Family Adventures...

This blog starts on Wednesday, Sept 21.

Lisa and Nigel had a bit of sightseeing to do before they headed off to Boston for a couple of days. Terry headed out with them to Bryant Park, NY Library (which was closed for some unknown reason), Grand Central Terminal (we all agree that Union Station in Washington DC is more grand!), Chrysler Building, UN Buildings (in session, so no entry), Diamond district, Central Park and Strawberry Fields stopping for lunch at Ball Fields Cafe for the obligatory hot dog!

Chrysler Building

Yoga at Bryant Park (Terry's observing!)

Demonstration by Orthodox Jews for a Palestinian State (rare sight)

Buskers at the Bethesda Terrace, Central Park

Bubble demonstration Central Park

Anne Huggins arrived back, exhausted, from her chaotic 7 day bus trip around the East coast. She had a great time. Lisa, Nigel and Anne headed out to the Hard Rock Cafe in Times Square for a meal. Pam and Terry went up to the Apollo Theatre in Harlem for their amateur night, which was a lot of fun.

Apollo Theatre

Terry had a morning osteo appointment, the treatment seems to be working. Anne headed off on her own to do her last day of sightseeing and shopping as she was flying out to the West coast early the next morning. When Terry returned from his osteo, Lisa, Nigel, Pam & Terry headed downtown to City Hall and the courts. Great buildings, the Supreme Court has a beautiful rotunda with murals on the ceiling which is featured in a lot of TV shows. Unfortunately you can't take cameras inside so this is a shot of the outside.

We found a huge electronic store, a bit like JB Hi Fi, near City Hall called J&R, Nigel had his eye on a second hand Fender Stratocaster guitar, but didn't buy it.
Headed over to Chelsea market for a bite to eat, Lisa and Pam had a sausage roll and meat pie from the Tuck Shop which is obviously an Australia based food stall, lovely.. Nigel and Terry had healthy stuff.
Nigel and Terry headed off to Harlem on the train for a look around 125th street and then walked from 110th to 72nd street through the north end of Central Park, a decent walk, before catching the subway home.

Lisa and Pam walked through Chelsea and stopped at the brownstone Pam & Terry first stayed at when they arrived in NY. Karen (landlord) was home so we sat out on the balcony for a chat before heading home. We had an early dinner at home with everyone squeezed around our "dining table" (collapsable card table) enjoying a home cooked meal, chicken curry.

Lisa and Nigel headed off to Radio City to see Zarkana, on Pam & Terry's recommendation, great show. Anne headed off in a cab to a hotel near JFK in preparation for the early morning flight the next day which would take her to LA and her next US adventure. Anne gets home to Melbourne on Oct 6. The Freemans had a night in watching baseball, it's getting close to the playoffs and Terry's team, the Boston Red Sox, are close to getting a place, but it's no certainty.

Friday was a stormy wet day. No opportunity to get out so we had a catch up day in the apartment. Pam found a replay of the Pies v Hawks game from the previous day on the net so we plugged the computer through the TV and watched the replay. Nigel is a Pies supporter so he was happy to watch the replay, same result!

We were hoping the rain would stop in time for the big baseball game that night, the first in a series of 3 for Yankees v Red Sox (critical for the Red Sox to win) at the Yankees stadium in the Bronx. There was no announcement on the web that the game would be postponed and they do play baseball in the rain, however it had been raining all day and the ground would be soaked. So we headed out to the ground, still no announcement on the web, so Lisa and Nigel could at least see the stadium and have a hot dog even if the game was called off. Sure enough at the start time of 7.10pm they put up the announcement that the game was postponed and moved to 6.30pm on Sunday, meaning Sunday would be a double header and our tickets would transfer to the 6.30pm game, but it was no good for Lisa and Nigel as they'd be in Boston. Our Chelsea friends, Karen & Paul who are Yankees and Red Sox fans, could use the tickets for the Sunday game. We headed back to the apartment and waited until 12.30am for the Cats v Eagles game to start. It was obvious by 1.30am that the Cats would win so we headed to bed, although Terry did stay up for another quarter...

Saturday was an early start, Lisa and Nigel's train to Boston left at 9am so we walked down to Penn station (takes about 15 mins) to see them off. Pam had a lazy day at the apartment, a little weary from the late night before, Terry headed off to Columbia University, on the upper west side, around noon for a college football game. Our friend from Chelsea, Paul, had recommended that Terry go to a local football game to understand it a little better which he was keen to do even though Paul predicted that Columbia would be thrashed and they were. Terry still thinks it's a very basic game, someone gets the ball waits for a team mate to get to the 10 yard line and throws the ball to him. He then goes over the touch down line, simple really! Terry counted over 90 players in uniform on the sidelines which the game needs given the way they move teams on and off depending on whether they are in the offensive or defensive mode! Terry walked through the university, grand place, lots of parkland and impressive buildings.

