Visitors & more visitors..

After the Besanko's visit we took it easy for a day or two before our next visitor, Anne Huggins, a friend from Melbourne, arrived.

We had a few admin tasks to do, and also signed an agreement with the agent to organise the sub-let of the apartment from late December. To get an apartment initially we had to sign a 12 month lease, but were told we could sub-let it for the 2nd 6 months which we're confident will happen.

We caught up with Matthew Adamson, a friend from Fairhaven who lives in Darwin, who was in New York for the Police and Fireman games. The games were part of the lead up to the 10 year anniversary for 9/11. We had a drink and chat at the apartment for a couple of hours. Terry and Pam then headed off to a Mets baseball game. They were playing the Chicago Cubs so we managed to get to the one game the Mets won in a while. They won in the 9th innings by 1 run, great game.

The US Open tennis tournament was into it's final days albeit somewhat delayed because of the amount of rain New York had experienced in the past week. The Flushing Meadows stadium is quite new but for some reason they didn't build a roof into the main stadium so the tennis was suspended for at least 2 days in the final week.

Anne arrived late on Saturday night at Newark airport which is in New Jersey and caught a taxi to our apartment. She was obviously a little weary after the long haul from Melbourne.

Sunday was the 10th anniversary of 9/11 so we watched a bit of the memorial service on TV. We walked up to Central Park through Times Square and along Broadway. Anne and Terry hired bikes for an hour to ride around Central Park.

Pam watched a family group of buskers under the Bethesda Terrace, they were wonderful.

We took Anne around the Rockefeller plaza and down 5th Avenue to Bryant Park and the New York Public Library. In Bryant Park they had set up rows of empty chairs to represent the number of people killed as a result of 9/11, very moving.

Bryant Park

Times Square

Got home to watch the US Open Tennis Women's final on TV, great to see Sam Stosur win in spite of the antics of Williams!

As it was Sunday we headed up to a night service in Harlem, however the place we'd been before had a different service so unfortunately there was no gospel singing and the jazz bar down the road, Paris Blues, had a very loud band so we didn't hang around.

On Monday Pam and Anne took the Staten Island Ferry past that statue and back again, then wandered around the Financial District and World Trade Centre construction site. There was a huge floral tribute along one street from the service of the day before. Took a subway over to Little Italy and around Chinatown. Chinatown is such an eye opener, an absolute must for any visitor to Manhattan. After a quick bite to eat in Little Italy we found the bus depot in Chinatown that Anne's bus trip departs from later in the week. Terry had an appointment at an osteopath for a sore neck and headache so had a quiet day. The treatment certainly helped. Later that night we all went out to Queens for a Met's baseball game and the obligatory hotdog. The Mets lost this game to the Washington Nationals, 2-3.

The next day Anne and Pam took in a visit to the 86th floor of the Empire State Building. It was a little hazy but still a great view from the top. We also happened to co ordinate our visit with that of Novak Djokovic who had won the US Tennis Open the day before, so there was lots of photographers and onlookers trying to get a shot of Djokovic with the trophy. Anne managed a couple.

While we were up the top, we got talking to a couple of Aussies, ( as you do), who it turned out live in Lorne! He was a plumber and knew Dave Thompson, the builder who built our house at Fairhaven, as well as a few other surf club people. Such a small world. His name was Mark Trickey. Anne and Pam had a sustenance break in the Heartland Brewery downstairs which is a cafe as well as a bar, quite nice and relaxing.

Next task was shopping. Anne had a bit of a list so we walked the shops around 34th Street which is where the main Macy's store is located. Anne didn't break the bank but got a few nice things. We then headed up 5th Ave to Tiffany's, Gucci, Versarce and all the other high end boutiques. A bit of window shopping is always fun. Back down 5th Ave to St Patricks Cathedral and round the corner to Madison then Park Ave for a couple of shots of the Waldorf. Further down 5th Ave is Grand Central Terminal a must see for any visitor to NY. It's such a grand place. Terry spent the day wandering around midtown west looking at various bars, restaurants, cinemas and Jazz @ the Lincoln Centre. He also visited The Plaza Hotel which  houses a very special upmarket bookshop - Assouline Books. Terry dressed in his normal gear, t-shirt, travel pants, runners must have looked a little out of place in the bookshop as the staff followed him about asking if he needed help. However by the time he left some hour and a half later they were on good terms; a place to go back to. Anne and Pam went to the Mary Poppins musical that night, such a great show. Thoroughly enjoyed the show even with the distraction of a 1 year old a few rows away who caused quite a ruckus at various times during the show... you've got to wonder ... After the show we stopped for a hot drink and a small snack (no time for dinner beforehand) in 9th Ave close to home.

