Day 2: Lunch Meat and other Existential Questions

Phew.  No symptoms of decay for me.
Navigating the suitably amusing 
immigration form

So, I’d like to say that I was awoken at just before five this morning by the coming of the dawn, the gradual lifting of the inky darkness, my body in perfect balance with this rhythm of nature that was as old as time.  I’d like to be able to say that.  In reality, I just needed to pee.  And - once you are awake - there is no unhearing of the skittering noises on the roof overhead (“is that coming from outside or inside?”) so that's why I’m already up, awake and blogging just for you, dear reader, at 5.30am, marveling that the silhouette of the coconut palm outside my room looks like Sideshow Bob.

Oh there - look!  I can see a black and white cat.  Its on a tin roof.   Now, if only the sun were out….

Any, I digress.  Yesterday was our first full day in Nicaragua.  Firstly, a bit more about the place we’re staying in.  The town itself is called Granada, about an hour’s drive from the airport on the shores of Lake Nicaragua.  Its probably the heart and hub of the emergent tourist industry here in Nicaragua, on the brink of becoming the next Costa Rica or Ecuador.  The town is actually pretty small but is absolutely stuffed full of old colonial era buildings, with no fewer than five enormous Catholic churches, with the impressive main cathedral dominating the town square. 

The old disused railway station.  Sadly, no more trains
anywhere in the whole country

The history of Nicaragua is somewhat troubled, up until very recently – hence the nature of it being still an off the beaten track travel destination.  I won’t attempt to summarize the history of an entire nation in a couple of paragraphs, so if you are interested in learning more, here’s the wiki link.  Basically, though, its probably not a bad thing that I have a British, not American, accent this week, though I’m sure the influx of tourist dollars helps smooth over memories of the recent past… (to that point, the local currency is the Cordoba but everything is helpfully priced up in US dollars).

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Nicaragua

OK.  Less skittering now and more coo-ing.  Must be doves living in the roof.  Or one big-ass gecko.

So, yesterday, the plan was to explore the town a bit to get our bearings, while taking it nice and easy to recover from the journey (particularly me, given I’ve just spent the last two weeks in Europe – 7hrs ahead!).  I met Lisa for breakfast around 8am downstairs in the big open courtyard living space that forms the heart of Los Patios, our hotel.  It's a beautiful place and, with only 5 rooms in the whole hotel, very civilized indeed.  I have the balcony suite room upstairs, with a brilliant view across to the Manaya volcana (currently swathed in cloud) and it is HUGE!!  Apparently, this used to be the owners room while they were still living here – hence the 6 full size built in wardrobes and a bathroom alone that is almost the size of my old apartment in New York!  And – for only $105 a night – it's a brilliant bargain!!  So – if my blog inspires you to come visit Nicaragua, I can whole heartedly recommend this place – and make sure you request room 5!!

http://www.lospatiosgranada.com

 

Breakfast was offered in two styles – continental American or Nica, local style.  Of course we had to try the local style, so it was a big bowl of fresh fruit salad, followed by rice and beans, plantains (a bit like bananas), some fried squeaky cheese (yes, just like Cyp hellim!) and an egg, cooked to your choosing.  Swigged down by a glass of fresh-squeezed orange juice and some delicious locally-grown coffee, it was a very decent breakfast. 

After brekkie, it was time to wander into town and start to explore.  Our hotel is about a 10min walk to the main square, where the cathedral is and we were impressed by a couple things – one, how clean the streets were – no litter anywhere, with the pavements swept clear and two, how beautifully painted and vibrantly colored the houses and shops were.  Apparently (according to our guide later on), the color of the house signifies the family that lives there – sounds believable, though you gotta feel for the guy who mixes paint at the Nicaraguan equivalent of Home Depot.  No pressure there, then….

Our carriage awaits!!

