The Big Apple

If I said that...

we stayed home...

we didn't hang out with awesome people...

we didn't do fun and interesting things...

Went to bed early...

or that we didn't meet interesting new people,

then I'd be lying, beloved readers, because NYC was awesome!!

The instant that you arrive in New York, you become aware that NYC runs to a definite rhythm which you are either in sync with or not. I think that is why few people are indifferent to New York City; people either love it or hate it. We loved it!

We stayed with Hannah's aunt, Karen who has a beautiful apartment in Soho, Manhattan. We arrived on Friday as she was leaving for a weekend away. We spent our first night tracking down some of legendary NYC pizza. We settled for Lucina in Brooklyn which came highly rated. The pizza was very good, but our ultimate team mate Ryan Thwait's Pringle Bay pizza is better. We met up with Adrienne, Blake, Scotty and Andrew whom we'd met in Nonquitt for a quiet drink which ended at 4am when the bar closed and asked us politely to leave.

Here they are; From left to right, Adrienne, Blake, Hannah, Andrew, Scotty and yours truly.
















Saturday night we hosted the gang over at Karen's house. The gang now included Jared whom we also met in Nonquitt. Readers, meet Jared. Jared, meet the readers.















Everyone survived our vegetarian dinner. Maybe the beers and wine helped. Maybe it was the cheese cake brought by Scotty and Andrew...let me eat cake I say. After dinner, it was off to Mason Dixon for some bull riding; pretty tame stuff.

Then off to Eastern Bloc. Home at 5am.

Sunday night was spend at Cubby Hole, a local Sunday night hang out where the barman, Christov, knows everyone's name. With the big drinks and choose your own music jukebox, it was suddenly 2am. Ooops! It was a school night for some! Sorry Andrew and Scotty!

Karen and Rima invited us to Rima's house for supper on Monday night in Brooklyn. We walked to Brooklyn from Manhatten over the Brooklyn bridge. We had a great supper and met Rima's son, Dan and two of his friends. Dan is, in fact, a rugby player. Yes, rugby is surprisingly popular in the US, but the only cricket you'll find in the US is in the garden.

On Tuesday night, Karen made us family supper. Tuesday night supper is a great tradition in my family. She even bought cow's milk feta as I'm not a fan of goat's milk! Thanks Karen - what a treat!

Thereafter it was Rudy's. We'd hear alot about Rudy's. There is a pink pig outside, cheap pitchers of beer inside and free hotdogs! All the rumours and stories were true - Rudy's was great! We had a customary photo shoot with Rudy (the pig) upon leaving at 3am! Thanks Rudy!

Wednesday night, we had supper with Hannah's dad, Chester and Marianne in their Central Park West apartment which, as the name implies overlooks Central Park. It was a beautiful night and we decided to have supper on the roof. The view was stunning and the food was great!




















On Thursday evening, we met up with Valerie who is Hannah's cousin. We met her in Cape Town when she was touring with Ashford and Simpson earlier this year. It was also September 11th and there were memorials all around the city, including a huge American flag projected onto the side of the Lehman Brother's building near Times square...It was quite incredible being in NYC for September 11 and hearing New Yorker's stories about where they were when the towers fell. You were reminded constantly by the two huge beams of light that shine into the sky where the towers stood.

As Thursday was our last night, we decided to pop in to see Scotty and Andrew. We all met up at a bar close to their house. While we were there, Jared and Sam (another Nonquitt attendee) happened to walk past...on their way... for Sam to get a tattoo! Sam had had a quite life changing day and decided to mark this auspicious occasion, quite literally. Well, we couldn't let him go alone so we went with to lend moral support!

The next day, we caught the Bolt bus (which has free wifi on the bus) to Washington DC for a well earned rest, bathed in the afterglow of NYC...wow, what a city!