Sunday 11 August 2013
This morning Anne and I headed to Katz's Delicatessen on East Houston Street for breakfast. Some of you might recognise the name but for those that don't Katz's claim to fame is it was the location of the famous scene between Meg Ryan and Billy Crystal in the movie "When Harry met Sally". Some of the treats on offer for brekkie were eggs, pancakes, sausages, salami (don't think so...), tongue (definitely don't think so...). Anne and I went for pancakes with maple syrup. Our waiter was a ripper i.e. not in a rush for anyone, had a bit of attitude and a fabulous New Jersey accent. Loved him, he fitted the New York Deli waiter mould perfectly!
After brekkie we spent the afternoon doing a bit of retail shopping at Macey's and some other places like DSW (which stands for Designer Shoe Warehouse and Anne and I like shopping here very, very much!!!!)
On our way back to the hotel we had a couple of hiccups. The first being a big street parade along 6th Avenue. It was celebrating something to do with the Domenican Republic and we couldn't cross the road due to the parade. I spoke to a police officer and then when there was a break in the parade they opened up the road barriers so we and others could cross the street. The parade was loud and colourful and there were so many police around watching. Once we got across the road we thought that would be the end of police and barricades but no the best was to come. Walking to our hotel we noticed there were barricades in front of the hotel, police in uniform, photographers, big black cars and van's and men in suits with ear pieces. Apparently members and diplomats from the South Korean government were staying at our hotel so the security was unbelievable. We had the Secret Service both inside and outside the hotel as well as having police officers stationed at both entrances 24 hours a day. For security reasons they had shut down all the elevators except one so you can imagine that didn't go down too well with the other hotel guests. Anyway I thought it was a little bit exciting but I don't think the staff at the hotel thought so as so much mucking around for them plus the South Koreans were staying at the hotel till Wednesday.
Dinner that night was just up the road from the hotel at Kellari Taverna. A really nice Greek restaurant which had a Sunday night dinner special so that was a nice bonus for Anne and I.
