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

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

Family & Friends

It's been a while since we last did a blog so to pick up from where we left off...

We left London on the Eurostar and headed to Paris for the weekend with Jo, Nat and Stacey, Alli was catching a later train after work. Very comfortable train ride took around 2 hours from the heart of London to the heart of Paris, easy way to go.
Took a bus from Gare du Nord station which got us pretty close to the hotel we'd booked near the Eiffel Tower. Thought we might have trouble on a suburban bus with the 5 of us and suitcases however it was the start of the run so plenty of space initially, it did get pretty crowded over the 50 minute ride.
The bus route included the Opera, Madeleine area, Place de la Concorde, Champs Elysees, Trocadero, over the Seine past the Effiel Tower to our stop. Great sights for those who hadn't been to Paris before and all for only 1.70 euro!!
Jo got an apartment with a great view of the Eiffel Tower, our apartment next door had a view over the river but not the Effiel Tower. The hotel was about 15 minutes walk from the Effiel Tower so we headed up there after a quick bite to eat at a local restaurant. We'd picked a winner hotel to stay for the view, location, amenities, access to the metro and it was great value - sometimes you can be lucky booking hotels over the net!

Bit of a challenge for Alli to get to the hotel when she arrived much later so a taxi was the solution but she couldn't find an ATM and had no euros with her. Jo was to meet the taxi at the hotel and pay the fare. Alli was trying to explain the problem to the French taxi driver once she'd arrived at the hotel but he got a little annoyed that Alli had no euros however the hotel's friendly doorman came to the rescue paid the fare then Jo arrived and it all worked out. Another plus for the hotel.
Spent the weekend taking in all the sights of Paris, perfect weather possibly a little too hot! Terry took off to do his sightseeing on foot with a little help from the metro, the rest of us used the Hop On Hop Off bus. Amazingly we crossed paths a couple of times, totally unplanned. Jo had a touch of the flu so did extremely well with the sight seeing but crashed at night.

Terry's artistic photography!

Outside Notre Dame

The Eiffel Tower has a brilliant 5 minute light show on the hour once it gets dark, after 10pm, so Pam sat and watched it from the hotel window while the rest of the group got a little closer and went up to the tower's 1st level near midnight.

The next day we nearly lost Stacey on the metro when the doors closed a little too quickly and Stacey was left on the platform with the rest of the group on the train. Thankfully with text messages it wasn't too much of a drama, we were only going a few stops, so we got back together pretty quickly.

Where's Stacey?

The day was spent wandering around Montmartre and Sacre Coeur with loads of other tourists just like us. A fun weekend in Paris.

Alli headed back to London late on Sunday, Jo and Stacey stayed in Paris for an extra day before heading off to Venice and Florence for a few days then onto Prague. Nathan flew off to Barcelona to meet up with friends for a few days before reuniting with Jo and Stacey in Prague later in the week.

We got on a train to Lyon to catch up with friends, Priscilla and FX, for a few days. A little interesting trying to collect tickets from the machine at the station but the train conductors were extremely helpful and it all worked out. We haven't been to Lyon for many years so it was great to see all the sights with locals who live quite close to the centre. It's a beautiful city, some old some new, our friends showed us all the best places, we had a wonderful couple of days with them and a couple of home cooked meals, marvellous...

Priscilla, FX & Priscilla's parents - Franciose & Martine

Lyon

From Lyon we flew to Brussels picked up a hire car and drove to Tournai a small town about 2 hours south west of Brussels, thankfully the GPS knew where we were going. Our friend, Stephanie, lives in Tournai so we had a lovely couple of days, walked around the town climbed the central tower, a very narrow sprial staircase, to get an overview. Lovely day, more home cooked meals before we headed off to Laherie in the east of Belgium near Luxembourg.

