Whilst reminiscing about my trip to New York last year, I read through this blog and realised that I forgot to fill in the details of my last day in the city! As I had intended to keep this as a little diary of my trip, I have decided to fill in as much as I can remember of that day for my own interest as much as anyone else’s!
My last day in New York involved a trip to Ellis Island. Hedy had the day off work again, so after a quick trip to the local grocery store to stock up on American candy and cereal treats to take home to London, we headed off on the subway to the south side of Manhattan. The boat to Ellis Island also runs to Liberty Island, so those tourists wanting to take a walk around the Statue of Liberty can get off the boat at the first stop and hop on the next one to carry on to Ellis Island. For Hedy and I, this was a chance to take a closer at the Statue, but we didn’t fancy getting out so planned to stay on the boat and only get off at Ellis Island. Regardless, we still had to queue for both trips – and oh my, what a queue! If you ever plan to go there, give yourself a LOT of time to wait! You have to queue for your tickets, and then you have to get into the monster queue to get on the boat. I would say we were there for a couple of hours, but the queue does move quite quickly so it wasn’t too frustrating!
You can no longer go up into the Statue of Liberty as the Americans are (quite rightly) concerned about preserving her and keeping her safe from attacks. As a result of the current risks, this also means that getting onto the boat required almost as much security as getting as getting on the plane later that day. I was half expecting them to scan my fingers again! Think bag x-rays, no hot drinks, belts off, boots off, frisking and so on… This provided an explanation for the enormous slow moving queue anyway!
The boat ride was very pleasant and you get a great view across the city from Liberty Island without having to get off the boat. It is only a few minutes from there to Ellis Island, which was the first stop of every immigrant into the US for many years to be checked out for entry into the country. I would say this was the most interesting place I have visited anywhere, in terms of the way it is set out and the way that the information is given to tourists. The building is lovely, and there are personal stories of immigrants that are so interesting that you wish you had time to read and listen to them all! We were limited by time as I had to get back for my airport connection, but could easily have lost most of a day wondering around there. I paid the small fee to look up my Dad’s paternal Great-Grandparents, both of whom independently went to New York, didn’t like it and came back again! You can see the original ship records and picture of the ship they sailed on. We think we worked out that my Great-Grandfather was there after the birth of my Grandfather, suggesting that he was planning on moving them all over. Thank goodness he didn’t or you wouldn’t be reading this! The family story goes that he got off the boat, was immediately insulted for being Irish and punched the guy out cold. It is thought that he decided he didn’t like it and headed home two weeks later. After being at Ellis Island, my suspicion would be that he was sent home for this little incident! Ah, the O’Donnell temper… I didn’t get it you know… (What!? You wanna come here and say that?!!?) We think that his wife went over when she was younger, possibly to stay with family, but was home sick and headed back.
Time was chasing us, so we went out to get the next boat back to Manhattan – only to find another enormous queue! I was a little panicked at that point, as I was cutting it quite fine to get back to the apartment for my pick-up, but luckily we just managed to cram onto the next boat that came in! We had planned on going to the Met Museum that afternoon as I had missed out earlier in the week, but we had realised early in the day that this was all day affair so I will just have to go there on my next visit!
Once we were back in Manhattan we jumped on the subway and headed back up to the apartment, walking a couple of blocks when we realised that we had some time to spare. I finally got to try out Taco-Bell! It was so nice and such good value! I had a little taco and burrito and I think it cost me about $5. Yum! They really need to launch that chain in the UK!!
My airport pick-up was a little late, so Hedy and I sat outside the apartment in some welcome sunshine, eating our burritos and chatting away. As I recall my flight home was fairly uneventful – aside from getting stopped at customs again so they could rummage through my bag and work out what the skeletal finger pen was again! Must remember never to take that on a plane again …
I loved NYC – I will definitely have to go back sometime and visit the places I missed, hopefully in the summer so I can wonder about in the sun and take in some more of the city too! Thank you so much Hedy for giving me the chance to go there J
Monday 15 February 2010
Friday 20 March 2009
The city turns green...
The St Patrick’s Day parade begins at 11am, so we were up reasonably early to get up to Midtown and find a good spot to watch. After a cupcake based breakfast (seriously, Hedy has a cupcake problem!), we took the subway up to 59th and walked along the south side of Central Park. I had seen the barriers go up the day before and figured that this was a good place to get a spot with a clear view. There were already lots of people around, many clad in green ready to watch, and there were green street vendor’s carts on every corner. You could buy green hats, green t-shirts, ‘kiss me I’m Irish’ badges, giant green trumpets, all manner of green beads with crazy green pendants, sparkly shamrock sunglasses and lots more. I refrained from making any purchases – Hedy and I were already sporting our very tasteful St Patrick’s Day t-shirts that I had picked up a few days earlier. We found a spot a couple of blocks up where we could get to the front and have a clear view. The parade didn’t make it this far until a while after 11, but after that it seemed to be never ending! It started with a few political characters, presumably including the city mayor, followed by some uniformed troops who were given a warm welcome by the crowds. After this, it was a continuous stream of police officers and firemen in their dress uniforms and accompanied by their kilted pipe bands. I know, it was a real chore to watch the shiny buttoned lovelies walk past us. Occasionally, these uniformed groups were interspersed by school marching bands and baton twirlers, and the occasional groups of excited civilians marching under the name of their ‘Emerald Society’ or something similar. We also spotted a few groups from Ireland – some random social groups or representatives and some from bands and from the Irish Guard.
By 12.30, our feet had frozen to the floor (we were stood in the chilly shade) and believe it or not, we had seen enough firemen. We headed downtown along the route of the parade. I noticed a few more pipe bands that were playing ‘Scotland the Brave’ as we went, which I tried to excuse as they were ‘pipe bands’ after all. But… they were all called something like ‘The Emerald Pipe Band’, and it was St Patrick’s Day… so can that be excused? I am hopeful that someone can still tell me that there is an Irish song that sounds just like Scotland the Brave, but I couldn’t help finding it a bit annoying.
We eventually headed down a side street by the Rockefeller Center, and popped into a bizarre buffet style restaurant for lunch. It sold pretty much every kind of food – Chinese, Mexican, Barbeque and so on – and we had a selection of items that were then weighed to determine the price. We sat in the window watching the passers-by going to and from the parade. My favourite group was a family of about 8, each and every one wearing a matching cream Aran ‘sweater’ – these seem to be the alternative to green for the ‘Irish’ here. I actually thought these were more of a Scottish thing, but I stand corrected – they are traditionally from the Aran Isles off Western Ireland. And, obviously, are worn by all Irish people all of the time….
