Finally, the five days here in New York have come to a close, and I am back in the hostel preparing for my early start tomorrow morning for Boston.
The last couple of days have been less 'touristy', with yesterday being designated boredom day for me. Kate wanted a day of shopping and who was I to deny a bargain-hungry shopaholic?
So we visited all the retail highlights- which were 'enthralling'. Macy's, H & M and no end of handbag shops were our stops. In the end, however, it was me who spent more, stocking up on pants and socks and replacing my battered, tatty old shoes with a cheap replacement.
Today was more exciting. We stayed in one place- Central Park. The area is quite substantial, but we made a good effort to cover it all. I had the summer feeling, with the sun beating down, roller disco happening on the main promenade, and the sound of children's laughter throughout as they swung on swings, ran everywhere and played football with their adoring parents.
To try and take in as much of the park as possible, Kate and I opted to hire bicycles for an hour. We managed to cover the whole bike-track in the park, atop strange 'cruiser' cycles. They took some getting used to as the brakes were not on the handlebars, but to slow down you basically cycled backwards.
As we haven't exercised in what must be months, we were readily exhausted at the end of the cycle route. That didn't stop us having a mandatory break at Starbucks, and then (slowly) edging back down the fourty-odd blocks to our hostel.
We stopped off a what was advertised as "the best burger place in New York", and it seemed so!Brgr was a diner-type place, which promoted clean, local produce and tasted great!
I have to admit that I have had enough of the non-stop nature of New York now. The food is great, and the sights are fantastic. Could I live here? No. It does get frustrating that you can't walk in a straight line down the road; you are constantly dodging tourists, artists shoving their CDs in your face, promotion workers asking you endlessly if you like comedy and free beer, beggars asking for spare change; and on top of that always keeping an eye on your wallet to see if it is still there. If the amount of sights to see don't get you tired, then all the extra bother will!
I'm looking forward to Boston now. It is a little quieter, a little more pictureque, and hopefully the sun will keep on shining!
The last couple of days have been less 'touristy', with yesterday being designated boredom day for me. Kate wanted a day of shopping and who was I to deny a bargain-hungry shopaholic?
So we visited all the retail highlights- which were 'enthralling'. Macy's, H & M and no end of handbag shops were our stops. In the end, however, it was me who spent more, stocking up on pants and socks and replacing my battered, tatty old shoes with a cheap replacement.
Today was more exciting. We stayed in one place- Central Park. The area is quite substantial, but we made a good effort to cover it all. I had the summer feeling, with the sun beating down, roller disco happening on the main promenade, and the sound of children's laughter throughout as they swung on swings, ran everywhere and played football with their adoring parents.
To try and take in as much of the park as possible, Kate and I opted to hire bicycles for an hour. We managed to cover the whole bike-track in the park, atop strange 'cruiser' cycles. They took some getting used to as the brakes were not on the handlebars, but to slow down you basically cycled backwards.
As we haven't exercised in what must be months, we were readily exhausted at the end of the cycle route. That didn't stop us having a mandatory break at Starbucks, and then (slowly) edging back down the fourty-odd blocks to our hostel.
We stopped off a what was advertised as "the best burger place in New York", and it seemed so!Brgr was a diner-type place, which promoted clean, local produce and tasted great!
I have to admit that I have had enough of the non-stop nature of New York now. The food is great, and the sights are fantastic. Could I live here? No. It does get frustrating that you can't walk in a straight line down the road; you are constantly dodging tourists, artists shoving their CDs in your face, promotion workers asking you endlessly if you like comedy and free beer, beggars asking for spare change; and on top of that always keeping an eye on your wallet to see if it is still there. If the amount of sights to see don't get you tired, then all the extra bother will!
I'm looking forward to Boston now. It is a little quieter, a little more pictureque, and hopefully the sun will keep on shining!
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