Well, its about time I finished off the October 2007 report-my half of the story anyway. You will have by now all read Grumps scribblings, its time to fill in the gaps, as it were.
We have pretty much covered the first few days, so lets just recap:
A Lovebug infestation waiting for the Disney buses? Check
Mary J Blige and U2 shrieking at us on every journey in place of driver banter? Check
The Magic Kingdom full of pumpkins and weird scarecrows? Check
Shopping trip with trainers and Stitch merchandise in place of an empty credit card? Check
The main part of the holiday was our trip to New York, and I know a few of you-including Lexie32 want a bit more detail about this chunk of the trip, so here goes.
DAY 1of NYC
The flight from Orlando to Newark was a scant couple of hours, no telly but that didnt matter as I had a couple of days to write up in diary. Before we knew it, we were landing. Luckily we didnt have to wait very long for our cases and our transfer to Manhattan, and the Pennsylvania Hotel-right opposite Maddison Square Garden. This may sound an expensive place to stay, but the hotel is pretty bog standard with huge cell like doors and nasty small tile decaying bathrooms. But as we have always said, a hotel is merely a room to sleep in, and I had plenty of channels on the TV so I was quite happy. Grumpy on the other hand refuses to go back there!
We hit Sbarro just in time for last orders on the buffet breakfast. In hindsight, it may have been a blessing to miss it. Huge clomps of stodge masquerading as bacon and scrambled eggs. I make the mistake of having a coffee, which doesnt sit well in my belly one tiny bit. That discomfort was swiftly quelled however as we set out to explore the City.
I first visited The Big Apple in 1997 and fell in love with the place. I grew up on American comic books, and all the places I had seen in pictures were suddenly real, and this excitement has lasted. Walking along these streets, with the huge skyscrapers and steam coming up from the subway is everything you think its going to be, and I could take several pages to describe the giddy joy I had walking down to Times Square. It was here I had my finest brush with fame.
I am obsessed with Madonna. Wherever we go, I will hunt, bloodhound like, any form of merchandise with her image plastered on it, and I had yet to get the 2008 calendar. Into the Virgin Megastore I go and hunt for said item. There is a man in a black T-shirt, bending down with a basket. He is in his 40s, he has lovely hair. AHA! I thought, theres an assistant I can ask. I am as polite as can be, and my request for the Material Girls dar is met with I dont work here and my next sentence-albeit in my head was Of course you dont, Youre Jon Bon Jovi!!!!!!!!!
I had to verify this with Grumpy. International rock stars are not exactly his forte but even HE knew with a cursory glance that I had indeed just insulted the Livin On A Prayer song smith! I blushed until I almost passed out. But I composed myself and reproached JBJ, apologised for not recognising him and asked if he would have a picture taken. This was mainly because I wanted some kind of proof I had met him, and we could have later poked fun at his lovely eye lift. Not right now he said, determined not to make eye contact. I fled in shame-but at the same time a bit narked I didnt get any kind of souvenir from my encounter. Maybe I should have announced at the top of the escalator that JBJ was downstairs at the gay porn section. But then, that wouldnt have been nice, would it?
The rest of the day was spent mainly saying I dont believe I called Jon Bon Jovi a shop assistant over and over like a bizarre self flagellating mantra, as we track down several Midtown Comicbook stores. Back to the hotel for a sleep, then head out to look into more shops and eat near Central Park.
Then take an amazing bus trip over the Brooklyn Bridge, down to Brooklyn Bay where the view of the lit up City is simply breathtaking. It was also freezing cold, and Grump and I are in T-shirts. We almost bought jumpers at this little ice cream place-but the queue was too long and we would have missed the bus back, so we put our arms inside our T-shirts and hugged ourselves on the journey back!
Collapsed into hotel room and was soon asleep! Coming soon-Day 2 of NYC!!
We have pretty much covered the first few days, so lets just recap:
A Lovebug infestation waiting for the Disney buses? Check
Mary J Blige and U2 shrieking at us on every journey in place of driver banter? Check
The Magic Kingdom full of pumpkins and weird scarecrows? Check
Shopping trip with trainers and Stitch merchandise in place of an empty credit card? Check
The main part of the holiday was our trip to New York, and I know a few of you-including Lexie32 want a bit more detail about this chunk of the trip, so here goes.
DAY 1of NYC
The flight from Orlando to Newark was a scant couple of hours, no telly but that didnt matter as I had a couple of days to write up in diary. Before we knew it, we were landing. Luckily we didnt have to wait very long for our cases and our transfer to Manhattan, and the Pennsylvania Hotel-right opposite Maddison Square Garden. This may sound an expensive place to stay, but the hotel is pretty bog standard with huge cell like doors and nasty small tile decaying bathrooms. But as we have always said, a hotel is merely a room to sleep in, and I had plenty of channels on the TV so I was quite happy. Grumpy on the other hand refuses to go back there!
We hit Sbarro just in time for last orders on the buffet breakfast. In hindsight, it may have been a blessing to miss it. Huge clomps of stodge masquerading as bacon and scrambled eggs. I make the mistake of having a coffee, which doesnt sit well in my belly one tiny bit. That discomfort was swiftly quelled however as we set out to explore the City.
I first visited The Big Apple in 1997 and fell in love with the place. I grew up on American comic books, and all the places I had seen in pictures were suddenly real, and this excitement has lasted. Walking along these streets, with the huge skyscrapers and steam coming up from the subway is everything you think its going to be, and I could take several pages to describe the giddy joy I had walking down to Times Square. It was here I had my finest brush with fame.
I am obsessed with Madonna. Wherever we go, I will hunt, bloodhound like, any form of merchandise with her image plastered on it, and I had yet to get the 2008 calendar. Into the Virgin Megastore I go and hunt for said item. There is a man in a black T-shirt, bending down with a basket. He is in his 40s, he has lovely hair. AHA! I thought, theres an assistant I can ask. I am as polite as can be, and my request for the Material Girls dar is met with I dont work here and my next sentence-albeit in my head was Of course you dont, Youre Jon Bon Jovi!!!!!!!!!
I had to verify this with Grumpy. International rock stars are not exactly his forte but even HE knew with a cursory glance that I had indeed just insulted the Livin On A Prayer song smith! I blushed until I almost passed out. But I composed myself and reproached JBJ, apologised for not recognising him and asked if he would have a picture taken. This was mainly because I wanted some kind of proof I had met him, and we could have later poked fun at his lovely eye lift. Not right now he said, determined not to make eye contact. I fled in shame-but at the same time a bit narked I didnt get any kind of souvenir from my encounter. Maybe I should have announced at the top of the escalator that JBJ was downstairs at the gay porn section. But then, that wouldnt have been nice, would it?
The rest of the day was spent mainly saying I dont believe I called Jon Bon Jovi a shop assistant over and over like a bizarre self flagellating mantra, as we track down several Midtown Comicbook stores. Back to the hotel for a sleep, then head out to look into more shops and eat near Central Park.
Then take an amazing bus trip over the Brooklyn Bridge, down to Brooklyn Bay where the view of the lit up City is simply breathtaking. It was also freezing cold, and Grump and I are in T-shirts. We almost bought jumpers at this little ice cream place-but the queue was too long and we would have missed the bus back, so we put our arms inside our T-shirts and hugged ourselves on the journey back!
Collapsed into hotel room and was soon asleep! Coming soon-Day 2 of NYC!!
poor JBJ i bet he was gutted !
