#joyinthebigapple

The weekend arrived, as it does weekly, and I went for brunch with many a Mountbatten to a place that did 20 dollar brunch (absolutely unheard of and it was solid too). 

We went of hair of the dog – I have got to stop going to hair of the dog, then moved our way to Brooklyn to a place called Berry Park, which provided a fabulous fabulous view of the Manhattan skyline (it never gets old).

We then moved onto another bar, which turned out to be a gay bar, and there was a show. The guy/gal in the show had absolutely amazing legs, we were all in awe. I then headed home as I quite wanted to go back to DUMBO on Sunday to see a colleague’s show and also the photography display and the art festival going on there.

Which is exactly what Laura and I did. Some of the art was a little wacky for us, although a lot of it was incredibly meaningful.

I love dumbo and I love art and it was sunny so the whole day was great. 

We also booked tickets to go see pretty much Laura’s all time favourite band, You Me at Six. I am yet to be persuaded they’re fabulous, but wouldn’t be one to turn down live music so bought a pity ticket ;) Nothing much happened during that week. Loz and I went for a Mexican on Thursday. We both ate a LOT. The hunger came quickly and we ordered a shared starter, and then we ordered mains. I got nachos and didn’t even nearly finish them. But have decided the place was amazing and will definitely take people there when they come to visit … the sangria was really really tasty. quaffable, as mum would say. On friday night Loz and I just picked up a HUGE bottle (or two) of wine and played music loudly in our flat, had a listen along. We were gonna make fajitas but got distracted by chips and guacamole. Yet still drank wine. There was a house party upstairs which we went to for a while. Called it a night pretty early cos the next day we were returning to the 20 dollar brunch place before doing a rather epic pub crawl…

Turns out, unsurprisingly, we were quite hungover on saturday morning. But the God known as Eddie the housemate went out on a bagel run and got everyone (we were all suffering) bagels from down the road. Flat out the best bagel i’ve ever had (except when I came to NYC for the first time, mum will know the ones). 

Issues was it was HUGE. And we were going to brunch. And I was hungover. Took me a while to get into brunch, and I wasn’t in any way hungry. However, I took one for the team and powered through. We moved onto the pub crawl. There are a chain of pubs in manhattan who’s titles are along the lines of ‘Hair of the Dog’, ‘Down the Hatch’, ‘Three Sheets Saloon’ and another one…and some others as well. Regardless, this required us to go to four of them (the three i mentioned and the one whose name i’ve forgotten). It was not messy until it was messy. And then it was messy. Loz, Rachael and Dan were not tired. At all. The people on the PATH train found it hilarious (as did I). 

The following day we pretty much just wondered around the mall, watched the film Gone Girl (IT IS AMAZING. Does the book justice I think, films always miss things out but it did bloomin’ well) and then made fajitas and sat at a table. It was almost like a Sunday roast, minus the roast. We then bought tickets to watch BASTILLE. WHUUUUUUUUUUT. YES. YES. YES. YES. YES. I REPEAT. YES. The week then moved bloody slowly until Bastille arrived on thursday. They.Were.Amazing. Bah. I love Bastille as it is, but they are phenomenal live.

The only thing that brought it down was the venue. It was at Radio City, usually the venue for the dancing group The Rockettes, so it was seated. To be honest, Laura and I just wanted to get up and have a dance, felt a bit awkward sitting down. Safe to say we got up at the end when Flaws, Get Home, Of The Night and Pompeii in a row at the end….So.Good. Friday was a quiet one for us, welcoming in the long weekend in style. Saturday was a catch up on sleep, skype, and me time, with a trip to the mall. We did partake in something called a ‘Pot Dinner’ where we all bring a pot of something.

Turns out we’re not known for our prowess in the kitchen. Loz and Rachael made cookies and sweet potato fries…We put them to cook on foil because we had no grease proof paper. Safe to say the majority of them burnt on the bottom. The majority of the gluten free ones were okay…the double chocolate chip were a) incredibly burnt on the bottom and b) SOLID. ROCK HARD SOLID. I died. RIP ME. I died (see https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kGVg6gjBJ2w for this reference). 

