Heatwave in New York!

I know it's a cold winter in Australia but we'd love just a little of that cooler weather here in New York for a day or two!
It's currently 102F/39C at 4pm Friday afternoon, of course outside in the concrete jungle it feels a lot hotter, the weather people say it feels like 110F/43C. They say the east coast is experiencing an unusual heat wave for this time of year but it's been nearly this hot for the past month or more, who knows what August will be like!
Thankfully we have individual air conditioning units in each room in the apartment so we can sleep at night.

MIMA building - Where we live on 35th floor

To pick up the blog from last time -
We got the last of our requirements - beds in the spare room, TV & internet - setup in the apartment just before Jo, Alli, Nat & Stacey arrived. Met them out at JFK airport and caught the airtrain/subway back into Manhattan which is about a 45minute trip.

The Parker People have arrived!

Terry, Jo and Alli had tickets to Paul McCartney's concert at Yankee Stadium later that night so Pam, Nat and Stacey took in the sights of 42nd street and Times Square (along with a million other tourists) for a couple of hours, nice balmy night.
The concert was great, Billy Joel was a surprise guest. Long day for Jo and Alli...

Paul McCartney in concert

Terry and Nat went to a Mets and Philly's baseball game out at Citifield in Queens on Sunday, the girls went shopping (a lot of window shopping) - Bloomingdales, Victoria's Secret, Macy's etc. We all met up at Strawberry Fields in Central Park, a dedication to John Lennon, later in the day. Lots of unusual activities to watch in Central Park on a Sunday afternoon - people of all ages and shapes roller skating to hip hop music, hula hoop competitions, beach volleyball etc. We had a meal at a typical American diner.

More sightseeing on Monday - financial district, Wall Street, Ground Zero, Chinatown & lunch at a trattoria in Little Italy. The Parker people took in a cruise around Manhattan Island which covers all the tourist landmarks. Pam & Terry went to a concert in Central Park featuring Emmylou Harris and Levon Helm (The Band) which was great. A big thunderstorm swept through, again, but we were prepared this time with ponchos and an umbrella, the artists were undercover so the concert didn't stop.

Another day of shopping on Tuesday for the girls - around 5th avenue, the boys went ten pin bowling, walked the Highline and the Chelsea area. Stacey, Nat and Terry went to another baseball game - Mets v Cardinals, the Mets won in a close game, Alli went to see "How to succeed in business without really trying" featuring her favourite actor, Dan Radcliffe of Harry Potter fame, Jo and Pam went to "Rain" a tribute to The Beatles. Our apartment is very close to the Theatre District so it's an easy walk to most shows.

Nat on the Highline

Stacey at the Baseball

The last day in NY for Jo included a trip to the Post Office to send "excess" luggage home and then a wander around Times Square before heading out to JFK  for an afternoon flight to Las Vegas. Unfortunately their plane got delayed 2 hours so the arrival time of 8pm (west coast time) blew out to 10pm making it a very long day for them after a pretty chaotic 4 days of sightseeing in NY. However a good time was had by all.

We headed out to a free concert in Queens that night which was to be a MoTown tribute but it was pretty poor so we didn't stay. This concert was in Queensbridge Park which is a large green area in the middle of the biggest public housing development (government owned housing) in North America, over 3,000 apartments housing nearly 7,000 people. No building is over 6 storeys high. The area was cleaned up in the mid 2000's and felt very safe.
Last night we went to a free open air film in Brooklyn Bridge Park - a 1957 B&W film called "Sweet Smell of Success". The film was OK but the best thing was the beautiful cooling breeze that blew off the East River and the lights of the tall buildings on Manhattan. It's about a 20 minute subway ride to Brooklyn Bridge Park and you can walk over the Brooklyn Bridge back to Manhattan, it's on the "To Do" list when the weather cools a little.

Brooklyn Bridge and the lights of Manhattan

Now off to the pool!

Pam & Terry