Yossarian wrote:

Just remembered a good thing worth doing in New York if it’s pissing down: Moma. I’m not massively into art galleries as a rule, but this was pretty impressive. It was like every modern art painting that we looked at in art class in secondary school all crammed in one massive building.

If it’s a nice day, a walk along at least part of the High Line should be done.

QFPT.

On the way back can you pick up a massive bag of peanut butter m&ms? Red bag, can't get them here. Fucking amazing, some of the best sweets ever.

Unlikely wrote:

Been a while since I was there but one of my favourite memories is being offered cocaine and hookers while I walked from the hotel to try to buy a toothbrush.  At seven in the morning.

You've been to Essex?

Why would I go to Essex?

tin_robot wrote:

Yossarian wrote:

Just remembered a good thing worth doing in New York if it’s pissing down: Moma. I’m not massively into art galleries as a rule, but this was pretty impressive. It was like every modern art painting that we looked at in art class in secondary school all crammed in one massive building. If it’s a nice day, a walk along at least part of the High Line should be done.

Excellent, thanks - Moma's on the list already - though the youngest is planning to crash at the hotel whilst we check it out. (She hates galleries and museums.) I'd wondered about the High Line, so that's moved it up the list.

I second the High Line, weather permitting obviously. I did West 23rd to 30th, which is getting off as it goes through Hudson Yards.

My favourite memory of NYC was when we had gone for a walk, in no direction in particular.   Simply wandering about the streets.  I was starting to get tired and slowed down a bit.  As we walked across a car park, I looked up and realised that we had walked right up to the Ghostbusters firehouse.  Just stumbled upon it in a sea of high rise buildings.

Back yesterday at 6am after 2 weeks in Crete.

Fun and games getting home (was supposed to be home 2am the previous day), but Wifey played a blinder while we stood in an 80s style Russian queue for help from Jet2 and we got a nice hotel for the night (confirmed we would get recompense at least partially). So had a day in Heraklion which is quite a nice spot with Venetian influences (we were in a mountain village called Koutalifari for the fortnight above Hersonissos).

Visited the Zeus cave (one of the supposed locations of his birth) and ate well - put on some of the weight I lost with COVID but have kept the anxiety attack weight loss from July. Lots of walking up slopes will have helped and Cretan food is splendid and quite healthy.  Lots of local wine, Ouzo and Raki.  Only drank the beer occasionally as I'm not a lager drinker really.  Some pictures to follow - the Zeus cave really is quite something - worth a visit.

We didn't go to Cordoba, we went to the Cádiz area. It was hot but the sea air made everything much nicer. There was a heatwave everywhere for the last two weeks or so though, even in the north of the country so everyone got a battering from the heat. 44 degrees in the Basque Country! Unheard of.

tin_robot wrote:

Diluted Dante wrote:

If you're staying in Manhattan, I'd recommend getting the water taxi from Midtown. It goes down the side of Manhattan, out to the statue of Liberty, and over to Brooklyn. It's then just a couple of minutes walk down to Juliana's. You can then also walk the Brooklyn Bridge after with the view of Manhattan

That sounds like an excellent plan - thank you.

I'm in Toronto, so photos will probably have to wait until I get home, but just wanted to say thanks to all of you who offered suggestions for our time in New York.  We had an amazing time, and squeezed a lot into just a few days.

Quoting the above chiefly because we did indeed try out Juliana's after two of you suggested it.  It was absolutely amazing, and if I ever have a better pizza, I will count myself as lucky indeed. (If you guys didn't have a Brookie Bridge for dessert you also missed out). So, yes, I hereby recommend we endorse it as the official Bear & Badger approved New York pizzeria.

As suggested we also did the High Line which is a great way to explore the city, helped by the incredible weather (if anything it was too hot). We went to MOMA, but will need to go again some day as we missed an entire floor simply because we ran out of time. Central Park was great, the One World Observatory was wildly over priced but spectacular, whilst the 9/11 Memorial floored me.  (We sort of stumbled upon it. I hadn't realised until that moment quite how many unprocessed emotions I was carrying about 9/11, but it turns out there were a lot.). We saw a Broadway show (Kimberly Akimbo - smart, funny, brilliantly performed, surprisingly moving, but lacks the "one great song" that such things usually need to become timeless - though I hope I'm wrong) and laughed derisively at how shit Times Square is.  Somehow we also found time to just stroll around the streets, occasionally going "Look!  It's that thing!"

We also discovered, as is often the case when we travel the world, that my wife has a cousin in New York that her parents hadn't previously mentioned. He took us in for one evening and fed us. He was gracious and kind, his family warm and generous. It was, therefore, unfortunate that towards the end of the evening it became clear that he was also racist and homophobic.  (As none of us had slept for over 24 hours at this point we opted for quiet disagreement and left it at that.)

So yes, a great, if brief, visit. My wife is already talking of going again.  Thanks again all of you for your suggestions. (Apologies Gonzo, we didn't investigate the strip club).

You definitely made the right choice tin, ozno told me about a strip joint in Manchester and there was more bush there than the Amazon. Couldn't even see faces let alone tits. Drinks came in sippy cups in case contamination.

Yossarian wrote:

It’s a cracking city is New York. It remains the only place that I’ve visited that I could see myself leaving London for. Glad you had fun.

It's on the 'to do' list, and have been taking notes of these most recent recommendations for when we get round to it.

Toronto's somewhere I'd happily move to I think, always enjoyed my time in and around that place and the time difference is another that's 'kind' if you did need to keep up with stuff in the UK - loads of sport in a really small space too!

Sounds like you’re winning at life right now

My wife had a text from her parents this evening.
They've offered to pay for a huge house in the south of France next summer for a two week holiday with everyone, that's gonna be 8 adults and 9 children all staying together for two weeks in the south of France in what'll no doubt be the hottest part of the summer.

My wife is super excited, she can't wait to tell the kids and asked me what I thought.

I know it's an arse hole thing and rather selfish of me but... I really REALLY don't want to spend two weeks in the heat of summer with all of my in laws and all of the kids.

My in laws will be drunk the whole time, the kids will all be mental and at least one of my nephew's brings a vomiting bug every time that hits all the kids. And I'll be forced to put up with sweltering heat.

If I say no I'll disappoint my wife and deny my kids a chance to spend time with their cousins. If I accept then I'm stuck in a house with the madness in the heat when all I'll want to do is hide from the sun and seek peace and quiet.

On one hand I'm super grateful of this kind offer.
On the other I want to run a mile.

I hate my brain and my anxieties, hatred of the heat and family holidays with everyone.

Especially as this is the Christmas we have to spend at the in laws too.

Could you go for part of the holiday? You all go up together and you come back after a week leaving them to enjoy the rest of the time there?

Why do you have to go at all? I have no qualms opting out of holidays and activities with in-laws or whoever and nobody minds. We've been together long enough that it's not an issue.