I can’t believe the holiday is coming to an end. But also very much looking forward to being back on home soil and having sun on my skin. Today we decide to head out to see Grand Central which is really not far from where we are staying. The hotel has been perfectly positioned for so much of what we needed.

Grand Central is spectacular. I always wonder whether equivalents back home have the same response from tourists to Sydney. In this case I would be very surprised. The building in gorgeous inside and out, and we take a few pics while we take it all in. 

The next stop is the Disney store in Times Square. What’s not to love by being surrounded by EVERYTHING Disney? I seriously could have come home with the whole store. I took my time as I wandered the 2 floors and even stopped to pose for a pic with an oversized Minnie beautifully dressed as the Statue of Liberty.

Mum follows me around desperate to buy me a thank you gift for being her personal tour guide. I did find a couple of cool things – a Sully from Monsters Inc (technically Monsters University for those who are Disney fundamentalists like myself) and a cool jumper that I know would be hard to get in Australia. 

After that spot of shopping we have some time to kill before the matinee we’d got tickets to on Broadway and we find yet another Irish pub to have a bite to eat and a bevvy. I don’t know what it is about Irish pubs but they are just super friendly. A guy is sitting next to us which we strike up a conversation with. Turns out he works in insurance, and I impress him with my knowledge of the industry, which thanks to my hubby is quite extensive. He is soon joined by a colleague. Adam and Vinny (a couple of underwriters) were great company and before they left expressed the same sentiment and insisted on paying for our drinks – bless them. Friendliness and kindness goes a long way. Soon after a couple sat on the other side of us and we chatted to them too. A Welshman and a native New Yorker who lived here, and shared stories of their recently passed puppy and her cancer treatment. Such interesting people and were heading to a matinee too. People who say New Yorkers are unfriendly, I am yet to see any example of that the whole time we have been here, or the time I was here before. I think people reciprocate, so a smile and a friendly hello goes a long way. 
The time has come to head to the show, I am so excited.

The musical & Juliet did NOT disappoint. Being a lover of musical theatre since I was a kid, I truly get a kick out of being at the theatre. The production is incredible, the storyline is so clever. It has everything, a bit of humour, a bit of heartwarming, a bit of sadness, love stories, family problems and a different kind of happily ever after. I well up as I sit there at yet another ‘pinch me’ moment I’ve been so fortunate to experience. 

As we leave the theatre the street is lined with pedicabs all in a row with their sound systems pumped up waving to get the attention of everyone leaving the show. It was quite a spectacle.

We have a couple of hours to kill, so mum rests and I head downstairs to the hotel bar to call home and pass the time before we have some dinner. Having done this each afternoon mostly, I knew there would be interesting people to chat with and today was no exception. There were a couple of businessmen having a red wine, and I ask them how they are doing. They sighed and said ‘so much better now’ as they proceed to tell me about their day being stuck in a freight elevator while they were trying to set up some comms in a new office in the city. Turns out one of the guys is an ex-marine having set foot on every continent, except Australia. A navy diver who desperately wants to see the Great Barrier Reef but the flight time has put him off. Us Aussies are so used to long haul flights, having to always travel a distance to get anywhere.
The time passes so quickly and I farewell my new friends and grab mum to head out to dinner. I’d looked for something interesting to do for dinner for our last night and found a hot pot restaurant right around the corner.

What an experience this was as the staff were super kind in giving us instructions as we clearly don’t know what we are doing. 

It was super fun, and I immediately message Matthew to start researching where we can do this back home. Jess and Rich, our friends back home, have offered to host us as they have all the equipment, so look out you two, I am taking you up on that offer sooner rather than later. 
We finish off the night by heading back to the German bar across the street from our hotel. I stay on a bit longer than mum and meet a businessman from Miami. Talk about a soul filling day of people and story collecting. He works in PR in Miami and specialises in crisis communications for law firms and not-for-profits. He really is an fascinating guy and he says if we’re ever traveling to Miami to look him up, and he’ll show us around. 
What a perfect last day to end our whirlwind adventure of NYC. A brilliantly full and overwhelmingly satisfying trip with a little bit of everything. I have loved meeting so many interesting people and seeing a lot of cool things. So as I am out of positive descriptive words, it’s time to sign off as head off to sleep and prepare for our travels back home. 
Thanks for coming along for the ride.