Back to reality (part two)

Welcome back to part two of my adventure, we're still at the Yankees game in NYC!

Before the game started some of the players meet n greet the fans. We ran down to see this guy, Mariano Rivera, and got soooo close, spoke to him but didn't get his autograph as he had to go get ready for the game. Remember this guy - he is very important!!

We watched the big screen and saw all the players and instantly fell in love with A-Rod!! I think he and Cameron Diaz have broken up now and he can give me a call anytime!!

The big screen was great when something happened and did lots of crowd scanning - sadly we didn't make it into any of the shots! Those Americans sure know how to celebrate stuff and with all the music it was like being at a giant fair!

Annoyingly I didn't take my zoom lens with me that day!! Doh!!

At half time they came and swept the field for the players, all in time to YMCA which the whole stadium got up and were dancing too - awesome and very very funny!!!

And then history was made!!!

Now I don't really get this part, but the guy we didn't quite meet - remember him? Well he won the game for the Yankees and it was a really BIG deal!!! Had we managed to actually get his autograph on our tickets it would be worth a fortune now!!! 

Never mind the game was fantastic and Sue and I are now avid fans!! (We both wore our souvenir t-shirts at home yesterday, feeling sad and reminiscing about our holiday!!)

After the game we headed back into the city and made our way to Little Italy where the San Genaro festival was on. Obviously we stopped and made friends along the way  :)

We watched the parade and walked round the streets checking out the fair and the stalls.

Then sat down for a meal in one of the many Italian street restaurants and watched the world go by. The food was delicious!!

Every year they have a freak show and this year was - The Headless Woman. Now at $1 to get in we knew it was going to be a scam, but we still couldn't resist checking out how this woman had survived without her head for all this time.

 We paid our money and were told we had to wait while she had her daiper (nappy) changed. Eventually we were allowed up the stairs to view her and just as we got there all the power went out and we were in darkness!! 

Ha Ha - they didn't count on Andrea having a torch in her bag and we burst out laughing as the torch light shone on the headless women and she waved us away in the dark!! "How can you see, you have no head???" we shrieked, and she continued to wave at us!! It was so funny but I guess you had to be there

Without giving too much away, this was pretty much how she looked (although obviously this is me), sat in her wheelchair with a neck brace on! We giggled for about half an hour at this!!

Still laughing we headed off to catch the last ferry home.

Tuesday saw a change in the weather and as Sue and I got up early again to make our way back to NYC, we were gutted to find it grey and rainy!

It is sooooo very hard to balance an umbrella, a camera and dodge all the people in the city, so yet again I didn't take too many pictures - oh well will just have to go back!!

I had a couple of things on my checklist for NYC that day - Central Park and Liberty. As we made our way to the park we took a few more pics as the weather brightened and dried up a bit.

We met a typically grumpy and rude New York cabbie but at least it ticked off 'ride in a NY cab' from my list!!!

 and we made some more friends, 

This was where I wanted to visit - Belvedere castle. Its not really a castle but a nature observatory. It looked so pretty and the views from the top were lovely!

Took some great shots of Sue but sadly the ones taken of me were a bit blurry :(

Then after some more subway travel and lots of walking we headed past the financial district, Empire State building and Rockefeller plaza. Obama was in town too that day and there was lots of security about.

we made our way to the Brooklyn Bridge and walked all the way across

and back. The views of the city were stunning!

We quickly ran out of time and didn't make it as far as the Staten island ferry to visit Liberty this trip - it was time to head back to Andrea's and our last night out! 

On our last day we popped into her work and said goodbye to the guys, did some last minute shopping for a present for Andrea and visited a shooting gallery to try our hands! Not something I'd done before but the cops there are obsessed by the fact that we don't carry guns  - we didn't want to let the side down so very nervously at first Sue and I had a go!! It was an interesting experience but as you will see when I scrap the targets we did really well and no-one could believe we hadn't done it before!!

We ended the trip with a photo shoot of us  - Charlie's Angels!!

It was an amazing action packed trip - yet again the guys were so hospitable and friendly and we are already planning a return visit next year!! Both Sue and I want to move there permanently!!

Now of course it is back to reality, work and British weather. It already seems like a lifetime ago that we  were in the US. Just have to get on with scrapping it all now and the other million things I have to do.

Toodlepip!

xxx