Snowing in New York... now I can leave for DC

Waking up in the Chelsea this morning, I looked out the window to see a sight I had hoped for... snow in New York. And it came on the last morning... win! I jumped out of bed and climbed out the window to the balcony to frolic. It looked awesome, bikes chained to street signs now covered like icing on cake, people shoveling the sidewalk, cars and canopies topped with inches of white, deciduous skeletal's now frosted and pretty. New York for me now, was as complete as it needed to be for me to say that I have achieved everything I needed to there. I could easily have stayed another week, or even a month, or more.

It was bittersweet though, as I was having to say goodbye to a few of my favorite things; the Chelsea Papaya (favorite chili dogs)...

... the steam up out of the sewers...

... and of course, The Hotel Chelsea.

But nevertheless, it was time to go. DC had to come and NewYork had to be left behind. But I'll be back one day... one day.

We caught and uneventful four hour bus to DC at 11:00am and rolled over to our new hostel. The Capital View. It's close to all the monuments and museums and it's very clean. They make you take off your shoes at the front door. Um... Ok. We met a German dude named Lukas as we were heading out for a beer. He tagged along with us and we went to an Irish pub down the road and then to a Chinese restaurant where they make their own noodles n shit. The food was pretty good and cheap. We moved off to another pub where I finally drank a VORTEX beer... a Millers Light. It has a spiral inner neck, that makes the beer spin like a vortex as you scull it. I had a few. We played pool. We went back, ready for a huge day tomorrow. Lukas added me on facebook and said I could crash on his couch in Germany when i head over there in April/May. Another win!

Location:Washington DC

Burn the Checklist in NYC Pt2

Sunday saw us seeing sights north of our hotel and first up was one of my highlights for this trip, Grand Central Terminal. I was particularly interested in seeing this and especially the central clock, made of gold with a pearl face, worth around US$11m and an iconic figure seen in a lot of films and shit. The place was epic and had a really old and grand vibe about it. We had to check out the Whispering Gallery, down stairs by the famous Oyster Bar. Here, the architecture of the curved ceiling allows you to speak while standing in the corner facing the wall, and someone else can hear what you are saying while standing in the diagonally opposite corner. Morty and I checked it out and it works really well. It was freaking cool!

Quack! The Whispering Gallery with it's curved ceiling.

Dark, mysterious, moody and... romantic? Not when it's just me and Morty!

The Central Clock.

Made from pearl and gold.

Grand Central Terminal.

The facade.

It was cold again today. I made Morty stand in the stinky sewer steam so I could get a photo with that cool bridge in the background. "Thanks Morty", that shit stunk!

We headed toward the Chrysler building to buy coffee and use the Starbucks free WiFi and then on to the Rock.

Front of the Chrysler.

The Rockefeller is the tallest skyscraper in NYC. We didn't really have plans to go up to the viewing platform, but following on from our luck from the day before, we noticed the line was tiny, so we headed on up. It cost $22. What ensued was the greatest sights of New York I could have hoped for! Expansive views across all districts of Manhattan. It was awesome!

Skyline NYC.

Nice view of Central Park.

Gruffs w/ the Empire State Building behind them.

On the way to Central Park, stopped at a street vendor for a chicken gyro. My sister had told me I "had to it". The dude had no prices displayed and we knew we got "tourist'd" when he charged us $7 a piece! The cocksucker had us (they're usually about $5.80 or so). We groveled at him and paid up. I tried to justify it by thinking the prices were higher cause of location (the heart of the city) and because his cart was so much more visibly cleaner than others I'd seen. Still... "Cocksucker!".


In Central Park, we walked from the southwest corner, through the center and around 3/4 the way up in the northwest pocket. The lake was frozen over and looked amazing. The cold made the walk easy in one sense but it also deteriorated our muscles and bones and pretty soon, we were looking for a subway. But not before passing back via the Strawberry Fields and past the hotel where John Lennon lived and consequentially, was shot and murdered outside of in 1980.

Weird gazebo, Central Park.

Ball field in Central Park.

This has been in a lot of movies I think... Central Park.

We could still see footprints in the ice. Some people have to fall to natural selection, I suppose.

Iconic bridge.

At strawberry Fields.

