Becoming a local...

A quieter week this week, spent a bit of time just relaxing in the apartment, taking in the spectacular view and watching the world go by.

A NY friend, Paul, was playing in his local baseball competition in Central Park so we watched his team, The Jersey Boys, beat their opponents and progress to the next round of playoffs next week. The team is made up of people who work or have worked on the production of The Jersey Boys. The mixed gender competition is made up of teams from other broadway productions as well.

Paul and his wife, Karen, asked us over for a meal later that night. They were our landlords in our first apartment in Chelsea so we had a lovely night sitting outside enjoying a balmy evening, lovely food and wine until quite late. We were meeting Margaret, our Aussie friend from Darwin, at Penn Station around midnight when her train from Washington DC got back. Penn Station is only one stop up the line from Chelsea so it was an easy trip. Margaret arrived and we got a cab back to the apartment.

For Margaret's last day we went down to Chelsea Market, walked the High Line and then went to the Carnegie Deli for a pastrami on rye. I've mentioned in an earlier blog about this Deli, the size of the sandwiches are ridiculous and meant for sharing. Terry thought with three of us we'd get through two but we got a doggy bag for one half. It's an occasional experience. Many of the diners there should not be eating these sandwiches!

Marg & Pam at the Yankees

Headed out to JFK for Margaret's flight home to Darwin via LA and Brisbane. A long flight when there's no direct route from LA. She arrived safely after 26 hours...

Back in NY we had another quiet weekend due in part to a bit of stormy wet weather. However on Sunday afternoon we headed back to the small jazz bar, Paris Blues, we'd found the previous Sunday. Again the same band and a few of the same patrons in attendance. The band and the bartender remembered us, we had a fun afternoon which finished around 8pm, great music.

Jazz at Paris Blues, Harlem

Thanks to the generosity of our Chelsea landlords, Karen and Paul, we've borrowed a number of prints and rugs to finish decorating our apartment. They have a bit of gear in storage so we had a look through and found some lovely and colourful prints for our walls as well as a couple of rugs for the floors. We'll return them all before we leave NY.

We went to pub last night called The Australian which is a few blocks away but within walking distance. As the name suggests they serve Australian type fare. We had a couple of homemade small sausage rolls with wedges, Terry had roast lamb and vegies for his main, Pam had crumbed prawns (shrimp) accompanied with decent Aussie wine not too overpriced. We really enjoyed the meal. We met the owner, Matt, who comes from Sydney and has lived in NY for about 10 years. They show live AFL, Rugby games which fit into the NY 11pm to 3am time slots, corresponds to afternoon games in Aust. The menu has all the obvious choices, fish and chips, parmigiana, lamb roast, burgers Aussie style etc. We'll go back when we have that need for an Aussie taste meal.

After satisfying meal we went to Bryant Park, just around the corner, for a free outdoor movie. They showed "Flying High" which is called "Airplane" in the USA, stupid movie we've seen it a few times, Terry still gets a laugh out of it. There was thousands there as usual, it was a lovely balmy night. We walked home down 41st street to avoid the crowds in 42nd street, which was a great idea of Pam's.

Went to another Yankees game, they played the LA Angels, Yankees won 9-3, a great game by the Yankees. Watched our NY friend Paul's baseball team - The Jersey Boys - in their playoff's today, they won the first but lost the second so their season has come to an end. Lovely day in Central Park.

Always lots to do and see...

Pam and Terry