As it was a Sunday, the streets weren’t all that busy, but it was still a bit early, just shy of 10am, so perhaps people were still waking up (or already at one of the massive churches).  The main cathedral itself was amazing (the pictures really don't do it justice) and, in front of the cathedral, is a lush green square, serving as hawker central for all your local touristy tchotchkes and local crafts.  As we sat on a shaded park bench for a few minutes, consulting the map to get our bearings, we were first approached by a lady selling brightly-painted whistles carved out of wood to look like toucans, then a guy selling hammocks, followed by another guy selling intricately carved pottery vases.  I guess it would be the lazy man’s way to shop – stay in one place and, over time, they’d just all come to you!

The spookily beautiful abandoned hospital

We then decided to take a horse-carriage ride around town, to help get our bearings as well as it being, well, a good fun touristy thing to do.  We chose our ride based on the condition of the horses, rather than the fluency of the guide, so as a result I’m afraid I cant really tell you that much about Granada, the town, or its architecture other than a) its old and b) there are no trains at all left in the entire country.  It was a fun hour trotting around and we did get to see quite a lot of stuff, even with not really knowing what that “stuff” was.  Lots of churches, I guess, plus an abandoned hospital.  Dunno why.  That's about all I got.

Big tall spiky blue and white church

After our tour, we decided it was time to head over to the Tierra Tours shop to figure out what we were going to do with our week in terms of touristy tours, and to fill our dance cards with lots of volcano-ey type activities.  The first shop offering the Tours we went into, nobody spoke English, so we weren’t going to get very far – fortunately, we were then helpfully escorted to the main branch just a block away, where the guy spoke perfect English and helped us sort out our various options.  I talked Lisa off the ledge of booking the hard core 7hr hike round one of the volcanoes, settling instead for the intermediate option of 3-4hr hike.  So… here’s a preview of what we’ll be getting up to:

Today: Cooking class then a nighttime tour/hike of a volcano (might see lava!!)

Tomorrow: All day visit to the local island of Ometepe (more volcanos!)

Weds: Cruise round an island lagoon

Thurs: Hike round volcanoes!

There’s a bit of a common theme here.  Now, I believe most of the volcanoes we’ll be seeing are either extinct or dormant but the one we’ll be seeing tonight is still active, so there is the option (especially at night) of seeing some lava flow.  Of course, it’ll all be pretty tame and I’m not expecting to be have to run for my life, dodging big gobbets of fiery magma raining down on me, but wouldn't that be fun?  J

After booking all that, it was time for lunch, so we were directed to a little place round the corner that was good for local food.  At $22 total for lunch (including 2 margharitas for $4!), the food was delicious as well as being a bargain!  After lunch, we headed to the Hotel Con Corazon to book our cooking class for today, before making our way back to the hotel for a quick rest before our massages at 3pm.  Again - $35 for an hour’s massage – I’m certainly enjoying the prices here! 

It’s funny the stuff that goes through your mind as you’re having a massage.  Maybe it’s just me.  Maybe everyone else is in a blissed out state of mental calm and tranquility.  That would be nice.  Here’s an abbreviated summary of what went through mine.

1 1. OK, now Sarah just…. relax.
2.    Focus on your breathing…
3.    Hang on… my head’s not quite right in this donut ring thing….OK..that’s better.
4.    Right…now…. Relax.
5.    Hmm.. I wonder what the smell is of that oil she’s using...
6.    OK… it doesn't matter… just let your mind calm down and breeeeeaaatthe.
7.    It does smell familiar though.
8.    That’s enough Sarah – stop thinking and just RELAX!
9.    

     11.   Oh BUGGER!!  I forgot to shave my legs!!  Great.  I wonder if my therapist is judging me.

12.   Whatever.

13.   What IS that smell?

14.  No…I’m sure she’s not.  I’m sure she’s seen FAR worse than me. I hope. 

15.   Forget it.  Just RELAX.

16.   

17.   

18.  At least I put on my new M&S pants for the occasion, so no shame there then.  Perhaps that counts for a few points.

19.   I wonder how long I’ve got left.

20.  STOP THINKING, DAMMIT!

21.    

