Well, I think we've sussed out the jist of this trip. It seems to work on a good day, bad day rota, luckily today we were due a good day! Well, I say due... Here's my last day in NYC.
So anyway, today was our Central Park day. It's been something I've always wanted to do ever since my fantasy with New York began, so I was pretty excited! That excitement was damped a little, and I use that word literally, when I woke up and looked out the window to terrestrial rain! Yeah, not the best day for a bike ride around the park... What fliss hadn't banked on is when on holiday with me, come rain or shine, we stick to the itinerary! So I prepared my pacamac and got ready for the day!! Fortunately it did stop by the time we left so my pacamac never came out, but when the time comes I'm going to work it as if I were Niomi Campbell! We were lucky that our hostel was positioned only a block away from the top corner of Central Park so it was a pretty easy start to the day, we just wandered left, down a road and there she was, ready and waiting!
I've had my heart set on cycling around the park for quite a while now, so I was a man on a mission to find a bike rental, the tricky thing with Central Park is that it's a fully man-made, logically designed landscape whose purpose is to get lost in. Which ordinarily, is my dream, I love to get away and wander. But no, I had a focus and I was going to get it done! So after using my natural compass, which I've discovered I'm like a frickin' homing pigeon (mum yes I'm aware I'm just like dad! I get it!) I eventually found the main cycle/running route and a map (I love maps, I'm all about the maps). I worked out we had pretty much walked half the entire park and were only about 400 metres from the bike rental, so I decided to lay my cycle dream aside as there are only designated paths for bike riding, and carry on wandering through the maze of meandering paths it laid ahead for us which actually ended up working a lot in our favour, we got to see some amazing places such as the Jacky O Reservoir, Belvedere Castle, Shakespeare's Garden, Alice & Wonderland Statue and , my favourite view from the park, the amazing view of The Plaza from The Pond.
Oh I almost forgot! We also saw a hobo having a wash in the fountain! And had a DEVINE cheese pretzel, how those two link I'm not sure but it's my blog so they do!
After an amazing morning going into the afternoon of walking through the park, our next stop was the Serendipity restaurant. For those of you who don't know Serendipity is the story of two lovers destined to be together after aserendipistus meeting. I only need to describe it in one word as AMAZING! And for anyone visiting New York you have to go! It's a very small restaurant on 61st between 2nd and 3rd Avenue. It's decorated very whimsical with pastel colours, obscure lighting, oversized mirrors and dainty furniture. Literally taken from Alice and Wonderland! I came last time I visited and had to return if not just for the hot wings with blue cheese sauce and frozen hot chocolates alone! We also had a fun waiter who I swear thought it was a game of 'How much water can I make miss the glass!?' but overall a massive recommendation.
After eating way too much good food in Serendipity and spending way too much of fliss's money in Bloomingdales we moved on to some more mooching in the iconic Tiffany's store. It's a blatant go to for any New York visitors, however this time, through all the glistening diamond was a worker of Tiffany's, who was so wonderfully passionate about her job, she knew everything there was to know about the history of the brand, the jewellery and the man him self. They had displayed the legendary Tiffany Diamond
It's over 280 carots of flawless diamonds with a whopping canary yellow diamond sitting pride of place. She told us in detail the history behind the stone, it being discovered in the 1800's in South Africa, it was cut by candlelight after being examined for over a year by an expert, it has more facets than any other diamond, it's insured by 5 companies as any less than this the companies would go bankrupt, in it's entire history it has only been worn by 2 women - Mrs Sheldon Whitehouse for 1 hour at a Tiffany Ball and Audrey Hepburn during promotional photos for the film Breakfast at Tiffany's and hasn't been worn since 1961. Which I think is pretty amazing and justified for such an amazing historic piece. It's safe to say, I was in awe!!
We finished up with a revisit to Grand Central and heading back as we were due to meet up with our tour group. We grabbed our bags from the lockers and headed out. Now with the two places being only 3 blocks away, it's hard to think with directional skills like mine I'd get lost, yeah I got lost. But we soon got on the right street thanks to a helpful New Yorker. We checked in and got our room key expecting the usual dorm style room. I swear I almost collapsed with happiness as I opened the door to see a private room, 2 double beds, air con, a TV and if not most of all... SOFT LIGHTING! Our lucky day ended as it should! So with a can of straw-ber-rita and a pack of m&m's we celebrate an amazing end to an amazing and hilarious start to our trip!
Here's to the next 3 weeks!
x
No comments:
Post a Comment