New York by night

If walking was our number one activity in New York, drinking was a close second. I quickly realised that the standard beers like Bud, Coors etc were worse than bad, and so reluctantly had to part with an extra dollar or two for a decent pint, with my favourite being Brooklyn Beer. Of course the huge Irish population in NYC meant that you could get a decent pint of the black stuff, but it weren't cheap, nevertheless I did indulge in my first pint of Guiness for a year, ahh cheers.

Roberto, a thirty something physcologist, spent his money like a student would, which made him a legend in my eyes, and saved us many dollars. For every night of the week he knew where the best happy hours were to be found. From $2 pints, $3 spirits, half price food, free chicken wings, free Bud with your meal and even free white wine at a chinese resraurant, yes Roberto saw to it that we had a merry old Christmas in the 'Big Apple'. One night, we met up with Roberto in Brooklyn and went to this little bar, it was $6 dollars a pint, but they had a special which included a shot of whiskey for the same price, yes please I said. So, 4quid a pint with a shot, its still a bit pricey for us backpackers but it's xmas in NYC, anyway they then bring out a huge portion of chicken wings and a massive serving of chow mein and guess what ...its free, we tucked in, and then some more, best 4quid we've spent. Anyway, later on Kerry goes to request a song, a cheesy xmas hit, and then later still another, well on the second time, a black women sat at the bar, takes the mic off the DJ and bursts out into a rap about Brooklyn, the bar and this girl from England who keeps requesting songs, it was brilliant and Kerry was delighted. A few nights later, on Christmas eve infact, Roberto took us to Indian restaurant called Royal Bangladesh. Every inch of the ceiling was covered with chilli lights, it was also a bring your own booze, so far so good. The final ingredient, the food, was superb, we had the works and it was incredibly cheap. After popping into a nearby bar on the way home, we arrived back at Roberto's place well oiled and so I changed into my party shirt, popped on my hat and danced around Roberto's until 4am. The photo above was taken at some point during that night.

Xmas was a quiet one but very nice, we both missed home so it was kind of good to get it out of the way. New Year was spent in Times Square of course, we arrived at 5pm when it was minus 4degrees and despite smuggling a hip flask in to numb the pain, it was overall a pretty painful experience. So its 11.59 in Times Square and minus 12degrees, they just played Imagine by John Lennon, then...
"10,9,8,7,6,5,4,3,2,1 Happy New Year"
Auld Lang Syne played followed by New York, New York.
12.05 we're quickly leaving Times Sq and heading to the curry house...
Was it worth it? NO, dont do it ever!!!
To top it off the curry house was closed and we had to settle for a slice of pizza, but after that with Roberto we got settled in a bar and had a good old sesh.
Before we left New York, Roberto took us to a Chinese restaurant which included all you can drink white wine, between us, we drank 5 and half litres and the bill was about 25pounds, if you go to New York, please go there, thats my advice.

Anyway, cheers Roberto for showing us New York by night.

Below, Kerry and I in Times Square for New Year