Hedy and I had learned our lesson by Tuesday with regards to our ability to last all day. As a city, New York is overwhelming, and we had both found that being out all day invariably rendered us too tired to enjoy our evening. So after lunch, we headed back downtown to the apartment for a rest. What a pair of youthful party animals we are… Both of us flaked out for two hours, and didn’t head back up town until about 4.30. Having seen Irish bars on every corner all week, we suddenly found ourselves unable to find any! We walked several blocks down and one across to find one and fought our way through the drunken crowd to find the bar and a place to stand. After paying true Dublin prices for a beer, we stood bleary eyed watching the madness. Eventually a New Yorker called Brian approached us for a chat – he was nice enough, but within 10 minutes we were bored of him and he didn’t seem to be willing to go away, despite the uncomfortable silences. He had advised us that midtown was not a good place to go out, and that we should head downtown, so we told him we were taking his advice and left…. one block down we went into the next Irish bar we saw. This one contained firemen and marines, and for some reason seemed a little more interesting to us, so Hedy started a tab and we remained put. You may be surprised to know that we didn’t chat to any firemen, and only spoke to the marines to have photos taken. We spoke to a few Spanish guys, who's English was quite broken, but one of whom we caught trying to take a photo of me twice… er, weird… They didn’t believe that two people would be from London and Texas, therefore concluded that I was not a Londoner. In the words of Katherine Tate: Bovered? NO.
We may have eventually made our way over to investigate the drunken firefighters, but got chatting to a couple of others guys as a result of a common annoyance – the rather large, rather old, rather drunk couple at the bar, who were apparently trying to eat each others faces. It was like train wreck television – repulsive, horrifying, the stuff of nightmares… but you just couldn’t look away. The two guys turned out to be very friendly and we chatted away with them until they left – unlike us they had work the next day so couldn’t be out all night. Hedy actually exchanged numbers with one of them – Adam, who played rugby at college so was interesting to chat to him about that – and took the other guys card (he was called Skip – short for Skipper… yes, people apparently really do have names like that!) - so she will hopefully get some company for some more of the evenings that she is there…We left shortly afterwards, stopping briefly to accost a group of marines for a photo (those uniforms really are quite fetching!) and heading back on the subway. We spent the whole way back chatting with two young lads from Brooklyn, who were fascinated by both of our accents. I was more interested in the fact that one of them was wearing a Celtic FC away shirt – I asked if he knew what it was, and he said ‘an Irish soccer team in Glasgow’ .. fair play to him, he didn’t seem to know more and had never seen them play, but he was pretty much on the nose! He proceeded to tell me that his Grandmother was Irish and that she said he looked like a typical ‘dark Irishman’ and asked what I thought. Erm… I just said yes! No idea what he meant, but he had the appearance of someone with a mixed racial ancestry to me and certainly not an Irish one!
We stopped at the store on the way home to buy some breakfast, and whilst complaining that we had not seen any green beer anywhere, we were accosted ourselves by a man who had heard our accents. We chatted to him for a while, and he eventually gave Hedy his card in exchange for a little kiss – she has concluded that I am some kind of lucky charm for her. Maybe this should be the reason that we need to both go and live in New York? Our final stop was Grays Papaya for a hotdog, which we chomped on as we wondered home, looking up the Empire State Building which was glowing bright green in the night sky…
By 12.30, our feet had frozen to the floor (we were stood in the chilly shade) and believe it or not, we had seen enough firemen. We headed downtown along the route of the parade. I noticed a few more pipe bands that were playing ‘Scotland the Brave’ as we went, which I tried to excuse as they were ‘pipe bands’ after all. But… they were all called something like ‘The Emerald Pipe Band’, and it was St Patrick’s Day… so can that be excused? I am hopeful that someone can still tell me that there is an Irish song that sounds just like Scotland the Brave, but I couldn’t help finding it a bit annoying.
We eventually headed down a side street by the Rockefeller Center, and popped into a bizarre buffet style restaurant for lunch. It sold pretty much every kind of food – Chinese, Mexican, Barbeque and so on – and we had a selection of items that were then weighed to determine the price. We sat in the window watching the passers-by going to and from the parade. My favourite group was a family of about 8, each and every one wearing a matching cream Aran ‘sweater’ – these seem to be the alternative to green for the ‘Irish’ here. I actually thought these were more of a Scottish thing, but I stand corrected – they are traditionally from the Aran Isles off Western Ireland. And, obviously, are worn by all Irish people all of the time….
Hedy and I had learned our lesson by Tuesday with regards to our ability to last all day. As a city, New York is overwhelming, and we had both found that being out all day invariably rendered us too tired to enjoy our evening. So after lunch, we headed back downtown to the apartment for a rest. What a pair of youthful party animals we are… Both of us flaked out for two hours, and didn’t head back up town until about 4.30. Having seen Irish bars on every corner all week, we suddenly found ourselves unable to find any! We walked several blocks down and one across to find one and fought our way through the drunken crowd to find the bar and a place to stand. After paying true Dublin prices for a beer, we stood bleary eyed watching the madness. Eventually a New Yorker called Brian approached us for a chat – he was nice enough, but within 10 minutes we were bored of him and he didn’t seem to be willing to go away, despite the uncomfortable silences. He had advised us that midtown was not a good place to go out, and that we should head downtown, so we told him we were taking his advice and left…. one block down we went into the next Irish bar we saw. This one contained firemen and marines, and for some reason seemed a little more interesting to us, so Hedy started a tab and we remained put. You may be surprised to know that we didn’t chat to any firemen, and only spoke to the marines to have photos taken. We spoke to a few Spanish guys, who's English was quite broken, but one of whom we caught trying to take a photo of me twice… er, weird… They didn’t believe that two people would be from London and Texas, therefore concluded that I was not a Londoner. In the words of Katherine Tate: Bovered? NO.
We may have eventually made our way over to investigate the drunken firefighters, but got chatting to a couple of others guys as a result of a common annoyance – the rather large, rather old, rather drunk couple at the bar, who were apparently trying to eat each others faces. It was like train wreck television – repulsive, horrifying, the stuff of nightmares… but you just couldn’t look away. The two guys turned out to be very friendly and we chatted away with them until they left – unlike us they had work the next day so couldn’t be out all night. Hedy actually exchanged numbers with one of them – Adam, who played rugby at college so was interesting to chat to him about that – and took the other guys card (he was called Skip – short for Skipper… yes, people apparently really do have names like that!) - so she will hopefully get some company for some more of the evenings that she is there…We left shortly afterwards, stopping briefly to accost a group of marines for a photo (those uniforms really are quite fetching!) and heading back on the subway. We spent the whole way back chatting with two young lads from Brooklyn, who were fascinated by both of our accents. I was more interested in the fact that one of them was wearing a Celtic FC away shirt – I asked if he knew what it was, and he said ‘an Irish soccer team in Glasgow’ .. fair play to him, he didn’t seem to know more and had never seen them play, but he was pretty much on the nose! He proceeded to tell me that his Grandmother was Irish and that she said he looked like a typical ‘dark Irishman’ and asked what I thought. Erm… I just said yes! No idea what he meant, but he had the appearance of someone with a mixed racial ancestry to me and certainly not an Irish one!
