The subway route we took meant we had to change at Grand Central Station so we took this as an opportunity to go up into the famous station and take some pictures. It really is pretty impressive. The ceiling was our favourite bit, rising up in a huge arch, painted blue, with all the signs of the zodiac drawn across it. Very random but there we go!
After this stop off, we jumped back on the subway and headed off to Brooklyn. We liked it as soon as we stepped up to ground level. The part of Brooklyn we ended up in was Williamsburg; it was really chilled out with cute little houses, cafes and shops. We headed straight down to the river where the flea market was. It was possibly the most excellently located market ever, it was right on the water, so as you approach you can see a beautiful view of Manhattan over the top of the stalls. By fluke, it was a really nice day, so we could even work on our tans whilst browsing the market.
First stop, however, was food (standard). There was a whole section of the market just composed of food and drink stalls so we all went off in search of what we wanted. I had an epic hot dog, with a mustard relish and sweet onions. Kitty had a quesadilla with chicken, cheese, salsa, guacamole, salad, onions etc on. And Lauren had an aubergine bake thing and a fish taco. Happy and full we embarked on a market mission...
This was a proper market. There were clothes, bags, shoes, furniture, jewellery, art, books, records... You name it, it was probably there! I was on a mission to find a large bag I could take home as my hand luggage, thus making my backpack lighter and
enabling the purchase of stuff in New York. Kitty was on this mission also. I found a stall where a tattooed Hispanic woman was selling loads of random stuff and found an excellent tweed carpet bag type thing. Kitty found one exactly the same but red leather. Boy are we going to look cool getting off the plane in London!
Once we had accomplished this task we went in search of more food and drink, partaking in mango and peach ice tea with sweet tapioca balls in it and Mexican chocolate ice cream. Whilst eating our ice creams we were sat on a bench and got talking to a really sweet Indian couple about our travels. They both worked on Wall Street, the guy had gone to uni in Bristol. They also told us where all the best places to go in India were. India, watch out!
Lauren meanwhile was in serious flea market mode, and when we found her again she had purchased at least five Prince Records. Lad. By this time, the market was beginning to close down. I blagged a cheeky black 80s style bag off a guy who was trying to get rid of stuff on his stall because he wanted to go home. Kitty decided she wanted some crab which she had seen earlier. So we went and chilled in the shade whilst she consumed the soft shell crab.
Our original plan was to walk back across the Brooklyn Bridge to Manhattan, but after realising how far away the bridge was, we decided against this plan. The couple we had been talking to in the market for ages had told us that they cycled over the bridge but were going to get the ferry back. We figured we would also take the ferry option. This turned out to be an excellent choice as not only did we get beaut views of Manhattan en route, but we also got dropped off in Long Island City which meant we didn't have to find our way back from Manhattan. Win!
After trekking for what seemed like forever, we finally found a subway station and hopped on for one stop to get back to the hostel. We were back just in time for the Olympic closing ceremony. Knowing that the Spice Girls were performing, we had been excited for this for days! And they certainly didn't disappoint! We enjoyed the whole ceremony. How brave of Gary to go ahead with the Take That performance? Ultimate lad. We were surprised that Coldplay didn't make any kind of appearance, being very British and all. We also liked the fashion bit with all the British models. NBC being their usual annoying selves, decided to put a pilot episode of a new show in before The Who, so we had to wait an hour for that. Ridiculous! They were very good though, obviously. Better than old man McCartney at the end of the opening ceremony! We can't believe the Olympics is over already! From what we saw, London did a grand job, of course. We just wish we could have seen some of the BBC coverage, the American presenters and adverts really were winding us up.
So after a successful day of fleas, crab and spicing up our lives we went to bed ready for more NYC adventures...
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