Day 6 - New York: and I thought Aussie rules was rough

Today's title refers to the ice hockey game that we went to tonight, but I'll come back to that...

We seem to be getting caught into the routine of going to bed late and therefore getting up a bit later! However, we're getting through everything we wanted to do and see. We've still got two full days in New York left and then another couple of nights back in New York next week after our Boston and Washington visits.

 

Our day started with brekkie and a coffee on the run (including a fruit salad - I've never enjoyed eating fruit so much!) We ended up stopping in at a shoe store to buy some new socks for me. Long story why I needed socks but the point of the story is that I got to the shoe store and realised I was only wearing one glove and took the other one off to get money out for brekkie! (I never lose things like this!)

 

So we ran back into the cafe where I thought I'd left it and asked one of the servers if they had my glove. It was such a busy cafe and he looked agitated by my question - he had a very quick look and said no. Just as I walked back outside and Troy and I started walking, there was my glove sitting in the middle of the sidewalk! Phew.

So we headed downtown to the Staton Island Ferry. The Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island are still closed due to Cyclone Sandy, however the ferry is a free commuter service which runs between NYC and Staton Island 24/7, 7 days, but also sails by the Statue of Liberty (although it's packed full of tourists!) So it wasn't that close, but close enough. I've included a few pics below...

 

Ok, so it really wasn't that close but still close enough for us!

 

We were on a similar ferry to this one...

Once off the ferry we decided to head to the Empire State Building. We caught the train to Grand Central Station to have a look - what an impressive space! It is 100 years old this year. Apparently at one stage there were plans to knock it down and build a new building on top, however Jackie Kennedy was the one who saved it from being demolished. Here's our 'selfie' from there...

 

And a couple of other pics...

We walked across Madison Avenue and worked our way to the Empire State. On the way there, I noticed the shop in the below pic - Troy walked away from me when I took this. He thought I was being an embarrassing tourist!

Everyone over here seems to be crazy about Uggs and one of the tours we did told everyone where to get immitaion Uggs from! Maybe this is not a new thing??

Anyway, we arrived at the Empire State and the crowds were very quiet there so we didn't have to wait for long to go up to the 86th floor. We decided to get one of the recorded audio tours which we both really enjoyed - it was great for pointing out the main buildings and areas and a couple of other interesting pieces of history as well. Here are a couple of pics...

 

 

 

 

After our visit to the Empire State, it was time to head off to our first ice hockey game! It was held in New Jersey and the New Jersey Devils were playing the Winnipeg Jets. We thought the NBA game last night had atmosphere, but this was on another level again! We decided to spend a bit more on tickets and get closer, more comfortable seats, but what we didn't realise until after we purchased them was that it included food and drinks all night too! Our seats were fantastic! And Troy got to have his beer tonight that he missed out on at last night's game (and they didn't ask for ID this time!)

     

So the introductions of the players started - gee the Americans really put on a show with each sporting event. The intros are like stage productions! The game started and I had no idea what was going on - the game was so quick, it took me a while to keep up with following the puck! Troy of course got it straight away and explained the rules to me which was good. He loved it.

 

One of the best parts was what happened when the Devils scored a goal... I took a video of one of the goals but Google Blogger won't let me upload it! Here is a picture that Troy took of the Devils team from our seats...

 

 

 

The game was a draw at full time, so they went into a 5 minute over time - at the end of this it was still even, so they went to a shoot out. Now this was exciting! The shooter for the Devils scored the first goal and the victory went to the home team. The crowd went wild (actually that's probably still an understatement!) I couldn't get over how rough it was (although they have layers of padding!) they push and shove each other and slam one another into the walls (I flinched every time!) but I guess it's all part of the game.

 

We made our way back to the station (nice and easy when you can just follow the crowd to where you need to go!) We experienced an example of why some people shouldn't drink at events like this, but we made it back to our hotel safely. Time for a good night's sleep before another big day (and last full day of fine and sunny weather from what we have heard!)