Day 5, Saturday 23rd August, New York (Al).
Checked out this morning and left our bags at the hotel to go for one final walk – the destination being a famous gourmet cupcake place called ‘Crumbs’. On the way we noticed that Park Ave was closed to traffic, allowing people to walk, run, rollerblade and cycle through the city (part of a program called ‘NYC Summer Streets’), so we joined them:
Here’s Cathy admiring Grand Central station (Chrysler Building in the background) from a spot usually for motorists only. Was great to walk side by side with New Yorkers in the sun…
We still hadn’t forgotten about Crumbs, but on the way we spotted the New York Public Library. I noticed the entrance as it was in the film “The Day After Tomorrow” where a giant wave crashes through the streets. Cathy wanted to see the staircase inside from the “Sex & The City” movie – apparently where Carrie waited for Big on her wedding day… whatever.
We finally made it to Crumbs to find that it is closed on weekends. We sulked for a minute before regrouping and walking a block back to an icecream stall. Cathy opted for a mango sorbet, I had the usual chocolate, but garnished US-style with chunks of brownie – YUM! We ate this in the tree-lined Bryant Park behind the library – great, relaxed atmosphere. Here’s Cath sneaking some of mine:
Satisfied, and with the sad memories of Crumbs long behind us, we headed back to Pod for our airport transfer. This turned out to be more entertaining than we expected. Our driver (of Indian descent) drove in an erratic manner, rarely used indicators as he veered in and out of lanes whilst simultaneously flicking through his appointment book. The funny thing was he would curse and complain about the craziness of other drivers at the same time! He eventually got us to JFK with smiles on our faces, where we would say a fond goodbye to NYC.
Day 4, Friday 22nd August, New York (Al)
Decisions, decisions! Do we continue our healthy breakfast kick or try the pancakes once again? We were quite proud of ourselves for choosing the former, but later (as you’ll find out soon) what we had for dinner sort of cancelled out the breakfast.
First stop today was the nearby United Nations HQ, via some cheesy local businesses such as this one:
The tour was interesting, albeit rushed. Didn’t really have a chance to absorb all of the interesting info printed around the walls, only what the guide chose to share (which was still quite good). The General Assembly hall was the highlight – cool to see where all of these countries sit side by side (in alphabetical order). Unfortunately, the Security Council Chamber was closed for renovations.
The tour showed the hall above, but also some of the missions the U.N. has begun such as the erradication of death from starvation among children (using a peanut butter mixture called Plumpy Nut, 5000 calories per sachet), education of women especially regarding HIV/AIDS, and ridding the world of landmines. In a glass case they had 6 types of mines on display – I never knew that mines were created to look like rocks (pictured below) which is quite devious, and quite evil. Civilians (mainly children) make up the vast majority of landmine victims…
Finally, we noticed a small display off to one side. It was a memorial to U.N. workers who had been killed around the world. The following flag was damaged in a bomb blast at the U.N. HQ in Baghdad in August 2003 (5 year anniversary was at this time).
After that somber note, we made our way to the West Village to see a local street ball court – “The Cage”. Only a few players ballin’ there at the time (although I didn’t step on the court with them I assured Cathy that I could have schooled all of them). Walked up to Greenwich Village which seemed similar to Windsor, then Prahran further along. Stopped by a small gallery in SoHo to view a free exhibition of rare Dali sketches and to be patronised by the art-nerd curator. Terms like “exuberant” and “draftsmanship” were used - aaahhh… New York culture!
On my brother Hamish’s recommendation we visited America’s first pizza shop – Lombardi’s. The pizza was great but firstly the cold drinks were appreciated – this was probably the hottest day we had there…
To continue the cultural tour of New York, we visited the Guggenheim to see the architecture inside and out (Frank Lloyd Wright, Cathy assures me) but didn’t pay to see the exhibits. We tried to ignore the grey spots on the building – it was maintenance time.
We wandered through Central Park with an ice cream, had a quick power nap on the grass, then enjoyed the atmosphere at Bethesda fountain.
Cathy suggested visiting the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) as it is free after 4pm on Fridays. Managed to see some Matisse, Monet, van Gogh, Andy Warhol (Soup Cans below), Cezanne, Rothko and Klimt. Was cool to see these although personally I’d only heard of a few.
On this, our last night in NYC, we weren’t particularly hungry but felt we needed to sample a New York baked cheesecake (it’s like an icon there) so that was basically our dinner. As I said, this sort of cancelled out the healthy breakfast!
