New York, NY

Accommodation budget taking a hit here, but for $50 each we get to stay a block from Times Square. Went out to a comedy show and it was the best I've been to. All of the acts were funny and worked the small crowd well. My favourite was Rob Cantrell.

Another day Marta and I got on the Hampton Jitney to head out to Long Island wine country where our friend Melissa has a summer house. We spent the day at a couple of wineries before heading down to the beach for a bit. Melissa is a great cook and made a delicious fried zucchini and chicken dinner before we had to head back to the city.

As Melissa is a local, she also gave us a great list of things to do in the city for our remaining 4 days...

Little Italy - Lots of cool restaurants and shops, and just a much nicer place to hang out than midtown. Rice To Riches is a must if you like Rice Pudding. Grimaldi´s is supposed to be an amazing Pizza Restaurant with the 1st or 2nd best pizza in NYC but I was pretty disappointed. when I asked for a Cheese and they sent out a Margherita. Apparently that is their cheese pizza but our server didn´t specify the difference to the rest of the world when ordering. Super dry and chewy crust, nice toppings part.

The second night around Little Italy we picked a restaurant in the closed off Little Italy section itself and got some super nice pastas. Marta had a Marinara with lots of clams and mussels whilst I had the Chicken Parmigiana served with Spaghetti.

Could easily spend more time in NYC but after such a long trip it's nice to be heading somewhere we can settle down for a bit :)

Crif Dogs in Brooklyn: awesome dogs and local draft beers! The Chihuahua was my favourite, though it sounds a little strange (bacon, avocado and sour cream) it's amazing.

Melissa and Marta around Union Square 14th St.