We stopped at the store on the way home to buy some breakfast, and whilst complaining that we had not seen any green beer anywhere, we were accosted ourselves by a man who had heard our accents. We chatted to him for a while, and he eventually gave Hedy his card in exchange for a little kiss – she has concluded that I am some kind of lucky charm for her. Maybe this should be the reason that we need to both go and live in New York? Our final stop was Grays Papaya for a hotdog, which we chomped on as we wondered home, looking up the Empire State Building which was glowing bright green in the night sky…
Thursday 19 March 2009
Who you gonna call?
Monday morning, and I am on my own again. Hedy had decided to work and take off Tuesday in honour of St Patrick, and Wednesday off in honour of her hangover (and to see a bit more of the city before I left). I woke up as she left for work, and pottered about getting ready, eating my froot loops and deciding what to do with my day. My feet were becoming unbearably sore from all the walking, so I began with a trip to a local clothing store to purchase the green converse I had been coveting. They were in the sale, so only cost $36 instead of the $45 on the label – not bad given that they are at least £35 in the UK. I resisted buying any North Face sale items – a brand name that I love and associate with the outdoors, but which seems to be sold in every trendy high street store here, and can be seen on every other person in the form of a coat, bag or beany hat. I can have Hedy vouch for this – it is everywhere and I didn’t buy any!
I decided to start my day by doing something that Hedy seemed to have no real interest in anyway. I looked up the location online and headed out for my first solo trip on the New York subway. The city’s subway system involves about six different coloured lines, each of which has between two and four letters or numbers allocated to it, and you appear to require a sixth sense to know which one is which, and where it stops. You get approximately three seconds to make a decision about a train before its door shut, so inevitably my first solo outing involved me going two stops and having to get off and get a train back to where I started. Take two: I needed to get to Tribeca, and managed to decipher which two lines I needed (either that, or I accidentally took them… I’m not 100% sure either way). I had about 10 minutes of walking to get to my destination, and found myself strolling through part of Chinatown on Canal Street. This is the part where all the shops seem to have identical products - fake watches, I love NY t-shirts, hats, key rings and other tourist tat. I cut off at West Broadway and found myself amongst trendy stores with every colour of Converse I could imagine – except the turquoise ones that Di asked me to find! Typical! There was even a ‘Topshop – coming soon’ sign. Shortly after, I reached my destination – a shabby little fire station. Oh yes, THE fire station I had seen oh so many times in my childhood. Who you gonna call…? It is called 8 Hook and something (who cares?! It is the Ghostbusters HQ!). There is nothing much to see, other than a faded Ghostbusters logo on the sidewalk outside, which appears to show the ghost with a fire helmet and hose. Apparently this station was only used for the exterior shots, and the inside was a station in LA. Good enough for me – I took a load of photos and hummed the tune for the next few blocks.
I was able to walk from 'HQ' to the Brooklyn Bridge in about 15 minutes. I had decided that I would walk across today as it was clear and quite mild. The views were great and I couldn’t help spotting the section where Miranda and Steve reconcile in the Sex and the City movie. As I reached the other side the New York changeable weather hit me, with a cold wind suddenly dropping the temperature several degrees. Cold and with achy feet, I braved the subway straight back to Manhattan, rather than explore ‘DUMBO’ and the green areas under the bridges shown in all the movies. I had to ask directions to find the station in Brooklyn and took a line that goes under the river rather than over the Manhattan Bridge, which would have been fun. Oh well. I jumped out at 57th and Sixth, and having had my plans for a cheapy hot dog in the park scuppered by the cold, I went into a pizzeria for a slice instead.
I had planned on visiting the Metropolitan Museum of Art that afternoon using my City Pass ticket. As I walked round the park a crowd had gathered opposite the Oak and Plaza hotels, clicking and twittering and clearly out to see celebrities. I could see a film crew and eventually overheard someone saying that a scene was being filmed for ‘Gossip Girl’. I didn’t hang about as I don’t watch the show, but maybe I will now to see if I can spot the scene... I arrived at the Met to find that it was closed on Mondays, something a quick glance at my travel book would have told me if I had bothered to look. Oh well, another time maybe. Instead I headed on up to the Guggenheim museum – despite modern art not being my cup of tea, I wanted to see the famous building and I could get free entry with my pass. The curvy, winding building is really lovely and I immediately saw something that would make the trip worth my precious time. As I queued for my ticket, I looked around and discovered that the person behind me was Lois (the ‘Mom’) from Malcolm in the Middle! Hazzah! I spotted someone famous on my trip! I probably stared at her more than is socially acceptable for someone standing a foot away, but I am pretty sure that I was being suitably subtle… and that it serves her right for being famous anyway...
The art in the Guggenheim is what I would mainly describe as ‘weird’. The exhibit on the curving runway was called the ‘The Third Eye’ (I think!) and was all works from American artists influenced by Asia. I was given a free audio tour and pressed 'one' to start. It told me all about the installation in front of me - a room that was completely lined with pieces gold leaf. Okay. Weird, but kind of cool. Press two… “The work… based on a London bridge… famous landmark…”. I looked about for a piece of art that may be based on a bridge. I settled on something that I had originally assumed was a light. It didn’t look like bridge though. Nor did it fit the rest of the description. The next piece of art on the winding walkway tour was a long piece of paper with a stripe down the middle. A bridge? Don’t think so… Okay, skip this one and go to three… nope. I giggled to myself as, which each number, I completely failed to work out which exhibit it related to. The ‘work’ varied from ink splats, to white canvasses with a roller of black paint, an old film projector playing a blank reel (did the artist make the projector?? Or the film..? No? Art? No.), there was a shelf with bottles on, blank paper (what were people looking at? They were closely scrutinising it … but it was blank!). My personal favourite was the last exhibit – a woman who had filmed herself in extreme close up, black and white, with acupuncture needles all over her face… talking continuously about the day her husband died in the monotone style of Buddhist monks chanting . “Mitchel is dead she didn’t know what to say to me to we held eachother then I rang my mom the phone rang and rang as the shop was busy…” etc. Apparently this went on for 20 minutes. Bonkers? Yes. And more than a bit eerie... Was the museum worth the money? It was effectively free, so yes. I have advised Hedy to just go in and look at the skylight without paying though!
