Rock On

We caught the ferry to Statton Island today. It's free. It takes you past the Statue of Liberty. It doesn't make taking photos very good if you have a little camera. Still we did get to see her, and she's famous and all that.

On Statton Island we wandered into a cafe to find some Coke and got sucked in by the friendly waitress who asked us if we wanted breakfast. Seeing as we hadn't eaten breakfast since Monday, we stayed. Once we'd sat down we discovered it was some clandestine, hippy, vegan, vegetarian, gluten free, chick-pea cafe. I felt very ripped off. I don't go places like that when I'm on holidays. Unless I'm on holidays with the majority of my friends and then sometimes I have to.

Still they did do stuff for real people too, so I ate some french toast. It wasn't that good but at least it had gluten in it.

Once we escaped the den of health and ethics, we got back on the ferry for our free trip back. Then it was off to the Rockefeller Centre to see the New York from up high. We managed to be up there about 5 minutes before the rain set in. The approaching rain made for some good photos, but the rain itself just made us wet. So we sheltered in a room with light up squares on the roof and walls. It was like a giant, inverted Dance Dance Revolution. I'm sure those of Asian decent with us felt very at home.

Eventually the rain eased and we made it outside. We were very high up, New York is full of tall buildings. In the worlds of Mick Harvey "Whenever I see New York, New York USA...every time I see it I get high, oh so high." Actually it wasn't quite like that but as the song names every tall building in the city, I sang it to myself as I looked at each other buildings in his song.

When we descended from those art deco heights of steel and over priced gift shops, we ate a hot dog from someone who sells them on the street. I was eating mine as we crossed the road, over a grate with steam coming out of it. It was that moment that I truly felt like I was in New York.

I visited the NBC store which had very little West Wing merchandise in it. Travesty. Seeing as Lesley had left by that stage to go look at art, I took myself on the NBC Studio tour. We got to see the Saturday Night Live studio and the Late Show with Jimmy Kimmel studio. That was fun. But that was about the whole tour. I reckon if I wasn't a production geek, I would have felt ripped off by the tour. But I did appreciate getting in the studios. And I got to see the inside the broadcast suite for a precious 10 seconds. I would have loved to have stared for an hour or two but I got the feeling from the security guards that they weren't that keen on us dallying about.

I caught the subway home, feeling impressed with myself that I hadn't got confused, which was just about the time that I got confused. But I made it back here to the hostel.

Tonight we do the night tour, and go up the Empire State building. And then it's good bye New York.