Empire State tattoo expo

Empire State Tattoo Expo

The reason we booked NYC for this time of year, my husband is a tattoo artist and we live tattoo culture... A few of the artists at the expo have been brought to Melbourne through the studio he works at, so also a good opportunity to say hi... The community here is so full of lovely people, everyone wanted a chat, was really cool to speak to so many lovely humans...

Grabbed a Magnolia banana pudding and a Maoz veggie salad on our way home, it was getting late, we were hungry and I couldn't do a wait for a table... The salad was delicious, wish we tried it earlier!! And the banana pudding was sooooo good! I have used their recipe to make it before, in pleased to say it wasn't that different! 

Day 9

It isn't really a day, it's packing and re packing, trying to make 30 extra kilos fit into our bags, and dreading the check in staff telling us we can't be a few kg over... I hate that united changed their bag policy... I wouldn't really mind buying an extra bag today had we been a lot over, but not for 5kg... And in the end we didn't have to, the check in staff were phenomenal... We were quite a bit over and they were really cool about it...

A long journey home, and absolutely worth it to see my kids at the end...

An amazing busy trip, I think it's going to take a few days to process the whole thing... But not today, today I used all my energy loving my kids, and I have been up since 3.30, and just holding out for one more hour so I can go to sleep!

Shake Shack

Shake Shack

We had to come back here, their burgers (meat and vegetarian) were just too good! 

Brooklyn Museum

Brooklyn Museum

As you enter Brooklyn Museum right now, there is a massive Kaws piece, love it!!! It's only $16 suggested donation and the staff made sure we knew we could pay less, but we felt that was a great price for the honour of checking out the sneaker and Basquait exhibits...

First things first, sneakers! This is a really good look at sneakers from the early 1900's through now... Some really beautiful sneakers in there... Lots of gems of knowledge, and a few pieces that we own too... Walking around one corner we saw an interview with an old friend from London, Kish, a massive sneaker head... Was dope to see!

Next Basquiat, the notes from

Basquait exhibit... This was a really random collection, some of it was amazing, and some so random, which gives some insight into the artist... Was definitely interesting, even with the one and two line pages... They had a shop up there so we grabbed a piece for our son... 

(We bought this for our sons room)

Ancient Egypt, if any museum has an ancient Egypt exhibit, I'm in... I can't get enough of ancient Egyptian art... It was a nice little collection...

Something that I LOVE about NYC is the sneaker culture... People keep their kicks fresh, clean... I don't know how in this city, the sneakers I wore already need a good clean... But I spend a lot of time looking at people's footwear on the subway and it seems to be across the board, it is not like this at home... 

I remember the first time we came here, everyone was wearing Nike uptowns, all white (I actually got married in a pair of these), now there is a bigger range, but a lot of Jordan's, and limited Jordan's, it warms my heart...

Home to chill a while, start the packing process! And it is a process indeed...

Day 8

I tried melatonin last night and except for a massive explosion sound at 4am (scared the crap out of me, heard people on the street freaking out about it, shouting what the F was that? Etc, I waited ten minutes to hear sirens or something, nothing happened so I went back to sleep) I slept 9 hours last night! I needed it, all that broken and short sleep was taking its toll on me!

Looked at our shopping this morning and our sons pile was significantly less than my daughters, so a quick stop at champs and toys r us to sort that out... Final got another smores frappe, trying for days, everyone was out! They really need to put signs up, would hate to calculate the time I have spent queuing to be told they were out! 

Off to the Brooklyn Museum to see the Rise of the Sneaker Culture Exhibition... We have seen some great hip hop exhibitions over there...

Day 7

Woke up late after going to bed late... Today we were headed to SoHo and then zigzagging through to the Lower East Side... A bit of shopping, some delicious treats from Dominique Ansel again... The weather was quite cool, perfect for walking around, taking it all in...

