Wednesday

After a hectic few days, today was a little bit more laid back. We stayed in bed a little longer and so didn’t leave the apartment until 12pm. We headed down to the financial district and got a burger at Five Guys Burgers & Fries (a most unhealthy breakfast I’m sure you’ll agree). This was on the recommendation of one Gordon Greenland, so I was in high hopes that it would be good. We were a little flummoxed when ordering as we both asked for a “Little Cheeseburger” but the order taker then asked us what we wanted on them. “Er, cheese, relish, pickle” said Laura, thinking on her feet. After a few minutes we got out burgers and fries.

Despite sharing one regular fries, we had enough for at least three people easily. The fries were skin-on and very tasty indeed. The burger was just melt in the mouth good. All in all, very good. Thank you Mr Greenland.

Tasty fries

Yummy burger

We then walked a few blocks to the Brooklyn Bridge and walked over it. It was a very nice bridge, but currently undergoing some maintenance, so one side of it was all wrapped up and protected. Still, the other side was very nice. The views back to Manhattan were great. On the other side of the bridge we wandered down to Brooklyn Bridge Park and sat in the shadow of the Manhattan Bridge as we gazed over at the skyline. At that moment the sun came out again and it felt lovely.

Our next stop was Coney Island, but we both needed a comfort break… so we walked up a few blocks to the DUMBO area and found a bar called rebar to pop into. We ordered a couple of cokes and sat at the bar. The place was converted from an old warehouse and had barrel vaulted ceilings, exposed brick and tons of character. At the back were artist studios and offices. All very hip and boho chic. The bartender (we’ll call him Jake) got chatting to us and we both mentioned how we wished there were a bar like this in Nottingham and how we could both happily live here with this being our regular. He laughed at this. When we came to settle the bill, he said “don’t worry ladies, these are on me”. And so we left with a smile on our face and another experience with a very friendly American.

At the bar in rebar

Rebar

Lots of beers

Studio / gallery space

We got on the Subway and headed down to Coney Island. The weather was cloudy with occasional sun and so both cold and warm. That annoying kind-of jumper on / jumper off weather. At Coney Island we played some skee ball, Laura got her fortune told by Zoltan (a-la Tom Hanks in Big) and we walked along the boardwalk.

Skee ball (didn't get a very high score on this one)

Zoltan!

The iconic Parachute Jump ride

The Coney Island Cyclone

Bizarrely, it must be some sort of Orthodox Jewish holiday as Coney Island (and New York in general) was packed today with people in their formal dress. I’d say it was equal numbers Orthodox Jew and the rest of us. Being a religion that isn’t very mainstream in the UK, it was difficult not to notice them. But none of the New Yorkers seemed to notice and the staff all knew to remind them to tuck in their “insert word for long black dressing gown thing” and to fasten down their “insert word for skull cap thing”.

Laura doesn’t like rides, but I rode on the Steeplechase - which was pretty scary! (a bit like Rita Queen Of Speed but sat on a horse). And I also got to ride the 85 year old Coney Island Cyclone (a very old wooden coaster). It was brilliant fun and very rickety.

After Coney Island we headed back up to Brooklyn and hunted out Barcade, which as the name suggests is a mixture between a Bar and an Arcade. It was really cool in there and they had lots of different beers and loads of classic video games (Paperboy, Tetris, Asteroids, Outrun, Ms Pac-man, Chosts n Goblins…) Me and Laura were like kids again. Laura got to play Paperboy for the first time in an arcade since she was 13 and in Woolacombe.

Games that we’d never played but discovered that we loved were Moon Patrol, Rolling Thunder and Timber. Timber in particular was lots of fun (er, nothing to do with the alcohol consumed…..) and is a two player game that has you competing to chop down the most trees and avoid being stung by bees (thrown by an evil bear!) A bonus round involves running on a log and battling to stay on. Seriously, it was brilliant.

Paperboy

Tetris

Timber!

The fact that a bar like this doesn’t exist in England makes us both very sad. It would totally be our regular. In fact… me and Laura did start discussing where in Nottingham we could set up our own version…

After spending far too many of our quarters, we got the ‘L’ train back to Manhattan and went to McGees for some dinner. We ate sliders and chicken wings and watched both Baseball and Basketball simulataneously (The Yankees drew, the Knicks just narrowly beat the Bucks with a 3-pointer a minute before the end).