Well, New York has turned out to be this amazing city and provided 10 days of gourmet delis/bakeries, dining in romantic restaurants/bars, exploring alleyways and finding unexpected shops of all kinds, beautiful parks to sit and people watch and draw amazing sculptures and basically keep our hearts beating an extra beat every second with all the sirens and car horns bleeping loudly. Whether you are in a cab or crossing a pedestrian it is a hair-raising experience!

Gosh! I don’t even know where to start…we’ve been pounding the pavement and walking everywhere averaging 7hrs and 20,000 steps according to my pedometer. I’m keeping slim and trim and don’t feel so bad when I eat a pastry from the french patisserie, drink my lattes and wines and nibble on gourmet cheeses from the local delis. If New York could be described as one word…it would be food! I’ve never seen so many options and the big thing over here is chop! chop! salads. It’s like theater or pulling teeth eventually when they finally hand over your salad which has been chopped to death but oh! my! tastes fantastic!

After our 2 hour walk through Central Park, we bought dinner and bagels from Dean & Deluca – a well known Italian deli on Madison Avenue and figured its the one thing we can afford as we walked past the beautiful shops with the beautiful people and their children dressed to the max! Even the dogs were matching the kids….mmmm…that is a worry!! There was one restaurant we would pass every night and it was like a scene out of a fashion shoot for Ralph Lauren. No joke. Only the beautiful All American chiseled and blonde could wine/dine at this ‘popular – LOOK AT ME’ spot.

This town has all sorts – tall, skinny, fat, short, joggers (some in tracky dacks and others in the latest nike flouro slim runners and matching their partners outfits of course!), dogs in prams, freshly clipped poodles on steroids and a naked old lady in Times Square – save for a few twirly stars/stripes sequined bits to cover the gravity defied components which I won’t go into! and so much more.

We went to the MET yesterday and spent 8 and 1/2 hours exploring this super huge museum along with 2000 others. It was 3 levels and covered 3 city blocks hence the reason we stayed all the day. We think the trick is to break up the day and with 2 solid breaks it made it so much easier to take it all in. We went to one floor which was a storage room and it went on and on and on – ceramics, glass, silverware, furniture, paintings and so on. There were levels where they recreated a room from a palace or villa from Europe which allowed people the chance to still experience renaissance France without having to fly out of the country. I sat and drew in part of the American Wing and for an hour listened to people’s conversations without them knowing and soaked up the atmosphere – another nice way of experiencing a museum. However, my feet started to tap and it was time to check out more galleries…ceramics, glass, American Art, photography and it just kept going. Thankfully, we took a break @ 4.30pm and headed to the Balcony Bar when a quartet (minus 1) played the most beautiful classical music with a contemporary edge while we drank our wine and chilled till just after 6pm. We did a bit more gallery looking and then finally checked out the MET shop. But it was all books…too heavy to bring home as Adam has already bought a couple of heavy catalogues…but we did manage an anniversary present for moi! A beautiful necklace which has lapis blue and gold settings based on the art deco period. A perfect end to a perfect day xx

We walked the Brooklyn Bridge from end to end and return and started with stormy cold weather which quickly changed to steamy, hot weather. We’ve been so lucky with the weather as we’ve had a late summer burst and only one day of rain and a drizzly day – but nothing to stop us from checking out the culture and vibe of each neighborhood.

While Laura and I shopped/sipped champagne and talked non-stop in Brooklyn and Williamsburg, Adam did entertain himself at the Intrepid Sea, Air and Space Museum. He spent a couple of hours checking out a big great war canoe (built in WWII, which also saw action in Vietnam). On the deck, Adam was excited to see a Harrier jump jet, tomcat – a lah Tom Cruise in Top Gun, a Leggo scale model of the ship, an SR71 blackbird, an Avenger from WWII, a Seaking helicopter and many more big boy’s toys!

Ooh! and I must tell this story..I bought lunch at Murray’s Cheeses – an institution of it’s own. They have communal tables and this older Italian guy sits next to me and says “Can you look after my balls?”. I double-look at him and say “Sure!”.  He disappears and I check his balls – 2 x risotto balls!! Heh! Heh! He comes back and with a quick wink and flick of my hair I say “I didn’t touch your balls but they are safe!!”. We end up having a great conversation and flirt away. He has a wedding ring and so do I and it’s all quite innocent. Gotta love New York.

Ooh! Miss Liberty…I can’t remember if I mentioned her in last blog? So here she is. On a stormy, overcast day which fits in well with the day being the same when she was opened in October 1886. Finally, we will always remember New York especially to celebrate our 6th Wedding Anniversary – may we always travel and photograph our way through the cities while still loving each other (even if we have a few tiffs along the way!!).