New york, new york!

Reading my NYC guidebook on the train from philadelphia back to NY I was so excited that I was actually trembling! I wrote a long list of things that i wanted to see and do, of course, in order of priority ;) tired after my epic session of accommodation hunting on the net last night (at 1am eventually choosing the hotel i'd settled on at 11pm - mental note to go with first good, fitting option) , I wished i'd spent my time more effectively watching the Sex and the City episodes on dvd i'd found in my bag...

Mum & Dad phoned yesterday, it was 7am Monday morning back home - so strange that it was only 3.30pm Sunday here, behind the times. like a kid I told them how "everywhere I go I hear New York accents - everywhere! It feels like i'm in a movie!".

After checking in, admiring the view of the brick wall outside my window (though the falling snow was nice as was Snow Patrol's 'Chasing Cars' playing on the radio), taking photos of the room from every angle, sorting out a few housekeeping issues and doing my excited dance of joy, I set off with my camera into the city in the direction of Central Park. I happily snapped my way east along 59th street, north up 5th avenue which faces the park and eventually found myself on the famous madison avenue - Oscar de la renta, Donna Karen New York, Ralph
Lauren, the list goes on. Flashbacks of one of my favorite childhood films - Splash. In hope of finding a bathroom I entered a corner deli and chose a take-away salmon salad and cranberry juice. the closest toilet I was directed to a museum up the block. Closed.

So I stop at a diner, Lennox's grill on the corner of 77th and Lexington, where I keep ordering drinks and food until I feel comfortable that i've passed the minimum order, also being extremely polite and friendly enough so the waiters would understand i'm a tourist. As always I misjudged so Billy the waiter flirted with me and suggested he join me for drinks later!

An hour later i'm sitting in a bar named 'Republic' waiting for my friend Diana to finish her yoga class, so i have a juice and chat to the man sitting next to me for a while, said he´d hang around and keep me company but i was waiting for someone. not feeling so well i gave
up on Diana, walked outside and there she was! Greeted me with a hug and ´where´d you get that jacket, the 80s?´ so funny - Andrea´s purple ski jacket she loaned me for the trip.
As Diana is not yet 21 we grabbed a bottle of wine and went back to the hotel to play scrabble, watch TV and eat pizza - a good fun girls night in. Diana headed off and I stayed awake until 5.30am when i decided to go and find a doctor - really not well. When I got out of the cab at
the other end I took off my gloves (the beautiful ones Shelley loaned me) to pay the driver and didn´t realise I didn´t have them until the cab had gone! Sorry Shelley, I will replace them :(

I came back at 9am with a perscription and some supplies and crashed, not waking until 6pm! I missed my only full day in New York!! So I got dressed (incl. long johns, very cold!) and grabbed a cab down to Macy´s, a department store ´so big it has it´s own visitor´s centre´! Not too much interesting, just like David Jones, so I headed off wandering down broadway and found some souvineers and a make up store - then back to the hotel for a hot choc and even more TV (this trip I´ve watched more TV than in 6 months at home in Aus!).

The next day I managed to actually see one major attraction, the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Huge, amazing, you could spend days and days there! I focused on the art of South East Asia and felt more at ease and calm after I´d spent some time with Bhudda - lots of Khmer art, from the pre- and Angkor periods, as well as from Vietnam, Burma, Thailand. The only dissapointing thing was that all of the other countries were recognised separately, except Cambodia - I think I´ll write a polite email and let someone know... The other main exhibition I spent time at was a spanish exhibition displaying works from the likes of Picasso and Dali - great seeing those famous works for real.

That afternoon I wandered back to the hotel in the snow, bought another camera lens (macro & fish eye), a filter and some batteries, then set off for the airport for the next leg of the journey... Argentina!!