If I’d have to sum up Day Two, I’d have to say it was a day filled with highs and lows.

I woke up late and watched on as a valiant South Korea fell to Uruguay, and then headed out into Manhattan to meet up with Arvind and watch the USA v Ghana game.

I found this Mexican restaurant / bar off 42nd Street, which was pretty darn packed with World Cup supporters and a fantastic atmosphere, from the initial disappointment of the first goal, to the equaliser, greeted with absolutely raucous applause [it did take a while to get drinks since most of the bar staff were fixated on the game the whole time, and occasionally turned around to serve customers], and then the final blow in extra time, after which the bar turned into a ghost town.

More drinking at a place named the Rum House [!] followed by dinner and then dessert, which was both glorious and tragic at the same time.

We went to Carnegie Deli. Now, I had no idea how popular this place was, and it looked innocuous from the outside, even with the large queue snaking around the corner, but to then wander in and see the Wall of Fame, good lord! Thousands upon thousands of photos of celebrities that have eaten at this place, and they’re famous for their cheesecakes!

So we sat down, somewhat full from dinner, but more than ready for dessert, and out it came, a New York Baked Cheesecake with blueberries. It tasted absolutely amazing. For the first 15 minutes that I was eating it. Then, Struggletown… It was the biggest slice of cheesecake I’ve had, and I know that I haven’t been in cheesecake training lately, but the sad realisation that I’m so out of cheesecake eating shape [I ate a whole Cheesecake Shop cheesecake back in the day] kicked in when I had to retire my spoon, with cheesecake still residing on the plate. Sigh.

I couldn’t move for the next half hour, and it took an hour walking around Central Park [Arvind summed it up nicely, calling it “Centennial Park on steroids”] to somewhat reduce the bloatedness, but I am damn well going back to Carnegie Deli and finishing that cheesecake, dammit! And this time, without so much food beforehand >.<

On a totally unrelated note, checking the scales when I get back home should be fun…