Wednesday was slated to be a day in Brooklyn. Jet lag appeared to have kicked in with a vengeance and we all arose somewhat bleary eyed. Fortunately there was decent coffee nearby (still hard to find!) so we managed to knock over the cobwebs with a little caffeine and a couple of bagels. E is still wide eyed at everything going on in the streets, it’s hard to know what’s going through his head!

Once we were feeling human again, Deb had located a cafe in Williamsburg that she had read about and wanted to try. There was meant to be a decent running shop somewhere in Williamsburg as well so we grabbed the subway North. Williamsburg reminds me of Fitzroy/Collingwood – somewhat grungy and down-market but being gentrified and undergoing hipsterfication. There was even yarn bombing going on so it felt just like home. The cafe “Sweatshop” was a little place but had good strong coffee and nice Aussie touches – it is run by a couple of ex-pats. There were even a couple of Sherrins behind the counter.

After coffee and an avo smash (of course) Deb left to see a play on Broadway so Dave and I consulted the map to see where the Brooklyn Running Co might be. Astonishingly it was only around the corner, less than two minutes walk!

A nice, independently run shop, with a good range of stuff and very friendly staff, we chatted for a while and left with a few purchases, then returned back to base camp for a snooze to try to combat the jet lag.

Deb soon returned and we set out to the local Barclays stadium, a 2km walk down 4th avenue. Here the Brooklyn Nets were taking on the Detroit Pistons, out first NBA game.

There was lots of glitz and excitement, DJs and non-stop stimulus. Certainly a good event for people with short attention spans! Deb was the only one of us with any knowledge of basketball but it was very entertaining. We munched on overpriced hotdogs and beer (Brooklyn lager is really pretty good), and E seemed to enjoy himself.

Helping matters, the Nets won in a close finish, although the incessant timeouts robbed the game of some of its drama, so the partisan crowd left in a good mood.

Wandering back down fifth avenue (Brooklyn, not Manhattan!) we noticed that every bar was packed. We weren’t sure if this is just a Tuesday night thing, but then realised that it was people watching the baseball – the Chicago cubs were in the process of winning the World Series for the first time in 108 years, putting Footscray and Cronulla’s drought-breaking efforts into some perspective.

Another jam-packed day!

Everyone had a touch of jet lag but around 9ish Dave and I grabbed our running shoes and walked the few blocks up to Prospect park, a large park in central Brooklyn.

It was a beautiful sunny Autumn day, with squirrels racing around doing last minute shopping before winter. The park is really a smaller version of Central Park (I think they had the same designer), including a nice wide running path all the way around the park, so we completed a nice gentle 5km or so lap. If they are looking for a NYC parkrun location this would be a great option! The road was marked with mile/km markers at regular intervals so clearly a popular spot for fun runs. A couple of quite decent hills kept us honest, but we were soon done and headed back for bagels and coffee.

E was still asleep when we returned, and the first thing he asked for when he woke was to go to the Lego shop, so we geared up and set off for the subway, which was about a ten minute walk away. Conveniently there was only one train to take direct to our destination, and we were soon at Bryant park. From our last trip we remembered a good coffee location – Bluestone Lane – and grabbed our caffeine requirements here. Founded by some Melbourne people, it has decent coffee, and even Vegemite on toast if that’s your thing. Also, interestingly enough, the day before this cafe had gone cashless – you could only pay electronically.

After coffee we headed up sixth avenue to Rockefeller plaza, notable for its ice skating rink, gorgeous Art Deco architecture, and its Lego shop.

E’s eyes were wide open when we walked in, he didn’t know where to look first! He quickly decided which Lego he wanted, surprisingly not the biggest one in the shop (I was hoping he’d want the enormous Death Star Lego but it would have necessitated us buying another suitcase!).

Gripping his new purchase tightly, E was satisfied so we looked for more grown up pursuits. Deb wanted to see the top of the rock observation deck, so she queued up and Dave and I took E and set off to look for running shoes. Dave was concerned that people might think we were a gay couple with our child, so I suggested he let go of my hand and all would be fine.

Unfortunately the search for shoes was a bit of a disappointment. The asics shop had closed and its new replacement was yet to open (surely a planning snafu in marathon week!), and the other sports shops we checked out were limited. No matter.

After a quick but delicious Mexican dinner, Dave and I took the subway into Madison Square Garden for the Standup for Heroes event, a comedy gala raising money for injured veterans.

The lineup was impressive, in order: Jon Stewart, Jim Gaffigan, Louis CK, Jerry Seinfeld and Bruce Springsteen. The comedians were introduced by veterans and their families, which was a moving counterpoint to the humourous tone of the evening. All were very funny, with Jerry Seinfeld probably the standout, although honourable mention to Jon Stewart’s Twitter battle with Donald Trump.

Even Springsteen got in on the act, between songs he told dirty jokes.

Following the comedy and music there was an auction to raise money. This was where things got a bit crazy – people donating 150,000 there and then. Springsteen’s guitar was auctioned off for nearly 300,000 – this included him driving to your house in his ’67 Cadillac and driving you and three friends to the baseball, then buying you all the hotdogs you could eat. Impressive prize, sadly I didn’t have a spare quarter of a million lying around so the chance slipped through my fingers.

