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I managed around 6 seconds of Televangelism.

Send you $58 “seed money”. Tell my family members to tell 12 other people (each), to do the same?

Naw.

Much wandering done yesterday. Central Park and Dana’s apartment building from Ghostbusters, then down to Tribeca to see the Firehouse. The responders inside were super friendly, but I chickened out on asking to touch the pole!

Today I think I may wander to Staten Island.

Oh. And I had a Popeye’s. It was….alright, I guess. Portions are huge, but tasty enough. Didn’t have gravy, so the biscuit was scoffed as is. Pretty nice! Texture is interesting in a good way.

If you stop in a deli, be sure to try an egg cream.

That sounds intriguing!

Just done the Empire State Building, then got caught in the rain after stumbling across The Compleat Strategist, where I bought random odd models for a friend, and the Ash Wastes book for me.

Caught in a proper downpour, I’m now hiding in a bar with a Miller Light.

I love the Compleat Strategist, glad you made it!

 Mad Doc Grotsnik wrote:
That sounds intriguing!

Just done the Empire State Building, then got caught in the rain after stumbling across The Compleat Strategist, where I bought random odd models for a friend, and the Ash Wastes book for me.

Caught in a proper downpour, I’m now hiding in a bar with a Miller Light.

Not to get all beer snobby, but please don’t judge us as a nation by our mainstream beers.

That said, once a year on the 4th of July I have a (single) Budweiser while grilling. Just seems the American thing to do.

But here upstate you can’t swing a dead cat without hitting a half dozen micro-breweries (and probably a distiller). Someone is probably brewing something to match your tastes.

Enjoyed some largely OK beers. I normally prefer something malty rather than hoppy, but what I’ve had has been perfectly pleasant.

Today I did Crab House, and ate all I could. Snow Crab is amazing. Crawfish are amazing. Old Bay Shrimp is amazing. Blue Crab is frankly not worth the bother. General Tso’s chicken is acceptable.

Back to my hotel to charge the iPad.

Might go out later, might stay in. Certainly don’t need to eat for the rest of the day.

Tomorrow I do Top of the Rock, Beetlejuice musical and at 5pm, an appointment at the Apple Store because my headphones are acting up and refusing to connect to my iPad.

Oh, I also utterly wrecked it at Dave & Busters. Earned around 17,000 tickets on the Angry Birds coin pusher. I’ll be back there on Wednesday for their half price day, when I fully intend to wreck it once more. Though….I am running out of luggage space thanks to all the Cuddly Toys.

Also need to see if the Hotel has a guest laundry service. Just saves a job once I fly home.

If you’re planning to go out late, and you’re into weird night life, I’d recommending hitting Time Square around 2 or 3 am. Some interesting people around there then.

Might try that tonight. Got Rockefeller Centre at 10:45, then need to be at Grand Central Apple store at 5pm (Beats headphones packed up on me yesterday, and won’t connect to my iPad), then 7pm it’s off to 46th Street for Beetlejuice! Beetlejuice! Beetlejuice!

So yes. A busy one today.

I’ve already had a Proper New York Hotdog (outside the MET) and it was delicious.

Weather is gonna be ridiculously scorching though, so defo slathering on the sun cream, lest my curiously bronze skin get done to a crisp. And take the bottle with me.

9/11 Memorial Museum today. I wanted to see the place I consider to be the location the future I was promised as a kid was so brutally murdered before it’s time.

I genuinely did not expect it to be as upsetting as it was. It’s….very personal. As a visitor to the US, I was expecting….shall we say “Team America” sensibilities. But there none of that. At all. It focuses on the human cost, regardless of nation.

With so much of the buildings preserved within the museum? I’m genuinely reminded of things of ancient history. Such as the Terracota Army (I saw that when it came to Edinburgh when I was super wee), Skara Brae (which I saw last year) and Pompeii (which I’ve not personally seen).

To see the ruins preserved, and some unexpected ones really brought it home. It’s a genuinely excellent and emotive museum. If you get the chance, go go go.

My dad used to work there as an on site grief counselor.

And they needed it.

People who'd never been to NY, had no personal attachment would sometimes break down.

I've not been back in 15 years, not sure I could handle taking my kids.

To be fair, it’s the second thing to have caused this particular “bug, burly, clearly a bit tasty and not at all in touch with his feminine side” horror to cry on this trip.

The other was the following song, from Beetlejuice, The Musical. Which I’d absolutely recommend.

Because whilst Dear Old Mumsie left us when I was 39? There are still days when…..

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KEct4Nod2iU

And it’s done! Flew home on the red eye, and got home home around 12 hours ago.

The holiday was a blast. Managed to do pretty much everything I wanted, and ate much delicious food.

It might be a couple of years of saving up off, but I will be back Stateside. Maybe not NYC though. Perhaps somewhere in Texas? Perhaps New Orleans. Go for an entirely different flavour of USA.

Arise thread, we have business yet.

Turns out work are running an incentive, and if things go as they currently are, I could be getting a hefty bonus in May, enough to send me back to NYC.

