Day 13 - Additional Pictures to follow!

Day 13 - The PATient - Part 2 updated!

Pat's been to the doctor and a $165 dollars later it looks like the Chicken Pox!!!

We took some time out to wander through a lush green Central Park and even managed to spend some time in the world famous FAO Swartz Toy Store where Vinnie got to twinkle the ivories on the floor piano which was used in the blockbuster movie BIG.

The actor Jeff Goldblum bumped into me at a set of traffic lights and mumbled and walked off without even a sorry!!!

That evening we paid a visit to Madame Toussards (where we availed of a special labour day admission! - oh yeah today is a public holiday in the USA). We must have taken over 150 photos with all the stars. Highlights included the hall of wax, based upon the film "House of Wax" starring Paris Hilton.

We'll post up some more pictures seperately.

Vinnie and Pat

Day 12 - Living it up with the Brazilians

We started of the day with yet another film!! This time it was “The March of the Penguins”. I’d been dying to see this film for some time; it documents a year in the life of the Emperor Penguin and was narrated by Morgan Freeman. It was very good.

“Little Brazil” Street runs off Broadway. Today celebrated the 21st annual Brazil day. The street was packed with performers and stalls. It was amazing, the sights and sounds. There must have been a couple of thousand present. There were also performance stages.

Afterwards we did some more shopping around the south ferry area. I (Pat) took some time out for a rest that afternoon as I wasn’t feeling too well. Today I’ve started to break out in a rash. If it continues through to tomorrow I’ll head to the doctors about it.

That evening we went to Lips! It was as fab as ever. Afterwards we went to the Club Splash (SBNY). This place was quite large, but very expensive.

Vinnie and Pat

Day 11 - The PATient

Today we took it easy. We went to see Transporter 2 in the AMC cinema followed by some shopping along Broadway. We picked up tickets for that evenings performance of “Sweet Charity” starring none other than Christina Applegate.

I (Pat) ended up heading back to the hotel for a rest as I was feeling very tired and was coming down with a fever. By 7pm I was felling better, so we heading off to see the musical at 8pm. It was quite good, but relied a little too much on dance routines to pad it out.

That night I had a very rough nights sleep, sweating throughout.

Vinnie and Pat

Day 10 - Life's a drag!!!

Do you remember the tea/coffee maker we bought in Century 21 during the week – well it started to malfunction last night. It began emitting a rubbery odour. Rather then keep it, we brought it back and received a full refund.

Taking full advantage of tax-free week, we went a little mad buying cosmetics too, on average each item was about 40% cheaper than back home. So as you can imagine we stocked up. Also to make things better, the more we bought, the more vouchers we received off non-cosmetic goods – so when we where finished we had $30 in vouchers to spend, so we bought some underwear and socks!

We took a walk around the neighbourhoods of Chelsea, Meatpackers, West Village, Greenwich Village and East Village. Over in the East Village we stumbled across a grocery store which imported goods from Ireland! On offer were Lyons and Barrys Tea, to even Chef Sauce!

In the evening we got ready and dined in “Lucky Cheins” Chinese Drag Restaurant. There are two big drag restaurants in the city, the other being “Lips” (we dined there last year). Anyhow it was a fun experience, but full of hen parties out for a quick trill. We’re looking forward to re-visiting Lips before we head back home.

Following the food and drag, we headed back to Chelsea for a drink in the XES Lounge.

Vinnie and Pat

Day 9 - Paying the Rent

Another hot day today. Well into the 30s again. We started off the day with a hearty breakfast of omelettes and toast in the Moonstruck Café across from the hotel. It was gorgeous.

Afterwards we hit 5th and 6th avenues browsing the shops, including the new massive Disney Store.

We managed to see “The Cave” in the AMC Cinema and the musical “Rent” at 8pm. Rent wasn’t as great as we’d imaged it to be. Its set in a derelict building, so to re-create the ambiance, the scaffolding overlaps into the stalls, giving the impression that the theatre is need of renovation. Although I enjoyed it, Vinnie didn’t. Nevertheless it was another Broadway musical under our belt.

We had some food and cocktails in (don’t give out – TGI Fridays), then ventured up to the club Therapy on 54th Street.

Vinnie and Pat

Day 8 - It's all gone Abercrombie mad!

Today we hit the shops! But beforehand we started the day with our customary starbucks!

Believe it or not there is only ONE Abercrombie and Fitch Store in Manhattan! Well we found it down around the south port ferry area. The store was limited, but had a great selection of men’s goods, which we won’t complain about. I think we bought half the store, between us we spent over $600 on clothes!!!

After this we made our way to Century 21 for some discount hunting. We ended up buying a coffee maker – you ask why, well the hotel doesn’t supply tea making facilities, and as Vinnie LOVES his herbals, we simply had to buy something.

Oh again today it was very hot. We caught one temperature gauge reading 31c.

We made it back to the hotel in time for a quick freshen up before heading over to the taping of the Late Show with David Letterman. This show is very popular, and is aired at 11:30pm on CBS. We used to get it on Sky One, but I believe it’s now only available on ITV2. The audience where warmed up outside the studio. We where seated on the balcony, so we won’t be seen on TV. It was great seeing the studio set, in fact the show is recorded as live, so one take only. But there was very little audience interaction. The headline guest was Rachael Weiss, the second guest was some comedian who was boring. The music guest was a new band called Mars 31.

Anyhow, we’re back in the hotel nows, getting re-freshened up before we go explore the night scene here.

Vinnie and Pat

Day 7 - There's no business like show business

We started off today with a wonderful Starbucks, followed by a leisurely stroll along 5th avenue. We stumbled across a fab “as seen on tv” store, which basically stocks all of these items you’d see on TV infomercials. Everything was so cheap.

We made our way to Broadway to queue up at the TKTS booth to get tickets for an evening musical. The TKTS booth basically sells tickets at 50% discount for musicals on the same day. We got tickets for that evening’s performance of “The Producers”. In line we where approached by a CBS Television employee asking if we would like tickets for the following days David Letterman taping. I jumped at this, so we’re off to be on TV tomorrow!

With the tickets secured for the musical that evening (7pm), we headed off to the AMC Cinema on 42nd Street. Here we saw “The Brothers Grimm”. We’d been to the AMC a few times last year, and it’s something else. It has 25 massive screens, rising about 7 stories above Broadway. We picked up a large combo of popcorn and coke, it was very yummy. The film wasn’t as good unfortunately.

After we picked up a quick slice of pizza from the local Sbarro, we headed over to the St. James Theatre on 44th Street for the musical. It was brilliant. It told the story of two producers trying to swindle money by producing a flop musical, destined to close on its opening night. It was so funny and very very camp!

Oh the weather here in NYC is great, although the sun light doesn’t really get down to street level, it is very very hot, all of the time!!

Until tomorrow.

Vinnie and Pat