I finished my day with a wander* through Central Park (*read ‘limp'... my feet were swelling and agony), and I finally ate a pretzel as I strolled about (well half of it, they really are quite dull aren’t they?). I made it to Strawberry Fields where tourists had photos taken sitting on the Imagine mosaic, and someone had laid out white roses for John Lennon. I also saw the restaurant from Ghostbusters (“Let me in!! Let me in!! Nice doggy…”). Eventually I headed home via Magnolias to pick up some cup cakes for dessert. Yum!
The evening was set aside for Hedy and I to go to the ‘Top of the Rock’ at the Rockefeller Center – which was worth every penny. They really put the effort in there, starting with a mock gurder construction shot (which we forgot to buy!), information films and photos of the building being constructed. When the lift begins to move up toward the top of the building, the lights go off and you look up to see that the roof is clear plastic and the lift shaft is lit up like a runway. You really get to see how fast you move, which explains the popping ears! The night time city view was spectacular and we even had a shot with one of the 50c viewers (watching the people in the Empire State watching us!). This was after we both posed for photos looking into the wrong end... deliberately of course...
We headed straight home after this to make sure that we had an early night. We needed to be bright and fresh for St Patrick in the morning!
I decided to start my day by doing something that Hedy seemed to have no real interest in anyway. I looked up the location online and headed out for my first solo trip on the New York subway. The city’s subway system involves about six different coloured lines, each of which has between two and four letters or numbers allocated to it, and you appear to require a sixth sense to know which one is which, and where it stops. You get approximately three seconds to make a decision about a train before its door shut, so inevitably my first solo outing involved me going two stops and having to get off and get a train back to where I started. Take two: I needed to get to Tribeca, and managed to decipher which two lines I needed (either that, or I accidentally took them… I’m not 100% sure either way). I had about 10 minutes of walking to get to my destination, and found myself strolling through part of Chinatown on Canal Street. This is the part where all the shops seem to have identical products - fake watches, I love NY t-shirts, hats, key rings and other tourist tat. I cut off at West Broadway and found myself amongst trendy stores with every colour of Converse I could imagine – except the turquoise ones that Di asked me to find! Typical! There was even a ‘Topshop – coming soon’ sign. Shortly after, I reached my destination – a shabby little fire station. Oh yes, THE fire station I had seen oh so many times in my childhood. Who you gonna call…? It is called 8 Hook and something (who cares?! It is the Ghostbusters HQ!). There is nothing much to see, other than a faded Ghostbusters logo on the sidewalk outside, which appears to show the ghost with a fire helmet and hose. Apparently this station was only used for the exterior shots, and the inside was a station in LA. Good enough for me – I took a load of photos and hummed the tune for the next few blocks.
I was able to walk from 'HQ' to the Brooklyn Bridge in about 15 minutes. I had decided that I would walk across today as it was clear and quite mild. The views were great and I couldn’t help spotting the section where Miranda and Steve reconcile in the Sex and the City movie. As I reached the other side the New York changeable weather hit me, with a cold wind suddenly dropping the temperature several degrees. Cold and with achy feet, I braved the subway straight back to Manhattan, rather than explore ‘DUMBO’ and the green areas under the bridges shown in all the movies. I had to ask directions to find the station in Brooklyn and took a line that goes under the river rather than over the Manhattan Bridge, which would have been fun. Oh well. I jumped out at 57th and Sixth, and having had my plans for a cheapy hot dog in the park scuppered by the cold, I went into a pizzeria for a slice instead.
I had planned on visiting the Metropolitan Museum of Art that afternoon using my City Pass ticket. As I walked round the park a crowd had gathered opposite the Oak and Plaza hotels, clicking and twittering and clearly out to see celebrities. I could see a film crew and eventually overheard someone saying that a scene was being filmed for ‘Gossip Girl’. I didn’t hang about as I don’t watch the show, but maybe I will now to see if I can spot the scene... I arrived at the Met to find that it was closed on Mondays, something a quick glance at my travel book would have told me if I had bothered to look. Oh well, another time maybe. Instead I headed on up to the Guggenheim museum – despite modern art not being my cup of tea, I wanted to see the famous building and I could get free entry with my pass. The curvy, winding building is really lovely and I immediately saw something that would make the trip worth my precious time. As I queued for my ticket, I looked around and discovered that the person behind me was Lois (the ‘Mom’) from Malcolm in the Middle! Hazzah! I spotted someone famous on my trip! I probably stared at her more than is socially acceptable for someone standing a foot away, but I am pretty sure that I was being suitably subtle… and that it serves her right for being famous anyway...
The art in the Guggenheim is what I would mainly describe as ‘weird’. The exhibit on the curving runway was called the ‘The Third Eye’ (I think!) and was all works from American artists influenced by Asia. I was given a free audio tour and pressed 'one' to start. It told me all about the installation in front of me - a room that was completely lined with pieces gold leaf. Okay. Weird, but kind of cool. Press two… “The work… based on a London bridge… famous landmark…”. I looked about for a piece of art that may be based on a bridge. I settled on something that I had originally assumed was a light. It didn’t look like bridge though. Nor did it fit the rest of the description. The next piece of art on the winding walkway tour was a long piece of paper with a stripe down the middle. A bridge? Don’t think so… Okay, skip this one and go to three… nope. I giggled to myself as, which each number, I completely failed to work out which exhibit it related to. The ‘work’ varied from ink splats, to white canvasses with a roller of black paint, an old film projector playing a blank reel (did the artist make the projector?? Or the film..? No? Art? No.), there was a shelf with bottles on, blank paper (what were people looking at? They were closely scrutinising it … but it was blank!). My personal favourite was the last exhibit – a woman who had filmed herself in extreme close up, black and white, with acupuncture needles all over her face… talking continuously about the day her husband died in the monotone style of Buddhist monks chanting . “Mitchel is dead she didn’t know what to say to me to we held eachother then I rang my mom the phone rang and rang as the shop was busy…” etc. Apparently this went on for 20 minutes. Bonkers? Yes. And more than a bit eerie... Was the museum worth the money? It was effectively free, so yes. I have advised Hedy to just go in and look at the skylight without paying though!
I finished my day with a wander* through Central Park (*read ‘limp'... my feet were swelling and agony), and I finally ate a pretzel as I strolled about (well half of it, they really are quite dull aren’t they?). I made it to Strawberry Fields where tourists had photos taken sitting on the Imagine mosaic, and someone had laid out white roses for John Lennon. I also saw the restaurant from Ghostbusters (“Let me in!! Let me in!! Nice doggy…”). Eventually I headed home via Magnolias to pick up some cup cakes for dessert. Yum!