However, rather than staying in Manhattan, I notice that Brooklyn and Queens are typically a lot cheaper, like around £1,000 less. And having pootled around on the Subway system quite happily last time, I think that’s probably the way to go.

But. Given I want a hassle free holiday, are there any parts of Queens or Brooklyn you’d say to avoid? I’d pretty much just be sleeping there, maybe breakfasting, as the rest of the time I’d be wandering Manhattan and perhaps further afield.

So given up on the rest of the USA? The Big Apple got its hooks in you?

Excelsior!

Just stuff I want to go back and do, or do again.

Didn’t manage my harbour tour as the forecast was lightning, didn’t get out to the Statue of Liberty (in hindsight, I should’ve done Rockefeller or Empire State Building) and more Ghostbusters locations to find. I’ve even thought of a convincing lie to get into the library proper 😂😂

Also I want to explore a wee bit further afield. Though a return to Crab House is an absolute must. $80 all you can stuff in your idiot face Snow Crab Legs are to die for. Possibly quite literally if you’re really, really committed to the gimmick.

Plus NYC has a bit of everything. Not necessarily authentic, but enough to give me a taste so if/when I go where say, Louisiana Barbecue is authentic (so, Louisiana) I can appreciate it all the more.

Oh and I somehow entirely forgot about Chinatown and Little Italy.

Also also mostly because I have an idea where the Good Shops are for buying Halloween bits, so the others in my Spoop Troop don’t give me a thrashing upon my return.

I'm from Queens and that's where my parents are so I tend to stay in Main Street Flushing when I'm back. It's the last stop of the 7 train, 20 minutes express ride to Manhattan, 45 minutes local (express trains only run in the morning rush hour).

The neighborhood had become completely Chinese in my lifetime (even the Korean and Vietnamese presence is being squeezed out) which can be a plus or a minus depending on how Chinese you like things. Mrs Kyoto, a 10 year vet of living in China loves it.

Long Island City, is the closest neighborhood in Queens to Manhattan, 1 stop on the N train. There's been a lot of construction in recent years with some hotels.

Do not stay anywhere that isn't within a quick walk to the subway. Most of Queens is suburban America with infrequent buses and no other way to get around, cars are just assumed.

Chinese sounds good. I don’t know a lot about customs, but I’m a big fan of the food, especially if it’s actual Chinese, and not adapted for the Western palette.

Don’t get me wrong, I’ll eat both as Mummy Grotsnik didn’t raised a fussy child, I just like trying new things!

So turns out the big money bonus has Actual Sensible Things I should spend it on, so no big holiday this year.

But chatting to a friend, I realised that thanks to light pollution in the U.K., I’ve never truly seen the night sky.

And it’s got me thinking….do US National Parks have rentable cabins etc? Because the USA is a hell of a lot bigger than little old Blighty, and much less densely populated. That appeals to me on some level. Not necessarily for a whole holiday in itself, but perhaps a couple of nights etc.

Any recommendations? Including “don’t do, because we know you’re an idiot and will just get ate off a Bear”

Lots of parks have cabins or yurts you can rent. Usually we bring our own tent, so I don’t remember which ones have the best. Depending on how late you want to be up, Palomar has an observatory telescope and campgrounds…and is an hour (or two with traffic) away from plenty of hotels. You could visit Disneyland and Knott’s in the same trip. Or, if you want to stay in the desert, Anza Borrego has little bungalows you can stay in, where you can easily get put away from light pollution. There are lots of places in the Southwest where you can likely find cheap accommodations and also get away from city lights.

What kind of daytime experience are you looking for? My wife is obsessed with visiting all the local national parks, and can give you more detailed advice.

 Mad Doc Grotsnik wrote:
So turns out the big money bonus has Actual Sensible Things I should spend it on, so no big holiday this year.

But chatting to a friend, I realised that thanks to light pollution in the U.K., I’ve never truly seen the night sky.

And it’s got me thinking….do US National Parks have rentable cabins etc? Because the USA is a hell of a lot bigger than little old Blighty, and much less densely populated. That appeals to me on some level. Not necessarily for a whole holiday in itself, but perhaps a couple of nights etc.

Any recommendations? Including “don’t do, because we know you’re an idiot and will just get ate off a Bear”

You're coming to the states just to camp? Don't you know anyone in the countryside over there?

We do, but due to tiny country, light pollution is really hard to avoid.

The Scottish highlands seemed pretty deserted, would that do the job? Or out to sea?

Scottish Highlands are surprisingly expensive to get to, and Bloody Cold!

I did do Orkney the other year, but it with midsummer on the Solstice, so approx 2.3 seconds of darkness!

Best stars I ever saw were in the High Atlas Mountains in Morocco, went trekking on an expedition with my school. Trip of a lifetime, even if for most of it we just moaned about how hungry we were...

Well I guess it depends if you want to rough it or what your budget is, but I can only speak for going out to the western states.

I do live in the country in the midwest and have great views at night, in fact just caught a shooting star a couple days ago, but my area is still classified as country-suburban as far a light pollution goes.

https://www.cleardarksky.com/maps/lp/large_light_pollution_map.html