Wednesday was a day off for Pam; feeling a little weary. Terry and Anne headed off for more sightseeing - Byrant Park to watch the continual activity of petanque, table tennis, chess, piano man, jugglers, sunbaking and next door is the New York public library.

Further downtown to Union Square with its farmer's market and just along the road to Barnes and Noble, a huge general book shop over 3 levels.  Walked across town past the Flatiron building and on to Chelsea for a bite to eat at Tiapol's, a lovely tapas bar.

After lunch more sightseeing around Chelsea - Chelsea Piers on the Hudson river, Chelsea Market and the Highline. A subway train over to Brooklyn to walk back over the Brooklyn Bridge to Manhattan and finally a subway train to 42nd street and home! What a day.. Needless to say we stayed in with a home cooked meal, Anne had a very early start the next morning on a 7 day bus trip around some of the east coast including Niagara Falls, Toronto and Ottawa in Canada.

While Anne had a very early start with a taxi ride to Chinatown about 7.15am for the start of her east coast adventure, the Freemans had a quiet day on Thursday. Terry had a 2nd osteo appointment in Chelsea for his neck. Pam spent a bit of time grocery shopping around Little India on Lexington Ave around 30th street. Another night of home cooking, wonderful, and watching baseball on the TV, almost normal...

Pam and Terry took off to Grand Central Terminal for a longer look around. There's a large fresh food market, various shops and a food hall within the terminal which we'd never had the time to investigate before. We had a bite to eat and wandered about for about an hour or so. Later Friday night we'd organised to catch up with a NY friend, Michele, who we'd initially met in Melbourne last year through our Turkish friend, Mehmet. Michele had travelled through Turkey earlier in 2010 and met Mehmet, so when she told him she was coming to Melbourne he put her in touch with us and we caught up for a meal in 2010. So we'd promised when we got to NY we'd get in touch so hence this meal. Michele took us to Blue Ribbon, a restaurant in Soho. Blue Ribbon has a mixture of all types of cuisine but is classified as American Nouveau and includes a raw seafood bar. It gets great reviews and has reasonable prices. They don't take bookings for small groups so we had a drink in a very dark bar close by and got a table within the hour. The food was fabulous, oysters, spicy soup, paella and beef marrow with oxtail marmalade (sounds weird but tasted great). A bit noisy but we had a great night.

Saturday was another lazy day. Took off to Bryant Park as it was holding a festival over a few days but there wasn't a lot happening. Downtown in the financial district, Stone street, which is a small laneway closed off to traffic, but with cafes and bars down each side and tables and chairs in the middle, was holding its annual Oyster festival. The place was packed but we found a small table, had a dozen oysters, a Guinness and a wine or two over an hour or so. Oysters were tasty but quite small. We shared a Norwegian waffle with blueberries and raspberries at the finish, lovely.

Saturday night we had tickets to Cirque du Soleil, Zarkana, at Radio City. Fantastic show in such a great venue and the crowd behaved, must be a first for us!!

After the show we walked home past a place called Pinkberry, just round the corner in 9th Ave. This is a place that sells whipped frozen yoghurt rather than ice cream and has all different sorts of toppings - fruit, chocolate shavings, nuts, waffle chips etc etc. So Terry had a small cup of watermelon flavoured yoghurt with all the fruit they could fit on and Pam had a small cup of chocolate with strawberries, raspberries and chocolate shavings. Lovely way to finish the night.

Usually on Sundays the traffic around the apartment is pretty quiet, however this Sunday it was grid lock, so something had to be happening somewhere. Sure enough 8th Ave between 42 and 59 streets was closed off for a food fair. The traffic with a main access road closed, had to find other ways to get around, hence the grid lock. Americans love their cars but sitting in gridlock for hours on end on a Sunday would not be our idea of a fun time. We walked through the fair late in the afternoon but it wasn't anything special, just a typical market. Headed back to Bryant Park to see what was happening at their festival but that had all finished for the day.