22.    

23.  Where did 10 go?

24.   

25.  I got it!! That oil she’s using!!  Its slightly floral but with a distinct coconutty aroma and perhaps the sweetness of plantains.  I smell like…. lunch! 

26.  Oh…what?  You’re done?  Yes … that was lovely, thank you – very, um, relaxing.

After that, there was nothing left to be done for the day except sit by the pool, read trashy magazines and teach Lisa how to play Spite and Malice while eating some deliciously fresh, house-made guacamole.  And then getting my ass handed to me as Lisa promptly beat me at the first two games of S&M – dammit!  I clawed back some family honor by winning the third one – but no mercy from now on, Malandro!!  Time to bring it!!

And thus concludes Day 1. 

Inside aforementioned spiky church

Church ceiling

OK - you get the drift, yes?

The stunning main cathedral

Lush green park with some statues, perfect for lounging artfully

Equine traffic jam!

Look Mumsie!!  We're in a horse and carriage!!

The loo of our lunchtime restaurant - pretty, huh?

2 Margharitas for $4?  Bargain!!

Lunch!!  Cheesey-beany-tacoey yumminess.  

Note to self: its pointless getting a blow dry the day
before you go on vacation when you then have a massage
and then end with 10mins massaging oil into your head.
 #jackson5 #bighair #yikes

Nicaragua Day 1 - initial impressions

Greetings, blog watchers, from Nicaragua!  I know I haven't written for a while (so sorry if you are all sick of looking at my last blog post!) so I have lots to catch you up on  - not least the fact I've just arrived here on vacation!!  Yey!!

I chose Nicaragua for a couple reasons - one, I've never been here before so I get to fulfill my ever-present quest of visiting at least one new country a year.  Second, I've only got a week so it had to be somewhere reasonably close by from my new adopted homeland of Chicago.  And finally, who wouldn't want to stay in a country where you can actually go and climb up and active volcano?

So as I type this, its about 6.30am local time and I'm looking out of my window, over the whitewashed walls of my balcony, and across the old red clay tiled rooftops.  I don't know much about the history of Granada yet and its architecture, but its well weathered and beautiful.  I’ve already spotted a couple of unusual birds flitting about the rooftops and I have a distinct impression that I won’t be needing an alarm clock during my stay!  There’s a massive palm tree off to the right that made some interesting shapes against my window’s bamboo screens as the dawn rolled in – almost reminded me of being back in California! 

From my vantage point, I can also see down into the (multiple) courtyards of the hotel.  It used to be a private residence of this couple from Sweden but - when they had to move back home – they converted it into a hotel.  It's a lovely place – very clean, open spaces, beautifully designed with lots of places to sit and chill out in.  There is a small pool that is perfect for dipping in to cool yourself off and a communal kitchen area which is where I presume breakfast will be served.  When we got in last night (around 8.30pm), the receptionist made Lisa and I a freshly-squeezed orange juice for a welcome drink – and it was delicious, so I hope this is a good sign!!

The airport in Managua was mildly chaotic – reminded me a LOT of Cyprus.  Lots of people hustling and trying to sell you cab rides, assist you with your baggage (“hey gorgeous, gorgeous – taxi?”) and all the rest of it.  I just put my best New Yorker Don't’ Fuck With Me face on and made it through the thronging crowd without inadvertently buying anything or accepting offers of marriage.  My mate Lisa’s flight was getting in about half an hour after mine, so I just settled in to wait, perched on a railing, just outside of the scrum.  We’d arranged an airport transfer to the hotel so we didn't need to worry about getting lost or driving in unfamiliar environments – just as well, as the Nicaraguans tend to drive like the Cyps too!  The roads were not well lit- unless, of course, you count the headlights of oncoming vehicles as you weave in and out, overtaking the big trucks and slower cars!   I think its one of those countries where – inexplicably, the locals can drive like semi-lunatics and be totally fine whereas a tourist trying to drive “safely” will be taking their lives into their own hands the minute they get behind the wheel!  Fortunately, I don't plan to find out – taxi-cabs and private drivers for me all week!!

