Day 3 - Red/white colour blindness

A new day dawned and we were off to meet up with Jan Muir, a friend from Toastmasters in Canberra who now works for the United Nations.  Jan has given us great advice about New York, covering public transport (we bought 7-day unlimited Metro cards for the subway and it is the best way to get around), tipping, and other things to do.  Unfortunately she didn't give us any advice on what to wear, so I was channelling my inner American tourist.  However, to my great disappointment, I discovered that Americans only dress like American tourists overseas. 


The ugly Australian tourist

Jan lives near the almost-Central Park and we went to a restaurant on the shore of one of the lakes in the park for brunch.  It was a sublime setting, and very popular with the locals.

Rhonda and Jan

After brunch it was time to do some serious touristing, so we set off to the Guggenheim Museum.  There are some lovely sights in New York, and so far we have been impressed by the lack of garbage and graffiti.  One of the really nice things they do here is put flowers around trees along the pavements.

In due course we arrived at the Guggenheim, and it is an amazing building.

 

The collection at the museum featured Italian Futurism, 1909-1944.  Not really my thing, but there were some very interesting pieces on display.  The inside of the building is even more impressive than the outside, and a lot bigger then you'd think.  After the Guggenheim it was back into Centralish Park.  We enjoyed walking through the park and there is a lot to see - it is very popular with the natives and is a real oasis in the midst of the city.

Photographs just don't do it justice - it's an fabulous place, and you can almost forget that you are in New York while you walk around it.  Still, it was a hot day, and eventually even we decided to quit the tranquillity and indulge in some retail therapy.  Our first stop was at Macy's Department Store, apparently the largest department store in the world.  It's so big it contains it's own McDonalds restaurant.  We tried to find a café to get a cuppa, but were directed to a Starbucks instead - big disappointment.  Rhonda bravely set off to the counter to get us a coffee and a tea.  After what seemed like an hour, but was in fact only 30 minutes (I kid you not) she returned.  Rhonda's coffee was OK.  You'd think tea would be pretty easy to make: cup, tea bag, boiling water, milk.  It doesn't work quite as well when the milk is off.  Rhonda went back to the counter to get a replacement and this time they overfilled the cup, so that there wasn't enough space for milk.  We left not impressed.
For dinner we went to a Columbian/Mexican restaurant near our hotel and tried a couple of Columbian-style dishes.  That's another cuisine ticked off our bucket list.

It seems that people in new York develop red/white colour blindness.  They just don't seem to be able to distinguish the red, hand shaped "don't walk" crosswalk sign from the white "walking figure" do walk sign.  I thought pedestrians were bad in Canberra, but in New York they've taken social irresponsibility to a whole new level.  Mind you, the drivers don't pay a whole lot of attention to the traffic lights as they turn red - it pays to be very careful crossing roads.

That's all for today, tomorrow we're off to the 9/11 memorial, Wall Street (for some financial inspiration), and the Statten Island Ferry (a free harbour cruise).