New York: Day 7 - Catching up with Cousin Sara!

We headed in to Manhattan to catch up with my cousin Sara.   She teaches special needs kids at a school on 23rd Street.  She finished work at 3.30pm so we planned to meet her outside Eataly.  We went in a little early to grab a bite to eat at the Madison Square Park food market and to relax in the park while we waited.  I headed straight for the Momofuku Milkbar to get myself a Cornflake Chocolate Chip Marshmallow Cookie!

Deliciousness.

We then lounged around the park until it was time to meet Sara.

Lounging in the park.

We met up with Sara who took us up to the rooftop beer garden.  The weather was brilliant so it was great to be up there in the sun.  

My cousin Sara

After we sampled some of their odd beers (chai tea flavour?) and ate a decent amount of cheese (five different types) we headed down stairs for some gelato which we planned to eat in the park.  We all picked our flavours and went back across to the park.  We were just sitting there minding our own business when a friendly squirrel decided to visit.  Now luckily Sara had the smarts to order a nut flavoured gelato as I think this is what attracted the squirrel in the first place.  He came over and grabbed Marc's hand with his furry little paws (sadly there are no photos of this as Marc had the camera at the time).  Seeing that Marc had nothing to offer him he then moved on to Sara who had just finished with her nut flavoured gelato.  He grabbed her gelato cup and ran off with it.  Probably THE cutest thing I have ever seen.  And I have the photographic evidence to support this outlandish claim.

Squirrel just minding his own business in the tree...

... spots us with our gelato... 

... runs down the tree...

... and hunts us down...

... we're in his sights.

He comes over and politely asks for some hazelnut gelato...

We offer it to him...

... and he politely accepts.

He tries it tentatively...

... and he loves it!

Look at his tongue licking at the gelato.

Look at him with gelato on his nose!

CUTEST.  THING.  EVER.

After our awesome squirrel experience Sara showed us her school down on 23rd Street before taking us to a delicious Indian restaurant for dinner.

The school were Sara teaches 3 and 4 year old kids

View to the Chrysler Building

Signs in sign language

New York: Day 6 - Natural History Park and half of Central Park

After our day of slack we thought we should do something educational so we decided to visit the Natural History Museum, via Grays Papaya for hot dogs.  We tried our first hot dogs with sauerkraut, onion, ketchup and mustard.  They were...not the worst thing I have ever eaten...

After our delicious and nutrition packed lunch we headed to the Museum.  Unfortunately once we got to the museum we found out that some of the main attractions were closed for a stupid Rainforest Alliance function.  The place was packed with kids running around and screaming.  It was not a hugely pleasant experience.  I think for Marc, the most disappointing thing was that there wasn't a Night at the Museum type of scenario.

Unfortunately the blue whale room was closed off so we could only look through the doorway.

After the museum we decided to wander through the bottom half of Central Park.

That night we caught up with my cousin Desi and her son Ronin on the upper east side.

New York: Day 5 - Long Island City and 5 Pointz

We decided to stick close to home as the weather was rubbish and we weren't equipped to deal with the rain (i.e., no fashionable wellingtons, Gucci poncho or Burberry umbrella).  The people we are staying with invited us to visit their studio (they are ridiculously cool artsy types who spew good taste and style) which was a few blocks down on Long Island City.

On the way there we went by a place called 5 Pointz (http://5ptz.com/graff/).  It's a building on LIC where graffiti artists from all over the world can come and display their art.

After feeling all street and "of the people" we thought we should eat where the people the people eat.  And what is more "of the people" than a Diner!!!!  We got out of the rain and sat down to a nice piece of blueberry pie and a coffee.  I have never felt more middle American!

YAY diner food!

Marc a little apprehensive about diving into diner food.

$2 for endless coffee

Mmmm blueberry pie - was sickly sweet and oddly gloopy.

Full of pie and endless cups of coffee we finally made it to Liz and Steve's studio.  It is in an amazing warehouse down near the East River.  It had an amazing view of Manhattan and with the misty sky it was all very romantic.

View of Queensborough Bridge

View of the bridge from the roof

View of Manhattan from the roof

It was a pretty relaxed day and we got to see parts of New York that I don't think many tourists see.