NY Day 5 : Saturday

It was a glorious day today. It was such a shame to waste the sunshine and we decided to take the Q60 bus from the hotel to Manhattan. The trip along Queens Boulevard is an eye opener. You definitely don’t see this side of NY in those glossy TV shows.

The bus terminated at 2nd Avenue, 60th Street. We walked along 60th Street and spotted a queue of people outside Serendipity. There was half an hour to go before opening time and there was already a long queue. I was half tempted to have lunch there too but was persuaded otherwise.

A quick stroll and we found ourselves at Dylan’s Candy Bar. Wow! What a place! I think Willy Wonka would be proud to be here and dentists all over the world can just hear the Kerching! of their cash registers. Just look at the proliferation of lollies, sweets, chocolate, jelly beans.



Outside Dylan's Candy Bar



Celebrities' favourite jelly bean flavours


Bunny at the top of the stairs to the basement


Merchandise display at the basement



More candy and Dylan's Candy Bar t-shirt and merchandise



Lolly tree at Dylan's



A whole range of Pez dispensers from small to large.



These are Pez dispensers of another calibre. Set with Swarozski crystals, they are $900 each!



Even the stools resemble strawberry and cream boiled sweets or lollipops!

After buying a small bag of jelly beans for the little one, we walked over to Bloomingdales. I was after a plastic Little Brown Bag as a souvenir and was happy to get one. The store has over 10 floors. We were not in the mood to shop so headed out to subway to catch a train to 86th street.


The outside of the MET


Stalls outside the MET selling artwork of varying degrees!

10 minutes stroll later, we were at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, another must see. Suggested donation is $20 per adult but they have a policy of pay what you can afford. We never pay for museum visits in London but I did feel obliged to hand over $10 for both of us.



We were famished by now and went to the excellent self-service food court in the basement. I was tickled by the way the kid’s meal was presented. Pasta in tomato sauce, pear and juice drink all in a paper yellow cab. Too bad the cab was stained with sauce or I would have carted it back home to London.





I really wanted to see the Egyptian artefacts especially this splendid Temple of Dendur. It did not disappoint. The light flooding in from the glass windows was simply fantastic. The museum was filling up fast and we missed the other amazing exhibits. The little one was getting skittish so we left the museum.

A busking performance by two extremely talented black guys (Afrobatics) was underway and the little one was enthralled. Besides doing amazing gymnastics and eye-popping breakdancing, these guys were very funny. “White people! White people! Don’t be afraid. We are only two black guys.” When they get volunteers for their finale : “Bring your bags with you. This is New York!” and when asking for donations just before the end of the show, “Listen, your donations are keeping us out of two places… The poor house and..(pointing at random audience members) your house.. and your house.. and your house” The crowd totally enjoyed the show.




We let the little one blew off some steam at the nearby playground before walking into Central Park. The baseball players were out in full force. Central Park is lovely. All green and fringed by the skyscrapers at the background. Would have loved to explore more – perhaps visit the John Lennon’s memorial or take a boat round the lake but MH was feeling worse for wear.


Taken from a bus as we ride downtown



Macy's


Wooden escalators!

We took the M3 bus downtown Fifth Avenue to 34th Street and went to Macy’s. Big mistake! It was after all, a Saturday, Macy’s flower show and they are having a sale. The crowds are horrendous. We went up to the Kid’s section and I had the opportunity to snap their amazing wooden escalators. By this time, our heads were spinning and we went back to the hotel.