midnight and we all caught our trains home. Really enjoyed the night and all the laughs!

Day 24 -
Up, feeling a tad seedy this morning - we wanted to get going at a respectable hour as Louis is taking us to Philadelphia for the day. We caught the train that went all the way to the bottom of the city and over to Brooklyn, where he met us and took us to his neighbourhood local for breakfast. His lovely parents joined us and we all enjoyed a hot brekky and talked. The Monaco's all live near to each other and are very like we are with our family's - all close.

After we said goodbye to them, Louis took us for a walk to his neighbourhood which is at the foot of the Brooklyn bridge with  the massive river and walkways just at the end of the street. His apartment is gorgeous and tastefully decorated - a very tidy, stylish pad for a single guy! Not the lad pad at all lol. Love the architecture in this city.

We left and Louis drove us to Philly for the day, the place of the Liberty Bell and setting for the National Treasure movies with Nicolas Cage. Another city with big, expansive beautiful buildings and lovely big parks with old trees. We found there was a festival on and heaps of young people out enjoying the day and drinks. Heaps of hens party groups out and about too. We went down to the waterside by the docks and sat by the old ships berthed there, then walked back into town and had a famous cheese steak in a hoaghie -  thinly siced steak, cooked with onion, peppers and and cheese on top, in a soft bun  like a burger bun but softer. We walked around for a while longer then drove back to the city. The traffic had got pretty busy, so it took Louis quite a long time to get back to Brooklyn after we said our goodbyes. Bummer we live so far apart as we all get along like we have known each other for years- in person!

Got back and packed our suitcases up as we are leaving NYC tomorrow for Washington DC.