All in all the event would have raised millions, and was a great night out.

What could be better than a fourteen hour flight? A fourteen hour flight plus a five hour flight plus an almost three-year-old.

MEL-LAX-JFK started in style with a champagne breakfast and some last minute shopping.

Then, we girded our loins and boarded the long long flight to LA. I was lucky enough to spend the flight behind a selfish friend of humanity who put her seat right back for the entire flight. I consoled myself with the fact that she had to spend the trip staring up my nostrils but it was scarce comfort.

Movies for the flight:

High rise ⭐️⭐️⭐️.5 crazy and beautiful but a little lacklustre in places

Alien ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ a classic

Now you see me 2 ⭐️⭐️ don’t bother

E was a complete champion for the flight and busied himself with drawing, tv shows and sleeping, much to his fellow passengers’ delight.

Our flight was early into LAX, thankfully leaving us plenty of time to do the usual US customs/border control fun and games, and we were at the gate early. Deb was sorely tempted to jump straight into Starbucks but held off.

Due to a different flight being delayed, the flight to New York was half empty (or half full or at 50% capacity depending on your preference) so we had lots of room to stretch out for the next leg, and used it to catch up on a little bit of sleep. E was again in superb form and slept most of the flight, not even waking when we landed.

Bundling through baggage collection we grabbed a cab and headed to Brooklyn in the late afternoon as the sun set.

Our AirBNB is very nice, and Evelyn our host is very bubbly and friendly. Just as well, given our 24 hour transit we were a bit on edge and anything short of bubbly might have met with violence.

A quick local burger and early night to stave off the jet lag.

Coming up next: Lego, Secretaries of State and comedy gold. Stay tuned.

Yep it’s all about predictability folks, we’re back in New York. This time it’s marathon week so I’ll dust off the blog and pop up a few photos if anyone’s actually out there reading this stuff.

We decided to give our legs a good stretch prior to the long flight home, so set off early for a walk over the Brooklyn Bridge.

On the way we stopped at Brewklyn, our new favourite coffee shop in New York – a great little place with a friendly owner who clearly took a lot of care in makin his coffee, with good results.

The walk to the bridge took us through more of Brooklyn, and despite the early hour, it was already hot and sticky. How we are going to cope with Melbourne’s cooler weather, I’m not sure. 

 Up close, the Brooklyn bridge is really a spectacular bit of engineering. A raised pedestrian walkway runs across the middle of the bridge, and provides magnificent views down to Liberty Island and New Jersey as well as up the river to Queens and uptown Manhattan.

There were lots of pedestrians and cyclists making the way across the bridge, a mix of commuters, tourists and posers – beautiful people seem to hang around wanting to be “discovered”. Two blokes in tuxedos were getting their photo taken by a professional with the financial district in the background – we weren’t sure if it was modelling or a wedding photo.

All up the walk to Manhattan and back was around 12km, so we were happy to plonk ourselves down in the hotel and get showered ready for the big trip. A decent (and cheap!) Mexican lunch and it was time to head for the airport, where I’m writing this now.

We have just discovered that our NY to LA flight has been delayed by 90 minutes so we have been re-routed via Sydney. Thanks, Qantas.

Our last full day in the states – we travelled to the southern end of Brooklyn and Bay Ridge. Nestled in the suburban streets was the unassuming Pegasus restaurant, run by friends of friends, so we popped in for a visit and a quick brunch. Inside it was a rather full and bustling diner. We introduced ourselves to Harris and Jamie, the owners, and enjoyed a delicious meal and a lovely chat. Such a nice place and a lovely couple, well worth the trip across town! 

   Following this we had one more tourist item to tick off – Leanne was keen on a horse and cart ride around Central Park. We found an Irish driver who took us around and showed us the sights, mainly pointing out locations used for movies and TV shows. Yet again, it was a stunningly nice day, quite hot and despite being a Monday the park was very busy. The U.S. Open had started and clearly there was an extra influx of tourists. 

Quite a few people were giving our driver dirty looks and making comments about our horse Buddy – apparently it had a slightly dodgy way of walking which meant people thought it was injured but we were assured that it was nothing to worry about. Mayor de Blasio is trying to have the horse and cart business shut down due to cruelty concerns, so perhaps this has raised the issue more closely with people. Either way, our trip passed without incident, and Buddy seemed pretty relaxed about things.  

  To mix it up we had a photo at the “Friends fountain” with the “Ghostbusters building” in the background.  

  Some final souvenir shopping then we grabbed the subway back to Brooklyn via a bagel place, then Deb and I dolled ourselves up (as much as travel clothes allow, anyway) for an evening in Williamsburg, a short cab ride from our hotel. We were meeting a friend for drinks at the rooftop bar of the Wythe hotel. Feeling somewhat outnumbered by the hipster beards and high levels of cool, we stepped out to a spectacular view across the East River, watching the sun set over Manhattan. Just gorgeous, sadly the drinks prices matched the view! 