The evening was set aside for Hedy and I to go to the ‘Top of the Rock’ at the Rockefeller Center – which was worth every penny. They really put the effort in there, starting with a mock gurder construction shot (which we forgot to buy!), information films and photos of the building being constructed. When the lift begins to move up toward the top of the building, the lights go off and you look up to see that the roof is clear plastic and the lift shaft is lit up like a runway. You really get to see how fast you move, which explains the popping ears! The night time city view was spectacular and we even had a shot with one of the 50c viewers (watching the people in the Empire State watching us!). This was after we both posed for photos looking into the wrong end... deliberately of course...
We headed straight home after this to make sure that we had an early night. We needed to be bright and fresh for St Patrick in the morning!
Tuesday 17 March 2009
15 Englishmen in New York.
On Sunday, we woke up tired and a bit hung over, and ready to experience a bit of the ex-pat culture in New York - the six nations rugby. England v France was being shown in a few Irish bars around the city, all charging the $20 cover that the sport channel Satanta insists upon. We went to the Kinsale Tavern, which is way up by 94th Street but was recommended on a couple of rugby forums. My hang over combined with our late rising inspired me to pay for a cab all the way there. This meant it was quiet when we arrived so we got a seat at the bar - a great view of all five plasma screens behind the bar... and the six or seven dotted around the tiny building itself... As we tucked into our Irish breakfasts (who'd have thought the Irish had french fries in the morning?), I wittered away at Hedy some of the rules, as she admired the short shorts of European sports. I am fairly certain that one key piece of important information stuck, as she was able to not only recognise Chabal, but was also well trained in saying "Mmmmm... Chabal" when he came on screen. It was very weird watching my home town on TV here, but a good (bizarre) game, in which I assume the French team were probably drunk... what a score!
When we left the Kinsale, we headed across to Central Park to walk through to our next destination. It was here that Hedy was able to expel my theory that old people are not allowed in New York City. I had yet to see anyone over the age of 60, and was fairly certain that there must be some kind of collection squad to remove them from the streets and send them to Florida. But no, it turns out that there are some - perhaps those who have evaded the collection squads with their sharp minds and wit - and they are mostly found in Central Park. I still stand by my theory for now - it may be that the collection team have Sunday off and so the Sunday streets are safe...
It took about 15 minutes to reach the American Museum of Natural History. My City Pass meant that could use a shorter queue, so I waited for Hedy by the big stuffed elephants that I have seen in so many movies. Annoyingly, Hedy had not been offered one of the Imax tickets that I had been given with my pass, but as I wanted to see the show I excused myself and went along anyway. The film was in a dome shaped theatre with a screen covering the the whole dome. Here I watched planets and galaxies fly past, learned about the creation of the planet, the moon and the future of the universe. Most of the time, I was really wishing that I wasn't feeling quite so queasy and had a few regrets about the large cooked breakfast. It was good though, and worth the trip. We wandered through a few more galleries of the museum, only really stopping the human evolution one to look at the bones, and for Hedy to spot a Neanderthal reconstruction and say "mmmm, Chabal". Yes, Hedy, yes it is.
When we left the museum we walked west towards the Circle Line. The walk was a little worrying, not a nice neighbourhood so we took quite a quick step all the way. We popped out at the Hudson river by the Intrepid - a WWII Naval ship that is now a military museum. Having bought our tickets for the Circle Line which was just 'next door' to the ship, we headed to a real American diner for some dinner and to kill the hour or so before the tour. The diner turned out to be a real Greek-American diner, where we both had Gyros (alas, not like Corfu ones though - more like donner kebab meat on a pitta with tsatsiki, salad and chips) and a baklava. It was here that we realised that we had walked through 'Hells Kitchen', the dock based gangland of days gone by, which had been renamed Clinton to hide its murky past. Yikes! No wonder it was so creepy!
The Circle Line tour left at 7pm. It is called Harbor Lights, and leaves just as the sun is setting over the city. As you head south, the sky grows darker and the lights come on. The guide chatted away, frequently off on a tangent about nothing in particular, but with some snippets of useful information. He showed us where the great Captain Sully so gracefully landed his plane on the Hudson river, saving all those on board. Apparently it was the Staten and Ellis Island ferries that rescued the passengers from the wings, and the Circle Line - which is too high out of the water - was used to take over the fire fighter divers, who checked the wreck was empty. The boat went on down, past the Financial District, where the born and bred New Yorker guide understandably talked a lot about 9/11, pointing out where the two huge towers should be - and the Deutch Bank building, which was damaged by one of the towers at it fell and is being dismantled floor by floor.
The boat went on round the end of Manhattan and up the east side, under the Brooklyn and Manhattan bridges. By now the sky was black - or as black as it can be with all those lights - and it the glowing city looked amazing. Eventually the boat turned around and headed south, out into the bay and over to the Statue of Liberty. It went quite close, and everyone rushed outside into the cold to get a clear photo (I waited until the last minute... it was reeeeally cold outside!). We were told that you can no longer go up inside the statue, a decision made to keep her safe. I agree with this - what a blow it would be if this globally recognised landmark of the American people were damaged or destroyed. We were told she is owned by each and every American, and not the states of New York or New Jersey. I asked Hedy which bit was hers. "The crown. The whole crown. And the left breast." She owns a lot. One very important question sprung to my mind though: when the Ghostbusters filled her with ectoplasm, how DID she get down off that podium? It is nearly as high as she is ... did she jump!?
All in, the tour was great. Perfect views of the night time sky line of New York. When we got back to the dock, we were so tired that we hailed a cab to get home, and both flaked straight out when we got back. Maybe I am getting old, but I really am not a night owl in this city!
When we left the Kinsale, we headed across to Central Park to walk through to our next destination. It was here that Hedy was able to expel my theory that old people are not allowed in New York City. I had yet to see anyone over the age of 60, and was fairly certain that there must be some kind of collection squad to remove them from the streets and send them to Florida. But no, it turns out that there are some - perhaps those who have evaded the collection squads with their sharp minds and wit - and they are mostly found in Central Park. I still stand by my theory for now - it may be that the collection team have Sunday off and so the Sunday streets are safe...
It took about 15 minutes to reach the American Museum of Natural History. My City Pass meant that could use a shorter queue, so I waited for Hedy by the big stuffed elephants that I have seen in so many movies. Annoyingly, Hedy had not been offered one of the Imax tickets that I had been given with my pass, but as I wanted to see the show I excused myself and went along anyway. The film was in a dome shaped theatre with a screen covering the the whole dome. Here I watched planets and galaxies fly past, learned about the creation of the planet, the moon and the future of the universe. Most of the time, I was really wishing that I wasn't feeling quite so queasy and had a few regrets about the large cooked breakfast. It was good though, and worth the trip. We wandered through a few more galleries of the museum, only really stopping the human evolution one to look at the bones, and for Hedy to spot a Neanderthal reconstruction and say "mmmm, Chabal". Yes, Hedy, yes it is.
