My plans for a cruise around Manhattan and to Ellis Island didn’t pan out as planned due to it raining all day. There were a couple of specific things I wanted to buy so this seemed the best time to do it, and get completely wet in the process. 
The streets were strangely quiet this morning, I’m not sure if it was due to being Sunday morning or September 11 events but it soon livened up to the normal clog of cars.
Such a mix of buildings here, and they seem to be very good at preserving the older buildings, just building over top of them.
Unmistakeable New York
My first stop was to B&H Photo which is a hell of a lot larger than I had imagined. It is huge and spread over two floors with everything you could want for photographing and filming.
There was a weird rattling sound when I went in and I realised that just below the ceiling was a conveyor belt system all over with green plastic tubs racing along them. When you buy something from the many many counters they put your stuff into a tub and give you a docket. You then go and pay for your gear and they get it from the tub that has been delivered to the checkouts. I was so tempted to go mad at the Canon booth but held off, four cameras on this trip is more than enough. I restrained myself to a bit that broke when I dropped it in DC and a stick that was taken by security going in to Disneyland for the third day. Not sure why it wasn’t a security risk the first two days but it was only $15 and that was cheaper than having to walk all the way back to the hotel just to drop it off (that was 6 cities and three weeks ago!)
They didn’t just have drones - they had submarine drones!
By this time it was close to lunch and I found a Deli looking place called The Times Eatery.
Now this is a corned beef sandwich.
Just around the corner I came across Carlo’s Bakery (of Cake Boss fame) and had to give it another go.
Mmmm, cake.
A variety of things, and not a custard square in sight. These crazy Americans.
The infamous cannolis! I decided to try one again to see if was better being fresher than the Vegas one.
A chocolate cannoli please. Chocolate? Yes, chocolate.
This is not a chocolate cannoli. The giveaway is the complete lack of chocolate.
Nope, just as odd as the Vegas one (the cannoli, not me).
The cream in the middle was like chalky paste and wasn’t very flavourful.
I also need a haircut.
A bit of Times Square in the rain. And despite empty promises, there are no white chocolate M&Ms here.
One of the other things I wanted to get was a New York Yankees shirt (which they confusingly call a jersey despite not being anything like a jersey and being completely like a shirt, to the point of actually being a shirt). I went to the MLB store that had plenty of Yankees gear and probably all the other teams as well, they seemed to have lots of other colours. The entire point of this was so I can go to the Yankees game next week and pretend to look like I belong and are not completely out of my depth.
With watching Rugby at a pub or at a game I always get some anorak next to me wanting to talk about the technical points of an off-side decision. They usually give up after I refer to the wickets, ask which over they are on and complain about the goalie not being anywhere near the hoop but here people can be armed so I really don’t want to upset too many of them, so if I camouflage myself maybe they will leave me alone. I’ll probably end up sitting in the Red Sox section and people from Boston aren’t known for their friendly rivalries. Anyway, I got myself a “jersey” and refrained from gasping “HOW MUCH” at the checkout. A “fuck me” did escape my lips though.
If you look closely you can see the guy standing in the middle of the fountain. I was ready to capture the moment he got caught by the water jets but sadly he was too nimble. The last time here at 30 Rock it was a cloudy day so I’ll wait for a blue sky so I can get the Empire State Building photo in sunshine.
After heading back to the hotel for a breather and to dry off I headed down to the World Trade Centre and the 9/11 Memorial.
It was so moving to see all the names again, especially on this day and to see all the flowers and flags.
There was a heavy police presence here, which was mostly reassuring.
I visited the Apple Store in the nearby mall, but didn’t buy anything having been fleeced enough paying extortionate prices for one day.
The Cult of Apple indoctrination session didn’t seem to be going so well. I could only see two people actually paying attention to the earnest tutor, explaining the basics of using a Apple Pencil. Yes, the point of the Apple Pencil is that it works just like a pencil but nonetheless he was going to tell them about it!
I was so happy to see that the lady in red was reading a book, anarchy at the altar of Apple!
I managed to make my way down to the floor of the WTC mall (or Oculus as they call it) without killing myself or anyone else. That’s because so many shitgibbons were standing on the stairs taking photos of themselves with the US flag in the background. You are on stairs, if someone bumps you, you are going to fall down a lot of stairs and every one will hurt.
I wasn’t alone in this opinion because a bear of a guy with an amazing Bronx accent shouted “would ya all get off the fucking stairs”, clearing the way.
And of course there is an old church and graveyard right in the middle of the downtown area.
So many trees here, not as many as DC but still a surprisingly large number.
Probably helped here by what they are growing out of.
This is what you get with a chicken Caesar salad (sauce added by me, their plating was generally pretty good before I dicked about with it). I even ate the orange slice in my beer for the vitamins - Blue Moon Belgian White again, my new favourite.
I almost completely disgraced myself. There was a guy sitting at the next table facing me, and when he got his dinner he just looked down at it not moving. I was just about to ask if he was in stunned silence but realised in time he was saying grace. Whoops.
Thunderstorms tomorrow so I don’t think I’ll go to the Statue of Liberty, the enormous large copper lightning magnet. Maybe I’ll go to the Met and see the stuff we missed last time, it’s such a maze there.
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