Went over to Penn Station around 8pm as Lisa and Nigel were arriving from DC on an Amtrak. They were a little delayed and when they finally arrived it took awhile to work out where they were in comparison to where we were waiting. It's a real problem at Penn Station, it's huge but even when you know which platform someone is arriving at there's multiple exits from the platform which don't come to a central point. Anyway, via mobile phone, we told them to head for the street and then they popped up right where we were standing, so it's all a bit of a mystery. Walked back to the apartment, only about 15 mins, catching up on all their travel news.

Lisa and Nigel headed off to the Empire State on Monday morning and then walked all the way from midtown to downtown along Broadway to the Staten Island Ferry, the most southern point of Manhattan, stopping along the way to take in the various landmarks.

Terry and Pam headed to St Pauls Chapel, near the World Trade Centre, to listen to the Trinity Choir and the Trinity Baroque Orchestra play Bach cantatas. They have a performance every Monday at 1pm for quite a few months. It was beautiful, great acoustics and such a relaxing sound.  Only a small donation required and the performance went for an hour and a half.

 Lisa and Nigel met us there. Unfortunately most of the streets around Wall St and Bowling Green (including the infamous bull) were all fenced off as a group of demonstrators were staging an ongoing campaign to bring awareness to the influence big financial companies have on the political system. So the police blocked off any possible areas where a group could congregate, which is all well and good, but makes it difficult to get around the narrow streets as there's always lots of tourists and workers moving about.

Lisa and Nigel took off on the Staten Island ferry for a trip out past that statue. Terry and Pam headed back to Stone street for a bite to eat, sat inside as it was quite cool outside. Later that night we took off to the upper east side just bordering Harlem to a Mexican restaurant Terry had found in the Lonely Planet guide called El Paso Taqueria, it was a little different but OK.

We woke up Tuesday to a pretty overcast and slightly damp day. So we all had a lazy morning catching up on admin and other things before Terry and Nigel headed over to Chelsea whereTerry had another osteo appointment. They then did the Chelsea sights - Highline, Tiapol's (coffee only), Chelsea market, Chelsea Hotel which is well known for various musicians, artists and writers who have lived or stayed there. They then walked past the apartment we first rented when we came to NY. Lisa and Pam headed off to 5th Ave - Abercrombie and Fitch (for once there was no queue outside but there was when we left!) where a very attractive black male around mid 20's bare chested welcomed visitors to the store, which is A & F's thing. Window shopped through the various upmarket boutiques and spent a little longer at Tiffany's where Lisa bought herself a lovely ring. Caught the bus up to the Guggenheim Museum for a few outside photos only, before heading back to Madison and Park Ave, then home on the subway. Had a home cooked meal and then headed out to Times Square to take in the lights, the shops open all hours and the people, including the naked cowgirl! Nigel took quite a few photos...

The weather has certainly moved into Autumn. From the apartment we get some great views of the sunset.

Till next time

Pam & Terry

New York - Earthquakes, Hurricanes, what the........

We know it all happens in New York, but really - an earthquake, then a hurricane (tropical storm really) which actually closed New York for a day; who would have thought that would ever happen?

We didn't feel the earthquake or know it had happened until some hours after the event. We were on the upper east side at the time and in the taxi coming back to the apartment the driver asked us if we'd felt the earthquake. We had to ask him a couple of times what he'd said because we thought we'd heard wrong, he then turned up the radio and the media was in a frenzy... In reality it was minor in Manhattan, however the media went into its usual over the top reaction. The next day it wasn't mentioned, there was another weather event on its way - Hurricane Irene - due to hit the east coast on the coming weekend and we were going to Washington DC for a couple of concerts.

The night before we left for DC we went to the Apollo Theatre in Harlem where they hold an amateur night every Wednesday night. It was a fun night, the audience chooses a winner by the amount of applause given to the acts. The guy that won played a harmonica, he was very good. Most of the other acts were pretty good too, it was very entertaining. The theatre was packed with about 2,000 people in the audience.

