Last days in NY

Yesterday after another faithful run around Central Park we headed back over the Brooklyn Bridge to show Katie and explored downtown Brooklyn, it was an extremely hot day and with the sun beating down on us there were a few iced coffees along the way...... then it was back to our favorite area Williamsburg for one last shop. A girl always needs another pair of .... well anything really! We stopped in at a cute we polish restaurant for some pierogi's to celebrate Katie's last night for dinner.

This morning we did a final workout in Central Park however some of us got a bit distracted......who knew Katie loves swings so much.....

Then it was farewell to Katie as she headed off to Indiana for her friends wedding, happy that this time we will be seeing each other soon, it's been three years of living in different countries! 

This afternoon Sam and I went to explore the other side of Central Park that we hadn't seen, another very hot day but such beautiful scenery, managed to catch a proposal at the fountains too!
It's sad to be leaving NY such a full on amazing three weeks that have just flown by but we are ready for our next stop....Montreal see you soon.

I have a dream

Yesterday we got up at some ungodly hour (4.30am - yes people it exists) and caught the train to Washington DC for the 50th Anniversary of the March on Washington. The train ride was much nicer than what we have been used to on the NY transit system. Actually, it was a really nice trip we went from New York through, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Maryland, Delaware and finally arrived in Washington DC at about 9.45.

The Ceremony was supposed to start at 11 am so we made our way down to the interesting part of town and got in line with the thousands of others under the Washington Monument (complete with scaffolding for earthquake repairs) to complete the required security checks. The whole process was agonizingly slow, it was 30 degrees, overcast and we were packed in like sardines (see our previous post on the Yankees game). It took over an hour and a half to get through, but once were inside the place was probably only half full.

It was pretty interesting listening to the speeches although not being an American it was somewhat difficult to relate - and at time's a bit cringe worthy. They would have speakers interspersed with musical or cultural performances which included a Haka (Canadians, see - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Haka) from Destiny Church in NZ (we wondered if TVNZ reported that it was in fact Destiny Church that Performed the Haka?). We were also quite amused by some of the people that were sitting around us. One morbidly obese Africa American woman provided us with a few gold moments. She was sitting by herself on a deck chair probably about 3 meters away from her nearest companion. The distance didn't prevent her from engaging in rather loud and somewhat inflammatory conversations with those around her - whether they wanted to or not. The funniest moment was watching her sing along with the Gospel Music, it was all "whoop-glory" and "hallelujah" and at one point she exclaimed at the top of her lungs "That's my Girl, I love that Girl". 

As the day progressed the speakers got more interesting and there were some pretty high people in attendance including Jamie Foxx, Oprah Winfrey, Jimmy Carter, Bill Clinton and Barack Obama. For me (Sam - writing from Kimilla's account just to mess with you) the most interesting speech was from Congressman John Lewis who was integral in planning the original March On Washington in 1963. His speech was very heartfelt and was given significant weight because he was able to talk first hand about the different racial landscape that there is now compared to when he was younger. I also found the speeches from Martin Luther King Jr's brothers and Sisters to be fairly moving too. 

President Barack Obama giving his speech - if you
look close you can see him to the left of the platform.

After the Ceremony Finished we spent another 45 minutes trying to leave the venue with the thousands of others before nipping over to take a look at Barack's House on our way to get some breakfast/lunch/dinner - we hadn't really managed to eat until this point in the day.

We found a little Indian takeaway - which will forever (in our minds at least) be the best Indian food in Washington D.C. - it helps to be hungry. Afterwards we went for a big walk through the city checking out some of the important landmarks including Capitol Hill.

They day was really full on and after the ceremony and all the exploring we were pretty grateful to have a relaxing train ride back to New York. We got in at Midnight and due to some construction disruptions and a misinterpretation of the letter 'E' (side note: turns out when Kiwi's say 'E' as in the 'E-train' American (and probably Canadian's too) hear 'A' as in 'A-train"), managed to take over 2 hours to get back to our apartment. So it was a big day and we didn't bother getting up till 12 pm today - so its been a pretty quite one.

