We've experienced some freakish events in NY over the past 5 months - continuous days of over 40C (100F) in July, earthquake and hurricane in August and now snow in October, unheard of !!
After returning to Manhattan from our road trip to Canada and upstate NY, we spent a couple of days catching up with admin, shopping etc before our Belgium friends, Aline & Fredo arrived for 5 days.
We took them up to Harlem on their first night to watch the final of amateur night at the Apollo Theatre. It was a lot more raucous than earlier visits, some of the acts were great but it wasn't as entertaining so we left a little early and took our very weary visitors home, they'd been up for nearly 24 hours!
It was pretty wet the next day (Thursday Oct 27) but we headed out all rugged up in coats and scarves carrying an umbrella. We walked through Times Square, Bryant Park, NY Library, Grand Central Station, up Park Ave to the Waldorf Astoria, over to 5th Ave shops eventually stopping for a drink at Mickey Mantle's bar (famous NY Yankees player from the 50's & 60's) on 59th opposite Central Park. We got a train back to the apartment before heading out in a taxi to a restaurant in Greenwich Village, "One if by Land, Two if by Sea" which had been recommended by a colleague of Aline's. A very enjoyable night, lovely meal and atmosphere.
We got home in time to watch the end of the 6th game of the baseball playoffs between the St Louis Cardinals and the Texas Rangers - St Louis had to win this game to force the playoffs to a final 7th game. They managed to win this 6th game in the 11th inning to play another day, an unbelievable game.They were one pitch away from losing the game on two separate occasions.
The rain stayed away on Friday, Aline and Fredo headed out on their own to Lower Manhattan, the Staten Island Ferry past that statue, Brooklyn Bridge, Chinatown and Little Italy. Terry met Aline & Fredo at MOMA for their free Friday evening session.
We stayed in for a home cooked meal and to watch the final baseball game. St Louis won relatively easily in the end, an amazing story given they only just qualified for the playoff's in the last game of the normal season.
All the weather commentators had been warning about a snow fall for Saturday but we still headed out for a bit of sight seeing, it was chilly so we rugged up again. We headed down to the Chelsea Market and while we were wandering through, the snow started to fall.
Chelsea Market
Halloween display at Chelsea Market
Snow starting to fall
We went out to take some photos thinking it wouldn't last long but we were wrong! We were determined to get to other places but walking was out of the question so we headed to the subway. We went to a big department store called "Century 21" near the World Trade Centre, where high end labels are sold for bargain basement prices, however we weren't the only ones thinking of shopping as a way to get out of the weather. We did manage to get a few things but it was so busy we had to leave. Jumped on the subway over to Little Italy and had a hot drink in a lovely cafe, The Tartinery, which Aline and Fredo had found the day before. We thought we'd be able to walk for a bit but with the snow and ice on the sidewalk and the sub zero wind blowing we decided to catch the subway up to Rockefeller Centre to see if anybody was skating ( they weren't ), then jumped back on the subway and headed home for a warm night in. It was a weather event out of the box, snow has never fallen in NY in October. The damage and power outages were wide spread around NY and neighbouring states, luckily we weren't one of them.
The sun was shining on Sunday morning, it was a crystal clear day but chilly.
Aline and Fredo headed off to the Empire State building to take in the view and the snow on the rooftops. Unfortunately for them, they had to queue for nearly 2 hours. It's a particularly busy tourist time in Manhattan and with most places shut the day before because of the snow, it was just hectic. They managed to get some time at the top before we headed off down Broadway, in the sunshine. Broadway had been closed off for a market so we had street food for lunch finishing up at Washington Square park before getting on a subway up to Central Park to see the snow that had fallen. Lots of areas had been closed off due to tree damage and fallen branches, Strawberry Fields was closed, disappointing. We headed home on the subway.
Oct 31 is Halloween and it was Aline and Fredo's last day in NY. We went to Rockefeller Centre and watched the skating and then to the Time Warner centre before heading off to "Five Napkin Burger" for lunch.
Halloween display in the lobby of our apartment building
Quirky tunnel near Rockefeller Centre
Aline and Fredo had a time booked for the "Top of the Rock" which meant no queuing so they got one last look at Manhattan before we headed off to the airport for their flight. It was chaotic at the airport, they were flying Delta, but thankfully they got their flight (it was delayed, seems the norm for Delta).
We headed to Chelsea to watch the "trick or treating" that is Halloween. Our friends, Paul & Karen, live in a street which is renowned for its decorations and loads of "candy". We couldn't believe the number of kids all dressed in costume walking door to door, doing the trick or treating thing and the residents sitting on their stoops handing out candy. We didn't get there until 7pm and they'd been going through the process for a couple of hours, kids come from all over the place, it was difficult just getting to their front door. It all wound down around 7.30pm when the adults retreated inside for a well earned drink and bite to eat. We headed home about 10, fun day.
Tuesday night we caught up with Maria (our real estate agent) and her husband Steven at The Harvard Club. They live in New Jersey and had been without power since the snow storm on Saturday so had booked into The Harvard Club for a couple of nights. Maria's advertising the apartment for rent from late December so hopefully we'll get someone to sub let the place when we leave to go home.
Byrant Park has undergone a change for winter - they've setup a skating rink in the middle of the park with a couple of cafes and small shops around the park so we went to look at the skaters and have a bite to eat while the sun was out and with an individual overhead heater to keep us warm. It was wonderful.
On Sept 11 2011 they opened a memorial at Ground Zero, the site of the World Trade Centre where there's lots of rebuilding. The memorial consists of two reflecting pools with the water falling to a central point. Given most of Ground Zero is still a construction zone you have to register for a pass to the memorial for a given day at an available time. A month ago the earliest we could register for a pass was Nov 3 so off we went for our 12 noon time slot. It is a fitting memorial and controlling the attendees means it's not over run or noisy. The rebuilding of the site will continue until at least 2015.
We attended our first ice hockey game between the New York Rangers and Anaheim Ducks at Madison Square Garden on Thursday night. Not that we know much about the rules of ice hockey but it was fast paced and much easier to follow the play live than it is on TV. The Rangers won in a penalty shoot out, best of 3, in overtime. It appears that all sporting events in the USA must have a winner, never a draw!!
Shot of the central scoreboard before the game
Teams waiting to start as the National Anthem is sung
After the end of the game, the NY Rangers won.
Now that Halloween has come and gone, this place seriously gears up for Thanksgiving, 4th thursday in November. Thanksgiving originates from the early European and Native Indian time as celebration of the end of the harvest season and isn't tied to any particular religious group, so everyone takes part.
Our apartment keeps very warm given the amount of glass we have so we haven't had a need to put a heater on yet and open windows on the sunny days, just lovely.
Till next time
Pam & Terry
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