ALL the things - first afternoon in NYC

So we got to the hotel around noon; weren’t allowed to check in till 4.  Fair enough - that was in the booking policy, so changed into shorts and left all our stuff in the baggage room to go exploring.  Front desk woman, not super helpful.  Baggage guy - awesome.

I stand by my first impression of stench and sensory overload 😂.  Not only does the whole city appear to smell of rotting garbage but also (or maybe because of) “scent free” doesn’t appear to have made it here.  Overwhelming (to me anyways) collision of constantly changing cologne, perfume, BO, construction (scent and sound), and angry traffic noises.

But if you can get past that it’s high energy, movement, passion.   If I had my real camera I could easily spend all day and night for weeks doing nothing but taking photos, watching the world go by, and writing.   

We walked to Time Square and were heading to grab a bite to eat when we stumbled upon a street act which is one of my favourite things about big cities.  And these guys were good showman - it was a gymnastic type performance but they knew how to play the crowd.  Especially after the handstand learning this summer I have a new appreciation for all the insanity they were demonstrating- up to and including acrobatics over humans 😂 

Check out my now-officially-a-NY-star husband at the end of the line ;)

They also pulled Chris into the act!   Pretty sure he just played along cause he knew I'd love it.  

I was super disappointed the one artist walked in front at *just* the wrong time :(.  I had moved a few times to make sure I had a clear shot but then no :(. Ah well - still lots of fun.

mmmmm street meat

We grabbed some street meat - another favourite reason to visit cities and then were going to do a Let’s Roam but my phone was about to die so we decided to walk to Central Park instead.   And very on brand, I was instantly in love.   Come to one of the busiest cities in the world and want to spend all my time in the park.  The sound of the birds and the rocks - for some reason I had in my head the whole thing was flat and I was loving that it wasn’t.  

Escaping the city into the park

C was still wearing full jeans though and it was like 30deg out (that’d be Celsius people) so we weren’t going to do the full trek.  Just hit up the gift shop 😂 and head back to check in to the hotel - stopping for some giant ice cream w ALL the sprinkles of course.

It was almost that size too!

Alas the room was still not ready (ended up being just shy of 4:30 before it was) but the lounge was lovely and once we got in, the room was quite nice.  Although crazy loud AC might make it a challenge to sleep and there’s no fridge?!?!  Disappointing.  But otherwise actually one of the nicer ones we’ve been in.   Chris says it’s the smallest room we’ve been in, noting “even our tent was bigger!” But also one of the nicer ones.  For those who know C irl, his standards for housing are much higher than mine so that counts for a lot.

Voco Hotel lounge while waiting for our room

For dinner we hit up Burgerology across the street which was avg for food but I was highly entertained by the beverages.  I 💯 ordered one that came with a garnish of a Rubber Ducky.   😂 but then apparently they were out of normal ones but said if I promised not to choke on it they had a tiny one instead.

Everyone, meet Arty :)

Those who remember how Winston joined our family will understand why this amused me more than it potentially should’ve.  Although given it was on the menu for a 21+ beverage, I’m thinking I’m not the only adult who thinks that way ;)