Apollo Theatre

We travelled to Washington DC on the train which was very comfortable, much more preferable to the bus trip we'd done back in June. We arrived at Union Station, even more impressive than Grand Central.

Inside Union Station

We'd prebooked a couple of concerts before we left Australia, The Four Tops and The Temptations in one show on Thursday and Bruce Hornsby on Sunday. The concerts were on in a place called Wolf Trap about a 30 minute train trip west of DC and the venue provides a shuttle service from the train station to the auditorium. We went out early for the first concert as the website advertised a restaurant so we had a meal and relaxed for a couple of hours before the show. The Four Tops were OK but the Temptations were fantastic, very Motown, great songs with their synchronised dance routines.

Filene Centre at Wolf Trap

The Temptations 

We spent the next day sightseeing, took a bus to Georgetown which predates the establishment of DC. It's about 3km north west of the centre of DC, located on the Potomac River and houses the main campus for Georgetown University. It's very affluent which is obvious from the restored terrace houses, high end shops, restaurants, bars, hotels and is the suburb to live in if you work in DC. We walked around the streets and through the university before stopping at Martin's Tavern for a drink. Martin's Tavern is like an old English pub and has a bit of history. Presidents, politicians and media identities apparently frequent the tavern, it's also the place JFK supposedly proposed to Jackie. Apart from ourselves we didn't spot any other well known people!

The infamous Watergate building near Georgetown

Georgetown University

Next stop was Alexandria, another old town that has been gentrified. It's about 10km south of the centre of DC so most of the population work in the public service. It is also located on the Potomac. Not as upmarket as Georgetown but lovely atmosphere. We came across a guy playing a glass harp which was amazing. While we watched he played Waltzing Matilda so Terry had a chat with him. The glass harp consisted of about 50 glasses of varying sizes partially filled with water. As he ran his fingers around the rims he was able to play various tunes - modern as well as classical. We could have watched all day. He's played with various orchestras around the world, however he likes to busk (and was making a small fortune) so he isn't tied into any particular schedule. Very impressed.

Glass Harp

Later that night we caught a ferry from Alexandria back to Georgetown along the Potomac, lovely balmy night and all the monuments were lit up as we motored along. It took about 30 minutes.

Lincoln Monument and Washington Memorial at night from the Potomac River

Saturday was the day when Hurricane Irene was going to hit the east coast. 

Downtown DC food court mid morning on the day Hurricane Irene was due, plenty of sellers but no buyers!

We spent most of the day at the Smithsonian Museum which has a fantastic display on American history. It covers over 3 floors, includes a pretty honest synopsis of each President's tenure in office as well as a portrait although there was only a small photo of Nixon with a scathing and brief write up. The building is set around a huge quadrant with tables and chairs which we made use of for lunch.

Inside the Smithsonian Museum

Centre quadrant at the Smithsonian Museum

The rain was very heavy by late afternoon so covered in plastic ponchos we walked the 5 blocks back to the hotel, got a bit wet in the process but not too bad. We stayed in that night understandably and watched the coverage on the TV. Thankfully it didn't get too bad in DC or New York although some other areas got badly flooded especially New Jersey and some of the southern states.

The rain had eased by mid morning Sunday so we spent the day walking the Mall which is the location of the White House, Lincoln Memorial, Washington Monument, various war memorials, the Capitol Building and the newly completed Martin Luther King Monument. It turned into a very hot and steamy day, we walked for miles. We took a break for lunch and headed back to Georgetown for a meal at Martin's Tavern. Wonderful!

Capitol Building

Statue depicting Civil War

Martin Luther King Memorial

Front of the White House

The back of the White House from The Mall

Terry's favourite musician of all time, Bruce Hornsby, was playing at the Wolf Trap auditorium Sunday night. We knew the drill of getting to the venue after our Thursday journey so we got there just in time for the start. Great concert! If you don't know who Bruce is (and many don't) ask Terry next time you see him.