Amish tomfoolery at Central Park West.

Lennon's final residence.

I took a photo of a NYPD cop car without getting my face ground up in the gutter with a knee in my back. It's a win in my book!

We had to stop at our favorite pharmacy on the way home for some final supplies. We love this place... So many memories.

We kept it quiet the last night. We were fucked from two days of cold hiking through the city. We got some food and watched the NBA Allstars match, before packing our bags for Washington the next day.

Location:NYC

Burn the Checklist in NYC Pt1

We woke up at 9:00am but chilled out till 11:00am before heading out to catch the sites south of our hotel. First was breakfast-lunch at a random place near Union Square. Day two and we now felt like we were starting to master the subway system and everything seemed to go our way all day. We cruised down till we got to Bowling Green (wharf to Liberty Island) to see the Statue of Liberty. At first we were just going to look and take photos from Manhattan Island, because we'd been told there is always an epic wait for the ferry but when we got there we noticed the line was really small. So we bought access tickets for $13 each and headed on down to the terminal. You have to take off your jacket, shoes, belts and hats/beanies and put all things into a tub from your pockets, along with your bag to go through X-ray and you have to walk through a metal detector before they will let you onto the boat. We had great views on the boat looking back towards Manhattan but the ride over was so epically cold! The temp. today was around zero degrees centigrade and the wind chill was mega! I haven't felt cold like this before. NZ winter skiing was child's play. Later this evening the temp. got to minus six degrees C. With so much wind it cut through all layers, skin, muscle, fat, organs and bones. My nipples are still like fucking diamond cutters.

From Manhattan.

Cold ass bitches.

View back towards Manhattan from the ferry.

When you're this cold, you don't care that you look like a douche, you just want to get warm and hold that beanie down to prevent it from blowing off in the epic cold windstorm.

The Lady.

I can see up her nose.

This is how cold it is.

The bay is pretty dirty.

From here we caught the ferry to Lady Ellis Island to check out the Immigration History Museum, which was rad but I won't bore you with the details. It wasn't really anything worth writing home about but really cool to visit and interesting.

Registry Room, Immigration Center/Museum.

From here we checked out Ground Zero, the Brooklyn Bridge, Wall Street and Times Square.

A sculpture that was damaged during the 9/11 attack and now resides by the ferry terminal at Bowling Green.

Cheesy Amish Men!

Huge plaque at Ground Zero.

Brooklyn Bridge.

More Cheese!

Trump Building @ Wall Street.

New York Stock Exchange.

George Washington Memorial @ Federal Hall, where he took the oath as first president.

Steam out of the sewer.

Times Square.

Minus Six Degrees C. @ Times Square.

On our way back from dinner... Amazing!

Morty's mate was in town, staying in a studio apt. next to Times Square, so we met up with him for dinner and brews at a place called 123. It's called that cause burgers cost $1, shots cost $2 and beers cost $3. The burgers are small sliders about two bites big and the beers are full mugs off a variety of taps. This place was awesome and continuing with our good luck timing, we got a table almost immediately which is damn rare. We had 6 burgers each and shared a plate of waffle fries and chicken wings, plus a few beers for only $23 each! Then we split to buy 40's and drink in the studio and play cards.

Times Square w/ Morty, Matt & Jimmy.

Drunk and on the way home, Morty and I had to get Rees' from our new favorite pharmacy. They have a self service checkout and while I was paying, I was boxed in by Morty, when he let go of a giant, highly audible fart. I had to wait for my change so I couldn't move and the machine was taking forever. He counted aloud "1, 2, 3..." and then bolted out the door and glared at me through the window like an arsonist, rubbing his hands together with glee, while watching the damage that ensued. I thought I was safe but then it hit me, like a rotten watermelon smashing into my face! I couldn't breath but I was now laughing hysterically, delirious from a good gassing. When I got outside I was wheezing from the laughter and Morty looked like he was going to wet his pants. People from all sides of the street were now looking and staring at us as we tried to make our way down and around the corner towards our hotel. This tomfoolery continued back at the hotel when I got in front of him in the lift and belted one out as soon as the doors slammed shut. Bam mother fucker! In a tight and confined space bitch!

Location:W 23rd St,New York,United States