Monday 7th November, marathon Monday.  I tried to sleep in, but woke at 7 anyway.  That did represent a solid 7 hours sleep, which is far away the best night so far.  We had a slow morning in the hotel and ventured out at about 10.30 to go to the Cenral Park to the finishers tent to get the medal engraved and buy some finishers merchandise.  We stopped by the Shake Shack first to get some local produce - a shake burger and a shaky road - so called frozen custard shake with nuts and fudge bits in it.  I think frozen custard means soft serve.  But it was amazing.  Very solid - no straws required here, and so so tasty.

But this was a rookie error.  After sitting and eating our burgers then walking with the 'shake' through the park a little, we found the tent.  And the line.  Back out the park for a block.  Seriously.  We joined the line anyway.  11.30 am.  Rakesh form the JLF group was immediately ahead of us, and we chatted to a new Yorker next to us who is 64 and did his first marathon after starting running around 10 years ago.  The 90 minutes in the line was not too bad, but as a tip for anyone doing it in the future - get there early as doors open at 7am.  I had my medal engraved, ordered a picture, then went to the merchandise tent. All the girls t shirts were gone, leaving only raincoats.  There were some hoodies led tin size L andXL only.  Los of hats.  Must remember that for next time, if I need more t shirts in mylife.

Then it was onto holiday mode.  We walked more through the park, very pretty and autumnal but no big patches of leaves on the ground to kick up :)  Then onto Fifth Ave, Madison Ave, Park Ave.  the upper east side.  So clichéd.  Rich women wearing full designers gear, eating lunch at fancy restaurants with their equally rich friends.  Plus some tourists.  I did spy a Reed Krakoff store, and had to see if the shoes I have been coveting all year were there.  They were.  I tried them on.  They fit, even though the biggest size was the 40 instead of 41.  They looked good.  And Charlie was an enabler again.  

We kept wandering, then saw a poster for Bell and Ross.  So we went and got Charlie his wedding present. He is very pleased.  We walked to the Rockefeller centre.  Amazing shops including I a Lego store - very very cool.  We were going to try to go to the top of the rock, but decided that at 5 pm and with a 7 pm dinner booking, we were best off just enjoying the shop and the plaza rather than lining up.  Good choice.  We looked at the Lego shop and watched some of the skaters on the surprisingly small rink (Cenral park was bigger this morning).  Then the subway home before freshening up for dinner at the restaurant attached to the French culinary school in SoHo.  A lovely meal, great flavours and yet another good dining experience in New York.

On the way home, we stopped at The Empire State Building for a look out the top.  The facilities they have there for a long line up is amazing.  you could reasonably expect to spend 2 or 3 hours waiting in line.  We didn't.  It was straight through all the way at 10pm.  And the view was awesome on a beautiful clear night. What a fantastic city.

Tuesday - Brooklyn day.  We caught the subway down to city hall, walked through the park and then onto Brooklyn bridge.  We walked across the bridge on our warmest day yet - no coats for us today- and enjoyed the view across to Brooklyn.  We walked around DUMBO, the industrial area coming good down under the manhattan bridge overpass (geddit??). We bought some fancy chocolate, found some lovely Italian leather boots, ate pizza at eh famous Grimaldi's on old Fulton st, where we only had to line up for 15 minutes only 20 mins after opening time (!). 

Then we wandered through Brooklyn heights, a lovely residential neighborhood. Lots of row houses, gorgeous stuff.  We loosely followed the walks in the guide cards I had, and the map I had in my moleskin book, and we headed south looking for 'Steves Key Lime Pies' down on Van dyke.  It was a longer walk than I thought.  It took us into Red Hook, past the housing projects, along streets with more green stuff growing in the cracks on the pavement than wee have seen anywhere other than central park.  After hours of walking, wew got there.  Steve's pies.  W bought one.  It was good.  Was it worth it? Dunno, but the story is good.

We then caught a bus back to downtown Brooklyn, then founds subway to gt us up to Williamsburg, where some of the hipsters live and play.  Hehehehe.  Such a cliché.  But there they were in all their vintage clothes finery. along with bars, cafes and vintage clothing stores.  No new clothing stores.   Aftere a wander he, the a drink in a Vietnamese restaurant - Charlie bought a beer and a bottle of San pelligrino, given a free shot of vodka aas it was happy hour all for $9.

Subway home and time for feet up.  Another day of over 24km of walking.  then we walked to look for dinner.  Charlie said lululemon was very nearby on Broadway, and I checked the address -1928 broadway.  We are at 2228, so surely not far?  Turns out, it was 15 blocks.  And they were still open at 9 pm.  So I got the tops I was after.  We bought dinner from a supermarket, and ate on the bed in front of 'wall st', which I then fell asleep watching.  Again.

