NYC - Day 5

Today we were meant to go to The Statue Of Liberty. The plan was that we get up, go get some breakfast, then quickly go to the Skechers shop because they had a weekend-only 20% discount.

Another thing was that my Macbook's laptop decided to break while we're here. A few days ago it decided to shut down while still about 25% charged. I thought nothing of it and carried on but it started happening again and again. I took the battery out and for some reason it had a big bulge in it, as if something had swollen up. So I thought I'd take it to The Apple Shop (any excuse!) to see if it was still under warranty.

So we needed to buy some Skechers, sort out the Mac's battery, drop our stuff back at the hotel, and go to Liberty Island.

We got in to Times Square around 10:30 and just sat in a random cafe and had some bagels and coffee. Then we went to the Skechers shop, I had already decided what shoes I wanted from a previous visit (Some green and blue and orange and white and gold and navy trainers! Seriously, the look great! Picture later on), and Kelly got some nice trainers that don't need laces (they have elastic bands across them). My trainers aren't actually Skechers, they're something else called "Avirex", just as American though. We both also got some slippers.

It was off to The Apple Shop next, and I showed them the battery. Strangely enough they didn't think I had dropped it or something, seeing that it had a big bulge in it. Apple give a one year warranty with their stuff, so I was worried I was past that. Luckily, my warranty expired on the 25th of April!! So, the battery chose a great time (and place!) to break, just 3 days before I would have had to pay $120 for a new one.

We got back to the hotel at around 2ish, dropped our stuff and freshened up to go out again. I checked the guide book to see how we could get to The Statue, and it turns out you can only get there by Ferry, and the last one each day was 15:30! If we had rushed we might have gotten there on time (it's at the very bottom of Manhattan, and we're near the very top). For a city where shops and restaurants stay open till 1am, and the metro runs 24 hours a day, it's really odd that their ferry service to a major tourist attraction actually operates "British" hours!

With the Statue Of Liberty plans out of the window, we went to Macy's quickly instead. I needed a pair of jeans (I came here with a single pair of tatty jeans that had a hole in them!). We zipped in and out of Macy's, mainly because it was an amazing shop, huge, full of everything, cheap-ish, and we could have stayed there for hours!
Then we went to eat at TGI Friday's on Times Square. That was a disappointment, not because of the food (OK, nothing amazing), but the service was really bad and the food took ages to come out. Not just for us, but every other table on our floor (it's a 4 storey restaurant!).

Now, on our way out from the cinema a few days ago, we spotted something called Dave and Busters. It's an odd mix of an amusement arcade, a bar, and a restaurant. It looked cool so we went there after Friday's and sat at the bar, watching baseball (!!) and we had a couple of cocktails.

I was waiting for it to get dark to take some pictures, so as we left the bar it was nearly dark, so we went to the Junior's Bakery (a small side of the main Junior's restaurant, sells coffee and cheese cake). I had a coffee and a plain cheese cake. Kelly had a coffee and a "Devil's Food" cheese cake. Her slice was so big and heavy, I had to take a quick snap of it, with Kelly's hand by the side for scale :)

Finally, it had gotten dark by then so we wandered around the square taking tons of pictures of all the lights and buildings. Most of the night shots end up being deleted, either because of a really bright light ruining them, or bluriness, or bad exposure etc. I tend to set the camera to take 6 continuous shots rapidly, that way there's always one of the shots that looks acceptable.

Tomorrow: Statue of Liberty, Little Italy, and SoHo (South of Houston Street, got some nice shops apparently).

I leave you (at last!) with some of the pictures :)

The Averix


Devil's Food Cheese Cake (Bigger than Kelly's hand!!)


Toys 'R' Us (That big display changes periodically! and if you look carefully, you'll see some of the spokes of the big wheel ride inside!)


Times Square Subway station (those letters are glittery gold and move about)


Broadway