Day One: first full day in the apple

Well it wasn’t the best start to the holiday. Heavy rain all day. We felt it would be wrong to stay in doors so we procrastinated for the bulk of the morning then head up 7th towards times square.

No real goal in mind. I was trying to get a prepaid SIM to get the data up and running on the iPhone. It will be invaluable have access to the internet and google maps when we are out an about. But couldn’t find one any where. Going to try best buy tomorrow.

On the the technology front my laptop isn’t working with James router so stuck on the iPad. Gunnar try a few work arounds today but did managed to “get in” to some one else’s modem. Unsecured and modem password set to default. Will leave this as a backup.

Anyway!!!! It was a musical game of dodge the puddles and vertical umbrella ballet as I tried to avoid on coming umbrellas. I didnt have to give way too much so was ok. Bel had on her little flat black shoes, TOTALLY inappropriate for the walk. Needless to say they are trashed she had sore feet. Once we got to times square it was just too nasty (weather that is) to poke around. We ducked into Maceys. I can’t believe how many staff were on the floor, it was amazing. Probably 4 people per square meter. It was quite intimidating and frustrating every few steps to say “no were fine thanks!)

Headed back out into the rain and lunch at some bagel house. Bel decided to hit up a “black angus deluxe cheese burger”, of course I had to have one too. Well….. Bad choice, think of the traditional sloppy Joe, and mine was raw half way thru. The fries looked like they had be recooked about three times. As much as we want to stay away from the main chains like sub way for a quick “know what your getting” lunch in think it is the safest bet.

We headed home and ducked into Whole Foods. This place is awesome! Imagine the love child of Thomas Dux and Harris Farm. I’ll get some photos and video today. Amazing fresh produce and all well priced. Everything from tea, precooked meals, hot soups, fruit and veg, on site bakery, onsite sushi chef – awesome. So we got some basics and head out.

Weather was getting worse. We came back and put the tv on and needless to say crashed on the couch for a few hours. Didn’t want to head out in the rain so I made eggs for dinner washed down with a Italian Pinot grigio. Bloody strange combo I know but hay, what are you going to do.

Went to bed after watching some classic American trash cable programs and was woken by James coming home from work at 2am. I guess the long hours are in the blood.

Today if raining we will head off on the subway to the museums near central park, I’ll track down a sim card and Bels dying to buy a new ipad2.

It’s 9am on Wednesday morning and Bels still asleep and James just woke up. I’ve had my tea (and made them some but it’s cold now) so to brekkie then out.

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We arrived!

Well we made it. The flight from Sydney to Fort Worth Texas was LONG. Some 15 hours. Seats were not too bad, I guess they are never as comfortable as they could be. My legs were folded into many varying pretzel shapes, quite apt as we are in pretzel town.

The biggest gripe was that the inflight entertainment was not working for my seat. So 15 hours without movies was a tad annoying. Thank goodness I had the iPad.

We changed planes in Texas, what a culture shock. Amazingly large airport and when flying in the land was so flat. Not a hill or undulation in sight.

Boarded the last leg on American Airlines flight to Newark airport in New Jersey. Funny….. We had a Cuban David Hasselhoff as the flight attendant. Massive jaw, chewing gum and the hair! My goodness what a do.

It was a relatively short hop of 2hrs 30min. After we had retrieved our bags and acclimatized to the sticky humid air at 9pm we got our “town car” to take us to James place. Nice bloke with a very thick New Jersey accent. He asked us where we were from and was surprised to find out we were Aussies, thought we were Poms.

Once in and reunited with Brother we went to a little restaurant called la singe vert at 160 7th Avenue New York,and sat out on the street. I had a baked chicken with beans, spuds and confit garlic whilst Bel had a fillet mignon. Wasn’t too expensive, my main was $20 and Bels $39 ( there she goes already…… Overspending on the first meal! ;) )

Came home, made up the bed and crashed. However here I am at 4am typing this as I can’t get back to sleep. Let’s see what tomorrow, I mean today, brings.

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