Wednesday - Our last full day.  Top of the Rock first up (no waiting as we were there by 9.00 am) for glorious views on a slightly misty / hazy morning, looking over the park in glorious 'fall' colour, and downtown with the Empire State Building in the foreground.  Charlie got some lovely photos.  Then onto Grand Central Terminal to marvel at the space, check out the whispering wall - it really works!!, and then around to the New York Public Library.  We actually had to hunt around for the books!  It was amazing to actually realise that this was an 'old school' library - google in hardback.  We have gotten so used to typing in a question and getting a reasonable answer instantly  that the idea of trawling through a card catalogue and working out which sort of books you want to order down from the stores is amazing.

We then kept wandering south.  I  left Charlie at an Irish pub while I did some shopping at Macy's - the largest store in the world.  It was huge.  I found some makeup, and some Calvin KleinJeans - $31 (ha!), and searched high and low for a dress I saw in the window of Macy's in Brooklyn, but I couldn't find it.  A bit like a needle in a haystack, really.  I even tried calling Macy's in Brooklyn, but nobody could be bothered trying to find out.

We then walked down, down, down Broadway, all the way to the Bull in the financial district.  It was fascinating to see all the different districts - the diamond district, NoHo, SoHo, Village, FiDi.  The Bull was surrounded by fencing so no one can get close, which means Charlie was his usual skillful photographer self in getting a shot with no one in it.  Then back to the hotel to freshen up before dinner at Gastroarte on 69th st - amazing food, amazing service.  We started with entrees that I can't remember (oops), and mains that were very tasty.  I know Charlies had black rice (thanks to the squid ink) with calamari and I had lamb cheeks - but the plating was gorgeous.  Dessert was the "Jackson Pollack" - a white chocolat emousse with salted caramel drizzled around and a square of white chololate that was 'painted' in a very Pollack style.  Charlie took pics.  It was a lovely way to finish off the trip, with a celbratory meal, and the value continued to be excellent - $150 incl tax and tips, which made it double any of our other meals, but so cheap compared to what we would pay here (and we over tipped a little).

Thursday - Our final morning.  We walked through the park, around the southern edge of the Lake, and up a little on the other side to see the Guggenhein, then down 5th Ave to the Met, where we marvelled at the Egyptian artefacts and the armoury.  An early lunch stop, then we continued down 5th Ave to FAO Schwartz to dance on the giant piano just like in 'Big' (and I wished I had more luggage space so I could buy some toys - so much cool stuff!!), and then to Tiffanys to try to see what the fuss was about.  I can only assume it has lost some of its cache over time.

We walked back to the hotel, collected our bags, lugged them a couple of blocks to the 81st St subway stop, then sat on the train all the way to the airport.  Pretty hassle free.  No lounge access for us in NY as Qantas don't own a lounge there and British Airways declined to accept our passes, so we enjoyed the good service at one of the bars in the airport.  He charged for 4 beers rather than 6, and the soda water was continuously refilled.  The nachos were good, too.  It was our only example of a big american plate of food.

Airports are unfun.  Aeroplanes are unfun.  6 hours to LA, 30 mins in the lounge before the 'boarding' light lights up and we go to the gate.  60 mins before they start boarding.  16 hour flight.  In economy.  Everytime I swear, never again.  1 door to let 600 passengers off the A380 - the biggest commercial aircraft in use.  So 45 mins before we get off.  Run through the airport to customs and baggage pickup.  But one of my bags got shredded along the way and took ages to come out, all wrapped in tape.  So we missed the connecting flight.  And waited another hour in line to speak to a Qantas staffer about getting on another flight.  The next 3 flights were sold out.  But they could get us on the 4.30 flight.  So we sit in the lounge, drink, eat and use the wifi.  And have a shower.  Note to all - drying oneself with paper towels is tricky.  And you can't do your back.  Then get on our plane for the last bit home again.  Then home,  sweet home. An airport pick up by mum (first sighting of her in over 3 months), then home.  Some washing, and bed.  The trip is over.

But there are some memories to share.  Here are a few:

This blog is from a fast runner in the US.  I didn't have to walk near naked into Times Square, but what he says about New Yorkers was very much my experience.

Couple on the Run are a melbourne couple who run and have made it their lives - lucky Sue and Andrew.  They are also lovely people.  I spoke to them at the expo, and sat behind them on the bus on the way to the start line, and they are very generous with their knowledge and experience.  There are a couple oflinks here.  The first one - top 10 signs from the run, and the second is a tribute to the bands along the way.

This is a 9 minute video, if you have the stamina for that!  Come on - I ran for almost 4 hours!!

And this is a cool comic sketch of the run - I never did see this guy.

This is a go pro video - a bit disjointed, and you can't get as good a sense of the crowd from this, but it still pretty cool.  A 5 minute clip.

and these are all the photos from the official photographers and some videos.  The organsiation is amazing, and if you look at the 10km video, you can hear a woman yelling out to me 'Go Tory - woman in a tutu - yeah' just as I run under the marker.  Very cool.