Bruce Hornsby

We were leaving DC Monday morning on an Amtrak train. Pam had checked the website earlier in the day and there was no mention of trains not running, however we got a recorded voice message after the concert that Amtrak had changed schedules and to ring for further details. After holding on the phone for 90 minutes, it was 1.30am by this time, the only advice given was there were no trains on Monday from DC to NY due to flooding in New Jersey. We could reschedule for a Tuesday train but no guarantee they'd be running then, or we could get a refund and make our own arrangements. We had tickets for a full day at the US Open (tennis) booked for Tuesday which we didn't want to miss. So after spending another 30 mins on the web looking for a bus, one was found and booked, getting us back to NY around 6pm, which ended up closer to 8pm due to the crazy traffic.

Friends, Neil and Becky Besanko, had been expecting to arrive in DC on Saturday afternoon but all flights into DC were cancelled with their only option being a very long way round - LA to Miami to DC arriving late Monday. So we didn't catch up as planned in DC however they were coming to NY after DC by train, fingers crossed that Amtrak trains would be running by Wednesday.

Back to Tuesday, we headed off to the tennis at Flushing Meadows, which is in Queens, just over the road from the Mets baseball stadium and about 30 mins on the subway. Found a great spot on an outside court, with some shade and a light breeze, to watch a very entertaining 5 set game between Davydenko and Dodig. We then saw the Australian Casey Dellacqua lose pretty poorly to a French girl, Alize Cornet. We had free night tickets to the Arthur Ashe stadium from the Chase Manhattan Bank due to the timing of when we opened our bank account back in late May. These tickets also allowed us into their lounge for free booze and finger food so we made use of that before we watched the night game between Nadal and Golubev (Russian) which Nadal won easily in the end. Watched a little bit of the Serena Williams match that followed but we're not fans of Serena and she was demolishing her opponent. Big day, got home exhausted.

Arthur Ashe Stadium, Flushing Meadows

Relaxing in the Chase Lounge at the tennis

Inside Arthur Ashe stadium awaiting night game

Nadal's game underway

Neil and Becky arrived in NY on the train even though they'd be given the wrong information in DC and were initially expecting they'd have to get on a bus at Philadelphia, due to flooding in New Jersey, but once on the train they found out they'd be able to stay on it all the way through to NY. Much more enjoyable than the bus.

Neil and Becky were in NY for a week and we'd planned to fit in as much as possible. A summary of the week goes something like this -

Wednesday night - Bruce Hornsby concert at a beach bar on the Hudson River. Unfortunately the sound was badly mixed and it was all drums and guitars, couldn't hear the piano which is what makes Bruce's music so enjoyable. It was very disappointing and we left early.

Beekmans Beach Bar, Manhattan

For the next week Terry and Neil spent an hour or so every morning at the gym and pool located in our building while Pam and Becky slept in and took it easy.

Thursday - a walk up Broadway from Times Square to Central Park taking in all the tourist spots along the way finishing with a drink at the Loeb Boathouse on the lake in Central Park. Mets game in Queens that night and the Mets won! Home around midnight. Walked about 10kms.

Neil & Becky Central Park

Hot dogs, beer and baseball

Friday - Caught the subway down to the Financial District (FiDi, love acronyms in NY), walked through Wall street and the surrounding area including the World Trade Centre where they've completed about 50% of one of the new towers. A new plaza memorial is being opened on 9/11 for the 10th anniversary. Walked through Stone street which is a new area of bars and restaurants in the FiDi with the thought we may head back there later in the day. On to Battery Park and South Ferry to catch a ferry down to Staten Island past that "statue" and back again.

Stone street on a Friday afternoon, in the heart of the Financial District

The rebuilding of Tower 1 World Trade Centre

View of Manhattan from the ferry.

Stopped for lunch at a Battery Park beer garden. Had dinner at the Harvard Club of NY that night with Maria, our real estate agent and her husband as well as Neil and Becky, great night. Terry had been looking for a tie to match the shirt he was wearing and found a $4 special in a tourist shop close to the Harvard Club only to find that Fridays at the Harvard Club are casual nights, no tie required! He kept it on regardless... so Terry....Neil and Becky loved the place, it's very old world.
Home around midnight... Walked about 15kms.

