Keeping dry!

It had to happen eventually and as the season moves towards autumn the weather gets unpredictable. Most days in the past couple of weeks thunderstorms have hit Manhattan every couple of days. We get a great view of the dark clouds rolling in with claps of thunder then the inevitable lightning, which is amazing to watch, followed by heavy rain which sometimes lasts for minutes and at other times it rains for hours on end. Sunday last weekend, the storm rolled through late Saturday night and it then rained continuously for 24 hours. The reports said New York got the equivalent 2 months of rain in one day. We stayed home!

This type of weather has surprised us as it's nearly tropical and being this far north of the equator we didn't expect it. This changeable weather has curtailed our activities a little, we've spent a bit of time at the movies, out for a meal or just hanging about the apartment. However on the couple of good days Terry's been out walking the various blocks near the apartment taking in the sights. Pam's spent more time investigating the wonderful shopping areas around Madison Ave closer to Central Park which is called Midtown East.

View of downtown Manhattan, Statue of Liberty, tall building in New Jersey to the right with

Staten Island beyond

Fashion District in Manhattan

Macy's Department Store on 34th street 

Madison Square Gardens on 34th street with the Empire State Building to the left

Aircraft carrier parked on the Hudson River at the end of 42nd street

View of the Chrysler Building

One of the main reading halls at the New York State Library

Radio City 6th ave and 47th street

We went to a concert by The Steve Miller Band at a place called Westbury which is on Long Island about 45 minutes by train, west of Manhattan. Westbury is a small town, nothing special but it has a fabulous concert venue set in the "round" style, revolving stage with the seating all around. We had a quick bite to eat at the local pizza cafe before walking about 2km to the venue. Steve Miller is a mere 67 years of age but still sounds as good as he did in the 70's/80's, great concert.

Steve Miller Band

View of the "round" at Westbury Theatre

Think we've mentioned before that Americans can't sit still during concerts or shows and Westbury was no different, people are up and down getting drinks, food, going outside for a smoke all the time it can be very annoying. We moved to a couple of seats further back which still had a great view and being a little higher up with hardly anyone near us meant those on the move below didn't cause such a distraction.
Out this way trains don't run very often so we had to wait about 40 mins to get a train back to Manhattan which meant we spent nearly 2 hours getting home which was OK but it's not an outing you'd undertake frequently.

We managed to pick a lovely afternoon to take a walk over the Brooklyn Bridge. The bridge connects the financial district of Manhattan to Brooklyn over the East River. This bridge was used by many people in 2001 trying to escape the disaster on September 11. We thought it would be a relaxing stroll for 20 mins over the bridge late in the afternoon with the sun setting. We should have known better, there must have been over a thousand people on the bridge including "mad" cyclists riding far too fast in such a crowded space even though there is a marked divide for walkers and cyclists. Great views back over Manhattan.

Brooklyn Bridge towards Brooklyn

View of Pier 17 on Manhattan from the Brooklyn Bridge

View from Brooklyn Bridge back to the Financial District Manhattan

View of midtown Manhattan from the Brooklyn Bridge

View to Brooklyn from the bridge

View to the Manhattan Bridge Overpass from the Brooklyn Bridge

Our NY friends, Karen and Paul, came over Friday to check out the apartment and arrived just in time to watch yet another amazing storm roll in. The lightning show was amazing. Once the main storm had passed, about 2 hours later, we took a cab  (as it was still raining heavily) to a great Mediterranean restaurant up 9th Ave called, Medi. It was pretty busy so we just sat at the bar, had a few tapas plates and chatted for hours. Terry and I were able to walk home as the weather had settled (it was now 12.30am) and it was only 10 mins back to the apartment. Karen and Paul live in Chelsea so they got a cab home, so easy to do in Manhattan and cheap.