 After a nice chat and a goodly number of beverages, we walked to a nearby restaurant the Aimee had recommended called, simply enough, Meatballs. It was either going to be an 80s movie tribute restaurant or do meatballs and thankfully it was the latter. So many good restaurants do one thing and do it well, and this was the case here – the meatballs were superb. This place would not be out of step in Thornbury. Thus sated, we returned to the hotel.

Another long day of driving. We left Boston early and drove south, ticking off another state in the process as we hit Rhode Island. A brief stop in Providence, where we were happy to find the best coffee of the trip, at a small cafe called The Coffee Exchange. Always a good sign when you see a coffee roaster in the back room. Delicious!

It was then back onto our old friend the I95, cruising back into Connecticut and New Haven. Recalling the vast dimensions of the pizzas here we opted for sushi for lunch – actually it was a random find but quite serendipitous, as the food was cheap and very very good. In particular the fried cricket sushi rolls were unusual, but crunchy and very tasty.

Again, back into the car for the final leg into New York. Fortunately E had been very well behaved for the long journey – perhaps the stream of Peppa Pig on the iPad was keeping him going, and lots of games with Leanne.

We found our hotel in Brooklyn without much drama. It was immediately obvious that we were in a Jewish neighbourhood, almost everyone on the street dressed in orthodox clothing and lots of kosher shops. We unpacked at the hotel then I girded my loins for the final challenge – driving on my own through Manhattan to return the rental car.

This proved to be not as bad as expected – the largely one way streets made it relatively sane, and perhaps the fact that it was Sunday afternoon meant the traffic was just heavy instead of insane. Plenty of very ordinary driving going on – I quickly realised that my strategy of “follow the car in front because they will know what they are doing” was a terrible mistake, so I reverted to plan B – stay in your lane, don’t go through red lights and don’t run over pedestrians. This worked well and I made it to the drop off point without incident. I farewelled our Dodge Journey, trusty chariot of the last week and a half and hopped on the subway back to Brooklyn.

We walked down to a hipster strip of cafes for dinner, so the eclectic costumes, beards and odd hats made way for eclectic costumes, beards and odd hats. There appeared to be some good places for coffee so we made a mental note to return. Yes, this trip has anchored itself on beer and coffee, I know.

A good cheap Thai meal, then we headed back to the hotel. The backstreets of Brooklyn are a little dodgy at night but there were plenty of people walking round and we were soon back safe and sound. One more full day in the USA then we head for home!

I started the morning with a run along the Charles river towards the city. It was a stunning morning, and even though it was early the sun had a kick. There was a path all the way alongside the river, and there were many runners out and about. 

 Returning to the hotel, we walked to the metro station and caught the train into the Boston Common, a large green park in the middle of the city and the start of the “Freedom Trail” – a walk through the city passing many of the key historical points of interest. 

 The park was lovely with many tourists, however we noted a high number of homeless people, clearly this city has some problems of poverty to address. 

 We passed the Old South Meeting House, where the Boston Tea Party started (no mention of the buns though!), the site of the Boston Massacre of 1770 and some lovely old buildings, finally settling for lunch at the Bell in Hand, America’s oldest tavern. 
   
After this, we crossed to a relatively recent installation – a holocaust memorial. This was a simple but extremely moving space, a few notable quotes, a brief timeline and the serial numbers of all the holocaust victims on towering glass pillars. Simple and very memorable, and poignant considering Boston as the birthplace of a revolution against tyranny.

Returning to the train we headed to Harvard University and spent a lovely hour wandering the square and the gardens. The new students were milling around fresh faced, and I realised that they were likely not born the year I graduated from uni (gulp).

A very nice place, finished off with a leisurely stroll back down the riverside to our hotel.

Another beautiful morning greeted us, as we packed up our bags and bid farewell to Weirs Beach. It was a lovely place to spend a couple of days and relax, but now we had to answer the age-old question: did they have Boston buns at the Boston Tea Party?

  
Boston was only a couple of hours away and was a very easy drive compared to the previous long hauls. Once we hit the city though, we found ourselves stuck in a traffic jam several kilometres long, which ended up taking almost as long to navigate as the whole trip from Weirs Beach.

Once we hit the hotel and unpacked, we grabbed some lunch from the supermarket then caught the subway using the amusingly named “Charlie Cards” and were soon in the city centre.

Compared to the pedestrian hostile environment near the hotel, this was much better, with lots of streets closed to traffic and lots of people wandering the street. There were some beautiful old buildings as well. Our goal was the docks, in order to take one of Boston’s legendary “Duck” tours – a trip round the city and harbour in an amphibious vehicle. 

 
Our guide and driver/pilot were very amusing and kept us entertained for the whole trip. There were some amazing luxury boats moored off the docks – yours to hire for a mere 90000 a day. Ouch!

Once we were back on dry land we toured a few of the notable historic areas of Boston, tracing the birth of the American Revolution and finding out about some of Boston’s famous people. We also learned the origin of the word “hooker” so it was quite educational all up. E had a great time for half the trip and slept for the second half, which made him far and away the best behaved kid on board. 

 After we were done we grabbed a nice dinner, including some amazingly good clam chowder, then headed back to the hotel. A fun day!