Travellers' Tales...

NYC - Part 4 (Sat & Sun)

We had a 'lie in' this morning, though Aum woke up at 7.50am! After showering and lounging for a while we went to the City Diner again for breakfast, this time I had eggs Benedict with Canadian ham and homefries to fill me up for a day in the city!

We got the ferry across the river with it being the weekend (cheaper) and walked for a while before hopping in a taxi to go to the Guggenheim where we met Aum's cousins. I must admit, art isn't really my thing, but it was all modern and futurist there so I actually really enjoyed looking at the paintings and prints. There was also a section on sound that had cymbals suspended from the ceiling that you could hit - which obviously the kids loved!

Aum and I stayed to do the whole thing whilst his cousins left for some lunch at the Metropolitan - then we spent a good two hours wandering around there afterwards trying to find each other! Eventually after cake and a drink at the cafe we gave up and went to the Sony Wonder Technology Lab, which was incredible. Everyone was given a chip upon entry which they could program with their own login details including a photograph, soundbite and music preference. You then went around exhibitions scanning the chip and doing various activities, including a section where you could program robots, try the latest technology used in hospitals to perform virtual heart surgery and even be a newsreader with an autocue and working video camera.

We had a look around FAO Schwarz afterwards (I actually managed to get Aum out without buying anything) and then we walked for ages to find somewhere to eat before stumbling across an Australian grill. Aum had barbecued pork ribs and I had kangaroo in a red wine sauce with asparagus, which was great to try and tasted rich like a dark red meat - kind of like a mixture of lamb and venison.

We caught the ferry back and waited up as Anjali was back that evening, although her flight was delayed so she didn't arrive until gone 10pm - Aum was so tired! He stayed with her so I got a night to myself - which I spent researching tattoo parlours...

This morning I slept in until 9am when Aum knocked on my door for some clothes to change into. We went to the diner again (I had double berry pancakes) and then caught the ferry again and went to the Natural History Museum. We saw a show at the planetarium called The Dark Universe which was fascinating - having never been to a planetarium before it was a great experience. We wandered around the mammal sections and then Aum met up with some friends from back home and they did an exhibition called 'The Power Of Poison' whilst I stayed outside and called my parents for a chat.

We had a bit of a panic trying to meet up afterwards as Anjali had to rush back to catch her flight back to England, but once she had gone we stuck with Aum's friends and went to an Italian called Caffe Storico for dinner. I had seafood pasta with clams, mussels, prawns and lobster in, followed by pistachio icecream (and Aum's honeyed apple sorbet that he decided he didn't like!).

We said our goodbyes afterwards and rushed to catch the ferry as it was getting late and we had a project to do for his homework. We have just managed to make said project (a glider) using straws from the hotel, sellotape and scissors borrowed from the giftshop and the box from some honeycakes I bought - if only they gave points for inventiveness!