In the afternoon Katie and Kimilla went and got there nails done, while I went to the barber and got a haircut and a shave with a straight razor, which I think my ex-military wife likes a little too much - which kinda creeps me out. This evening we hit Little Italy and had very tasty pizza and pasta for dinner.

Statue of Liberty and Metropolitan Museum of Art

First thing Monday morning we diligently got up and went for our faithful run around the reservoir at Central Park. It was a nice warm morning but after all the walking we do each day my legs felt like they were made of wood.  Afterwards, we got fed and hygeined up before heading to the very bottom of Manhattan Island to catch the ferry to Staten Island. To be honest we didn't really see much that appealed to do in Staten Island, the big driver was that the ferry sails right beside the Statue of Liberty.  Which aside from going up the Empire State building is probably the most touristy thing you could do around here - but we couldn't really come to NY and not see it! It was a very quick ride about 25 mins and once we arrived on the Island we simply jumped back on the returning ferry. The Western facing side of the boat was a bit like the Empire State Building with the amount of people pushing and trying to get photo's - but lucky for us we have Kimilla, who does not hold back from using her military close quarter combat techniques to get to the best spot to take photos.

Afterwards we went to Union Square and got some bagels for lunch. They were really nice and came with a roasted vegetable cream cheese. After lunch, I went to geek out at over at Stumptown Coffee, this gave Katie a chance to enjoy the fine brew before her and Kimilla went to find some shoes that she needed for an upcoming wedding. By about 4.30 they were shopped out so we caught the sardine tin back to our place for a bit of a rest and some dinner.

In the evening we headed over to Greenwich Village to a place called The Shade where we enjoyed cocktails and dessert crepes. Peanut butter, chocolate, strawberries, bananas, almonds a combination of anything you wanted could be made into a crepe. They were huge and delicious! The cocktails were pretty good too!!!

This morning Kimilla and I again hit Central Park but this time to the chin-up bars to abuse our bodies once more. I'm pretty sure that trying to work out on a diet of bagel and crepe is really not ideal - but we ploughed though. Afterward Kimilla and I went our separate ways for a while. While she went to do the laundry (don't forget its her favorite thing to do here), while Katie and I went to the Metropolitan Museum of Art. The Art Museum was amazing, we literally didn't get through 1/10 of the pieces that they had on exhibition and after nearly 3 hours we were pretty museumed out. We spent most of our time exploring an exhibition on American Civil War painting and photography, which was really interesting. We also explored a modern photography section and section on European Painting (boy they sure liked Christ, boobs and martyrdom). None the less it was a fun way to spend the morning.

Check out the view

After we finished writing the last blog entry on Saturday morning Zab, Ruth and myself decided to show Katie central park and we all went for a run around the reservoir while Sam stay back due to an unfortunate late night caffeine incident which resulted in a night rather light on sleep for him. It was a beautifully sunny day not a cloud in the sky. We had a very sad farewell to Zab & Ruth as they left to make their way back to Edmonton, we will miss you guys and so much another huge whole in our hearts! Since it was a Saturday we decided to show Katie around some of the markets we visited last week.  The highlight of our trip was seeing Hugh Jackman at Union Square... we weren't sure if it was him at first, so we stalked him for a little while just to make sure! He naturally wasn't drawing much attention to himself so we didn't want to intrude and start taking photo's (sorry girls). We continued onto Chelsea market where us girls did what we do best, while Sam did a little more work (I make it sounds like he works all the time - he doesn't. He's just doing little bits and pieces on some little side projects he's trying to get going). While we were in the area we decided to head back to the high line so us girls could catch some more sun on such a beautiful hot day.