Tournai

Terry & Stephanie in her garden

We took a slow trip through the secondary roads in the south of Belgium to see the  cute villages which border the northern edge of France. The weather has been perfect and makes the trip that much more enjoyable.
Our last stop in Europe was with Aline and Fredo and their adorable son, Robin (17 months) in the tiny village of Laherie. We have visited a few times in the past 6 years but this was our first meeting with Robin. Caught up with all their families as is the custom when we visit, lots of translation is needed but we had lots of laughs  and fun times during our stay. One house in the village has an amazing garden and we were honoured to be given a private viewing.

Robin, Fredo, Aline, our garden hosts & us

Our family lunch in Laherie

We love catching up with our European friends, they probably think we're a little crazy popping in for a few days every couple of years but we think we're very fortunate to have this opportunity.
We left Europe via Luxembourg to Heathrow to New York, a day of planes, trains and automobiles.
Now back in New York, we've moved into our apartment which will be home for the next 5 months. It's been a fairly tedious exercise as we had to supply our own furniture, linen, kitchen goods etc etc. A few visits to IKEA and other inexpensive bulk stores has covered most things but the co ordination of delivery, assembly and installation has been draining to say the least. It wasn't what we'd planned but we didn't have a lot of choice. The apartment is fantastic in a great location with spectacular views east over the Hudson River to New Jersey, south over  downtown Manhattan to the financial district with the Statue of Liberty beyond and west to the lights of Times Square.
It's Bastille Day and we've just watched an amazing 30 minute fireworks display from our living room, amazingly in the right place at the right time for a change!!
Last night we ventured over to Brooklyn for a relaxing free classical concert in Brooklyn Park, the area is called DUMBO - Down Under the Manhattan Bridge Overpass - lots of acronyms in NY. It had been a pretty hot day and was a lovely balmy night however after the first song, the heavens opened and it poured, we got drenched, the temperature dropped dramatically in no time, the concert stopped, we headed home, just like a Melbourne summer really.
Jo, Alli, Nat and Stacey arrive on Saturday afternoon for 4 days in NY before they continue their adventure in Las Vegas and LA. No doubt we'll be busy for those 4 days with sight seeing, shows, concerts and shopping...

The blog will continue a little more regularly in the future now we're settled, hope you enjoy the ramblings of our ongoing adventure.

Pam & Terry

Off to London..

Spent the last couple of days in New York purchasing items required for our new apartment. Almost have everything organised now for us to move into a comfortable & well set up apartment on our return from Europe on July 12. Moved out of the Harvard Club on Thursday & stayed overnight at a hotel near the Airport. Up @ 3:30 for our early flight to London.
Arrived on time, got to our accommodation in Aldgate, met up with our niece Allison & had an Indian dinner in Brick Lane. Quiet day Sat. catching up on some badly needed rest then off to Moreton in  Essex to catch up with friends Tony, Jan & their family for lunch. Had a wonderful day & arrived home late after escorting their niece back to her accommodation in London.

Lunch with Tony, Jan & family

Joanne, Nathan & Stacey arrived on Monday. Picked them up at the airport, fed them & sent them to bed.

The Parker People at Heathrow

Spent Tuesday checking out some of the tourist spots in London & that evening met up with Melbourne friends Adam & Anna for dinner @ The Nahm.
More touristy things today including a tour of the Lords Cricket Ground & a trip up the Thames to Greenwich where Jo & the kids have gone to see "Glee" @ the O2. More London touring tomorrow then off to Paris on Friday.

"There's Big Ben again..."

Terry & Nat at Lords

O2 arena in Greenwich

US Golf Open at Bethesda, Maryland

Had a great time at the golf. Rory McIlroy an all the way winner. Jason Day runner up. Fantastic. Congessional a beautiful course with excellent facilities. Met some nice people and had seats saved for us during the final round. Sat in the grandstand overlooking both the 18^th green with the 10^th green in the background.

Stayed at The Bolger Conference Centre which ran shuttles to and from the golf course about 10 minutes away.