Right then – lets explore, shall we?

First destination –breakfast!

If the Doctor were a conductor and Moriarty played piano….

…then you'd have a pretty good approximation of our night at Ravinia this evening.

Now, I could leave my blog post at that and leave you all wondering….but i'm not (quite) that mean so i'll go on.

Tonight was our inaugural trip to Ravinia Park, home of the Ravinia Festival.  Now, for those of you determined to learn something from this blog, here's the skinny on Ravinny (the rest of you, look away now…):

In 1904, the A.C. Frost Company created Ravinia as an amusement park intended to lure riders to the fledgling Chicago and Milwaukee Electric Railroad. The amusement park boasted a baseball diamond, electric fountain and refectory or casino building with dining rooms and a dance floor. The prairie-style Martin Theatre (then called Ravinia Theatre) is the only building on the grounds that dates back to that original construction. When the park's existence became jeopardized following the railroad's bankruptcy, local residents (for the most partChicago businessmen) formed a corporation in 1911 to purchase and operate the park. Music was a confirmed summer activity from then on, except for a brief hiatus during the Depression.^[2]

Over 100 years later, Ravinia Festival is the oldest outdoor music festival in North America and is lauded for presenting world-class music. The festival attracts about 600,000 listeners to some 120 to 150 events that span all genres from classical music to jazz to music theater over each three-month summer season from June to September.  It has been the summer home of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra since 1936

For most attendees Ravinia is experienced on the 36 acre (150,000 m²) parkland and lawn. The unique setting allows for open seating and picnicking, where families and attendees can choose to use as much (or little) space as they need, with a powerful sound system broadcasting the live performance throughout the park. Most attendees choose to bring complete picnics and dinners to shows, with various lawn chairs, coolers full of food, blankets, candles, and lawn accessories in tow. Ravinia is one of the few concert venues in the country to allow full meals to be brought in and consumed at concerts, even allowing alcoholic beverages and bottles of wine. Accordingly, most grocery stores and specialty restaurants in and around the Highland Park area offer ready-to-eat "Ravinia picnics" for purchase.

The park is served by the Metra commuter railroad station Ravinia Park outside the front gate with special stops before and after concerts. Visitors get dropped off and picked up right at the front gate. 

https://www.ravinia.org

Yep - thats right.  Door to door service - the Metra across the street to the Metra stop at the front gate.  Spectacular.  No driving, no parking, no worries.  The concert was due to start at 8pm, so Mumsie and I got there around 6.30pm, to explore and to grab a bite to eat before the performance.  We didn't have a picnic all set up this time, but its so easy to do, especially as they will sell you the food there, the wine and plastic cups, plus rent you chairs, tables, the whole nine yards!!  You can rock on up with nothing more than a credit card and, a few minutes (and probably a couple hundred dollars later) be all kitted up, looking like a complete lawn-buffet baron with a pick-a-nic basket even Yogi would be proud of.

Pre-concert cocktail.
My work here is done.

The program for tonight was in 3 parts - Stravinsky's Firebird, Chopin Piano Concerto (insert your favorite number here) and Dvorak's New World Symphony.

It was simply spectacular.

Its been a while since I went to a classical concert and listening to the Chicago Symphony Orchestra do their thang, spurred on by one of the most charismatic conductors I've ever seen, was a joy to behold.

My observations and learnings from this evening:

• Conductors are just hot.  Seriously.  Especially those that are the (re)incarnation of The Tenth Doctor and exude exactly the same incredibly magnetic energy, sparkle and bounce as David Tennant used to have.  He even had the same hair for god's sake!!!  He actually made it a little hard to concentrate on the music at times - he was just too damned sexy for his own good!

