Extreme Matching!

Today was our last day in New York, my body allowed me to sleep in a little.. I think it was still too early for most tho but I was thankful for the extra sleep. We got up, organised and checked out.. leaving our luggage with the hotel coz we still had time to kill before our afternoon train. It was a slow start and we casually made our way over to Bubby's for breakfast..

When I ordered the sour dough pancakes, the waiter stopped me to make sure I wanted the sour dough and not the sour cream pancakes, which is sweet, but it is not often I order something that I don't know what I am asking for.. but I guess lots of people get mistaken.. however, had he just let me finish the entire order, he would have realised that we were getting both, a plate of sour cream and sour dough. He did mention that they were known for their sour cream pancakes, which were lovely.. but how on earth do they expect a single person to finish a plate of those things? They were thick and fluffy and yes quite delicious but I only managed to get through the one of them. It was painful to leave yummy food but I was stuffed! In my opinion the sour dough pancakes were far superior, but I guess they are an acquired taste.. you have to enjoy that sour dough flavour.. and frankly, lots of people don't. I found the entire meal delicious and extremely satisfying.. was it worth the $70 price tag? Now that I am not so sure about.. but you only live once and so splurging should be done from time to time. It was a nice place, I would go back there again for the sour dough pancakes but then again, there are so many more places to try that I would probably try somewhere new the next time I get to adventure in NYC. Life is all about new experiences and when you go to places time and time again.. why bother going to the usual haunts? It's a bit like going to another country and hitting up stores that you have at 'home'.. 

Moving on from breakfast, overly full, we then went to hit up the Empire State building.. which happened to be fogged out the first time we were in NYC and wanting to catch a glimpse of the stellar views.. but this time, it was a clear and very beautiful day! The line was long to get in.. but nothing compared to the line at the airport! Yes, still 'annoyed' about that. We got to the 87th floor and it was packed! People pushing and just being outright rude really.. this is the thing that I don't like about being a tourist. The majority of tourists, or maybe it is just people in general are selfish and rude and only look out for themselves. The views were pretty stellar, once we could get to the edge to see them without the heads of others in the way. 

I wasn't overly excited about the atmosphere up there.. the people ruined it and made it a little sour.. I kinda just wanted to get down. Which brings me to another gripe! There was a HUGE line for the elevator down 3 floors, and no sign for a stairs exit! We walked the entire way around and there was no way to access the stairs, no one to tell you, no one looking out for people who could possibly be no wanting to wait ages and just take the stairs.. and so we went and took a place in the long line, which was even longer after doing a lap! And then as we are standing there.. the elevator person sees just how long the line is and starts yelling that if you don't want to wait then you can take the stairs and ushers people towards the stairs. Like WTF man?! I stood right in front of you talking about the stairs about 10mins before and only NOW you show a sign that you can speak! Of course many people rushed for the stairs and I hobbled.. yes that is right, rather than standing still for what would be about 20mins waiting for a 1min elevator ride, I took the stairs with a bung ankle.. because I am not lazy! It would be like standing and waiting for a tram for 20mins when you could be walking the 20mins and actually get to the destination at the same time or sooner. I am still shocked that people do that.

Anyways, moving away from the gripe and back onto the goodness! New York has been wonderful and I love it more, each time I go. However the first time I did not love it, I never wanted to go back in fact.. I am glad I changed my mind and gave it another chance. It was definitely nice to have a little more time here this time around, and being my third time there, it meant we could take it much easier and not try to see so much. Yes, these past 4 days are us taking it easier. It was just what I needed, altho I suspect a doctor wouldn't have said that about my ankle lol I was however a little sad about not being able to make it out to The Way Station, but it was a little out of the way and when we were in the area, it was closed.. a shame yes, but did I really need to drink the Doctor Who cocktail menu again? Probably not! I drowned my sorrows in Shake Shack milkshakes and frozen custards instead! Like their burgers.. damn deliciousness!

It was time to depart, back to the hotel we went to grab our luggage and also a few tacos for the ride.. I had strip steak and of course Emma had a vegetarian option.. which was nice but even she said my steak was nicer.. and that would be coz it was quite damn good! My Taco and Emma's Taco. Noms!

As we navigated the streets, one couldn't help but notice that young Emma had gone into extreme matching mode and took the colours of our suitcase as her colour code.. yellow and grey awesomeness! 

Amused, we were.. when we noticed!

The wait for the train begun, people watching ensued and soon enough the madness to get onto the train started, you see.. they only announce what platform the train is going from 10-15mins before the train is due to leave so you have a mass of people always just staring up at the big board and then when a new train clicks over.. the mad rush begins to get a seat. We survived our mad rush, got a seat and settled in for the 4+ hr train ride. Emma was a little cramped, luckily she is flexible in her stubbornness! and I'll admit, it was nice to have her draped across me! lol

I'd like to say the train ride felt swift, but it didn't.. the many stops and slow moving of the train made it feel like much longer.. we had wifi so it wasn't so bad and also a little drama from the people around us.. hearing others phone convos can be quite interesting.. days of our lives indeed! Anyways, we arrived safely and on time, the Goats were there to meet us and out to dinner we went before heading back to their humble abode.. and this is where I realise as I type this up that I didn't do another awesome house tour like I did before! I guess I will just have to go back!