Day 3, Thursday 21st August 2008 (Cath)
All motivated to start an eight month health kick now that the pancakes were out of the way, we grabbed a cinnamon and raisin bagel, yoghurt with granola, and a fruit salad from the corner store, and ate this breakfast feast in shady Central Park.
(Num num num)
Leaving the map in the bag, we wandered in the direction of Strawberry Fields, and discovered that we could navigate pretty well by following our instincts – and, when we got closer, the tour groups. The tie-dye wearing Custodian/Mayor/Guardian of Strawberry Fields made a little speech for the benefit of one of the tour groups, so we listened to him tell of decorating the Imagine mosaic with bagels, sausages and pot leaves for various occasions. The day we were there, it was roses and some other flowers I should probably know the name of. How boring. Still really enjoyed the atmosphere, including the busker who I suspect had ‘Strawberry Fields’ and ‘Imagine’ on continuous loop on his guitar. We left after hearing both so the illusion that we just had good timing couldn’t be shattered.
Benches in Central Park had some nice dedication plaques:
Once again needing a break from the sun, we found ourselves at the American Museum of Natural History, so went in to check out their dinosaur halls. The subway station below it was also pretty.
(Al with an Allosaurus)
Early afternoon was time to line up at the TKTS booth, and for our health kick to end. We grabbed some McDonalds (well, you have to try the local food) and ate it while waiting in line for almost two hours. It was productive – we had cheap (35% off) tickets to Avenue Q on Broadway within ten minutes of the booth opening. The musical was fantastic. Hilarious. Not the strongest of plots, but the point of the musical probably depended on its ending being slightly non-committal. Plenty of puppet-based humour (some characters are like Muppets, but not Jim Henson-approved), with songs like ‘Schadenfreude’, ‘We’re all a little bit racist’, and ‘What do you do with a Bachelor of English?’. Highly recommended.
Spent the night hanging around the Times Square area, before escaping back to our part of town in a taxi, but again did not get a ‘typical New York taxi driver’ – last night we had to give the driver directions to the Empire State Building, and this time the driver spent the whole trip talking to someone on his mobile. We wanted entertaining stories, but had to settle for watching the news on the TV screen in the back.
Filed under: New York City
Day 2, Wednesday 20th August (Written by Al)
We headed downtown on the subway towards Battery Park on the southern-most tip of Manhattan:
Sphere (retrieved from World Trade Center site, now in Battery Park)
Memorial
- Hot dogs outside Castle Clinton
- Squirrel!
The free Staten Island ferry had great views of lower Manhattan, Ellis Island and of course the Statue o’ Liberty. The school kids on board (from Brooklyn?) were so excited to see it!
After eating a picnic lunch on some steps in Wall St (the abundance of USA flags leads me to believe that the Americans are somewhat patriotic), we wandered past the World Trade Centre site without stopping much - it’s a construction site now. We noticed a pretty church located opposite and went in to look – it was St Paul’s – the old church where George Washington prayed after his inauguration in near by Wall St. It was somehow undamaged on 9/11 – miraculous considering it is across the road. It served as a rest spot for volunteer rescue workers. We didn’t know it was there, but was a fitting memorial that felt meaningful to visit.
This is from the front of the church looking through the old graves towards WTC site across the road:
Quite moving some of the stories told here… Also lots of tributes from visitors including Fire Brigades from around the world – we spotted the CFA and SES from back home.
We walked across the Brooklyn Bridge, then up through a fragrant China Town (live seafood shops are a bit on the nose) and visited the apartment block and “New Zealand Consulate” building (below) used in the Flight of the Conchords TV show (our fav show before we left).
We rounded out the day by visiting the Mecca of queues – the Empire State Building. It was quiet time but still took an hour to get to the top – I’ve never seen so much velvet rope, Cathy insists that she has but can’t remember where. I don’t believe her.
The following is the glow from Times Square…
Day One in New York City, Tuesday the 19th of August 2008 (written by Cath).
Just like the Micro Machines carpark!
Henry Ford, Great-great-great-Uncle (we think) of Al
Al and Kareem, six-four vs seven-two
Game blouses
The money we paid for the wax museum was worth it, for the air-conditioning, the cheesy photo opportunities, and the conversation we had with a local woman about how we should kick over the George W Bush dummy.
Uptown view from Rockefeller Centre
- Downtown view from Rockefeller Centre
(Note: tan not yet achieved)
Our late afternoon nap before dinner pushed the boundaries of the definition of a nap. We woke up at 11pm, but luckily there was a local grocery store with a salad bar to fulfil our food needs, and MTV to keep us well entertained (Parental Control – quality show) until we were ready to sleep again.