When we left the museum we walked west towards the Circle Line. The walk was a little worrying, not a nice neighbourhood so we took quite a quick step all the way. We popped out at the Hudson river by the Intrepid - a WWII Naval ship that is now a military museum. Having bought our tickets for the Circle Line which was just 'next door' to the ship, we headed to a real American diner for some dinner and to kill the hour or so before the tour. The diner turned out to be a real Greek-American diner, where we both had Gyros (alas, not like Corfu ones though - more like donner kebab meat on a pitta with tsatsiki, salad and chips) and a baklava. It was here that we realised that we had walked through 'Hells Kitchen', the dock based gangland of days gone by, which had been renamed Clinton to hide its murky past. Yikes! No wonder it was so creepy!
The Circle Line tour left at 7pm. It is called Harbor Lights, and leaves just as the sun is setting over the city. As you head south, the sky grows darker and the lights come on. The guide chatted away, frequently off on a tangent about nothing in particular, but with some snippets of useful information. He showed us where the great Captain Sully so gracefully landed his plane on the Hudson river, saving all those on board. Apparently it was the Staten and Ellis Island ferries that rescued the passengers from the wings, and the Circle Line - which is too high out of the water - was used to take over the fire fighter divers, who checked the wreck was empty. The boat went on down, past the Financial District, where the born and bred New Yorker guide understandably talked a lot about 9/11, pointing out where the two huge towers should be - and the Deutch Bank building, which was damaged by one of the towers at it fell and is being dismantled floor by floor.
The boat went on round the end of Manhattan and up the east side, under the Brooklyn and Manhattan bridges. By now the sky was black - or as black as it can be with all those lights - and it the glowing city looked amazing. Eventually the boat turned around and headed south, out into the bay and over to the Statue of Liberty. It went quite close, and everyone rushed outside into the cold to get a clear photo (I waited until the last minute... it was reeeeally cold outside!). We were told that you can no longer go up inside the statue, a decision made to keep her safe. I agree with this - what a blow it would be if this globally recognised landmark of the American people were damaged or destroyed. We were told she is owned by each and every American, and not the states of New York or New Jersey. I asked Hedy which bit was hers. "The crown. The whole crown. And the left breast." She owns a lot. One very important question sprung to my mind though: when the Ghostbusters filled her with ectoplasm, how DID she get down off that podium? It is nearly as high as she is ... did she jump!?
All in, the tour was great. Perfect views of the night time sky line of New York. When we got back to the dock, we were so tired that we hailed a cab to get home, and both flaked straight out when we got back. Maybe I am getting old, but I really am not a night owl in this city!
Monday 16 March 2009
High heals and cocktails...
The Weekend! Saturday was Giovanna's actual birthday, and she had decided she wanted to have some dim sum in China Town before heading home. I was up first so armed us all with bacon and egg sandwiches, then off we headed to the subway. Hedy had never had dim sum before so was very intrigued. The place we went to - The Golden Unicorn - was Gio's favourite, where rather than have you order the food, they bring it round on trolleys and you just pick what you want. It was very tasty, and the 'check' was only $13 each including the tip. Not bad given that we were all stuffed. Gio and Damien headed home after this - it was nice to catch up with her as I haven't seen her for about 5 years or more. Not sure when I will again either!
Hedy and I took advantage of being near the lower east side and walked down past the Brooklyn Bridge, stopping to look at the 'old old wooden ships' at the Seaport. We continued on down and took a ride on the free Staten Island ferry - what a bargain. It goes right across the bay, past Ms Liberty and gives great views of the down town Manhattan sky line. Apparently there is not much to do on Staten Island, so we took advice on this and walked straight round to get the return ferry to Manhattan without hanging about.
On our way back over, we planned on going to the Ellis Island Immigration Museum, but we had missed the last boat as was 3 o'clock already (no jet lag excuses for me anymore - I had thought it was about 1 o'clock!). Instead we wandered up towards 'Ground Zero'. I had not particularly intended to go there, as I just did not feel that I needed to go to the site to appreciate the gravity of it. We were in the area though, so why not? The area is obviously pretty huge amd is currently a building site for the new 'Freedom Tower', but you really get a sense of emptyness - a massive void in the city where there should be two buildings towering twice as high over the others. It made my stomach roll. Hedy is working with people who have done identifcation work - Gio also used to work there before going back to university - and she told me there are literally thousands of unidentified remains still being worked on. Very sad. Some of those identified are going to be buried together at Ground Zero once the site is complete - a choice made by their families.
Moving on, we walked past the amazing Woolworth building (the facade is just beautiful!), past city hall and up toward the courthouse. At this point, aching feet caught up, so we got some directions from a helpful cop and headed to the subway to go to Katz Deli - the place where they filmed a famous scene in When Harry Met Sally. It was heaving inside! The ticket we were given when we walked in just confuzzled our tired brains, so we got a glance of the table used in the movie, then left and marched back to an Irish bar for a beer! 'Irish' bars are everywhere here and all geared up for St Patrick's Day - this particular one was actually playing Irish music - of the slow and durgy type mostly! Very bizarre!
Saturday night was for cocktails, so we came back to the appartment to have some food and get changed into our gladrags and our uncomfortably pretty shoes. We met up with some of Hedy's friends in the Meatpacking district first and had a couple of drinks there. Then - armed with a list of 'trendy' bars we headed off. The the first stop was a rooftop bar with great views. It was a little crowded though and the crowd crowding it were all quite young. We had one (VERY expensive) cocktail here and headed back out. We took the subway to the next place and found it a bit more to our tastes! Another expensive (and Absynth based - oops) cocktail later and we were shattered. Time to head home via Grays Papaya (sp?!) for a hotdog. Not quite 'Sex and the City', but close enough for this pub going Londoner!
Hedy and I took advantage of being near the lower east side and walked down past the Brooklyn Bridge, stopping to look at the 'old old wooden ships' at the Seaport. We continued on down and took a ride on the free Staten Island ferry - what a bargain. It goes right across the bay, past Ms Liberty and gives great views of the down town Manhattan sky line. Apparently there is not much to do on Staten Island, so we took advice on this and walked straight round to get the return ferry to Manhattan without hanging about.
On our way back over, we planned on going to the Ellis Island Immigration Museum, but we had missed the last boat as was 3 o'clock already (no jet lag excuses for me anymore - I had thought it was about 1 o'clock!). Instead we wandered up towards 'Ground Zero'. I had not particularly intended to go there, as I just did not feel that I needed to go to the site to appreciate the gravity of it. We were in the area though, so why not? The area is obviously pretty huge amd is currently a building site for the new 'Freedom Tower', but you really get a sense of emptyness - a massive void in the city where there should be two buildings towering twice as high over the others. It made my stomach roll. Hedy is working with people who have done identifcation work - Gio also used to work there before going back to university - and she told me there are literally thousands of unidentified remains still being worked on. Very sad. Some of those identified are going to be buried together at Ground Zero once the site is complete - a choice made by their families.
