Robot Claw

It was below freezing this morning when we woke. We probably didn’t have clothes warm enough for such a chill, so we lounged in the room for a bit, watching Japanese walking videos on the hotel TV.

I ventured out and bought a turkey sub and an avocado bagel around 8 am, and both were delicious. I’ll let you guess who ate what. I didn’t repeat yesterday’s mistake of Mt Dew for breakfast!

There’s an advertising battle in the city right now between the new Ghostbusters film and the new Godzilla film, and it seems Godzilla is winning. I expect the same will happen at the box office as well.

The above is in the window of a marijuana dispensary right next door to a McDonald’s WcDonald’s near Times Square. The plants appear real. I have no understanding of the current legality of pot in NY, but the shops continue to multiply, always look empty, and seem to focus more on things like gummies and edibles than actual stuff to smoke. We both suspect they’re for the tourists, but who knows?

The meals I ate this trip contained, in order, turkey, chicken, bacon, chicken, chicken, turkey and turkey. The above sign is therefore at least 50% correct.

The last postcards have been sent, the last shops visited, and we’re now on the train home. A successful trip it was!

Now perhaps I need to start thinking about the next vacation, to shores farther afield. I wonder what adventures I may have?

I had one egg and bacon on white bread for breakfast, and washed it down with a delicious Mountain Dew. That was probably a mistake.

We did a lot more walking and shopping today. The city was warmer and busier than yesterday but we were older and tireder so events progressed slower.

The above is a mosaic in Saint Patrick’s. The cathedral flaunts unimaginable wealth but at the same time is fascinating and beautiful. I just wish they weren’t so blatant asking for endless donations.

In a loo at the Rockefeller Center a man in a stall was talking loud enough for everyone to hear: “System I contributed my own life but you gave me nothing in return. System why have you abandoned me?” He went on and on, always saying ‘System’ and not ‘The system’. I think he may have been insane.

The fossil/gem shop on 5th Avenue never ceases to amaze, but this T-Rex leg-bone displayed in their window surely can only be purchased by a microscopic few? I didn’t go in to see the price, but I’m sure it’s well into six figures.

We visited a bead shop with an absolutely insane selection. They have thousands of little trays and bags holding every imaginable glass or porcelain or metal bead as well as all sorts of hardware and tools. It was mesmerizing and hard to control ourselves since so many of the beads were very pretty. (KLS used to make jewelry with beads, but most of what we bought today will be sent to SFL.)

I bought that shirt 6.5 years ago at a Kmart in Tuncurry when I went with Sue. I’ve worn and washed it hundreds of times and the print hasn’t deteriorated even by a single atom! It remains as comfortable as the day I bought it, and I will forever regret not also buying the Donkey Kong shirt I saw at the same time.

We’re in NYC! It’s chilly and there’s pigeons everywhere.

This is my belated (sort of) birthday celebration, and we don’t have any special plans aside from shop and eat.

We saw a Gandhi statue and an old dude selling religious iconography including one of Joe Biden. I also saw a bicycle with a set of mudflaps decorated with Dragonball characters.

Our hotel room is cozy with a nice view of Bryant Park. It’s the same place we always stay and the staff recognized us when we arrived.

As usual I’m sending postcards so watch your mailboxes. I bought 30 cheapo ones today for only $3, and I’ll use them for Postcrossing. The price was so good I wanted to buy more but I was embarrassed 🙂

Right now we’re bloated and tired and I already regret eating all those ‘hot nuts’. But probably not enough I won’t do it again tomorrow!

All good things end, and so too does this vacation. Today we head home.

Yesterday was a whirl of shopping – filling every available space in our suitcases. I stayed in Akihabara (which was insanely busy since it was pedestrian day) and Kristin went to a mega cosmetic shop in Harajuku. Both of us had fun, and then later in the evening we returned to Akiba to lose a bit more money not winning crane games!

What a full trip this has been! We had a somewhat loose list of things we wanted to see which we managed to complete, and then of course we added a few other things once we learned of them (wrestling, Ultraman). What we didn’t do was much resting; so we’ve saved something for when we return home.

Aside from the inevitable ‘pick up’ post once I’ve had time to recover/unpack/sort, this ends the trip report. I hope you’ve found it interesting, and in some small way been able to share the journey with us 🙂