Sunday - Day 2 NYC

Although we had set alarms, we woke up naturally at a reasonable time, and headed out into yet another bright and cold, yet sunshiney day for breakfast.

On a recommendation of a friend we went to Penelope (on Lexington). There was a queue, and we had a 20 minute or so wait, but the brekkie was good. Brunch on a Sunday is obviously a done thing in NYC!

It was a short walk back to the hotel, where we met up with Dennis Kelley, a DJ at Luxuria Music and someone we've befriended over the last few years via social networks etc. It was great to finally meet the man in the flesh.

He had driven in from New Jersey, and with us securely belted up, he headed back to NJ. As we went through the tunnel, on the route Tony Soprano takes from NY to NJ on the shows credits, he played The Sopranos theme for us on the cars' CD. Class.

First stop was Asbury Park... a place The Beeb has wanted to see... being a Bruce Springsteen fan. At the Stone Pony, we went in for a moment just to have a look. As there was a benefit gig on with a "donation" of $20, we just settled for photos outside instead. D'ya know DK met his wife here?

Dennis & Brian outside The Stone Pony

We walked along the boardwalk, in the footsteps of Bruce, and almost paddled in the Atlantic, on the Jersey shore. If we'd jumped in and kept swimming we'd have landed on the beach at Saltcoats!

On the Jersey Shore - just look at those waves

Lunch was vegetable samosas in Langosta Lounge on Asbury Park's boardwalk. The service was not the best (DK asked at least 4 different people for the check (Note..getting into the venacular already) before anything turned up!).

There was some alcohol in this one! Cheers

Next on the agenda was cocktails and beer at Kelley a la Cranford, where we had the opportunity to experience the Kelley's tiki lounge where Dennis makes a mean and highly potent TikiDeke cocktail. 

We also saw the Studio where Dennis records his Heroes & Villiains shows for Luxuria. There were a few rare Beach Boys vinyls spun on the turntable.

Dennis in his studio

Time flew for sure and it felt like we had been there only minutes before we had to head to a train station and get the train back to Penn Station. The train was a huge double decker thing, and we had to go to the end of the platform and walk across the first set of tracks and then climb onto the train!

We jumped out at what we thought was Penn Station, but checked with a station worker who revealed that the train was in Newark Penn, and not New York Penn. Thankfully we had time to jump back on board before the doors closed!

So we were back in NYC and at the hotel around 8.30ish. We had dinner in a bar/restaurant on 5th Avenue, just by the Empire State Building. Not a great restaurant, but pleasant enough.

It had been a long day, and the time difference had caught up a bit so it was an early-ish night.