New York City boys

It's our third day in New York and the gin and tonics (and the jetlag) are finally taking their toll! After Tuesday's late night celebrating the results of the election we took it easier yesterday. Much of the day spent in the village and Soho, starting with a glorious pumpkin latte at Grounded (coffee shop on Jane Street) before a meander down to Canal Street and back again. Mostly window shopping although I did get myself a new hat and Gerard bought himself a $3 dollar umbrella as the rain came down - haggled down from $5 I might add. We're the last of the big spenders! We've both been to New York a few times and the streets are becoming more familiar with each visit; this time we've taken it easy, just wandering, rather than feeling the need to fit on the stuff that, as tourists, we're supposed to be doing (although today we did queue at tkts for show tickets and spotted the Naked Cowboy, pictured - what's the point of him again...?)

We also popped into a couple of knitting shops yesterday too - Purl in Soho, and The Point, where we spent a couple of hours. I got myself a hank of blank Twinkle super chunky (not available in the UK...yet!) and whipped up a 'scarflette' together with wooden button, "hand carved in Massachusetts" so I was told. G rustled up a little earflapped hat for his nephew and it was nice respite from the walking and the rain. Having friends here also helps with avoiding the obvious and we met up with James and Ryan, had a few drinks and headed for Pylos, a brilliant Greek restaurant down in alphabet city. A few more drinks later and we were ready to head back to the hotel. we're staying over (WAY over!) on 38th and 10th Avenue, which, even though it's only a 15 minute walk into Times Square, feels like a lifetime away. But it's not bad actually, and for £70 a night (between the two of us - thankyou Priceline!) we can't complain.

Tonight we saw Gypsy, with Patti LuPone which was disappointing actually -old fashioned entertainment that didn't live up to the hype. We should've learned from our last trip when we saw Spring Awakening (which went on to win all the Tony Awards) and we hated it. I just don't think musicals are our thing. Oddly.

Tomorrow we head off to Baltimore for Stitches East.

Craig

The times they are a-changin'

Gerard and I arrived in NYC yesterday (Tuesday) at about 10.30am. There's always something special about taking a taxi from the airport, through Queens and under the East River, emerging into Manhattan. But what a day to be here! Despite the jetlag we met up with a schoolfriend of G's, James, and stayed out very late celebrating with the rest of New York. After a few bars we ended up in a new spot called Wilfie & Nell to watch the results...

I went out onto the streets of Greenwich Village about 1am to take some pictures and it was an exciting and moving experience. We'd seen Times Square on the telly, where thousands of people had gathered, but downtown there were people shouting from their apartment windows, drivers honking their horns, singing in the street and smiles all round. There's a genuine feeling of change and excitement that isn't engineered, it's that thing that just happens when a mass of people all share a common emotion, and you can feel it in the atmosphere and see it in the faces. We're both feeling lucky to be here at such an amazing time - it really is a bit of history and one of those days when you'll remember where you were when you heard the news...Barack Obama is the next President of the USA!