Thanks for reading.

A short while later we were home.

It was a fantastic holiday. We're still talking about it, with each other and all of you. It was a real holiday, not an adventure like the one which started this blog or a journey of research and discovery like the last. We had fun and we saw new things, met great people, had a lot of fun. In case it wasn't obvious, we ate well.

Rather than bore you with stories of reading a book in the ocean breeze, I'm just going to drop a bunch of our photos from Maui, and say thanks.

Thanks to everyone who's been reading; it may not seem like much but when I log in and see that people are staying in touch with what's been written it gives me a little boost to write another entry. So thanks, all of you, for coming with us. I hope you had fun.

We went for a walk in the morning

Cocktails instead of lunch/dinner

Until next time, take care.

Do you like pineapple?

Woke up in New York and a mere 20 hours later we were in Maui.

Pretty much this the whole way around

We stayed on the island's north coast. A shuttle from the airport took an hour and we arrived bleary eyed and dazed, not at all ready for the stream of information the woman at the counter had prepared for us. Maps, guides, local attractions, resort rules, beaches...

"Hey, do you guys like pineapple?"

A little surprised we answered we did. We did like pineapple.

"I have a pineapple for you, wait here."

We had it for breakfast and it was incredible. We bought another later that day.

Avocado burger at the Gazebo

In fact for us, Maui was the perfect end to our trip. We walked to the market and stocked up on fruit and vegetables to eat on our porch and did very little except walk on the beach and drink cocktails in the evening.

Beaches like this

Yeah we were sad to leave New York but we were so so happy to have temperatures above freezing for a couple of days. We could look out across the beach from our room; in fact we could see all the way to the next island. In the morning we walked in the shade of the mountains and in the evening we watched the sun set over the ocean.

It was hard to fault the views

The island's volcanic origins meant the coastline was bay after sheltered bay, the sandy beaches protected by long rocky outcrops. The beaches were different to the ones we know at home; no slogging it for five minutes across the sand to reach the water. Out of the hotel and into the water in thirty seconds.

Milk costs a lot. That's the price of living in paradise.

For a place that neither of us had wanted to visit before the trip, Hawaii has become a place neither of us can wait to visit again. But next time we would want to see more of everything and probably achieve more than sitting in our hotel room and reading.

Sunset at Maui

Not that there was anything wrong with that.

The last day in New York

How much cream cheese can you fit in a bagel?

This was the question someone must have asked one day in New York City because the guys who made our breakfast knew exactly how much cream cheese they could put in a bagel, one drop shy of too much. It wasn't until after we ordered that the system of the bageler (bagelry?) became clear. We had missed the rows and rows of flavoured cream cheese. It was a rainbow of cream cheese. In the end I was glad to have plain cream cheese, I don't know how I would have chosen.

There wasn't time to choose. We had a boat to catch.

The view from the Hudson

The Circle Line gives tours of Manhattan from the water and at one stage provided assistance to a passenger jet which had made an emergency landing. The full tour is three hours and takes people the whole way around the island. We did the short tour - out to the Statue of Liberty and back.

It was about as cold as it looks

This was not something I would have listed on my 'must do' sights before I left but having done it I can only recommend it. The guide pointed out significant sights in a sonorous voice though didn't mention anything on the New Jersey side of the river.

Downtown from the water

The tour boat docks at 42nd street and we took a bus to 7th Avenue. Ali hadn't seen Central Park and we needed photos of that.

We got 'em

A full afternoon of shopping and we headed out for Greenwich Village where he had heard about a nice little bar with top notch food.

Mac and cheese with chili mixed through

And that was our last night in New York. We talked about it as we walked through the village and decided that everywhere we had been in the States we had a good time, but New York was the only place we were sad to be leaving. Not too sad; we'll just have to go back.

High sights and high lines

New York stayed cold and we found ways to stay indoors with a day at MoMA and a night at Matilda. The music was very Tim Minchin, with clever, broken lyrics and memorable tunes. The twist ending took us a little by surprise but on the whole it was a thoroughly enjoyable experience.