Dropping out shopping home and then off to the Brookyn Hip Hop Festival: Dummy Clap Film Festival... We had tickets to Fresh Dressed at HOA in Bed Stuy... Our hopstop directions took us into some dubious streets, it's that weird feeling, we didn't feel like we were going to be mugged, but it also wasn't comfortable... Got to the screening early and I was starving (had a small fruit salad on the go for lunch), we spotted a Mexican restaurant and went in... 

Tepache 

361 Halsey St 

Brooklyn

I grabbed 3 tacos, fish, shredded beef and fried pork, they were amazing! They don't do Mexican food like this at home... So delicious! 

Fresh Dressed screening at the Dummy Clap Film Festival, Brooklyn hip hop festival

These guys were running late, set up was a bit of shambles, technical difficulties etc, but it was a very laid back crowd, everyone just chatting and waiting... Eventually the film started, it was really good, well researched, a pretty thorough look at hip hop fashion coming from the 70's until now.. April Walker from Walker Wear was there, she did a Q and A afterwards with Mickey Fresh, was really cool to hear from someone who lived this, at the forefront of hip hop fashion in the 90's...

Back to Manhattan, home to FaceTime the kids and off to bareburger again, a 20 minute wait, but we were hungry so we just grabbed a couple hot dogs and fries from papaya dog... Needed to chill... It feels like every day has been 3 days, so many activities...

Hedwig and the angry inch

Hedwig and the Angry Inch

The day the tickets for Darren Criss' season went on sale I tried to buy tickets for our trip, my husband is not into theatre, so when I went through check out and the tickets for the seats I wanted came to $400AUD, I let go of my hopes to see it... It felt like a lot of money for something only one of us would enjoy... I had a moan about it on Facebook after walking past the theatre on our first day... One of our favourite humans from London proceeded to organise us Comp tickets, so, so good!!!

We went to the box office to pick up, I was so pleased to be there, I didn't even mind where we sat... We were in row K in the orchestra, I honestly couldn't believe our luck! As the cast entered I could see every centimetre of Darren Criss' beautiful face... A great show, funny and sad, still stoked I got to see it! And my husband enjoyed it too after all that...

Hoping to go to Johns for pizza, it was closed, we were tired and grabbed a few dollar slices on our way home...

Serendipity 3 and fifth ave

Heading down to serendipity 3 for some lunch and a frozen hot chocolate, 20 minute wait for a table with Dylan's candy conveniently located, got some sweets for my mum and aunt looking after the kids and came back to our table... While waiting our close friend from London called to say she organised us FREE tickets to Hedwig and the angry inch! My day has been made and I haven't even had my frozen hot chocolate yet! 

Lunch was the second worst meal of the trip, such an average meal, and the frozen chocolate wasn't even on point... My husbands veggie patty looked like a frozen one you but from the grocery store...

Fifth ave

Mild shopping, just a few stores we wanted to check out... Then towards home, the heavens opened and there was some amazing relief for about 5 minutes, then it was back to hot and humid... Went home to cool down, shower and get ready for the show...

Guggenheim Museum

Guggenheim museum 

We usually check one museum per trip, and I have wanted to come here since our first visit 9 years ago! Our plan was to start at the top and walk down after our immense walk through the incredibly humid Central Park to get here (we got so turned around in there, tripled our journey time!)... The architecture it almost worth the fee, the art is all modern, mostly installations, some of them were amazing, but quite a few neither of us really connected with... A great museum in any case... My kids would have loved the art here, made me miss them...

Day 6 The City of New York Museum

I slept for 8 hours! Woooohaaaaa! Up and breakfast on the go... Heading up to the museum of nyc to see the journey through hip hop exhibition... Took the subway up to Central Park North, walked through the park and realised we were about to pass by the birth place of hip hop (106th and Park) so we walked over, got some pics, shame you can't get properly in to the graffiti wall of fame unless it a weekend, amazing HARLEM piece on the outside by TATS crew, worth the walk just for that! 