We didn’t realise this until we got to the party and had one before everyone else. Swiftly attempted to hide them but they eventually became the mockery of the night (it was very funny). It was BYOB. And we all know how that ends. Sunday was a casual day, I made stir fry and skyped a lot of people. Monday, Laura and I had the day off, for Columbus day (hmmmm, just grateful for the day off). We were FABULOUS New Yorkers. Went to the Natural History Museum. Which was AWESOME.

Saw a blue wale (stuffed…) and it was huge. I still cannot grasp how large it was. I don’t understand how it fits in the ocean (no one comment, I know the ocean is a large large place. BUT IT WAS HUGE).

We then wandered around central park and found a waffle van. Mmmmmmmm. They were really healthy waffles….ahem. um. hmmmmm. I’ve never properly been in Central Park (I’ve been to the zoo and been on a horse and carriage ride), it’s lovely. We went up Belvedere Castle, which gave a beautiful view of the park and made me feel like Rapunzel. Let down your hair!!!

It was also really warm. I thought it was going to be cool; it wasn’t cool in any way shape or form. A jumper was a bad choice. MILK WAS A BAD CHOICE (10 points if you get the reference, good luck mum). We then walked back over Brooklyn bridge, have to say it was a tad crowded….A bicycle nearly killed me once or twice (okay, I’m being melodramatic, calm down), but some of the views were fabulous. I really loved how you could look through modern steel girders and out onto the calm(ish) water. Was well pretty innit. 

  Once I’d returned to Manhattan madness I made my way uptown to midtown, lololol, to meet Anna, Sara and Dan for drinks (and eventually food) on a rooftop bar. It was great fun and in no way at all did we rack up a massive tab (which once split was manageable, but still, WHUT). We had beergaritas, where they plonked a corona in your drink (don’t knock it till you’ve tried it kids), and jugs of normal margaritas. It was fabulous.

(sara's photo)

After the bar and passing out at the bill, I ummmm….it all got a bit hazy just then. But we went to Hair of the Dog and then back up to Brass Monkey. I still had my big camera in my bag wrapped up in socks, so called it a night around 1am, aww yeah I’m pretty sure I did well.

The following day Dan and I went to Central Park Zoo because Dan had a corporate pass, so we got in for free. We saw sea lions, Red Pandas (GOOGLE THEM NOW).

The back of a Red Panda, they weren't very sociable when we went....

We also saw many a snake and penguin and then a snow leopard. It was nice to go but made me sad because they all had such small enclosures, and Mr. Snow Leopard looked so grumpy.

Dan then got dragged into a street dance show ‘we need a white guy’ and then pulled him from the audience. Yes it was as funny (and borderline racist) as it sounds.

We then grabbed some food and then headed back to NJ. 

ALAS. NO. It turned out we had got the LAST train going into Manhattan from NJ. So despite that fact that it was probably a mile or two at most from where we were in NYC to home, we had an absolute nightmare getting back home. We went up to Penn station, out to Newark, changed at Newark for another train, changed again and FINALLY got home three hours later….safe to say I needed to pee. 

The PATH train being down led to havoc the next day when we all wanted to commute into NYC. Anyone who wanted to go to 33rd street had to go via the World Trade Centre train and then get the subway up to wherever you wanted to go. This got expensive fast, and annoying even faster. It was down for a total of three days and BOY the complaining was worse than when it rains for more than a solid two weeks in Manchester. There was one point where they said it would be down ‘indefinitely’ and I nearly lost my shit. Pardon my French. But I did. It is the ONLY logistically sensible way to get from Jersey to NYC. I am not taking a 9 dollar per trip ferry from miles away. No. Sorry Mountbatten that is not going to happen. Ah, all dem feels.

Wednesday evening I met up with Anna in Brooklyn (DUMBO again, cos it’s amazing) and we planned to go to this amazing photography show. Alas, we turned up and it was closed on Wednesdays…whoops. However, there was some incredible street art around, there was a suspicious Banksy which we decided wasn't a Banksy because it was pealing off the wall...

There was also some more legit street art too. 

We also enjoy an absolutely stunning sunset within the streets of Brooklyn Heights and down by Pier 5, where we found a rooftop bar (as usual) and enjoyed a truly splendid view of the sunset over Manhattan.

Eventually made our way very slowly back from DUMBO to home. It was a stunning evening, and do not worry. We returned later that week for the photography show. Over and out for now.