5 days then 3 days in the greatest city - NYC

I love Yotel. Very comfy bed. Rain shower. Ports to charge phones without having to clamber around under the desk on hands and knees discovering how clean the place actually is ( not ) and unplugging the TV or the lamp or the kettle in the process.

We hopped into an Uber and headed down to Chelsea Markets to meet Driekie, Dennis and Aimee - Leigh. The markets are dissapointingly crowded and touristy on a Sunday afternoon . We walked the High Line and were so impressed by the yet to be completed Hudson Yards development at 34th Street.

We actually had fun at the super touristy Revolving Bar Sky Lounge on the 47th floor of the Marriott Marquis on Times Square. For dinner, Virgil's BBQ didn't disappoint.

Nothing beats a bagel and coffee for breakfast a corner NY deli. Feeling like locals we hopped on the Metro line 7 and rode all the way to Flushing Meadows for day 1 of the US Open Tennis. What an impressive tennis complex and what a well organised tournament. We had seats for the day session in the brand new Louis Armstrong Stadium. Later in the day we moved to court 17 to watch Kevin Anderson. Next time we will just get General Admission tickets for the early rounds. It's really easy to get into any court except the centre one to watch your favourite players. I don't travel to tick off bucket list items but the goal of attending all four Tennis Grand Slam Tournaments has been achieved.

Later that night we headed off to Greenwich Village to Neil's favourite funk bar, The Groove. For almost 30 years he's been going there whenever he is in Manhattan and when we lived in New Jersey it was one of our favourite haunts. Imagine our consternation to find it full of tourists!! 1 group of beer drinking Europeans in sandals and socks could hardy tap a toe. The backpacking crowd sporting blond dreadlocks and fisherman pants shared 1 drink between them. The Asian guy had to eat his onion rings with one hand so he could video the entire set with his cellphone. Later on some locals and musos started arriving and jamming a bit and "the Groove" returned.

We visited the MOMA. 

We ate a special lunch at Nougatine. We caught the subway to Brooklyn for dinner with Gary. Neil was snapped by a sneaky fellow commuter and made famous on a site called ' Subway Creatures. ' 

We ate at Tabare, a Uruguayan restaurant and I had mulfatta, a featherlight gnocchi with pumpkin and cheese. New York is so uniquely cosmopolitan; for generations people from every corner of the globe have found their niche and their nieghbourhood. On Friday we headed off to NJ to spend Labor Day weekend with family and friends.

At the end of September we were back, this time staying with Fred and Terri and going loco in the less touristy neighbourhoods of Harlem and Brooklyn. Fred knows the city and showed us lots of interesting galleries, bars and streets. Ram and Ranji joined us one day.We ate Colombian breakfast, Tibetan lunch and Korean dinner. A world in one city like no other city in the world.