Back to the museum, on entry we were told about the other exhibits, and there was an exhibition on activism in New Yorks history... It was sooooo good... At home I attend rallies for equal rights, for refugees, the LGBT community, our indigenous people's rights, so this was really cool to see...

Then off to the exhibit we were here for, capturing hip hop over the 70's through 90's, firstly this was amazing, a highlight of the trip...

Joe conza took photos before my time, these were basically from the birth of hip hop right through to the 80's, probably my least favourite part of the exhibit...

Martha Cooper truly captured a moment of time in hip hop, focusing on bboying and graffiti, her photos really take you there... They feel so alive...

Janette Beckman took photos of the artists of the time, and they are ridiculously good... If I could afford it our house would be full of them...

Day 5

I am pleased to report I got 7.5 hours sleep last night, so happy! 

I also need to say that people here are so friendly, we are quite tattooed, my hair is ombré black/blue, my husband has a baby Mohawk (he tattoos for a living), and I always expect that people won't want to talk to us, which is fine, I'm socially awkward anyway... But in NYC everywhere we go everyone wants to talk, compliment our ink, ask questions about Australia, it's crazy... Even on the subway, mark is a Londoner and I lived there a couple years, we have the 'head down and no eye contact' on the tube, and now subway thing down, but someone always wants to talk... The thought would be that they are tourists too, but we haven't talked to a tourist, except on the Fourth of July cruise... 

Another breakfast on the go this morning, going to Queens Centre to get some more shopping done... I know, I know, you are thinking why go to a mall? Manhattan has everything... When doing a great deal of shopping there is definite ease getting a lot in one place and getting it home relatively easy... There was a lot to buy, and things that had sold out in Manhattan were still available... So good! More sneakers, clothes, cosmetics and toys! So much shopping that the bank flagged my husbands credit card as being used too frequently! Luckily I had mine for back up... My food highlight there was a Cinnabon, we tried these in Hawaii last year, and I love them... The only downside was not having the kids here to share it with, it was a lot! I can't believe I ate it all! That will do for lunch! And kept me full for 8 hours...

The afternoon we were going out separate ways... Mark is a hip hop record collector, so I had made him a google map print out with all of his record stores, and I had a bunch of stores I wanted to check on my own too... Coincidentally our start and end points were similar, so the plan was to start together and meet up at the end... I stumbled across a Journeyz and bought more sneakers, up to 5 pair for myself now, I need to rein it in! 

Off to a couple of spiritual book shops, got a bunch of things... Walking from union square to the village, shopping as I went, it was so hot, I was hanging for air con and a drink... I conveniently arrived at our liaison point 5 minutes before Mark, I had come via stonewall place, and decided that we would go to stonewall inn for a beer once I found him... After that we went home, long FaceTime with the kids, too long, making me miss them terribly... 

Off to bare burger in Hell's Kitchen... All organic and free range burgers and while they were pricey, they were amazing... There really look after their vegetarian and vegan clients, mark thought his burger was quite possibly the best burger he has ever had! Mine was pretty amazing too... The sides were mediocre, the drinks were good...

Walked around the corner to Reunion Surf Bar for a couple drinks... Great venue and vibe... Would love that to be my local...

Exhausted again... Changing our plans tomorrow, less shopping, more chilling!

Daisy May's BBQ

Daisy May's BBQ USA 623 11th Ave

We LOVE the food here! Last time we were in NYC we did a lot of ordering in because our baby girl was only 6 months so we would put her to bed and order food, we loved it then, and we love it now... Every single thing we ordered was phenomenal...

And now with aching legs we are already in bed watching some TV, I'm hoping for 8 hours sleep tonight!

Day 4 downtown

Still not sleeping, up at 4.30, I tried so hard to go back to sleep, by 5.30 I was getting ready and we were out the door heading for the 9/11 memorial and then to century 21...