• Its confirmed.  Moriarty is not dead.  He's moonlighting as a concert pianist.  And he plays a mean Chopin.  AND - the most impressive thing - he played the entire piece without a single sheet of music in front of him. 

• Watching Moriarty's hands fly up and down the keyboard on the big screen was mesmerizing.  I tried to calculate how many notes he actually plays in the course of a performance - I figured 5-6 fingers a "go" per second, over a 30-min piece of music = almost ten thousand individual key strokes!  What do you think - reckon he ever gets tempted to miss out a couple here and there?  

• The violinists in the third and final movements of Dvorak's New World Symphony get a right old workout.  I wonder if they have to go home afterwards and saw things frantically (bread, wood, frozen meat) to even up the workout for their left arm?

• I was delighted to discover that there is such a glorious invention as the "Lawncierge". All I need now is just to find 3 friends as louche and decadent as me. https://www.ravinia.org/page/lawncierge.   

• Mumsie used to play the violin!  The VIOLIN, I tell you!!  And, what's more, she was once "under the baton" (ahem) of Sir Benjamin Britton!  (Fortunately, she didn't attend Catholic or convent school, so I don't think that is a euphemism for anything else….). 

• Thats a lotta bright lights in the darkness.  I wonder if they have a problem with moth-bombing on stage?  What happens if a moth flies into a tuba?  Is it like when geese fly into the engines of planes? 

• I left with an almost irresistible urge to go eat some toast.*

So that was our night tonight at Ravinia - can't wait to go and do it all again next week!!

Ravinia pavilion

The scene on the lawn - these folk take their picnicking seriously! 

This is how you do it...

OMG.  Swoon-ville.  Even sexier in the flesh…. 

* unless you're a Brit who grew up in the 80's watching ads on the telly, this is probably going to make no sense whatsoever to you….

We came. We saw. We shopped. Mumsie's Big Apple Adventure.

New York, New York - it is, indeed, a wonderful town.  Especially when you have a whole long weekend dedicated to revisiting some of Mumsie's highlights and hotspots - and even more so when I don't have to work right through it!  So yes, we just returned from a lovely 3-day sojourn where we shopped our little feet off, scoffed ourselves into submission and got to spend time with fabulous friends.  Here's the photo diary of our trip!*

*calories have been changed to protect the not-so-innocent...

Friday:
Yikes.  Up nice and early at 4.30am to take a 5am telecon (which got canceled 15 mins beforehand - grrr) and to get ready to leave at 5.30am, ready for our 8am flight.  My Myers-Briggs travel personality (now that would be an instructive corporate development session) is one of the extreme scenario planner - i.e. there could be time for a severe weather event, a multi-car prang and a visit by Obama to the area and i would still arrive at the airport in time for my flight, given the excessive number of hours I'd budgeted to allow myself to get there.  Not entirely sure quite why I'm like this - I think it stems back to my Pfizer days in the UK where we could still travel Virgin Upper from London to New York.  To this day, the Virgin Clubhouse at Heathrow is still one of my favorite places in the world.  It has (or at least used to have) a full-jacuzzi spa bath where you could sip on bubbles while letting the bubbles relax your travel-weary bones (very civilized after the arduous private limo and drive-through check-in ordeal you'd had to suffer to get there), before then having your free spa treatment (blow dry, madam or spray tan today?) followed by a sojourn at the lounge bar, with more champagne, a copy of the Economist and all the cheese you could eat.  Its no wonder I used to rock up at the lounge, 3hrs before my flight was due to board, with my swimming cossie in my hand luggage (true story!).   At least now I guess I've improved somewhat - I may still turn up ridiculously early (not for the faint-hearted where La Guardia is involved) but at least I now leave the swimwear at home.