After a delicious dinner cooked by Sam (Tacos) we headed back downtown to start being real tourists. Our first stop was the Empire State Building to catch the view at sunset. Words can not describe how magnificent the view was, however, the amount of people up there was ridiculous! I mean who takes a napping 90 year old woman in a wheel chair, 86 floors up in the air to an our door viewing platform where there is literally a thousand people in a space not much bigger than the average balcony (don't me started on children in strollers either. Here's a hint people, leave them at home.  They don't care about nor can they see the view from there and  FYI eight year old should not still be in strollers). None the less it was spectacular and I would recommend it highly (although give yourself plenty time to get through security and all the queues).  I had to fight my way to the edge to get my photos, and i'll be dammed if I was going to miss out after paying $27 to get up there! Not to worry I got a lot!!!

Sunday morning we pried ourselves back out of bed and made our way down to times square where we lined up to get Broadway tickets. It was a long wait but worth it, we got tickets to see Jersey Boys. The show was a biographical musical about Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons. It featured all their hit songs but rooted it the Jersey/Italian neighbourhood that they grew up in - complete with uncensored language and mobster mentality. We really enjoyed it and were thrilled go have the Broadway experience tucked under our belts

We had a bit of time to kill between buying the tickets and the show.  We went for a walked from Time's Square past the Rockefeller Center to the Subway, where we caught the train back down Wall street so Katie could check it out. It was another sunny day so we hung out at the waterfront enjoying the sun for awhile.

30 Rock - The Rockefella Plaza

Water front at the bottom of Wall Street looking towards Brooklyn with Brooklyn Bridge in the Background.

Katie Arrives

So its been a couple of days since we last updated everyone. Things here in NYC have been ticking along nicely. Today is Zab and Ruth's last day with us, which is very sad. Its almost two years to the day since we met them at the Legislator Building. It was an interesting day as Ruth had just come of night shift and Zab had just discovered that the office he was supposed to be going to work in for the UN in Africa had just been attacked. My my my time fly's when you are having fun. We will miss them a lot.

Thursday Morning was rather  boring. We went for a workout in Central Park using some chin up bars we found. Afterwards, I went to the laundromat (which I swear is one of my favorite things to do here) while Sam went and got some more groceries. The weather was pretty bad given we'd had such a hot sunny day at Coney Island the day before. There was a thunderstorm and it rained for most of the day.

In the afternoon we explored Greenwich Village a little bit more. While Sam was at a Cafe doing his thing, I went and explored some of the high end fashion shops. I ended up bumping into a dog walker, who was walking four dogs at once and struck up a conversation about the time I worked as a dog walker in Auckland (ah those were the days - Sam's convinced that I actually paid more money in fuel driving to the places to pick up the dogs than what I actually got paid walking. It was worth it though).

From Greenwich Village we caught the E-Train to Queens and met up with Katie. She had flown into JFK and this was the best place to meet her based on the subway routes. Unfortunately, it turned out to be a pretty crazy neighborhood. Its a funny stop because this is where everyone from the wider NY area would catch the subway to get to JFK, so it was a weird mix of travelers with suitcases moving as quickly as they could from the Subway to the Air Train while the rest of the world on the street was a chaotic mix of taxi cabs, angry New York drivers and possibly the most multi-cultural crowd I have ever seen. Anyway, we managed to find Katie (actually we thought we saw her several times before we actually did see her - turns out from behind Katie can easily be mistaken for a African American women (or four). I can't believe that it's been a year since I saw her last. 

Katie was doing pretty well given the long haul flight that she'd just been on (Wellington-Syndey-LAX-JFK) and once we got her back to the apartment and all set up we convinced her to come out to dinner with us at Lombardi's. Lombardi's is hailed as being America's First Pizzeria and was first licensed in 1905. The pizza was amazing we ordered one with meatballs and a garlic spinach and had a refreshing glass of sangria on the side.

Yesterday we let Katie sleep in while Sam and I went for a run in the Park. Once we prized her out of bed, I.V'd her with espresso and got her oriented with our hood (Yes, it is a hood - a least until we get two blocks South then it becomes a really nice area), we headed downtown. We got off the subway at Grand Central Station and let Katie have a bit of a look around. Then we took her for an explore around the Library and then to Time Square. So basically being to Katie what Zab and Ruth have been to us.

