After the excitement of Washington DC and West Virginia we headed off to New York City to see Sam's brother Michael and his wife Kara. The plan was to spend a few days with them, take in New Years eve in a nightclub we had prebooked in the centre of Manhattan and then do some sight seeing for a few days before returning to our home on Mud Island for another exciting year. We took a bus from Bethesda to New York City known as the Vamoose bus service. We highly recommend the service, cheap prices and a decent bus to do the four and a half hour trip. It was sad to have said goodbye to Roland, Lee and Morgan but we were very much looking forward to seeing Mike and Kara and the big Apple. Kara's brother Richie very kindly offered to collect us from central Manhattan and run us up to Mamaroneck where Mike and Kara live. We arrived just after dark and it was freezing cold! Richie was already waiting for us and it was a short half hour drive up to Mamaroneck. We had a good evening with everyone, and Sam and Mike stayed up very late chatting and catching up on all our news and adventures. Kara had to work on New Years eve day so Mike, Sam and I explored the little town of Mamaroneck and had a wonderful lunch together before Kara finished work and met us at their home. We shared a decent bottle of French Champagne before all dressing up and heading out to Manhattan for the new years eve party. It was a brilliant evening, everything we expected at the private party, with a slice of New York pizza on the way home! It was a late evening and so we slept in on New Years day before going to see "The Hobbit" movie in the afternoon and a slow evening. Of course I was aching to take in all the sights, and we did so over the next two days, running Mike and Kara off their feet on the first day and doing a solo run on our last day of holidays in the US. We saw and ate so much, it was a good time to go home before they had to roll me onto the aeroplane! There are so many pictures of this leg that its best left to tell the stories.
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| Reading on the bus. |
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| Just a cheesy grin! |
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| Micheal Jay Collins......Legend |
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| Richie, Kara and Mike just after we arrived at their home. |
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| Christmas tree in the corner to remind us it was still Christmas, and it felt like it too. |
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| Kara rolls out her "are you going to keep on taking pictures?" face very early on in proceedings. |
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| A few beers, some Richie on guitar, excellent way to spend an evening. |
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| Mike and Sam chatted late into the night! |
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| Sam and I in Mamaroneck harbour |
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| Mike and I posing. |
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| Sister and brother, such a nice piccy. |
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| It was a very quiet afternoon, mostly because it was absolutely freezing! |
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| Mike posing by canon |
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| Stylish..... |
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| Lunch at an awesome Japanese spot |
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| Mid afternoon coffee after a spot of shopping. |
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| Pre party French Champagne! |
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| Laaamb Chop ready for a big night out. |
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| Mikey in his mod rocker 60's look having a smoke waiting for our cab. |
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| Note the ice scraper behind me.....Bournemouth town council I am looking at you....... |
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| The unbelievable ceiling at Grand Central. The picture does not do it justice. |
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| Arrival Drinkies! |
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| Dance floor and lighting. Before the crowd arrived. |
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| Getting the party started. |
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| Sammy has had a few glasses of wine by the time this picture was taken :-) |
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| Haaaapppppyyyyyyyyy New Yeaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaarrrrrrrrrr! |
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| Love this picture! |
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| And this one! |
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| And this one! |
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| Way after midnight..... |
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| Happiness |
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| Just a small soda to go with the small popcorn.... |
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| Kara waiting on a hamburger to have in the movie. |
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| I said small earlier, see the next picture to get an idea why. |
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| That is at least 2 litres of Coke, and its bottomless refill as well. Gotta love the American way! |
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| Chelsea Market |
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| We bought some Smoked Paprika here, which we have already sampled at home and it is heaven! |
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| Mike and Kara at a top lunch we had at Eately on 5th Avenue. |
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| Sammy's amazing beetroot starter |
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| Great rocket salad preceded the best piece of beef I have eaten outside of SA! |
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| The tall building that houses the night club we saw the new year in. |
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| This tower replaces the twin towers. Almost complete and hugely impressive. |
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| The whole area is coming on well. |
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| The lads. |
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| Loads to chose from! Loads! |
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| Kara promised only one bottle of wine per day when we were on holiday..... |
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| Yes that is ice cream and the temperature was -4..... |
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| Fireman's pub at Ground Zero. |
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| Entering Times Square. |
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| Amazing colours and you feel like you are at the centre of the world! |
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| No trip to New York is complete without pizza! |
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| My favourite Italian eatery in Times Square. |
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| Mikey had a stab at street food. Still not sure what it was, chicken or sewer rat.... |
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| Kara and her street food. Safe to say Sam and I waited for pizza! |
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| Yum! |
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| Central Park at dusk |
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| The world famous Katz's Deli |
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| Visited by many stars of stage and screen. |
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| Pastrami on Rye. Brilliant! |
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| Pickles from heaven |
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| Little Italy |
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| Sammy sporting new sunglasses in Chinatown. 5 dollar cheap cheap! |
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| Amazing time with amazing people, thanks chaps! |
And that's it! We had a wonderful holiday and we are truly blessed to have had the experience! Onwards with another year of adventure, and some long overdue stories to make it to the blog this year. Much love as always. Rich and Sam.