Anyway….the flight was smooth, uneventful and didn't crash (my threshold of what constitutes a "good" flight is pretty low), so before we knew it, we were in an overpriced cab from Newark airport (when did they get so expensive - sheesh!) heading for the city.  I'd booked us into a hotel in Times Square (thanks again, Starwood SPG points!), primarily so that we'd be within walking distance of two of our favorite peeps in the world, Ashley and Kelly.  We checked in fine, dumped our luggage and then wandered out in search of some food.  Not a terribly difficult mission to accomplish in NYC - unless you are trying to find a Cosi on Google Maps that isn't there anymore!!  Our initial objective thwarted, Mumsie made the bold statement of "we'll go in the very next place we come across'.  Given our proximity to the Port Authority Bus Terminal, this could have gone south very quickly but - as fortune would have it - the very next place we came across was Delmonico's Kitchen - which was very nice indeed!  I was still trying to hold onto some vestige of being healthy, so I had the salmon (OK, OK - and a glass of wine) while Mumsie Went Big and Balls to the Wall and opted for a delicious pressed panini sandwich and some kick-ass fries.  She was particularly enamored of the little fry basket they came served in - cuteness, indeed.

Room with one hellava view

After lunch, we were pretty stuffed and fading a little, given the early start, so we waddled back to the hotel for a Bit of A Lie Down and some power digesting, before we were due to meet A&K for dinner later that evening.  They live in a super-swanky building just a few blocks away from our hotel, so at around 7.30pm, we trotted out into the beautiful NYC evening (not too humid - yey!) to meet and catch up over champagne and fabulous views of the city from their 53rd floor luxe pad!  After an hour or so's chin-wagging, we realized we really probably should get our arses in gear if we were to make our dinner reservation, so we headed out again to this little local Italian joint.  The food was as excellent as the company and it was absolutely hopping busy - always a good sign!  I ate way more than I should have (helloooooo molten chocolate cake!) but - hey! - i'm in Noooo-Yorrkk-Cittyyyyy, baby!!

Saturday:
I don't know.  There's just something about being back in New York that makes you want to strut as you walk down the street.  Some sort of deep seated need that says "I know this town - I know how to be in this town -  I get this town".   I guess its not surprising, given how long I lived there, but I still feel more at home in NYC, more at ease with it, than any other place I've lived since.  I loved my time in San Francisco - but that was because I loved the people I met, rather than falling in love with the city per se.  I spent so much time using San Francisco as a base to explore from (along with my crazy work travel schedule) that I think I missed the intense bonding time that I spent here in NYC.  The jury is still out yet as to whether I'll feel that way about Chicago - I've only just started to scratch the surface.

Anyway, enough of all that introspection - what was on the hit list for today?  Well…time to retread the old favorites with Union Square and Mumsie's hit list of shopping nirvanas…. We ended up spending from 10am to 6pm out and about shopping, scoffing and sipping.  And loved every minute.  Here's a breakdown of our retail extravaganza:

• Start out walking downtown from Times Square to Union Square, via a giant coffee mug in Madison Square (as you do)
• Crazy crocks at Fish's Eddy
• Coffee at Cosi
• Lunch at Max Brenner, Chocolate by the bald man (for food porn, click here)
• Shoe-shopping at the impossible-to-resist DSW
• Bargain hunting at Burlington Coat Factory
• Afternoon coffee break at Cosi
• Tank tops at Old Navy
• More bargain hunting at TJ Maxx
• Collapse, exhausted, into a cab
• Head back to hotel, shower and change for dinner
• Meet with A&K for dinner 
• Eat too much, laugh a lot
• Waddle home
• Collapse in a heap
• Sleep

First person to write in on a postcard and tell me what on
earth this is, wins a prize.

New Yorkers certainly love their caffeine.

Busted.
#caffeinefreeliving #oops #wheeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee

First shopping opportunity of the day and the
crowd goes wild...

Proof that some folk will buy any old crap - the random
 shit you can see pictured is all for sale, at an average
of $40 a piece.  No idea what any of it was.

One of these is a painting.

Working glass???  Is that like the American Shorthair
working cat?

So, then - who just sprang into your mind when you
saw this?  Me too….

About to enter into battle.  NYC shoppers, you
have been warned...