We'd picked up on the TV that the Senior's Golf Championship was on in a county called Westchester which is about 50 mins on the train north of Manhattan. Peter Senior, an Australian golfer, was in the lead after two rounds so we got a train out to a place called Harrison and then a cab to the golf course, about 5kms from the station, to watch the 3rd round. Senior was grouped with Fred Couples and Corey Pavin, 2 well known American golfers who were in their prime when Greg Norman was playing for those of you who know nothing about golf. We arrived at the course in time to watch this last group hit off and then followed them and others for the next 5 hours. It was a beautiful day, no crowds and a lovely course. Couples was leading Senior by 1 stroke at the end of that day's play and went onto to win the tournament on Sunday. A most enjoyable and relaxing day away from the crowds and concrete of Manhattan.

Peter Senior and Corey Pavin on the 16th hole at Westchester Country Club

Terry at the entrance to the Country Club

This area of New York state is part of a bigger area commonly referred to as Upstate NY and it is picturesque. Lots of green, beautiful houses no doubt worth millions, expensive cars and cute village main streets. We'll be doing a bit of touring around Upstate New York when we travel up to Canada later in October.

There was an Indian parade on Sunday down Madison Ave to celebrate India's independence from Britain in 1947 so we walked down to have a look. As expected it was very noisy, the Indians don't do anything quietly, so after catching up with Karen and Paul we walked down to the park where the parade was to end and had a taste of the Indian food on offer for lunch. It was a very hot and humid day so we headed back to the apartment around 3.

Dancers from the Indian Parade 

Colourful Umbrella's in the Indian Parade

Interesting artwork in Madison Sq Park

Later in the day another thunderstorm rolled in bringing heavy rain. We had tickets to a Chicago concert at the Beacon Theatre uptown on Broadway so armed with an umbrella we walked down to the closest subway station and got to the theatre relatively dry. Close by is a restaurant called Josie's, we'd been there before, so we stopped for a meal until the main act was on around 9pm. Chicago were great and still includes 4 of the original members in their mid to late 60's but great musicians playing very familiar songs. By the time the concert finished the rain had stopped so we could walk easily back to the subway without getting wet.

The tall building in the background is where we live on the 35th floor, the building is 50 floors high.

We've now been in NY 3 months, hard to believe, time's gone quickly...
Nearly at the half way mark so much more to do, busy times ahead

Pam & Terry

Becoming a local...

A quieter week this week, spent a bit of time just relaxing in the apartment, taking in the spectacular view and watching the world go by.

A NY friend, Paul, was playing in his local baseball competition in Central Park so we watched his team, The Jersey Boys, beat their opponents and progress to the next round of playoffs next week. The team is made up of people who work or have worked on the production of The Jersey Boys. The mixed gender competition is made up of teams from other broadway productions as well.

Paul and his wife, Karen, asked us over for a meal later that night. They were our landlords in our first apartment in Chelsea so we had a lovely night sitting outside enjoying a balmy evening, lovely food and wine until quite late. We were meeting Margaret, our Aussie friend from Darwin, at Penn Station around midnight when her train from Washington DC got back. Penn Station is only one stop up the line from Chelsea so it was an easy trip. Margaret arrived and we got a cab back to the apartment.

For Margaret's last day we went down to Chelsea Market, walked the High Line and then went to the Carnegie Deli for a pastrami on rye. I've mentioned in an earlier blog about this Deli, the size of the sandwiches are ridiculous and meant for sharing. Terry thought with three of us we'd get through two but we got a doggy bag for one half. It's an occasional experience. Many of the diners there should not be eating these sandwiches!

Marg & Pam at the Yankees

Headed out to JFK for Margaret's flight home to Darwin via LA and Brisbane. A long flight when there's no direct route from LA. She arrived safely after 26 hours...

Back in NY we had another quiet weekend due in part to a bit of stormy wet weather. However on Sunday afternoon we headed back to the small jazz bar, Paris Blues, we'd found the previous Sunday. Again the same band and a few of the same patrons in attendance. The band and the bartender remembered us, we had a fun afternoon which finished around 8pm, great music.

Jazz at Paris Blues, Harlem

Thanks to the generosity of our Chelsea landlords, Karen and Paul, we've borrowed a number of prints and rugs to finish decorating our apartment. They have a bit of gear in storage so we had a look through and found some lovely and colourful prints for our walls as well as a couple of rugs for the floors. We'll return them all before we leave NY.