 Once we had a bit of a look around and taken in the sights we got on to more important business. Shopping. Well I say shopping, I can't really buy anything as I have no room in my backpack - so Katie went shopping and I lived vicariously through her. We literally shopped for four hours (when I say literally, I mean literally in the true sense - we shopped from 1pm until 5pm).

Katie - shopped out after our four hour session.

After we finished shopping we went home for dinner before once again heading to our local in Bleecker for a cupcake (Molly's Cupcakes that is), heaven forbid that Katie misses out on that key NY experience. Afterwards we went with Ruth and Zab to the Comedy Cellar for some classic NYC stand up comedy. It was hilarious and surprisingly not as rude as we expected. There were five comedians that did their routines during the night, many how made fun of some of the aspects of NY that we have been here long enough to appreciate. It was a fantastic way to spend our last evening with Zab and Ruth.

Coney Island

Yesterday was a day of experiencing extremes in terms of locations....

In the morning we headed off to Coney Island with Zab. While Coney Island is regularly listed in the top 10 places to see in NY but we kept expectations pretty low, a quick scan of the review showed that while its an iconic place its in dire need of a face lift - which translates too its trashy. The weather was piping hot, over 30 degrees so it was a nice day to head to the beach.

It took is about a hour an a half to get there on the subway as its on the Southern Tip of Brooklyn. Our first port of call was to find some lunch - which despite the many food stands was actually quite difficult to do. We had a few options including William's Candy, It's Sugar and Nathans Traditional America (which by the way is traditionally deep frying everything. Things we're looking pretty bleak and we were contemplating hitting McDonalds when Zab managed to track down a little Mexican place on Yelp. Despite its looks and location it turned out to be a real little gem. We haven't had taco's that nice and fresh before.

Anyway, we had lunch - waited for the chili to wear off our mouths (not a good idea on an over 30 degree day) and went for a stroll down the boardwalk. There were so many people people on the beach but not much swimming going on as the water looked kind of dirty (it didn't deter some though). There is a theme park and an aquarium which are the main attractions along with the classic american fried food stalls. We stopped to have an ice cream which I had to eat extremely fast to stop it melting everywhere! We enjoyed the sun and spent the afternoon people watching. It really is quite a trashy/cheesy kind of place....but it proved to amuse us for a couple of hours.

After we tired of the beach and the heat we the subway into Brooklyn to meet up with Ruth at the hospital she works at. We got off the Subway at Prospect park and walked for 20 minutes to the hospital. It was an eye-opener for sure. It was a little intimidating as everything was really run down. There were lots and lots of hair and nail salons - so many we really couldn't tell if they were hair salons or just places were people hung out because they have no where better to be. To be honest we stuck out like dogs proverbial's and I think we have a better appreciation of gangsta-rap. We didn't think it was appropriate to take photo's so you will have to conjure up a picture in your mind of what it might look like.

Once we met up with Ruth  we all went to Bosie's Tea Parla which is just off Bleeker street in Greenwich Village where we chilled out and drank some fine tea. It was a really nice place just to sit and relax. I think we will head back over there today and explore the neighbourhood.  To cap the day of extreme's off Zab and Ruth treated us to Lebanese food at a restaurant called Ilili, which is in Midtown. The food was amazing, the kind of place where you order for the table and just bask in the wonderful array of meats, breads, salads and garlic... mmm garlic. So we really must say a big thank you to Zab and Ruth. It was an amazing meal - contender for the best food we have had since being in NYC.

Tonight - we have a new guest arriving.... who will it be.

9/11

Sunday turned into a full on day despite another slow start (I think we have developed some bad sleeping in habits). We caught the subway down to the famous New York Financial District. We explored the iconic Wall Street (noting the remnants of the Occupy Movement still protesting in a park nearby) and on our way to Ground Zero. The security checks and long lines (on a Sunday morning of all days) made it take longer than we expected but everything moved pretty quickly, we were both glad we made the effort to go and see it. It was a bit surreal to be standing there where 9/11 attacks happened, thinking about what we were doing at the time and how we found out, would have never thought back then we would be standing here where it all took place. The area has now been turned into a memorial park with two large water feature pools as monuments. The names of all those who died have been engraved along the outsides, there were also computers set up where you could find information about someone who had died by searching their name. The new world trade center has almost been completed and they are putting together a museum there as well which will open in the spring of 2014.

