It's lovely going to the zoo... (?)

I’m sitting in The Aubergine Café.  I have just finished eating breakfast with the boys and they’ve run across to the Laundromat to see if our washing is ready to be put into the dryer.  It’s about a quarter past 11.  It’s a miracle.  We’re awake and functioning before midday, in fact, we were awake and functioning before 10.  Simply amazing.

Now as I sit here listening to Vivaldi’s Spring, feeling very serene, I’ll tell you all about Tuesday.

If you read my blog about Monday you may feel, as I did, that Tuesday would be something of a write-off.  And to some degree it was, but we still managed to cram in some tourist activity.

We started the… uh… afternoon with breakfast and caught the train to Grand Central Station.  We walked down Madison Avenue and across to 5th towards Central Park.  We went went into Trump Tower again, this time in search of a public bathroom.  The place is a labyrinth.  Everything is mirrored and the escalators and… Look.  I was pretty tired, but I’m still baffled as to why any building not specifically designed to be a carnivalesque “funhouse” would need to be so confusing.

We carried on towards the park.

When we got to Central Park, we found ourselves heading towards the zoo and with an entry fee of only $12 we thought, “Why not? Spontaneous zoo trip.”

We saw sea lions, penguins, puffins, one lonely snow leopard, snow monkeys having a family argument, lots of turtles, and abundance tropical birds, lemurs, and a toucan.

We did not see polar bears or red pandas, and while we searched the tropical enclosure, we could not find the sloth.  We did discover that Josh is actually a snake charmer as he guided a python around its enclosure…  Not to worry, they remained safely on opposite sides of the glass.

While I enjoyed the snow monkeys (and their uncommonly modern, spacious enclosure), Central Park Zoo is mostly sad.  The animals, when visible, don’t look happy or particularly well looked after.

So, after an uninspiring visit to the children’s zoo we went to lie in the shade in Central Park and rest our weary heads.  (A note to travellers everywhere… Avoid the pre-packaged snow cones in Central Park.  They are bitterly disappointing).  Still, it was lovely to lie in the shade of the trees, a gentle breeze blowing and time to rest the eyes and feet.

After an hour or so, we decided to head home for a nap, and after some vague and tired subway hopping and backtracking we fell onto the bed in our room.

The evening consisted of (more) Thai food… (yes, it’s kind of an obsession), and watching Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory and Alice in Wonderland on Justin’s computer.

And it looks like our washing is nearly done.  On with the day!

Love, Jules xx