We went to pub last night called The Australian which is a few blocks away but within walking distance. As the name suggests they serve Australian type fare. We had a couple of homemade small sausage rolls with wedges, Terry had roast lamb and vegies for his main, Pam had crumbed prawns (shrimp) accompanied with decent Aussie wine not too overpriced. We really enjoyed the meal. We met the owner, Matt, who comes from Sydney and has lived in NY for about 10 years. They show live AFL, Rugby games which fit into the NY 11pm to 3am time slots, corresponds to afternoon games in Aust. The menu has all the obvious choices, fish and chips, parmigiana, lamb roast, burgers Aussie style etc. We'll go back when we have that need for an Aussie taste meal.

After satisfying meal we went to Bryant Park, just around the corner, for a free outdoor movie. They showed "Flying High" which is called "Airplane" in the USA, stupid movie we've seen it a few times, Terry still gets a laugh out of it. There was thousands there as usual, it was a lovely balmy night. We walked home down 41st street to avoid the crowds in 42nd street, which was a great idea of Pam's.

Went to another Yankees game, they played the LA Angels, Yankees won 9-3, a great game by the Yankees. Watched our NY friend Paul's baseball team - The Jersey Boys - in their playoff's today, they won the first but lost the second so their season has come to an end. Lovely day in Central Park.

Always lots to do and see...

Pam and Terry

Off the tourist track....

The weekend of July 23 and 24 was memorable due to Cadel's great win in the Tour de France. With the time difference in NY we could watch the race at a reasonable hour for a change, between 9am and 12 noon. Great effort on his part, well deserved. So we had a pretty cruisey weekend, even used the hotplates in the apartment for the first time and actually cooked a meal. Also it was over 40C/100F outside, just too hot to do anything.

Terry took these off the TV screen

A friend, Margaret, from Australia arrived on July 26. She'd been touring around Greece, Turkey and Italy on an extended holiday over about 10 weeks and decided to spend the last 10 days in NY before heading back to Aust. We've done a few different things - walked from the apartment up to Times Sq then up Broadway to Central Park. It's not a big walk, about 20 mins without stops for photos or shopping. Found our way to the Loeb Boathouse for a late lunch, great view over the lake in Central Park and very relaxing. We hadn't been there before, good lunch spot & also opened for dinner until 9pm in the summer/autumn months.

Margaret and Pam at the Loeb Boathouse

There was another free concert in Central Park that night starting at 7, so we wandered over after our late lunch and listened to some early Motown music before heading back downtown on the bus to walk down 42nd street and the chaos that is Times Square after dark. There must be thousands of people in this area once it gets dark, all very safe but the lights draws them in. It's a typical NY photo for any tourist.

Concert in Central Park

Terry and Margaret went sightseeing the next day - Empire State building (long queue but worth a look from the top according to Terry), financial district, Battery Park and a ride on the Staten Island ferry to see that "statue" for free. Pam had a rest day. Later that night we headed over to Brooklyn to watch a dance group with the Brooklyn Philharmonic Orchestra at Prospect Park, quite good. Stopped at a pub for a quick bite to eat before we headed back to Manhattan.

View of the Chrysler Building from the Empire State Building

View of the Financial District from the Staten Island Ferry. The building with the crane on top is the new tower being built at Ground Zero. It will be the tallest building in the USA when it's finished in 2013.

The next day Pam and Margaret headed off to the shops - along 5th avenue starting at 57th street finishing around 34th street with lots of stops along the way.  Terry had a rest day. We thought about going to a Yankees game that night but thunderstorms, lightning and rain kept us indoors for a night of baseball on the TV!