A view up Wall Street looking at Trinity Church. New York Stock Exchange on the Left.

Ground Zero

One of the Memorial Pools

After walking through ground zero we took a stroll along the sky line garden which was really cool. It's an old railway track one story up in the air that they have turned into a garden/walk way, such a clever idea! It helps that its in the Chelsea area and surrounded by fairly space-aged apartment buildings. Its very cleverly designed (with the exception of all the people) turns an urban jungle into a really nice space. Afterwards we then returned back to Chelsea Market so I could purchase a dress i'd spied the other day and Sam chilled out in a cafe. We had a quiet night in both thoroughly exhausted from all the walking!

Today was non eventful, we did some more groceries and went for a run in the morning around central park and then while Sam and Zab did some work I explored the streets of Union Square. We are currently having dinner back at the apartment and then are going to go out for cupcakes at Molly's - my new local!

Party on the roof

After our big day exploring Brooklyn we had a bit of a sleep. In the morning Sam got some much needed grocery shopping done and I headed down with a few plastic bags to the laundromat. It was a relaxing experience, I just sat there watching a Spanish soap opera while waiting for the clothes to finish washing after loading the machine up with quarters.

We had a little lunch back at home then went out to explore some new places which included Chinatown and Little Italy. Chinatown was pretty much as we expected. It was full of people either buying cheap knock-off of designer products or people selling cheap knock-off's of designer products. There appeared to be lots of food places as well. Sam set up at one of the local tea shops to do a little work while I did a bit more exploring. I think the sheer volume of people was a bit much for me and I soon got a bit tired of it all.

After an hour or so I met up again with Sam and we left the tea shop and explored Little Italy together. It was really lovely, still full of people but it seemed pretty tranquil in comparison to Chinatown. There were blocks-upon-blocks of cute Italian restaurants with waiters dressed in suits. We will make the effort to get down there and have a meal before we leave I think.

Once back at the apartment Zab & Ruth joined us for a run around Central Park. We did the loop around the reservoir and boy was it hot, Sam decided to for-go wearing a t-shirt and saved making dirty laundry. After running we had some dinner at home - its very expensive to eat out all the time here so we are making as much effort as we can to do food back at the apartment - not that the groceries are cheap either.

After dinner we met up with G and went downtown. As it was G's last night Zab organised us to go to a rooftop bar. The one we went too was called "Rear View", it was 16 floors up and gave us a wonderful view of the back of the Empire State Building. It was a really nice and relaxed atmosphere and we must have spent a few hours just relaxing and enjoying views.

Its Saturday here today. G has gone back to Edmonton and Zab and Ruth have gone to Washington D.C. for the weekend. Sam did a bit of research this morning and organised us plan for visiting some of the local markets. This included the young designers market in Bleeker, the Union Square Green Market, Chelsea Market (which has a small Artists and Flea's market attached). Everything was just lovely, I could have bought pretty much everything I laid my hands on but alas there is precious little room in my backpack and Sam (deliberately) refuses to play beast of burden for my market-shopping-addiction. I did manage to get a few little earrings (okay - 5 pairs, but they were 5 for 10 and they don't take up too much room).

Not sure what we will get up too this evening. I think Sam wants to workout again, so we will likely head down to Central Park.

No sleep till Brooklyn

Hello all, 

I hope everyone at the bottom of the North Island and top of the South Island is doing okay. It was a bit of a shock to wake up this morning and see the news about the earthquakes in Seddon. 

Yesterday was had a really fun day exploring Brooklyn. We took the subway (I probably don't need to specify as its pretty much the assumed transportation here) to the Manhattan side of the Brooklyn Bridge - interestingly our apartment is on a very handy Subway Line which runs North to South along Manhattan Island just to the East of Central Park - which links us to pretty much everything from one or maybe two connections. Anyway, we got off the Subway (which is very close to ground zero - which we will check out probably sometime next week).  Map below shows the distance between Brooklyn Bridge Station and Ground Zero.

