In a New York state of mind...

Friday… This is when I started thinking about where I was three weeks ago, when I was just getting ready to leave Brisbane.  It’s amazing how much can change in three weeks.  Thoughts, feelings, attitudes, beliefs, opinions… Teeth.  I guess, when one second can change everything, a period of three weeks actually consists of 1 814 400 potentially life-changing moments.  That said, a lot of things stay the same too.

I started to feel, as I moved towards my last weekend in New York, that even though it feels like I’ve been here for a minute, it also feels like I’ve been away from home for…  Well, to prevent myself from sounding even more over-dramatic, I’ll just say… A really long time.

And that’s more than enough musing on the passage of time.

On Friday, we continued our (brief) tradition of eating breakfast at home.  First stop was Bryant Park where we went to have a look around the New York Public Library.  Mostly, we wandered aimlessly for a while, until we found out that the original toys that inspired A.A Milne’s Winnie the Pooh stories were on display in the children’s centre.  So we took the time to visit Pooh Bear and his pals.

We made our way down 5^th pausing at a few stores (including another Barnes & Noble… Obsessed with books).  We were on our way to Central Park when we decided we should buy ourselves some Pret sandwiches and have a picnic.  And that’s exactly what we did.  We found a pretty, shady spot overlooking Bethesda and sat eating our lunch and reading our new books.  Perfection.

We set off to explore, wandering past the boathouse, and down to a body of water where people sail their model boats.  We saw part of an episode of Curb Your Enthusiasm being shot and stopped to look at statues of Hans Christen Anderson and Alice in Wonderland.

Exiting the park we bough soft-serve from an ice-cream truck.  I had sprinkles and Josh had choc-dipped.  We ate these on the steps of The Met so we could feel like we were in Gossip Girl.  (Yes, it was very important that we did this).  Onward up Museum Mile we found The Guggenheim and then went back in to view a really beautiful part of the park, which I found out (again, post-visit) is the Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis Resevoir.  We stood for a while overlooking the massive expanse of water as the sun went down over the buildings on the opposite side of the park. 

Feeling it was time to rest, we caught the subway from Lexington back to Bryant Park.  We sat for a while and then went to have a few drinks at an open-air bar in the southwest corner of the park, aptly named, Southwest Porch.  The wine was less than perfect, but the atmosphere absolutely made up for it.  


After having my ID checked by a bartender much younger than myself (a good laugh was had), Joshie and I found ourselves a swinging seat, the kind you might find on a front porch… Hence the name of the place.  So we sat with our drinks, compulsively swinging, and catching a glimpse of our future…  (Apparently, in the future, we’re sitting on the porch swing together and I’m testing Josh on musical theatre trivia).

Not realising how late it had become (around 10pm), we went to Times Square to take some pictures of the lights and have some dinner.  We ate at Junior’s where we both started falling asleep at the table.  So, once again promising to eat less tomorrow, we fell onto the subway attached to one iPod and made our way home.

Lots of love, Jules xx