Saturday - Started the day walking along the Hudson River to the start of the Highline at 30th street. The Highline is a an old overhead railway line which has been turned into a pedestrian walk with lots of plants and trees. There's little shade so on a hot day it's a bit tiring; we got off at 16th street and headed to the coolness of the Chelsea Market. Wandered through the market and took Neil and Becky past the brownstone we stayed at when we first arrived in NY. Near by in 10th Ave is a favourite restaurant of ours, Tiapols, where we stopped for a well deserved lunch.

Next on the agenda was a subway ride to Flatbush in Brooklyn, had to pick up a replacement router, as the one in the apartment had supposedly died (more on that later). Flatbush isn't the most attractive place so we didn't hang about, headed off to Prospect Park also in Brooklyn. There were hundreds of people having BBQ's and get togethers in the park, it was a lovely balmy afternoon.

BBQ's in Prospect Park, Brooklyn

Heading up to Williamsburg, still in Brooklyn, we stopped for a drink along the way in a suburb called Park Slope which is the place to live in Brooklyn, lots of brownstones in tree lined streets.

Brownstones in Park Slope, Brooklyn

In contrast Williamsburg is an old part of Brooklyn, narrow streets, cafes, vintage clothing shops, alternative place to be. We then walked back to Manhattan over the Brooklyn Bridge, which has magnificent views of the island.

View of Manhattan from Brooklyn Bridge

We had a bit of hassle getting home because of construction work on the subway lines. Had dinner in a typical diner not far from the apartment. Food was OK. Plugged in the new router once we got home, it didn't make any difference, still no internet. On the phone to the provider, nothing worked, maintenance guy to arrive Sunday, hopefully early.. Walked at least 20kms.

Sunday - The maintenance guy did arrive mid morning which was great and got it all fixed, problem in the building not the router!! Walked to Grand Central station, Bryant Park & NY Public Library (which wasn't opened; it was a long weekend). Passed by a movie set on the way to lunch, looked like another disaster movie.

Movie set "disaster" at Grand Central Station

Lunch at the famous Carnegie Deli, American extravagance at it's worst. No dinner required tonight.

Carnegie Deli!

Toured Rockefeller Centre and the 5th Avenue shops to walk off the pastrami sandwich. Spent the night at home with a few wines and nibbles only, while watching the movie "Wall Street - Money Never Sleeps" which was fun given the places we'd been visiting in the last couple of days. Walked about 15kms.

Monday - Got the subway down to 4th street, Washington Park Square which is in the heart of Greenwich Village, SoHo (South of Houston Street acronym) and NY University (NYU). Lovely buildings and a bit of shopping. Further south to Little Italy for lunch in Mulberry St. Some years ago Little Italy covered a number of streets but now its restricted to one street while Chinatown is forever growing.

Near NYU

Little Italy

After lunch we strolled around Chinatown with it's amazing fresh fish and meat markets. They sell live frogs, eels, crabs, lobster, all sorts of fish. The end of Chinatown is Canal street which is pretty seedy and grubby. Back on the subway heading home, dinner at Swing 46 on 46th street of course, not far away from the apartment. Walked about 15kms.

Tuesday - A wet, wet, wet day. Armed with ponchos and umbrellas we hit the streets. Headed on the subway, uptown, to have a quick look through Saks then onto the Waldorf Astoria, a lovely old world hotel. On a bus further uptown to the Guggenheim Museum. The literature we had on the Guggenheim stated exhibitions of Picasso, Monet, Pissarro, Van Gogh, Manet, Gauguin, Renoir along with some modern art. The building itself is worth a visit (which is free) however we paid the $18 to visit the exhibitions. What a disappointment and really a bit of a rip off. There was maybe one or two paintings from the masters on one floor with the other 5 floors dedicated to modern art which was, in our opinion, ridiculous, enough said.

The ceiling in the Guggenheim Museum

Back to the NY Library, amazing building. Back to the apartment, still raining. Headed out in the pouring rain, got quite wet even with umbrellas, to go to a musical not far away, Hair. Another disappointment.. We think good Broadway shows are few and far between these days. Easy day maybe 1km..

Wednesday - still raining this morning, taxi to Penn station to see Neil and Becky off on their train to Boston. Quiet lazy day.. no walking..wonderful..

The weather has certainly cooled a little and summer is over however it's a nice change so long as the rain stops soon...

We've got quite a few visitors over the coming month, so we'll be busy...

Till next time
Pam & Terry