New York, New York Part 2

13th October
The previous day we had booked our tickets for Top of the Rock so that we could beat the the line at 8am. It was relatively chilly in Manhattan although it was predominately due to the weather change. For the previous few weeks, Atlanta had been averaging at around 24 degrees celsius and sunny and when we arrived in Manhattan, it was around 15 degrees which was considerably cooler.

I really liked this photo. I really did. Until Sunbear pointed it out that he looked as though he was decapitated. Now I can't unsee.

Soup to keep warm and a super, super dry sandwich

Childhood dream of visiting this statue

Afterwards, we visited Central Park and walked 3/4 of the length of the park, from 59th street all the way down to 97th street. It was a bit surreal being there, I guess it is because I have seen so many scenes from both movies and television shows that had been filmed there. From Home Alone to Enchanted. I am certain that when we walked under one of the bridges used in Enchanted, I was grinning.

We ended up napping outside on the lawn near the Met for around 2 hours unintentionally. Afterwards, we caught the subway back down to Chelsea to visit the Highline. As it was a Saturday, it was incredibly crowded, to the point of uncomfortable and we decided to leave it for another day. We walked all the way down to the Financial district, which was a considerable walk.

On the way, we passed by Washington Square Park, NYU, Soho and Little Italy. I purchased a 'bubble' tea for Sunbear, as he had never tried one before. It was interesting to witness him try it for the first time, though I have to admit that I am not the biggest fan of it; I don't like the 'pearls' or tapioca balls.

Stupidly, I had forgotten to plan adequately and wasn't aware that passes were required to visit the World Trade Centre memorial and we didn't end up going (although I went on my second trip to NYC).  We ended up catching the subway back up to central park, with plans to visit the Met however by the time we got there it was closed and pouring with rain.

Sunset - New Jersey

On a bit of a tangent. Travelling with someone is challenging and I honestly believe it is the best way to test a friendship/ relationship. Even though I thought that I knew him pretty well, I realised that I didn't and it was, at points, aggravating to be stuck with someone for so many hours a day. It really does test the bond, and I believe it either makes it or breaks it. This wasn't just based on this experience, but when I visited New Orleans and listening to two other people talk about their experiences of travelling with supposed close friends. Day 1 was not too bad but this day was almost unbearable at some moments. There were many parts of our relationship that, in hindsight, seemed as though it was from a scene of a movie. Our first kiss, our first 'date', just a lot of little things. The breaking point was when we were yelling on the steps of the Met, in the pouring rain (which by the way is not as glamorous as it sounds. Rain is wet {no shit sherlocks} and uncomfortable).




After our dramatic fight, we went wandering around the Upper East Side in our drenched clothing whilst it was still pouring, and desperately tried to find a place to eat. We stumbled upon this diner and the name escapes me. The burger was good and the rice pudding was as well. I guess food tastes better after a fight that has been resolved.