We went to NYC this past weekend, with Jessica and Dohoon. The goal was simply to eat and shop.

We split up on Saturday, since I had no interest in cafes in SoHo and wanted to visit my usual stores. This required lots of walking in extreme heat and humidity, which was the decision of a fool.

Meanwhile KLS got her right ear pierced twice! Since she got it pierced twice last weekend (in Rochester) as well, this means she now has seven piercings in that ear! They had lunch at an Australian cafe that had ‘Vegemite tasting’ on the menu (for $10).

I visited comic shops and Japanese shops and the RPG shop I blogged about previously. It was lightly raining on and off which raised the humidity without ever lasting long enough to lower the temperature. You can imagine how comfortable that was 🙂

I bought $48 worth of postcards at my favourite NYC postcard shop and to show his appreciation the ancient guy that works there gifted me a pewter collectible spoon. I plan on flipping it to my brother for a tidy profit.

The city was overcome with FIFA madness and soccer fans were everywhere. Almost every business had FIFA themed window displays or sales, and the street vendors had replaced the usual bootleg purses and watches with team jerseys.

There was some sort of FIFA celebration near Rockefeller Center which drew enormous crowds and made it a challenge to visit the Cathedral for mum’s candle. Later in the day after England won a game a street near our hotel was blocked with a loud crowd of English supporters and police descended on the scene to clear the street!

Times Square after dark is as bright as day now due to all the billboards. It was bonkers busy, no doubt due to extra tourists due to the World Cup. It was still very hot even at 9 pm and the $4 frozen cokes from Maccas were heavenly.

Due to a new job, Jessica and Dohoon are moving away soon so it was nice to be able to visit the city with them before they leave. I wish it hadn’t been so hot though!