New York New York!

Surprisingly enough, New York City isn’t that surprising. It’s exactly what it looks like in the movies – crowded, tall and huge. We somehow managed to fit in a lot of different stuff while we were here, most of which was excellent:

New Year’s in Times Square: a crazy, fun experience of serious pop culture. And military songs! also some rather horrific kesha.

Central park: full of snow and ice right now, the park is still crammed with people, vendors and horse and carriages. We visited the beautiful angel Bethesda, tranquil among crowds, before wandering and winding our way south to

Bloomingdales: a particularly glamorous department store landscape, though I resisted the frozen yoghurt to save room for a giant ice-cream sundae at

Dylan’s Candy Bar: a 3-storey shop including cafe and all manner of novelty sweets (chocolate frogs complete with collector’s cards, a bathtub full of gumballs). There were lollies adorning the walls, floors and furniture. We continued the 10yr old’s NYC day with a trip to

FAO Shwartz, a 3 storey toy store that had its own HP section including hats, robes and ties.

we travelled right up the rockefeller centre, after going past the atlas statue. very exciting for us 30rock geeks. also the view was amazing.

The statue of liberty is beautiful, but I’ve had shorter waits for Australian Customs. We stoically agreed to wait 2 hours, and passed the time sampling all the classic vendor foods and watching the squirrels do the same. FOUR HOURS LATER, we boarded a ferry that wasn’t even going to Ellis Island and the museum. The 40 minutes we spent beneath the statue were great, but let the lesson be this: NEVER, and that means NEVER, attempt a statue visit anywhere near a major holiday. It is madness.

The day picked up from there, thank goodness, when we dined at the Hard Rock Cafe in Times Square, seated right below Bob Dylan’s guitar. We couldn’t resist the classic choice of burger, fries and shake, all of which were a great experience.

To thoroughly explore the child’s viewpoint, we then went to the local Toys R Us and had a ride on the indoor Ferris wheel. Ellie very bravely pushed past her fears to climb into the barbie car and ride gently past the 4 levels of the store, a truly precious thing for me to witness.

We have spent this, our last day, in the central park zoo saying hello to the amazing polar bears and sea lions. It was awesome.

So that was NYC, place of so many different madnesses. VERY behind in our blogs, I conclude this the night before we fly from London to Athens. More news soon! (very soon)