GOODBYE NEW YORK

THE END 

NEW YORK NEW YORK

After lots of hugs and  kisses we say goodbye to our beautiful friends Jo & Morten.

We are especially sad to say goodbye to their adorable little two year old Oskar.

However, all good things must come to an end and it's time for our return journey to begin.

We've had so much fun and it's been an amazing trip away from home.

Morts drops us to the airport and we say our final goodbyes before disappearing into the airport.

Our trip home from London begins with a seven hour flight to JFK airport. 

The shamozzle starts again as we land and enter the confusion that is AMERICA !

Tired and cranky we are pushed through the gates and I to the sorting room. 

Nobody knows what they are doing and we get pushed towards the finger printing machine. 

It's a cold welcome back but that's how it is..

Nobody smiles and everybody looks glum NEW YORK,  NEW YORK !!!

We fight past the hawkers offering private taxi rides and we push through to the offical taxi rank.

We jet off into town and land outside our hotel. As a treat we have chosen an up market hotel for our final two nights and we attempt to pay and leave our taxi.

The payment screen doesn't work and we can't pay our fair - Daniel heads off to find a bank while I guard our luggage.  ( Tipping is so overrated ) 

All the time we are watched by the doorman - he finally swoops in and says is everything ok...

A well timed move so he can carry the bags no more than 5 metres for a tip and then he vanishes and is never seen again . ( Tipping is overrated )

We receive an upgrade !!!!!!!!!

Maybe it's because we look like death or maybe things are finally looking up for our last two nights.

The master king deluxe room sounds fantastic.

We open our door and the smell of a pet shop hits us in the face.

It's warm & wet and smells like all the animals have decided to pee at once.

The room itself is decorated in heavy furniture but the plus side is that it has an outdoor balcony that runs the length of the massive double room and it looks out over the city. It's a rather big upgrade we have prime views of the Empire State Building.

We step back into our swamp of a room and then we look at each other.. 

Can we sleep in this room? The heating is on full and the room is humid and tangy with old spice.
We get ready to shower and we take our shoes off only to realise the carpet is wet :(

Ahhhhhhhh 

After speaking with front desk we are informed that they had a burst pipe that affected one side of the building - we are moved to the dry side of the building and the room is fresh clean and we crash in bed...

MY TUMMY HURTS

You know you've gone too far when you pop that last forkfull into your mouth.

That little red flag pops up and your tank reaches the lip and nearly overflows.

Then pudding arrives.. 

It look delicious, smells divine and you know that there's a tiny bit of room left in your stomach especially reserved for at least four big spoonfuls.

The challenge is complete and you walk slowly to the lounge - a place to sit and digest and swear to yourself  that you'll never eat that much again.

 Some hours pass and your tummy feels slightly better and you begin to think it wasn't really all that bad after all.  Although you hear a familiar sound of a cork popping and you realise it's time to drink to everyone's health and to cheers each other this Christmas.

 Then you see the cheese platter it's plentiful and it has scrumptious soft bread and crumbly crackers.

It calls your name and it says "eat me" 

Never backing down from a challenge you move forward and keep going... 

Merry Christmas !

CHRISTMAS COOKING

Finding the time to blog hasn't been a priority I have to admit. Especially now that there's champagne lying around and the Christmas spirit is well and truly here. 

I can't begin to tell you how crazy the last couple of days have been.

Our first day started with a bang and it was the besties reunion back in the kitchen.

We all had a job to do and we were set for the challenge. We've cooked together before and we knew we could do it again. Each of us had a list of things to achieve and we got started straight away.

Cakes to ice and decorate - sauces to be made and tasted.

Gingerbread people to be cut and cooked and yes Ablskivers to be made.

For those who are not in the know Ablskivers are a danish delicacy !

No more than 20 minutes in to our crazy challenge and the bell rang .... it was time for champagne. 

After all it is Christmas 

MERRY CHRISTMAS

This is our first Christmas away from Australia and we are missing our family and friends back home. We are in good hands though and our great friends Jo, Morten & Oskar are looking after us. 

Today we are heading down to spend Christmas with Jo's parents Max and Wendy.

We will be away from wifi but want to wish all our family and friends a very Merry Christmas xxx

OXFORD

We say goodbye to London and we jump on our train and set off to Oxford.

Wifi has been hard to find and when we do the connection has been so slow. I've been unable to do much. The train ride is quick though and we are soon with Jo and we set off on an adventure whizzing around Oxford...

WHAT A BLUR

We have finally caught up with our besties and it's been a blur ever since.

Dinner, drinks and then a show followed by more drinks... so much fun !

In between all the fun we have been sightseeing and hitting the shops. The crowds are absolutely huge though, never have I experienced this amount of people shopping in one area. 

Hard to take a picture and do it justice as the camera can't really capture the true scale of all the bustling shoppers.