Since we had already done enough shopping, Dad and I went to the Metropolitan Museum of Art on Friday.

There was so much stuff there. All the Greek pots reminded me of the people who take Classics and would be able to appreciate them far more than I. They even had part of an ancient Egyptian tomb. No idea how they managed to do that.

We braved the subway again to go see the Freedom Tower. When we visited the US last time, they hadn't started it. There were lots of memorial things in the surrounding area.

Shiny!

Saturday was our last day in Manhattan, and all we really did was pack our stuff and then stayed with some family friends again. We stopped by Rockefeller University for a bit too.

The fancy new building

The apartment we used to live in was nearby too.

We lived on the 24th floor

I managed to fit all the stuff in my suitcase. It weighed exactly 23.0kg! I can't buy anything else I guess.

After an ordinary flight to London, we spent 3 hours trying to figure out how to get Oxford, then finally took a bus that had free wifi. Neither JFK nor Heathrow had wifi so I was quite impressed.

My jet lag is now quite severe. I took a nap and stuff but I'm still not sure how long I can last. I slipped down the stairs, mistook a pipe for a sewing machine and I still feel as though I am on a plane. Oh well.

On Wednesday we went shopping again. What a surprise! We went to Macy's which was just filled with bags, shoes, clothes, etc. US sizes seem more arbitrary to me. I fit the same size for everything in NZ, but in the US, it's rather random. 

My kind of shoes, obviously.

We then had to return some shoes we got for mom that she didn't like. We took the subway downtown. I must admit, while I didn't mind the subway the first time, by Thursday I was tired of it. It's incredibly hot and humid in the stations and the smell of urine is not uncommon. There are also not many places to hang on to when standing in the trains. The subway in Tokyo is a lot better in my opinion.

For the first time on our trip, we weren't treated to dinner, but instead we treated mom's PhD student who had come a month earlier to do all sorts of experimental work for the project. I think the restaurant was called Sushi Seki. It was honestly the best sushi I had ever eaten. The tuna was such a vivid shade of red and  tasted amazing. The other fish were good too. For dessert we went to Häagen-Dazs.

Yum!

New York is filled some some peculiar things. I didn't really notice them last time we visited.

There are lots of psychics.

Well, maybe not a lot, but compared with anywhere else, there are plenty. There is one about 5 metres from our apartment. Mom and I agreed to go there one day. I'm not entirely sure if she's joking or not. I don't even know if I'm joking!

There is a huge chain of drug stores called Duane Reade. They sell the usual over the counter medications and make-up like our pharmacies, and they have an actual pharmacy part of the store. What I find bizarre is that they sell a lot of junk food. Nothing healthy, only junk. They sell cigarettes too. I've gotten used to cigarettes being well hidden in stores in NZ, so to see them being sold so openly, especially in a place where you go to buy medication was a bit of a shock.

They had interesting ice cream though.

On Thursday (today) we went to TJ Maxx. They sell clothing, and they also have heavily discounted stuff from designer brands. While I was there I saw not one, but two(!) people who brought their dogs with them. I guess you have to be efficient if you live in New York. You have to be able to buy a Ralph Lauren shirt half price and take your dog for a walk at the same time.

I bought a ridiculous amount of goldfish crackers at the supermarket next door. There were some unusual flavours there so I'll be bringing them to school so we can all have a taste! I'm not entirely sure how I'll fit these snacks in my suitcase. I may have to put some bags in my pockets or something, I don't know.

Next up were some tourist spots.

We only went here to buy souvenirs from the gift shops.

Dad and I walked from Washington Square to East 6th Street between Ave A and B. It was quite a distance, especially because we got a little lost. We got treated to dinner again. This time it was an Argentinian restaurant I think. The steak was AMAZING! It was really so soft and so full of flavour. Even the steak that was supposed to be "tough" was far easier to chew than good steak you can get in Palmerston North. After our delicious meal, we walked all the way back to our apartment along 1st Ave. I checked the distance on Google Maps: 4.7km! Not too bad.

