Lizzie and Scott

07 December 2024

Today we finally made it to the observation deck of the Empire State Building, and what a view! It took us about two hours to go through the experience, but it was absolutely worth it!
After leaving the Empire State Building, we stopped at a place nearby called Ghiradeli Chocolates and had the most amazing thickshake!
Lizzie decided she wanted to visit a store on the way home so we jumped on the subway with the idea to get off at Columbus Circle. As we had mastered the subway so well, I got us off at the Seventh Avenue stop because I knew that was the same as Columbus Circle - except, when we got up to street level, we found it wasn't the same at all and I had left us about 15 blocks to walk!!!

Then we wandered home and discovered our neighbours had put up their Christmas decorations - we are really loving the Upper West Side!
After a quick bite of dinner, we dressed and went back in to the city and found our way to Madison Square Garden to watch a stage production of Annie. It was absolutely fantastic!
From there, we walked home via Bryant Park to have a look at the skate rink at night. Their Christmas tree is beautiful!
Then it was straight to bed for another exciting day ahead!

08 December 2024

Today, we're off to MetLife Stadium in New Jersey to watch an NFL game. We have tickets to see the New Orleans Saints play the New York Giants.

We caught the subway to Penn Station and then transferred to a train to New Jersey where we had to transfer again to a special train heading to the football stadium. All up, it only took us about an hour from our apartment door to get to the stadium.

Before heading in, we saw a large shopping centre opposite the stadium so we went to explore it. Like just about every public space here, the are Christmas decorations everywhere!
Then it was time to get ourselves back to the stadium. The carpark was enormous, and full of people "tailgating" with their barbecues and coolers full of drinks! This looks like a national sport in itself!
Once we got to the gate, we were told that we couldn't bring bags in...not even Lizzie's handbag! So we had to check our bags and were given a tiny clear bag to take in anything that we needed for the game. Security here is next level!

Once though the gate, we were told that as it was our first time at MetLife we should got and tell the Customer Service desk - we did this, and we were given a badge to pin on our tops (not that it gave us any special privileges!) and we were also sent a certificate of attendance by email!
The teams came out to warm up, and whilst I knew the teams were large, I didn't really appreciate how large until I saw all of them on the field!
Then it was time for the US National Anthem - they REALLY know how to do this!

We had lunch at the stadium - two hotdogs and a burger cost us $70!

Once we found our seats, we discovered we were sitting next to four NYFD firefighters! They were really great guys, and a lot of fun. They all had season tickets for the Giants, and told us this was their worst season in their 100 year history!

The game was very low scoring, but we did witness history with the Giants scoring their first ever touchdown at MetLife Stadium!

In the end, the game came down to the final 16 seconds, with the Giants down by three points. But they had possession of the ball and lined up for a field goal from 25 yards in an attempt to even the game and force extra time. The kicker came out to perform his ONLY job - kick the ball between the big sticks - and he MISSED!

I couldn't believe it! I was really hoping the Giants could win the game, but instead they snatched defeat from the jaws of victory!

I found out after the game that the Giants are travelling so poorly, and struggling to get people to the game, that they ended up selling some seats for only $1 on the morning of the game just to try and get people in! I wished we had known that in advance! I wouldn't have had to remortgage my house to get in!

Getting home was pretty easy. They had two trains waiting outside the stadium and filled them up very efficiently. The trip to our transfer station was only about 15 minutes and then I believe the two trains returned back to the stadium for another run. It was actually pretty well done and certainly not the bottleneck we see at the MCG/Richmond Station back in Melbourne.

By the time we got home, it was dark and getting cold again. Another night on the couch with Hallmark movies playing! A big day, but a fun experience.

Keep watching for more fun times ahead!