21st July 2016

Today was our last full day in NYC. By this point we were pretty tired after ten full on days trekking around doing about 22-26,000 steps a day. (Thanks Fitbit!).

Today was Ju’s day to be Grumpy Face. It was really bad guys.

We started with an early alarm so we could start packing up (boooo) and do a last load of laundry before heading onto our next stop, Vegas. Thank god our room had a Nespresso machine…I basically married that thing.

We loved Jack’s Wife Freda so much yesterday we headed down there again today, and gobbled down a yummy brekkie.

Then we wandered around Soho again, shopping, buying clothes and shoes.

By this point we’d figured enough stuff had been bought that we may need a new suitcase to bring it all home. Sooooo…we did our third visit to a Century 21!!

We wandered around trying to find luggage in amongst the five levels and two split adjacent levels, and by this time Juju had officially come out as Over It. We ended up getting lost from each other when we consulted a map to get to the loos, and to this day, I STILL don’t know what happened. I literally turned around and Ju and ghosted like Jason Bourne and she was gone. I couldn’t even see her head bobbing along in any direction. This one required a phone call and some texts. Which in retrospect are very funny. Poor Ju though, she was not having fun.

We stopped by Shake Shack for a n o t h e r burger and fries (so obsessed) and then trailed home with our suitcase.

So yeah did I mention Ju was tired and over it by now? She was doing the Royal Performance of Juita Is Unhappy.

We had a little rest at home, and after some serious cajoling, bribes and threats of regret I got her back outside so we could check out the Highline. It was something that was always on our priority list and I knew we’d regret it if we didn’t just pull finger and get it done.

So, the story ends on a happy note, but before we get there it took a wee detour on the peak hour subways. It is almost as handsy as being at a club. I seriously had a guy rubbing his nether regions up my back whilst I got to sniff into another guys armpit. It was horrible. And we had to do transfers onto another subway, and it was all hot and sticky and almost too much to handle.

We finally made it to the Highline, and it was so worth it. As soon as we started walking along it, we were both oohing and aahing over everything. And once you walk around to the west/sea side you get a beautiful cooling breeze which was like little puffs of heaven sent refreshments.

Oh, and we also spotted a sign warning people about panhandlers posing as monks. It had a pic of our friend and the golden ticket on it…just to formally hammer the final nail into the coffin of our dignity.

The Northern end of the Highline is the most recent part to open, and there were people there still planting things. It very quickly finishes up, and then you’re in the heart of Garment District on 34th Street.

We decided we may as well just walk through town back to ours…but of course we stopped off at some shops and next minutes shoes had been bought. Multiple shoes. Buy one get one half price – it’s a steal!!

We finally made our way to a Macy’s, but other than Juju having a look for her Birthday Bag, we were a bit tired and over it all to really appreciate the shopping, so we kinda just made our way home.

I had declared that for my last meal in NYC I wanted to have pasta. So after some research we came across this place called Eataly. It’s kinda like a Elliot Stables crossed with the Italian equivalent of La Cigale, and then made all fancy and posh.

Unfortunately we didn’t get there until 9.50, and stupidly thought we could walk straight into a table. But no, there’s always a waiting list.

To make it even more stressful, the place we wanted to eat at closed at 11.00, but did their last seating at 10.30, so they were saying to us and the other 20 or so people that turned up around the same time, that a table wouldn’t be guaranteed.

They also couldn’t call overseas numbers. So with a ‘check back in 10-15mins’ conclusion we hesitatingly wandered off to make a Plan B.

The problem with Plan B, is it wouldn’t include the ricotta and spinach ravioli that Ju wanted.

So we decided to lurk in the aisles surrounding the front desk and pounce at the very mumur of my name, or if anyone got in before us.

Luckily we managed to get a table after eagle eying the host, and we sat down to Strawberry Bellinis, paper wrapped bread and olive oil, and then onto the main affair…PASTA!!

It was soooooo good, and the perfect end to our 10 days in NY.

We cabbed back, did some more packing and then set the alarm for a painful 5.30am start tomorrow. Yuck!

Tashy. xx