I wonder if this woman is the type of person
who buys that stuff from Fishs Eddy?  Gotta love the
total lack of interest from everyone else -
NYC in a nutshell - weird, meet indifference

Mumsie Nirvana - the sweet taste of reunion

Mumsie looking all wistful, wondering if she can fit a Cosi coffee
shop into her carry-on

Trust me.  One look at this menu, and you'd have a
 crazy "OMG! LOOK!" expression on your face too

The Best Bacon Mac and Cheese Ever.  Seriously.  

Stairway to Heaven.

Afternoon Cosi and brownie stop and I think Mumsie
is starting to get a little weary of my attempts
 at photojournalism 

FINISH STRONG!!!

And the bargain of the day?  This top from Old Navy
for the whopping price of 97 cents!!

Dinner with A&K that evening, and I invent the "stealthy"

I think you probably had to be there.

Or here.

Sunday:

Final day of our NYC shop-fest (boo!) and just enough time to meet with A&K for an early-ish brunch,  before embarking on a final bit of bargain shopping (Ed Heck suitcase - yeah!) and a spontaneous game of bowling in the unlikely setting of the Port Authority Bus Terminal! (I had a second (!) date there a few years ago - until I knew we were heading for a bowling alley, I was getting a tad concerned when my date took me to the bus station…).  It was a lot of fun and, as usual when I go bowling, I got totally destroyed by The Mumsie Machine.  I exacted my revenge at the air hockey table (WINNER!!!) and both of us were a bit rubbish at Terminator, but it was a lot of fun, and the perfect way to burn off some of those excess calories!  

Us and the boys.

We then headed back to the hotel, finished up our packing (good job Mumsie had bought that extra suitcase!) and then decided we were a bit peckish (amazingly enough), so popped out for an early dinner, ahead of going to Newark for our flight.  We ended up at this great place just near our hotel called Schippers where the food was pretty decent - good old fashioned, stick to your ribs comfort food.  We followed that up with one of the best cupcakes we've ever tasted at Dean and Deluca's next door - during which I received a text from United Airlines saying that our 9pm flight from Newark back to Chicago had "been canceled due to flight crew availability".  What the wha?   Well, screw that, I thought, so instantly got on to the 1K Premier phone line and told the guy in no uncertain - yet polite - terms that having to wait til Monday to fly home did not work for me and that he had to do much much better than that. After a few minutes tapping away, he confirmed that he could get us on to the 8pm flight from LaGuardia but that he couldn't confirm our seat assignments.  Hmmm… I said.  I don't want us to go all the way to LGA without definite confirmation we have seats, so Please Try Again, Mr United Booking Agent.  Needless to say, after a few more minutes of tapping away, he announced that we were on the flight and had assigned seats.  Huzzah for that - crisis averted.  That last minute change in plan meant that we pretty much had to leave straight away - fortunately there was a town car at the hotel waiting for a fare, so we just took that one for the ride to LGA.  Which - of course - we completed with an hour and a half to spare, so plenty of time (again) to enjoy the singular delights of LGA airport.  Finally, it was time to board and so concluded our kick-ass weekend in NYC.  A simply brilliant time - see you again soon, NYC!!

Mumsie the Destroyer wiping the floor with me at bowling

By this stage, I was reduced to claiming I was winning
 "on speed" rather than on points…  Mumsie  wasn't buying it...

Yep. I'm that person you want to challenge to a bowling match. 

Doing the Mumsie patent pending Victory Dance.
I saw this a lot.

Finally.  A chance to even the score at air hockey.

Though we both got wiped out at this. 

I've never met an onion ring I didn't like.

Ooey-gooey kick-ass grilled cheese sandwich

The apple doesn't fall far from the tree…..  #justsayin

Piece de resistance - passion fruit cupcake and carrot
cake at Dean and Deluca.  Exceptional!

Finally, wending our way home as the sun sets
 on a brilliant weekend.  See ya again soon, NYC.