Today was fairly relaxed.  When we all finally crawled out of bed we sat around and discussed what we were going to do for the day.  So we decided on a small walking tour with Dim Sum in China Town.  A quick call to Es established that she was in on the day as well.

We wandered out and around the corner to the subway.  I mean that quite literally.  Its less than 20m away. Handy really.  We proceeded on our second subway ride heading back into Manhattan for the day.

We were a little early so started walking around/though China Town with its road side stalls selling everything from watches to fresh produce, the English Language dimmed into the background hum to be overtaken by Cantonese.  As we wound our way though Lil pointed out the otherwise featureless building which was the school where she was sent as a child once a week to learn Cantonese.  Although she insists that it didn’t really take and that she didn’t manage to learn much at all.

Shortly we found ourselves queued up outside the place where we were having Dim Sum along with our ‘number’ and everyone else waiting to get in.  Es joined us in the waiting game and took over listening to the man who came out to frequently to usher groups into the restaurant.

It was finally our turn after about a thirty minute wait and we ended up in the far corner.  The food when we snagged it was tasty.  It was just getting our hands on it which was a little bit problematic as quite often the waiters trays would be empty before they got halfway down the room.  We found ourselves looking over to one table not far from us who knew the owner.  It was amazing how much ended up on that table.  At one point one of the waiters just turned walked over to our table, took the bottle of soy sauce and deposited it on the other table.  He didn’t say a word to us, didn’t even ask us if we were using it.  Sigh.

Still we managed to get enough food to stuff ourselves but I’m left between thinking the food was great but the service was crap.  It all seems to be about location in a place like that but that is similar in most of those style restaurants, at least the ones I’ve been to.

After stuffing ourselves we went for a walk once more and ended up in Little Italy, with its green, red and white flags fluttering in the breeze and row upon row of Italian restaurants.  It occurred to me that for a city that prides itself of being a unique, one of a kind in the world that they spend an inordinate amount of time and effort copying everyone else.

We then wandered around Soho with all its shops.  At one point Es just up and bolted across the street.  She didn’t say anything she just bolted.  Wondering what it was she spied we all followed.  She ended up at a roadside cart giving out free M&M Ice Creams.  All the girls indulged.  I declined.  Not because I was being good just because I’m really not that fond of ice cream.  It must have been good though with all the ‘happy noises’ coming from them.

We hit my favourite store, the Apple Store in Soho.  There was a cue stretching from the door to around the corner.  All those people lined up to get there hands on the latest offering from Apple, the new 3G iPhone.  Now do not get me wrong I’d love to get one but unfortunately I have about 1 1/2 years left on my current phone contract.  Pity really since not only do they look great but they are also cheaper here.  A great deal cheaper.  We went in and I was very restrained restricting myself to the universal plug adaptors.  Turns out the US adaptor I brought with me only allowed for two pin Aust plugs to be utilised.  My laptop plug has the typical three which meant I could not recharge my laptop.  I found the adaptors after a little wander.  I was tempted to stay in the store, they had a lecture going on Leopard that had just started but the others would have been bored silly and I didn’t have my laptop with me anyway.  Oh well, another time.

After that we wandered through the East Village where we stopped for a coffee and a spot of people watching while we were at it.  Eventually we ended up in Union Square.  People were lounging around, a drummer was drumming out a beat with a loan break dancer out front.  People where preaching to the masses… (er not really but they were trying to...).  Artists lined the outer edges with their wares.  It was an interesting place to sit.

Later in the day we wandered through Chelsea towards Hells Kitchen and stopped in a bar for a cocktail before heading off to Lil’s sisters apartment then wandered through Hells Kitchen as we went off to dinner.  Dinner was superb and so was the view looking over the corner of Central Park as we had a table by the window.  It was a pleasant way to end the day