We have been to the twin towers site every time we have been to the city, from the mid to late 00's, and it's devastated me every time... This time it felt different, it's a truly beautiful memorial, and feels so peaceful... Much nicer than the various states prior... We took some time at both pools, today was the first time I didn't spend an hour crying afterwards, it's just so peaceful...

Century 21

We always do this first thing in the morning, it's so quiet... And you never quite know what you are going to get... Surprisingly myself and the kids didn't fare well, but my husband got several thing of his nyc shopping list! 

Next stop shopping at Broadway up to union square... We got the subway to spring st and started walking, stumbled across the Dominique Ansel bakery, I was surprised that there were still cronuts at 10am! But that's not what I was there for... We got a frozen smores and a salted caramel eclair, mark took some medicine so his tummy could withstand the dairy, and we shared them... The frozen smores was amazing!!! I may have to go back!

And then we hit Broadway, so much shopping, so many bags... 

There weren't any of my 'to eat' spots on this walk, so when hunger happened we just went to the first spot that looked like we would want to eat there 'the cozy diner' I ordered the southern fried chicken... The staff were all quite old and somehow struggled to understand us... So there were a couple of misunderstandings that came through in the food, but surprisingly the food was good... Mark had the egg salad platter which he said was really good, and my southern fried chicken was delicious, not too oily, and so tender... I love a pleasant food surprise!

More more more shopping... Had to stop by the time we got to union square, neither of us had hands Jeff to shop with! A cab home for a nap!

5 Napkin Burger Hells Kitchen

5 Napkin Burger

Seated immediately, great staff, with great service... I ordered the original 5 Napkin Burger with a peroni and it was huge! Delicious though... So full afterwards... And they had a few good veggie options, mark went for the spicy veggie bowl... We were both pleased and came home to watch the U.S. win the women's World Cup! 

Coney Island

Coney Island

In the 3 times we have been here, this is our first time to Coney Island... It's a beautiful hot day, and Coney Island is heaving, I can't get over how big it is, and how full it is... It feels like the whole of the 5 boroughs are here! 

We walk around, decide to get some eats, I was determined to go to smorgasburg... I got some amazing jerk chicken, slaw, plantain from Excel Kingston Eatery, and a vodka to even myself out... I don't drink often at home, I had forgot all about hair of the dog, but it worked... 

Over to the circus sideshow/freakshow, as we turned up the ringmaster was out the front saying $5 entry instead of $10, we were going in any way so I was pleased with the bargain!

The circus sideshow/freakshow

Usually $10, we got in for $5, sitting in the bleachers in a little dark theatre, it began... We love shows like this, and it was good, definitely worth full price... Some bits made me a bit squeamish, but definitely some good entertainment... 

Out to Nathan's so Mark could get a hot dog (he doesn't have the meat texture issue with overly processed meat), and over to the beach... The breeze was a welcome relief... There were sooooo many people on the beach, it was consistently busy all the way to Brighton... We walked all the way to Brighton, by which stage our legs and feet are done, I was craving the seat and aircon of our long journey home... 

Twice in Brooklyn I tried to get a s'mores frap at Starbucks, but they had run out! At the second spot I was told if I want one I would have to go to Queens or Jersey! On our way home we went to the local Starbucks and they had it! It was amazing! My best friend is the national HR manager for Starbucks Australia so I'm lobbying her to get it over to aus!!!

A long FaceTime with the kids and we got the guilts that we hadn't bought them anything yet... Off to a Toys R Us Times Square... My feet/legs still sore, not managing that well on half the sleep I normally get, enter the terror dome... We did it though, got a bunch of things... The plan was Johns pizza for dinner, but it was a 20 minute wait on a table, I consulted my google map and saw that 5 napkin burger was not far away and around the corner from our spot, so away we went!

I'm not sure how he got Karrie from Corrie, I think I need a Starbucks name...