Gator Girl & Lady McBec's Big Apple Adventure

Swamp Boy has headed away for a couple of days, so I have taken over the blog (please even note its new look - he is just lucky it is not bright pink.... I thought it best to keep him on side as he will have to help me restore the links to our friends pages that seem to have.... um... disappeared with my upgrade!) and am finally getting up to date with some of my recent adventures.

Lady McBec decided she was heading to the 'Old Country' on the traditional Australian young adult right of passage known as the 'working holiday'. On the way, she decided to grace us with her presence. She visited Fitness Boy (Her name for him and well, I can't think of anything better to call my little Bro' at this stage) and his lovely wife in Aggie Land. She then had NYC in her sights. As I am always up for an adventure and have plenty of holiday time up my sleeve, I joined her for the fun.

We had a fabulous time. I flew in late on Monday night from the Swamp and found that Lady Mc had already hit the 5th Ave shops without me! Alas, there would be plenty of time to shop after we had seen the sights. As we had organised a 2 day hop-on-hop-off bus pass (complete with tour guide), and Tuesday was sunny so we headed off to Ellis Island and the Statue of Liberty. The sun may have been out, but it was absolutely freezing. Sitting on the top deck of the bus had chilled us both to the core (the picture was from early in the day when Lady Mc was still glamorous)!

As a result we didn't get off the boat to visit Lady Liberty, but we did manage about 50 photos each on our way past. But of course, you have all seen pictures of the NYC sites, so am not bothering to upload my swag of tourist shots. I will include one taken at the top of the Empire State Building, only as it shows the snow that had not yet melted!

After the ferry ride, it was time to do a quick wander through the shops, so we could make an informed decision as to where to spend our money on our designated shopping day (Thursday). We found our store on 5th Ave and marked it off on our map for Thursday afternoon as a must see. But we have do discuss Wednesday first!

A work colleague from New Jersey told me about a booth where you get 1/2 price Broadway tickets, so that was our first stop on Wednesday morning. Unfortunately they were all matinee shows, so we needed to head back after 3.00 pm. So what better way to spend the morning than on a bus touring Queens. Highlight - the bus was warm and provided Lady MacBec the perfect place to nap. Once we returned from that misadventure (don't bother if you are in NYC), we walked 20 blocks through Central Park.

Now this was very worthwhile - it was lovely, despite the cold. Lady McBec provided the tour commentary, which all seemed to revolve around the squirrels that were in near plague proportions and their affairs. After a quick bit to eat, it was time to explore the Met. Lady McBec was in paradise and I am sure could have spent days wandering the halls.

But no time to dawdle. We had tickets to get for our show!

We managed to get Phantom of the Opera tickets for an 8.00pm show. Unfortunately we did not have time go back to our hotel and change or drop off our collectibles from the Met. But we did have time for dinner. We selected a very trendy looking Asian Fusion restaurant for dinner - full of trendy after work types in suits. Us - jeans, hiking boots and warm clothes, but none the less - the food was amazing and after a cosmopolitan, who cared! Oh yes, and the show was also terrific.

Thursday was shopping day and boy did we explore every shop on Madison Ave and 5th Ave. Mostly as it was really cold and we wanted to escape to the warm, but also because it was our designated shopping day. As we were both in thermals under our outer layers, there was specific criteria evaluated prior to trying on clothes. Was there more than one item worth trying? Did we really really like the item? I think by the end of the day we were exhausted and had spent all our money. It also left Lady McBec's back pack overflowing and required a trip to the post office to dispatch items back to Oz as well as the London.

After a farewell Cosmo on Friday, it was time to head to the airport and farewell Lady Mc on her big adventure. I hopped on my plane first, and should have been home in 4 hours. Unfortunately I missed a connecting flight and made it back to my swamp after a 15 hr delay in the Carolina's. Hmm. So Lady Mac made it to London well before I made it home.

(I also maintain half a Cosmo consumed at 12.30pm cannot make someone ill 10 hrs later Lady Mc!)

Again - another successful adventure.