The next morning Pam and Margaret headed back to the shops, we hadn't quite covered all Margaret was keen to buy. Margaret lives in Darwin so you can imagine the difference in choice! We'd promised Terry we'd be home in time for a lunch date and we were, much to his amazement. Terry had researched a lunch place he was keen to try up near the Lincoln Centre, Josie's, so that's where we went and the food was fabulous. Vegetarian but great salads, pasta, pancakes and sangria! A little more shopping along the way between lunch and yet another free concert at Lincoln Centre. This concert featured some original singers from female bands of the 50's and 60's. Took a while but we found a spot in the shade and the music was pretty good and familiar. Headed back to the apartment briefly as we had tickets to Mary Poppins that night. It was a great Broadway show, we thoroughly enjoyed ourselves as did the rest of the audience. It's been going for 5 years and expect it will go for many more as the show we were at looked like a sellout.

We had a lazy start to Sunday and headed off to a midday Yankee's baseball game in the Bronx. It was a pretty hot day so we paid a little more than usual and got seats under cover and in the shade for the game, well worth the investment. Yankees won 4-2 against the Baltimore Orioles, great game for Margaret to see her first and probably only baseball game. We headed into Harlem after the baseball as we'd decided to see if we could attend a gospel service which we'd found on the internet with a start time of 8pm and not on the tourist circuit. Much more civilised than trying to get to jam packed Sunday morning session at 8 or 9am. Found the church and told the service had a male choir and would start at 7pm not 8pm.

It was only around 5.30pm so we looked around for a bar to pass the time and happened to come across a little jazz "hole in the wall" place which was just perfect. The musicians were finishing at 6pm but what a band. We got talking to the bar owner, from the Dominican Republic, and found out this bar has live jazz music quite a few times a week so we'll be going back. Not a very big place, there was only about 6 other people listening to the music and it couldn't hold more than 50, they asked for a $5 cover charge but it was well worth it even for 30mins. The musicians were an eclectic group - black, asian, latin but what a sound.

Got back to the church around 7pm, quite a modern place - stage and auditorium, no religious icons as such. Most of the people in the auditorium were dressed in their Sunday best, some ladies wore hats like you'd see at the races, men in suits and then us, the only Anglo's to start with, in very casual attire. We had asked when we first got there if our clothes were OK as Margaret and I had packed a skirt just in case but the ladies we spoke to thought it was a funny question and said we were fine. Time passed and apart from some people standing up close to the stage saying lots of amens and hallelujahs and clapping their hands from time to time as well as a few men in suits who looked asleep lying on the floor of the stage, nothing happened. One woman dressed all in white, white long dress, white jacket, white hat came and welcomed us to the congregation and introduced herself as "Sister Audrey" or something similar. Another older lady dressed in a suit walked past the row we were sitting in and told us "to put a dress on, you don't wear pants in church", we think we were sitting in her row and she was none to pleased, however no one else had given us a hard time so we just ignored her. Then at 8pm, as we'd originally thought, it all started. The pastor told the congregation they'd be a $2 offering so everyone takes $2 up to the stage and places it on the floor of the stage, Terry and Margaret took ours up, then another man comes along and sweeps it into a basket. Then the choir started accompanied by a drummer and a pianist and off they went and all the congregation joined in, pretty much like you see in the movies. The pastor then did a reading, then more singing and jumping about from the choir and the congregation. The pastor then announces he'll do a blessing so the congregation lines up along one wall and up they file onto the stage with the ladies in white and other men in suits assisting people to the pastor and off the stage. The pastor kisses the women on the forehead and just briefly holds the shoulders of each man as he passes. Some of the congregation fell about as if some amazing thing has just happened however most just walk off the stage. Terry and Margaret joined the "blessing line" but they didn't fall about. Pam watched the procession with amusement. There was a lot of singing during this procession. Then it was finished, it took about 50 mins. Interesting experience!

Finished the night at a little Tapas place we've found not far from the apartment in 46th street. This street between 8th and 9th avenue is called restaurant row, funnily enough, and of course there's a huge variety of all types of restaurants.

Margaret headed off on a 2 day bus trip to Niagara Falls on Monday morning back Tuesday early evening. Then she's off to Washington DC on the train to visit a friend Wednesday morning, back Thursday night before flying back to Australia on Friday night.

So another couple of hectic weeks but doing lots of different things and experiencing more of the environment that is New York..

Till next time
Pam & Terry