I don’t think I’ve ever met friendlier people than those in New York.  We stayed at an Airbnb in Brooklyn, took the subway to Manhattan daily, and everywhere we went we were helped, and we needed a lot of help.  It was several days into the visit before I fully understood we were on the subway going ‘Downtown’ to Brooklyn, and ‘Uptown’ meant Manhattan.  I think we only went the wrong way once, so we felt pretty proud of ourselves.

If someone told us where to go, and we began going the wrong way, people would run after us to help.  Once I asked a group of women in the bathroom after a play if anyone knew where the subway station for Brooklyn was, and a super nice woman said she was taking that train so we could accompany her.

We had the hilarious “run as fast as you can” to our connecting flight from Montreal to New York, but we made it, and after that I guess we just gave in to being over-stimulated and decided to do as much as we humanly could.  Both of us said this is likely the last time we’ll see New York City, so let’s try out best.

On our first day we went to the Empire State Building where they have an adorable museum and in one of the areas King Kong lurks outside a corner window, looking in at us menacingly.  For some reason we decided their gift shop would be fun, and both left going why oh why did I spend so much money on junk?

That day we wandered around 5^th Avenue, saw St. Patrick’s Cathedral and also the Rockefeller Centre, then through Central Park so were absolutely exhausted when we got home.  The next days were pretty much the same, Central Park, Times Square and we managed to see four plays: Sweeney Todd, Good Night Oscar, The Book of Mormon and Moulin Rouge.  Not cheap, but really worthwhile.

We spent four hours at the Museum of Natural History one day, and four hours at the Metropolitan Museum of Art the next.  Again, evil gift stores at both museums, and so we both went home with polished rocks, and I got a dinosaur-themed shot glass and a really lovely navy and white dragon-themed bowl at the Met.

One afternoon we met Jerry Jr who lives in Manhattan for a drink.  He met us at the Met and we walked through Central Park and tried to find the most expensive hoity toit bar we could, but were foiled.  We went into the Ritz, didn’t like the atmosphere, then tried the Plaza Hotel, but would’ve had to wait for a table, so we said forget it, and ended up at an Irish Pub where we could throw down drinks and thank the Gaels.

We saw the hilarious Naked Cowboy with his boots and hat playing guitar on Times Square.  I wanted to get a picture with him, but that would’ve meant giving him money and I said to Bev I don’t know where I’d have to stick the cash so I’d rather not.  Also saw a fabulous guy with a giant sign, Hell Is Real.  Bev said yeah, and we’re in it.

On our last day we visited Bev’s friend in Queens, then ended with a tour of the lovely Brooklyn Botanical Garden.  And then, sure as middle-aged stomach fat, we had the heart-stopping “run as fast as you can” to make our tight connection from Montreal to Vancouver.  Whoever plans these must just kill themselves laughing.