13th November: Photo Mash

13th November, 23:00?

I love this photo, the shadow of the tree is most excellent. Walking back to the hostel, the sun started hiding from the city of New York, as I was wandering along the central park reservoir. The sunset, across the still water, with the New York skyline in the background, was incredibly beautiful.

Then it got dark, and I scampered home.

With lack of planned action once again I decided to consult my guide. Which was a bit useless but it mentioned Amsterdam Avenue. So I thought, "darn it to hell Thomas, away with you." I then proceeded to walk from 106 Street to 70 or something. I spent the next 30 min trying to find a restaurant I felt confident enough to go in. In the end I give up and just went in one.

Jolly nice half pound sirloin burger, suspicious roast potatoes, an amstel light and a Mexican Hot Chocolate. Which was surprisingly spicy. After discovering I lacked the courage to enter a bar yet, I wandered home as I was about to crash.

13th November, 16:06

HaHa! You fools! You built an outside bar on a lake in central park. Why would I ever leave?

Luckily for everyone nearby I only bought a coffee. I'm about to stroll down 5th Avenue - ooh a crazy man sat on the next bench along: cool. Something about Americans he was jibbering. I can only assume the road behind me is 5th Avenue, I think I'm at the conservatory lake/pond/puddle/droplet. I think everyone thinks I'm crazy for wearing a t-shirt. I shall apply my jacket.

13th November, 15:30

Well that was cool, from depressing grey drizzle to sky blue autumnal bliss. Sitting by the lake side, chillaxing. Exceptionally bushwacked. I spent most the afternoon learning about evolution, Asia, and went on a guided audio tour of the universe, which unfortunately petered out into the field of geology. I did however get to laugh at the american's who were managing to walk backwards through evolution even though there were many arrows point in the opposite direction. I just got a pizza pretzel, which was jolly nice, not sure what to attack now as I've had the sleep of a buffoon. Might carry on exploring this here park as the blue sky has increased it's beauty ten fold, as this accompanying photo does prove.

13th November, 11:11

As someone who rarely plans anything, I left the hostel with no plan at all. As it was 8am I thought, I'd hit central park and randomly wander until something happened.

Turned out central park was slightly wetter than I anticipated due to the sky leaking on me. It's really nice though, even though I've only really explored the north section. I weaved in and out of it. Grabbed a hot dog from a random street merchant and saw a skateboarder faceplant into a 4x4. The awesome yellow school buses were everywhere as well. At some point I hit the huge central park reservoir with skyline views visible in the distance. Misty as well. I then came across the American Museum of Natural History. So while waiting for that to open I found some pretty areas of central park to explore, and discovered that one of my headphones was mashed. So I slammed on some Norah Jones on random, and coincidentally the song "New York City" came on. Excellent.

I'm currently in the museum eating a Grilled Chicken Ceaser Salad. Nice caps tom. And yes, a coffee. Saw some cool African mammals and now going to find an audio tour of the "Rose Center". Space, time and all that jazz.

Plans for the rest of the day? Pah where I'm going, we don't need plans..... though they may help.

It would appear I've survived, solely thanks to Erika, who without I would no doubt have ended up in Mexico or under a car. After being petrified of US customs and immigration control it turned out far better than I thought, though they now have my fingerprints and my face. And who would want that by choice?

Erika found me surprisingly quick, possibly by spotting the vacant look on my face. She then drove us through some of the streets of NY to the subway, which we took towards Manhatten. Subway was really empty and didn't match the horror stories at all. Though Erika did get me to concede that the Tube was better. We got off near time square so my face would lock into a permanent state of jaw-dropped wonder.

Wow. Sparkley awesome.

It's hard to describe, it's very big and very whoa. We walked around it, and then headed back to the subway to find my hostel. Which was quite easy to find and right next to central park. After just remembering chivalry, Erika went home and I got my room card.

Quite a nice place, I surfed the net quickly, after showering of course, as I must have been horrendous to be on the subway with. Turns out, at least last night, I had 4 bed dorm to myself. It was like 1.40am or something by now and I wasn't even tired. Went to bed anyway, didn't sleep much but meh. It's 7.30am now.

I do believe it's shave time.