I actually declined an invitation to go out and experience Manhattan night life with the daughter of a family friend and their friends. Does this make me the most boring person ever?

I figured I might as well write about what I've been up to in the past few days.

We flew to Auckland, but when found out that our flight to Los Angeles had been delayed due to a mechanical problem. An Air New Zealand employee rebooked our flight from LA to New York because we would have missed our original flight. After waiting around for an extra 3 an a half hours, we finally took off. We rushed through immigration in LA to get to our net flight on time, but Virgin America didn't accept the rebooking. Instead, we waited at LAX for a good 6 hours and then another hour when everyone had boarded the plane due to more technical difficulties. One thing I noticed about airport bookstores: no matter what country they are in, Fifty Shades of Grey will be part of the main display. When we finally got to New York around 6am, we had to wait even longer as there would be no one there to let us into the apartment we rented.

The rest of the day was not particularly exciting. We met some of my parents' Serbian friends and had dinner with them at Rockefeller University. All Serbians seem to be obsessed with Novak Djokovic. Their mental well-being depends on his recent tennis success (or lack of it).

They still do.

On Monday, dad and I went shopping. There are so many stores that it's just nuts. Not only are there so many, but the stores on 5th avenue are huge. The Uniqlo store that they had must have been the largest clothing store I've ever been in. I also went to Nintendo World!

It actually played tetris!

It was a pretty neat store. The bottom floor was nearly entirely Pokemon, and most of it was 5th gen stuff. The second floor had Mario, Zelda and some other Nintendo franchises. They had a big display with lots of Zelda stuff, and I think all the Nintendo consoles of the past. Both had people playing games.

After an intense day of shopping, we went out to dinner with different Serbian friends.

On Tuesday (today), Dad and I did more shopping. Exciting stuff.  

Typical shoes of New Yorkers

We then went on a hunt for the Crocs store. Dad was not happy with the 'long' (15 minutes) amount of walking we had to do after taking the bus.

Feel free to litter between 3am and midnight! 

This was only part of the second floor.

I don't care what anyone else thinks. Crocs are comfy and convenient as hell for the beach and those kinds of places.

My mom's older supervisors treated us to dinner. The restaurant was the fanciest place I had ever eaten at. I went in sneans. Whoops?

I hope everything is going well back in Palmy. I miss sleeping without the horrendous sound of traffic.

Another trip!

Off on another overseas trip! Time to make use of this blog!

A post!

Not like anyone will check this but...
Toy Lizards are cute. <-- click me!!

The flights back

I don't like flying with United. They just aren't very good. Our flight was quite packed from NY to SF. Full up. We didn't even get seats together! I was on the aisle seat next to an old couple. I attempted to read the book I got assigned to read for Social Studies.... but after 20 pages, I just couldn't do it. I dozed off for 45 minutes. Otherwise, I did some math and science work and ate a lot of sunflower seeds. This time at least, they came around with drinks (last time you had to ask otherwise you wouldn't get anything on the flight).
Next was the flight to Auckland. After getting totally lost in the San Francisco airport (that things is huge), we got to our gate. Hooray. This time we managed to get seats together. It was a flight in a plane, yup. We were on a Boeing 777 instead of the 747 like last time. The 747 has 4 engines (I think) and a second story, while the 777 has 2 engines and one story. We got great seats. We were situated at the front of the Economy section, so instead of having seats in front of us, there was a wall. It seemed like we had more leg space. It was pretty good, aside from being quite cold. When we started to leave, the curtains to the other classes were closed and a panel closed the small gap in between a wall. There was also some funky light that my sister said looked like "no karaoke". Wacky.
We got to Auckland and to typical NZ weather. Wind and rain. We had to declare all our food to customs. We all had sunflower seeds (roasted) and various other foods. Then we spent ages at the domestic transfer queue... fun fun. We took the free inter-terminal shuttle and then later boarded our respective flight.
Then we came home the end.

I am now feeling tired and ground keeps moving aaaaahhhhh make it stop!!

Back home!

Back home. It's cold and eerily quiet. New Zealand is a bit scary now.