Moving on, we walked past the amazing Woolworth building (the facade is just beautiful!), past city hall and up toward the courthouse. At this point, aching feet caught up, so we got some directions from a helpful cop and headed to the subway to go to Katz Deli - the place where they filmed a famous scene in When Harry Met Sally. It was heaving inside! The ticket we were given when we walked in just confuzzled our tired brains, so we got a glance of the table used in the movie, then left and marched back to an Irish bar for a beer! 'Irish' bars are everywhere here and all geared up for St Patrick's Day - this particular one was actually playing Irish music - of the slow and durgy type mostly! Very bizarre!
Saturday night was for cocktails, so we came back to the appartment to have some food and get changed into our gladrags and our uncomfortably pretty shoes. We met up with some of Hedy's friends in the Meatpacking district first and had a couple of drinks there. Then - armed with a list of 'trendy' bars we headed off. The the first stop was a rooftop bar with great views. It was a little crowded though and the crowd crowding it were all quite young. We had one (VERY expensive) cocktail here and headed back out. We took the subway to the next place and found it a bit more to our tastes! Another expensive (and Absynth based - oops) cocktail later and we were shattered. Time to head home via Grays Papaya (sp?!) for a hotdog. Not quite 'Sex and the City', but close enough for this pub going Londoner!
Sunday 15 March 2009
An English (Wo)Man in New York
Day One in New York city and I was on my own... Hedy had gone off to look search a bit of scrub land for body parts, and Gio and Damien were having a lie in before heading off to run some errands. I decided that the best place to start would be the Empire State Building (ESB) so I headed off on foot. Hedy's little appartment is in Downtown Manhattan in the East Village, on the corner of 10th and Sixth. It is really easy to navigate on foot in this city, as you just count the avenues and streets, but finding the ESB is just a matter of looking up and heading in that direction. It is about a 20 minute walk from 10th and so I walked up Sixth Avenue, so I could take in the atmosphere of the city. A few things really fit with what I expected - I have never encountered so many dogs with jumpers on, or people walking along talking (and/or yelling...) to themselves. A few blocks away, there is even a pet store with puppies in the window just like on TV shows (I couldn't possibly live here without buying a doggy in the window...).
The weather was sunny and clear, a perfect day for the views of New York. I bought myself a City Pass at the ESB (access to a few different places for $70) and paid an extra $15 to go right to the top level. The queues are mostly just caused by the strict security checks and lifts up are freakishly fast. The views were amazing from the 86th floor and I must have taken about 10,000 photos. Then I headed up in a tiny lift to the 106th floor with a smaller crowd - up here there is glass to sheild you from the cold winds, and fewer people to get in the way of your views. You also get a much better look at Central Park over the tall buildings. My photo buddy was up here too - a girl who was also on her own so we took it in turns to take a few (horrendously touristy) pictures of eachother. I think I prefered the 86th floor though - that is the place you see in the movies, with the big silver binoculars.
When I left the ESB, I decided to head up town towards the National Library. This is the building where Carrie almost marries Mr Big - it is beautiful, but they are working on it so the outside was covered up a little. I took a quick stroll around and shot a few pics of the inside - although I felt a bit sorry for the poor people trying to read and study with tourists wandering in to stare at them. Is definately worth a look though, even to just see the bits from Sex and the City!
When I left the library I decided to continue up town, not really with any target in mind. Quite soon I looked to my right and recognised the big arched windows of Grand Central Station so heading across. I spent most of my time playing with my camera, but it was just as I expected it, complete with a beam of sunshine straight through the middle from one of the south windows.By this time my feet were pretty sore and I was starving! I headed across town, past the Rockafeller Center ice rink, and found a classy local establishment to sit down and get some lunch (er, MacDonalds...). I really surprised myself by how content I was to wander about alone, and sit in MacDonalds by myself watching the world go by (and playing with my camera again...). I think it must be because I am getting older - I am sure I would have been miserable a few years ago!
When I headed out after lunch I began my walk back downtown and noticed that I was only two blocks away from Times Square so cut across to take a peek. What a sensory overload! You couldn't possibly take in information from any one advert, as about 100 hit you all at once. Visually amazing though - and much more fun that I expected it to be. It was too cold to stop and sit down, but I could have sat there people watching for hours.
With aching feet, broken sunglasses and about 250 photos, I headed home (via Gucci for a new pair of sunnies - or was it KMart..?). I also had a snoop about in Macy's but didn't buy anything! When I got back I crashed out and woke up an hour later when Gio returned. We were heading out for her birthday that evening, and I really needed the kip! For dinner we had barbeque - Texas sausage, and my favourite meal so far, 'pulled pork'... a bit like slow roasted pork. Mmmm. They also had a special on really good Margheritas. Good times! For dessert we went to the famous Magnolia Bakery for very tasty cupcakes. I will definately be going back there for more! Unfortunately, Hedy and I flaked by about 9.30pm and headed home shattered, leaving the others on their way to the 'Big Fat Black Pussy Cat Club' or was is 'Phat'.... or 'Pink Pussy Cat'... who knows! We had big plans for our Saturday and wanted to get a good night's sleep to be nice and fresh in the morning, so we headed back on foot.
I spent all day humming the Sting song - I can't get it out of my head at all! I think it is fairly appropriate though, so I will continue to sing it regarldless!
The weather was sunny and clear, a perfect day for the views of New York. I bought myself a City Pass at the ESB (access to a few different places for $70) and paid an extra $15 to go right to the top level. The queues are mostly just caused by the strict security checks and lifts up are freakishly fast. The views were amazing from the 86th floor and I must have taken about 10,000 photos. Then I headed up in a tiny lift to the 106th floor with a smaller crowd - up here there is glass to sheild you from the cold winds, and fewer people to get in the way of your views. You also get a much better look at Central Park over the tall buildings. My photo buddy was up here too - a girl who was also on her own so we took it in turns to take a few (horrendously touristy) pictures of eachother. I think I prefered the 86th floor though - that is the place you see in the movies, with the big silver binoculars.
When I left the ESB, I decided to head up town towards the National Library. This is the building where Carrie almost marries Mr Big - it is beautiful, but they are working on it so the outside was covered up a little. I took a quick stroll around and shot a few pics of the inside - although I felt a bit sorry for the poor people trying to read and study with tourists wandering in to stare at them. Is definately worth a look though, even to just see the bits from Sex and the City!
