i heart new york

ah, what an eloquent husband i have - viva bloody las vegas indeed. we had a ball at the gambling capital of the world, just don't ask me how much we won. it's riggged, i tells ya. we was robbed... not literally though, so don't worry.
las vegas was beautiful in the same way cookie doough commotion ice cream is beautiful - a heaped serving now and again is excellent, but you wouldn't want too much of it. highlights for me were the fountains at the bellagio (two mentions, i know - but they *were* that good), and the inside of the venetian - i want a ceiling like that in my bedroom! we also squeezed in a show - the blue man group. now, if you're reading this and thinking 'those blue guys are weirdos', let me tell you - they are, but in the best possible way. the show was an audio-visual extravaganza - we had the best time, i was a little hoarse from screaming my approval. we took my aunty and cousin along with us, and i was worried they would not like it, but we all had a ball. i don't want to say too much , but if you get a chance, go see them - you won't regret it.
now we're in new york. we got here on monday night and immediately found ourselves a nice little restaurant with live jazz music. today we got up and out at the nice hour of 11 (we are on holiday after all!) and bought a met pass and went exploring. on advice from our local connection, a friend i used to work with named michael, we caught the (free!) staten island ferry to... well, staten island, and back again. got a great view of manhattan and lady liberty. then we went to the smithsonian museum of indian cultural history (free!) and saw some exhibitions. afterward we wandered around the financial district and then to the world trade centre site. i wasn;t expecting to be as emtionally affected as i was - got a little teary. onward from there we went to times square. oh. my. lordy. bumped into many an annoyed new yorker as i stumbled around with my mouth open, looking at all the bright lights. then mark and i had a hot dog from a street vendor (not free, but cheap!) and wandered around some more. lots of pics coming soon! we then had dinner with mikey in eastr village somewhere, and caught up more after over a beer. we like this place. many dogs though - lots of people walking dogs too big to live in apartment blocks. interesting. no pictures of the dogs yet, but give us some time... we did get a good shot of steam rising from a grating in the ground. it actually happens!
oh, and on our first wander away from the hostel, we had our first celebrity-in-the-wild sighting - we caught the host from america's biggest loser buying chocolate and ice-cream from a supermarket! armloads, i tell you...! nah, obviously i jest, she was just picking up some booze. not really. she was probably buying fruit. anyway, it was her, and i can say this for sure because she confirmed our suspicions when she loudly referred to her own show in conversation with the shopkeeper. classy.
anyway, will write more later. have booked myself in for a sex and the city tour of new york for wednesday morning (i let mark off the hook, so he'll wander while i'm posing on carrie's apartment stoop). needless to say, more pics soon.
hope you backed a winner!