The next morning we breakfasted at the Doughnut Pub (exactly as good as it sounds) and booked our tickets for the Circle Line (more on that in a later post).

A bit of ice on the Hudson

It was cold but not as bad as the last couple of days so we headed up the Empire State Building.

The wind had died down and we got outside to take a few photos.

Looking up 5th

Chrysler building

Flatiron

All the way downtown

Afterward we headed to the Meatpacking District to source some food. We wound up at the Chelsea Market.

That's the High Line, more on that later.

Lunch was a plate of meat and cheese and some brilliant but very strong dark beer. We followed that up with a wander through the markets and some sweet treats.

This was the 'small' platter

Along Manhattan's west side is the High Line, an old elevated train line which has been turned into miles of parklands. We walked the High Line from the Meatpacking District all the way back to the Fashion District and our hotel.

Ali on the line

It gave some different views of the city and let us walk back uninterrupted which was quite a rarity in New York.

School bus!

We had to keep one eye on the time as we walked. We had a plan to meet Reuben for dinner and all three of us had tickets for the Knicks that night.

Walking New York as the sun sets.

We had dinner at the hotel and walked up to Madison Square Garden.

The game was supposed to be an easy win for the Miami Heat. The atmosphere was almost the opposite of the football game we attended, starting low and building as the lead seesawed through the first two quarters.

In the third quarter the Knicks pulled ahead and the crowd began to believe that they could pull off the win. When the buzzer went the Garden erupted.

Knicks win!

In both of the sporting events we attended on this trip the home team won, leading us to believe we are extremely good luck.

All worth it for the look

About a month before we left I caught up with a mate for lunch. He was moving to Sydney but had some time off between leaving Brisbane and was going to travel. We compared notes and figured out that we were going to cross over in New York.

He is also a friend of Alison's. We didn't tell her. It was an opportunity for surprise.

The day we could meet up was cold. The minimum was thirteen degrees below zero. The maximum was twelve degrees below zero. It seemed like a good day to go to the Met.

Ali and I got a cab uptown. It was Ali's first New York cab ride, and it was a doozy. Our driver assured us as we got in that he wasn't drinking a beer. It was a malted drink. On the drive to 82nd and 5th he cleaned his ears, played with a hat, spat from the window, all while driving like... well, a New York cab driver.

None of this phased me. New York cab drivers are out there every day; I figure they know what they're doing.

We arrived in one piece ready to see some art.

Byzantine Psalm book

The Met was far better than I had anticipated. In particular, I enjoyed walking straight into the section dedicated to Medieval Europe and seeing it filled with Byzantine artifacts.

Ali was frustrated that I spent so much time fiddling with my phone when we arrived. She couldn't know that I was coordinating. I pretended to be taking photos of the Viking display.

Yeah... pretended...

In a way it was nice to go to a museum with so much variety. My last trip had been all Viking and Byzantine stuff, but history is fascinating no matter what is on display. As long as the stories attached are interesting. For that the Roman items were the best.

To my surprise the area I liked the most was the European art upstairs. So many amazing works of art in one place, but with incredible variety. It was worth the visit just to see them.

David with Goliath's head

We dawdled for a little while taking in displays of ancient art and religion and religious art.

This was amazing

Ali was just about ready to move on when someone walked up behind her and commented on the item she was looking at. She turned around and saw...

...this guy!

We were gratified to see her do a full double-take. She later told us that she was still uncertain it was Reuben until deep into the conversation which followed.

He stayed with us as we explored the rest of the museum and we agreed to meet up that night for dinner.

Reuben's return heralded the chance to do something we had missed on the last trip. The legendary Five Napkin Burger. The burgers were good, five napkins may have been an under-estimate. Afterward we searched for desserts nearby.

What we found was astonishing.

Deep dish cookies.

Deep dish cookies.

Deep. Dish. Cookies.

Top tourists

It rained, but at least the rain ate into the snow. The fog over central park cleared the remnants of ice and slush. The threat of a minus ten day still hung over the city, but that wasn't until the next day.

