Day 19 - Boosting the New York Economy
The big shopping spree
Today we took the opportunity to boost the New York economy with some serious shopping. Basically we hit up all the stores that are not available in Australia or are certainly much better priced than what you find in Australia.
This was a big day spent mainly in SOHO (stands for South of Houston) which is one of the main shopping strips in New York and has all the cool, funky gear. The other area that we will browse through on Sunday is 5th Avenue as this is where all the expensive shops are.
We left the hotel room around 10.30am and did not arrive back until 6.45pm so as you can see it was a huge day. By the time we hopped back onto the subway I thought we would be charged for excess baggage due to the number of items that were purchased. The good news is that we spent $10,000 to save $2,000 - just kidding. The bargains in New York (or maybe generally in the US) are great and we have certainly stocked up on enough clothing for the next 12 - 18 months at least. The main stores that we spent time at were Hollister, Gap and Guess.
The Hollister store was unreal. There clearly is a strict employment policy and a relaxed HR department as all the guys working there were topless with 6 packs galore and the girls were either in bikini's or certainly skimpy clothing so it was not just the clothes that were worth viewing. The store itself was across 4 levels with separate rooms on each level all containing variations of clothes and accessories. I am sure we could have spent most of the day just checking it out.
After the "big shop" we retired to the room for some well earned R&R before proceeding to a local dier for dinner and then a cab ride to the Empire State Building. All I can say is that I am glad that we had 10 days in Mexico to get used to the crazy driving as nothing compares to a New York cab ride. Clearly our driver had better things to do or needed the toilet in a hurry as it was sit down, shut up and hang on. Having arrived safely at the Empire State Building it was then time to join the infamous queue. Luckily we purchased tickets on line as that saved around 15 minutes however we thought when we left Disney World that we left the queues behind (or maybe it was good practice) because we still had to line up for around 30 minutes to catch the lift to the 86th floor. The one thing that attractions do well with queues and that is the provision of false hope. All queues we have been in have taken us from room to room with barriers set up to have you wind back and forth within that room. Every time you leave a room you think, here we go, only to find yourself in a different room, with a different distraction winding our way up and down between the barriers.
The wait was certainly worth it as New York at night is an amazing sight. There are twinkling lights as far as the eye can see and all the major buildings are lit up so they are easy to spot. After taking in all the lights and action we headed back to Time Square before heading home for some more rest.
Tomorrow we are heading to the American Museum of Natural History which was made famous by the movie Night at the Museum (1 & 2) and then strolling through Central Park before hitting the top end of 5th Avenue. In the afternoon/early evening we will then head to Citi Field home of the New York Mets to watch a live Baseball game and eat some hot dogs.
This was a big day spent mainly in SOHO (stands for South of Houston) which is one of the main shopping strips in New York and has all the cool, funky gear. The other area that we will browse through on Sunday is 5th Avenue as this is where all the expensive shops are.
We left the hotel room around 10.30am and did not arrive back until 6.45pm so as you can see it was a huge day. By the time we hopped back onto the subway I thought we would be charged for excess baggage due to the number of items that were purchased. The good news is that we spent $10,000 to save $2,000 - just kidding. The bargains in New York (or maybe generally in the US) are great and we have certainly stocked up on enough clothing for the next 12 - 18 months at least. The main stores that we spent time at were Hollister, Gap and Guess.
The Hollister store was unreal. There clearly is a strict employment policy and a relaxed HR department as all the guys working there were topless with 6 packs galore and the girls were either in bikini's or certainly skimpy clothing so it was not just the clothes that were worth viewing. The store itself was across 4 levels with separate rooms on each level all containing variations of clothes and accessories. I am sure we could have spent most of the day just checking it out.
After the "big shop" we retired to the room for some well earned R&R before proceeding to a local dier for dinner and then a cab ride to the Empire State Building. All I can say is that I am glad that we had 10 days in Mexico to get used to the crazy driving as nothing compares to a New York cab ride. Clearly our driver had better things to do or needed the toilet in a hurry as it was sit down, shut up and hang on. Having arrived safely at the Empire State Building it was then time to join the infamous queue. Luckily we purchased tickets on line as that saved around 15 minutes however we thought when we left Disney World that we left the queues behind (or maybe it was good practice) because we still had to line up for around 30 minutes to catch the lift to the 86th floor. The one thing that attractions do well with queues and that is the provision of false hope. All queues we have been in have taken us from room to room with barriers set up to have you wind back and forth within that room. Every time you leave a room you think, here we go, only to find yourself in a different room, with a different distraction winding our way up and down between the barriers.
The wait was certainly worth it as New York at night is an amazing sight. There are twinkling lights as far as the eye can see and all the major buildings are lit up so they are easy to spot. After taking in all the lights and action we headed back to Time Square before heading home for some more rest.
Tomorrow we are heading to the American Museum of Natural History which was made famous by the movie Night at the Museum (1 & 2) and then strolling through Central Park before hitting the top end of 5th Avenue. In the afternoon/early evening we will then head to Citi Field home of the New York Mets to watch a live Baseball game and eat some hot dogs.