When I left the library I decided to continue up town, not really with any target in mind. Quite soon I looked to my right and recognised the big arched windows of Grand Central Station so heading across. I spent most of my time playing with my camera, but it was just as I expected it, complete with a beam of sunshine straight through the middle from one of the south windows.By this time my feet were pretty sore and I was starving! I headed across town, past the Rockafeller Center ice rink, and found a classy local establishment to sit down and get some lunch (er, MacDonalds...). I really surprised myself by how content I was to wander about alone, and sit in MacDonalds by myself watching the world go by (and playing with my camera again...). I think it must be because I am getting older - I am sure I would have been miserable a few years ago!
When I headed out after lunch I began my walk back downtown and noticed that I was only two blocks away from Times Square so cut across to take a peek. What a sensory overload! You couldn't possibly take in information from any one advert, as about 100 hit you all at once. Visually amazing though - and much more fun that I expected it to be. It was too cold to stop and sit down, but I could have sat there people watching for hours.
With aching feet, broken sunglasses and about 250 photos, I headed home (via Gucci for a new pair of sunnies - or was it KMart..?). I also had a snoop about in Macy's but didn't buy anything! When I got back I crashed out and woke up an hour later when Gio returned. We were heading out for her birthday that evening, and I really needed the kip! For dinner we had barbeque - Texas sausage, and my favourite meal so far, 'pulled pork'... a bit like slow roasted pork. Mmmm. They also had a special on really good Margheritas. Good times! For dessert we went to the famous Magnolia Bakery for very tasty cupcakes. I will definately be going back there for more! Unfortunately, Hedy and I flaked by about 9.30pm and headed home shattered, leaving the others on their way to the 'Big Fat Black Pussy Cat Club' or was is 'Phat'.... or 'Pink Pussy Cat'... who knows! We had big plans for our Saturday and wanted to get a good night's sleep to be nice and fresh in the morning, so we headed back on foot.
I spent all day humming the Sting song - I can't get it out of my head at all! I think it is fairly appropriate though, so I will continue to sing it regarldless!
Friday 13 March 2009
New York, New York!
Well I am now in New York, updating this blog on Hedy's computer as I eat a bowl of lovely Froot Loops and drink a coffee.
The trip probably wasn't so bad, but it did have its moments. When I arrived at Heathrow, the Virgin Atlantic representative asked me if I had completed my online Visa. 'No' said I, 'I have a machine readable passport, and I am only visiting...' (my heart still sinking, thinking that this was what would go wrong). But no, he goes on to tell me that I have to fill out a Visa form online 72 days before travel. As I hung my head in my hands and tried to stay calm, he continued to tell me that as I had not travelled there in the last two years, that they would let me in this time, but I do need the Visa for next time. I was too relieved to give him the smack in the chops that he deserved for scaring me like that! Be advised though Brits and Co. - I was told this end too, we need an online Visa application to travel here now! Scanning our paws like criminals is no longer enough!
I had to laugh as I passed through UK customs - my neatly packed rucksack full of cameras and battery chargers sailed through the xray machine, but my handbag - containing only my purse, phone, ipod and a few pens was stopped and scrutinised by two baggage control staff. What could it be that would spark this interest? Oops. My finger-bone pen. She did laugh when she found it... but also asked me if it was made of real bone. Yes, yes it is. I have taken the hand bones of a human being, and I have made a pen out of them, and THEN, I have put it in my handbag at UK customs. Is this how they catch serial killers? (And, if you are wondering, you may be surprised to learn that it is plastic.)
The flight was okay, except for Mr Elbows next to me, but I do like Virgin and getting to watch Slum Dog Millionaire was a real treat (very good by the way!). Once I was through customs in Newark (with a suitcase minus one wheel - so glad I opted for a pick up!), I finally began to really get excited. I could see the Empire State Building from the runway and walked through the airport with a big grin on my face. I arrived at Hedy's really early as I was dropped first, let myself in with a key she had left me, and then waited 40 minutes for her to get back from the pub! (A few sheets to the wind too!) We headed straight back out, meeting up with some friends, and watched a very close college basketball match in an 'Irish' bar. The match was fun as it went to 6 over times (yes, 6 - what's wrong with a shoot out!?), so by the time we returned, my body thought it was 6am, so my first New York cab ride and early breakfast of two very tasty hotdogs. Yum!
Hedy has just left for work (checking a cold case crime scene - I believe they are hoping to find some arms!), so having finished my breakfast, I am heading straight for the place I want to see the most - the Empire State Building. Bring it on.
The trip probably wasn't so bad, but it did have its moments. When I arrived at Heathrow, the Virgin Atlantic representative asked me if I had completed my online Visa. 'No' said I, 'I have a machine readable passport, and I am only visiting...' (my heart still sinking, thinking that this was what would go wrong). But no, he goes on to tell me that I have to fill out a Visa form online 72 days before travel. As I hung my head in my hands and tried to stay calm, he continued to tell me that as I had not travelled there in the last two years, that they would let me in this time, but I do need the Visa for next time. I was too relieved to give him the smack in the chops that he deserved for scaring me like that! Be advised though Brits and Co. - I was told this end too, we need an online Visa application to travel here now! Scanning our paws like criminals is no longer enough!
I had to laugh as I passed through UK customs - my neatly packed rucksack full of cameras and battery chargers sailed through the xray machine, but my handbag - containing only my purse, phone, ipod and a few pens was stopped and scrutinised by two baggage control staff. What could it be that would spark this interest? Oops. My finger-bone pen. She did laugh when she found it... but also asked me if it was made of real bone. Yes, yes it is. I have taken the hand bones of a human being, and I have made a pen out of them, and THEN, I have put it in my handbag at UK customs. Is this how they catch serial killers? (And, if you are wondering, you may be surprised to learn that it is plastic.)
The flight was okay, except for Mr Elbows next to me, but I do like Virgin and getting to watch Slum Dog Millionaire was a real treat (very good by the way!). Once I was through customs in Newark (with a suitcase minus one wheel - so glad I opted for a pick up!), I finally began to really get excited. I could see the Empire State Building from the runway and walked through the airport with a big grin on my face. I arrived at Hedy's really early as I was dropped first, let myself in with a key she had left me, and then waited 40 minutes for her to get back from the pub! (A few sheets to the wind too!) We headed straight back out, meeting up with some friends, and watched a very close college basketball match in an 'Irish' bar. The match was fun as it went to 6 over times (yes, 6 - what's wrong with a shoot out!?), so by the time we returned, my body thought it was 6am, so my first New York cab ride and early breakfast of two very tasty hotdogs. Yum!
Hedy has just left for work (checking a cold case crime scene - I believe they are hoping to find some arms!), so having finished my breakfast, I am heading straight for the place I want to see the most - the Empire State Building. Bring it on.
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