The rain was cold and constant and we went in search of indoor sights. The first we reached was Grand Central Station, which was celebrating its centenary.

Ali and a bunch of commuters

We bought one week MetroCards and not for the first time reflected on how expensive public transport is in Brisbane. In New York, $2.50 will get you from one end of the city to the other. You can travel as much as you like all week for $30. In Brisbane I'm lucky not to spend $9 a day and I live a stones-throw from the city.

The must-see attraction for Ali was the Museum of Natural History, which I had visited on the last trip.

Christmasaurus?

Our tickets included a pass to the Dark Universe space show in the planetarium, presented by Neil deGrasse Tyson.

It was a visually impressive and engaging presentation, and a neat addition to our price of admission. We both commented that if Oliver had been on this trip he would have loved the presentation (though it may have been a bit basic for him - for us it was at the right level).

Teddy stands watch over the museum

The last time I was in the museum the entrance hall was being renovated, so it was good to see the dinosaurs, the murals and the Roosevelt quotes without scaffolding.

Also people appreciate the seating

Apart from the planetarium, we spent most of our time in looking at the mammals, the ocean room, and the people of the Americas.

It was still raining when we set out for our hotel to get some warmer clothes. We used the subway exit and stayed underground and indoors as much as possible.

Sunset behind us, caught the reflection in that building on the right.

Rockefeller plaza is atop a subway hub, and we were able to get there with minimal shivering.

Last time I went up to the Top of the Rock during the day and the Empire State Building at night, and Ali charitably offered to do the opposite this time around.

By the time we reached the top of the tower, the rain had cleared, and we had a clear view of the city at night.

There's that weird building again.

It was especially interesting to see Times Square from this angle, where it became a blazing flame of neon, like a laser bonfire in the city's heart. At the same time Central Park was a pit of darkness between us and Harlem, with fairy-light trails across it, marking the few paths.

Times Square

Up top we could feel the cold change coming. The temperature dropped fast and while we would have loved to stay to get more photos we could not stay outside for more than a couple of minutes at a time. We got one photo together but neither of us could manage a convincing smile in the cold.

We spent a little time outside with the crowds around the ice-skating rink as they waited for the ice to be cleaned, and ducked through the Lego store but didn't buy anything (though I took some photos for Tom).

That's where we were. Up there.

Before we left we had picked out a spot for dinner. Another subway ride and we were at the edge of Little Italy and we walked the five blocks for some Italian.

Ali had the lobster risotto.

Would you believe we stayed for coffee and dessert?

Terrible tourists

A quick confession; we are terrible tourists. Museums, galleries, well-known-monuments frequently slip our attention. If this record of our trip has shown anything it is that we like to walk the streets of a place and sample its fare. That's our tourism.

That's what we do.

That said, our first day in New York was especially sketchy. It was the coldest place we had been by a significant margin and we spent a significant portion of the day cowering from the weather and buying warm clothes.

But it would be a waste to spend our whole first day in New York without walking a little and seeing something. Walking wasn't easy; the sidewalks were icy and the gutters were overloaded with snow and slush. We figured we could blast straight out from where we were staying, take some quick photos, and turn toward Ninth Avenue for some food. 

Our hotel was between Sixth and Seventh avenues and had a rooftop bar which gave us a view of midtown Manhattan.

A view of some unknown building

The bar had an NFL playoffs happy-hour so we went up for some photos and a beer to fortify us against the conditions. 

A walk straight up Seventh Avenue took us to Times Square which was near deserted (for Times Square) and gave us an opportunity for photos.

Yay, made it

We crossed to Ninth in search of some comfort food and thank goodness stumbled on Hudson Station, which had craft beers, good wine and a sample plate of sliders.

Contemplating an angle of attack

From there we finished our small lap, walking back down to 26th Street and crossing the avenues to our hotel. Not the most active first day in New York, but it gave us the opportunity to explore our immediate area, and let our plans fortify for what would be a packed few days.