Columbia football team on the sidelines

Pre game entertainment!

The game

Columbia University

Pam and Terry headed over to Dumbo (Down Under the Manhattan Bridge Overpass) in Brooklyn for their annual arts festival later in the day with the thought of having a bite to eat. The art on display was pretty uninspiring which seems to be a theme in NY, not sure who thinks this is "art". However the sunset from the East River over Manhattan was superb. We couldn't find anywhere to get a meal that wasn't crowded with a long queue so we headed home and had a simple but very tasty omelette for dinner.

Sunset over Manhattan from Brooklyn

Graffiti in Dumbo, way better than any art display!

Sunday, Sept 25 was the 30th anniversary of that fateful day we'd met on the plane coming back from London in 1981. It was a humid but overcast day as we headed up to Columbia University to watch a jazz performance in Riverside Park, so named because it is located right next to the Hudson River in the Upper West Side. It's a beautiful area around Columbia University and yet not many steps away is the start of Harlem where the street scape changes dramatically. Found a little cafe for a bite to eat given it was about 4pm and we hadn't had any lunch. We wandered around Harlem looking for alternative jazz clubs as the other little bar we'd found, Paris Blues, wasn't having Sunday afternoon entertainment anymore. We did find a couple of others for future reference.

Ulysses S Grant Mausoleum

Mural on a preparatory school in Harlem

From Harlem it was a couple of stops on the subway to Yankee Stadium for the long awaited baseball game that had been postponed from Friday. It was a lovely night, no rain, a bit of cloud but still quite balmy. The Red Sox got off to a great start but by the end of the 9th innings it was all tied up at 4 all. They play extra innings until a result is achieved so by the end of the 14th innings, some 5 hours after the start of the game, the Red Sox won 7-4. Paul and Terry were very happy. We got home around 12.30pm, a long night.

Sunset over Yankee Stadium

On Monday there was another performance of Bach at St Pauls Chapel in the Financial District which was again, wonderful. We went to the movie "Moneyball" starring Brad Pitt which is based on a true story about baseball from 2002/03. Very enjoyable. Watched more baseball on the TV, this is the final week before the playoffs and it is still very much up in the air as to which 2 teams will get a wildcard entry.

Tuesday was a quiet day, Terry headed back to the gym after the last few weeks of rest while his neck got better. Pam did a bit of shopping in the Upper East side. We went to a new bar which is part of the building we live in, so we get half price on their happy hour drinks, so they're very cheap. Pretty breezy night on their terrace bar with pleasant surroundings and little noise. Another night watching baseball teams vying for the wildcard spots, still another night to go with multiple possibilities.

Wednesday afternoon was the last Mets game at Citifield so Terry headed out to watch the game which the Mets won 3-0 against the Cincinatti Reds. Pam caught up with admin and other things at the apartment. That night was a big baseball night on TV as it was the final games of the regular season with many of the outcomes to decide which 2 teams would get the wildcard into the playoffs. Terry was clicking the remote through the 3 different games while keeping an eye on the net for the other 5 games. Ultimately Terry's favourite team, the Red Sox lost to Orioles and the Tampa Bay Rays won against the NY Yankees both in spectacular circumstances so the Rays got the wildcard for the American League. In the other league St Louis got the wildcard as the Braves lost to Philadelphia by one run. It was the most dramatic conclusion to a regular season in the history of baseball.

Thursday was a terrible day on the East Coast. Stayed indoors and unfortunately Lisa and Nigel's flight from Buffalo was cancelled due to the weather. They got a flight out early next morning and arrived at the apartment at 9 a.m. They walked the Brooklyn Bridge and then Pam & Lisa went shopping and Terry & Nigel walked down to 12th Avenue to check out the Intrepid Aircraft Carrier and then went for a couple of beers at The Gossip Bar - a little Irish pub nearby. That night we all went for dinner at Chez Josephine, a little French Restaurant near the apartment, to celebrate Terry and Pam's upcoming birthdays. Went home to the apartment for the AFL Grand Final which we were able to watch live on ESPN2.

Saturday was another shocker weather wise so spent the day watching the first games of the Baseball divisional playoffs on T.V. Lisa and Nigel head back to the West Coast tomorrow to spend some time in San Francisco before heading home.

Til next time,

Pam & Terry