Robot Claw

We were both exhausted after two very full days. So naturally we woke at 5:30 for breakfast and the place we walked to (on dark, cold and wet streets) wasn’t even open! We returned to the hotel and got room service 🙂

The annual Columbus Day parade was scheduled for today but canceled due to the state of emergency (the rain has caused some flooding). I imagine many were in the city for the parade and hit the streets anyway. So even in the rain, the crowds were thick.

Look at that giant stuffed cat! This was on 5th Avenue where the rich people tourists shop, but I’m sure the cat itself wasn’t for sale 🙂

We visited the ‘diamond district’, which is a block of shops specializing in gemstones, luxury watches and jewelery. Rather than discrete shops, it’s an abundance of arcades each containing dozens of tiny shops on multiple levels. Apparently it’s the densest retail space in America with almost 4000 vendors in a single city block!

We saw some fabulously expensive items for sale. Many stands had large selections of Rolex watches for instance, and I asked the price of one and it was $16,500. Kristin liked a Tiffany bracelet at another vendor and it was a mere $175,000! There were also loads of diamond sellers and you could buy loose stones of any size, colour and cut. We saw loose diamonds costing over $20,000 and those were just the ones with price tags! Fascinating stuff and worth a window-shop if you’re ever in the city.

By now we were close to knackered, and it was time for a last visit to the Japanese snack shops before heading for the train station. I took the chance to buy more turkey Cheetos and cotton candy, and as we headed to the station I doubt there was space in our luggage to stash anything else!

If you wonder about all this shopping, every time we go to the city we find more shops, and this is especially true in the vicinity of ‘Koreatown’. We used to be able to do ‘our rounds’ in a single (very busy) day but that’s not feasible now. Hence the two days of shopping!

Oh and KLS got coffee made by a robot that printed a photo onto the foam! As you can see we had the robot make her a Zoffy coffee using one of our photos.

Another successful NYC trip has ended, and as usual we’ll need a day or two to recover. 70k steps in 3 days isn’t as easy as it used to be!

This was in a Korean grocery store, and yes they had a posing spot with the girls (of K-Pop Demon Hunters) as well. I hope I’m never too proud to pose for silly photos like this one 🙂

Today was just shopping, which resulted in mostly purchasing Asian snacks. I now have about half a carry-on suitcase full of turkey flavoured Cheetos and Japanese cotton candy, but KLS found some new cosmetic technology as well.

The rain stayed away in the morning, but the umbrellas came out after lunch. It was around this time I made the claim that if I could choose a life between endless sunny days and rain every day I’d choose the latter. Is that true?

At the end of every day the garbages on every street corner look like this and every morning of the next day they’re empty. One of the biggest complaints of tourists in Japan is the lack of garbages (Tokyo has none) but if NYC can do it surely so can they?

Times Square wasn’t very busy, probably because of the rain. The giant screens continue to spread, and there’s a few massive ones in side-streets now. The first time I saw Times Square was over 25 years ago now and it’s almost unrecognizable to then. I wonder what it will be like 25 years from now?

We’re in New York! We came down today for Kristin’s birthday, and will stay a couple of nights. Jessica came with us today, and she and Kristin spent most of the day shopping before we all met for dinner.

I did my usual rounds while they shopped, walking forever in light rain with a bustle of people on every street. Around 10th Avenue I was walking down a street lined with brownstones when I saw these two lavishly decorated staircases (those are pumpkins and gourds). At first I assumed this was fabulously wealthy people who could afford professional decorators but then I noticed a sign that the street will be used for filming next week so maybe it’s a film/TV set?

And while I was wandering around buying postcards and antique magazines what was the birthday girl up to? Getting her ear pierced! She’s now got a fancy diamond stud in the top of her right ear. She also bought herself some cute shoes and had a fancy breakfast with Jessica.

But the true birthday celebration was dinner at a Korean bbq restaurant in koreatown. Since we had an authentic Korean with us, they treated us like VIPs and it was quite the experience! Oh and they had photos of famous people who had eaten there, including Psy!

We had beef, veggies and shrimp cooked on the charcoal grill, as well as fried rice, veggie vermicelli, fish roe soup (for Jessica) and a ludicrous supply of side dishes. It was all delicious, and would have fed twice of us!

Not only was the food great, but the experience was as well. After we finished they brought out a cut orange with a candle, played ‘Happy Birthday’ on the restaurant PA, and the entire restaurant sung Happy Birthday to Kristin!

It was a wonderful experience and we’re very grateful to Jessica for sharing it with us 🙂

That’s the view from the hotel roof. We’ve got a comfy room and a couple more days with a lot of shopping scheduled. The birthday trip is off to a good start 🙂