View Larger Map

 
Anyway, I digress - using Google maps none the less... sorry Esri. We got off the subway and walked across the Brooklyn bridge. It was really interesting learning a little about the history of the bridge as we walked across. The view was pretty fantastic looking back towards Manhattan and seeing the cityscape.

Once we crossed the bridge we went for an explore through Brooklyn Heights. We stopped for coffee at this interesting little coffee shop and it all felt a bit surreal with all the Seasame Street like conjoined housing and little hole in the wall shops. We even bumped into a little park decidated to MCA (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adam_Yauch) from the Beastie Boys who grew up in the area.

We had El Salvadorian for Lunch at a place called Bahia and spent the afternoon exploring the suburb of Williamsburg. Which reminds me a bit of Whyte Ave but on hipster steroids. It was a neat place to hang out and explore with some cool shops and a sort-of-Beach. I say sort of beach, it was coastal and there was a little sand. There were people sunbathing and it had a great view of the Empire State Building. 

After Ruth finished work for the evening went for dinner and had best Sushi we had ever tasted. Before heading back to the apartment we went for a quick explore around Union Square and had dessert at Molly's cupcakes over a quick card game. This morning our feet and legs are feeling it from all the walking - but I suppose that is to be expected.

Some quiet exploring

Tuesday was a rather wet so we had a quiet morning inside our apartment until it stopped raining around lunch - I think we're a little messed up still from the timezone change and the red-eye flight.We spent the afternoon around the Midtown-Flatiron area of town. I left Sam with Zab at Stumptown Coffee, which is a bit of a hotbed for entrepreneurs and new start-ups. So they spent afternoon drinking some of the cities best coffee and brainstorming new business ideas.

While they were being boring I hit the nearby shops and malls including JCPenny. I purchased a denim patterned shirt to fit into this hip fashion culture and some gold bangles from a random Indian store. I think i'll have to bring Katie over to this part of town for some serious shopping, too bad there is not much room in my pack :(

In the evening Sam and I went for a run around Central Park which was beautiful but incredibly hot, will try stick to the mornings in the future I think. Lots of runners out with their dogs and a beautiful view of the city over the Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis Reservoir.  Afterwards Sam cooked dinner for everyone back at the apartment and then we went out for desert to this cute wee cafe Ruth found on YELP.

Today we pried ourselves out of bed to go back to the park for another work out, turns out fitness can be quite creative with an empty children's playground. Once we were breakfasted and ready to go we caught the subway downtown and checked out Grand Central station, its funny to think how many books I've read that have scenes right in this very place. I sent Sam off to the library to work on stuff and I went for an explore back through Times Square to check it out in the daylight.

This evening we went for another stroll around Central Park - its so cool living so close to it. We are literally two blocks. Me thinks we will be spending some more time there over the next few weeks.

Yankees

This morning we got on to getting some groceries to see us through the next couple of days and quickly learnt just how expensive eating healthy is here! We then took the subway downtown and explored the New York Public Library, which is a crazy mix of tourists taking photo's and people actually studying. I left Sam there to do some work and went for an explore around mid town east including Bryant park. It was a great place to chill out and have a coffee with everyone on their lunch breaks. Quintessentially what you would expect to see in a New York park on a summer day - people playing chess, reading books and just chatting. Later we met up with G and headed to our first baseball game - Yankees vs the L.A. Angels. On the way we crammed into the subway and listened to a homeless man sing a song about sardines and all the different varieties of sardines you will find crammed into a NY subway - including a mexican sardine, a black sardine and a "that guy" sardine.  We got lost in a pretty sketchy part of the Bronx trying to find the shop to pick the tickets up from and in doing so managed to complete our exercise.
It was all good though, we managed to find the place we were looking for, got our tickets and found our seats. Of course we had to order hotdogs to complete the experience! The stadium was full estimating about 32000, and we got to see a home run.