Caught a greyhound bus back to New York that took about an hour longer than it should have due to peak hour traffic but arrived back in time to go the first Bryant Park Summer Film session, an outdoor venue. Movie was “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest”, still a great movie after all these years. Would have been a crowd of about 10,000. Great atmosphere. Lots of cheering for the good guys.

Went to Lincoln Centre Tuesday evening to see an American Ballet Theatre production of “Cinderella” at The Metropolitan Opera. Enjoyable but not outstanding.

Only two days now before we fly to London. Have left our excess luggage at the apartment and will travel light for the next few weeks. Will move out of Harvard Club tomorrow and stay at a hotel close to the airport for our early departure on Friday.

Bryant Park Summer Film 1^st session


PS No photos of the golf, cameras not allowed on course


That's it for now
Pam & Terry

On The Move...

The week started quietly, a rest day at our hotel on Staten Island. Not a lot to do on Staten Island hard to believe it's only a 30 minute ferry ride from Manhattan but could be a world away.
Watched the Boston Red Sox beat the Yankees at Yankee Stadium (baseball game), Terry was happy he's a Red Sox fan. Late night subway and ferry from Queens back to Staten Island.
Thursday left Staten Island for good, don't think we'll be back, booked into a hotel near Central Park. Very hot & humid day, well over 37C, Terry spent the day under a tree in Central Park watching our landlord from Chelsea play a baseball game, they lost by 1 run. Pam spent the day in the hotel, nice and cool.

Wandered around Brooklyn, a mix of grunge and upmarket places, found a great bar and a hip restaurant in one of the main streets near Prospect Park where the first free summer jazz concert was playing, thousands of people about.

Saturday was a big horse racing event, the Belmont Stakes, pity the weather had changed dramatically (quite like Melbourne) wet and cold. A big venue, a grass track and a dirt track but not the style of the Spring Carnival. Strange tote system however Pam was successful with 3 winners, but that was it, still came out in front. A roughie won the main event which was run on dirt, mud really, some other races were run on the grass couldn't work out the reason for the difference.

The annual Puerto Rican Parade went down 5th avenue on Sunday, we watched for a couple of hours it seemed to go on forever, loads of people and lots of noise as you can imagine.

A Big Apple BBQ was held in Madison Square park over the afternoon, great food.

That night was the 6th game of the NBA finals, Dallas 3 v Miami 2, big TV event, played in Miami. Dallas was the underdog but got the win first time ever, great game.

Monday we moved to another hotel, The Harvard Club. Great place very worldly, we were "sponsored" by the agent who found our apartment, she's a member so got us a room for a couple of nights but we pay. We attended a "Clambake" night with her and her husband and another friend at the Club - great food.

Today we've arrived in Washington DC by bus rather than train for the US Open Golf tournament which starts tomorrow (Thursday). We thought the train would be about $50 as we'd looked at tickets on the net before we left home however the Amtrak system is like an airline so unless you book way in advance the tickets are very expensive, to book and travel today would have cost $150 each! We took a bus for $35 each and it only took an extra hour. Booked a hotel near the golf course over the net from Melbourne and it's a winner - shuttle to the golf, great facilities and we've scored a suite.. We stay until Monday.

The apartment we've rented in New York is brand new in 42nd street on the 35th floor with great views over the Hudson River and back to the city. Great location and the timing is perfect - we move in July 12 after we get back from Europe.

Bye for now

Pam & Terry

An Interesting Week

The week started with Memorial Day for New Yorkers and a visit to the Carnegie Deli for the Freemans for a pastrami on rye, unbelievable! Strolled around Central Park on a humid, hot day.

Things got interesting on Tuesday, just about to sign off on the lease for the apartment when our agent informed us that the deal was off because the apartment was only available for 2 months not the 7 we needed. Nothing anyone could do so back to square 1!!
Not a good couple of days, Mets beaten by Pittsburg Pirates and new apartment search not going well. Had to repack a little earlier than planned as we had to move rooms within the Chelsea brownstone to help the landlord out as well, but on the upside we got a free nights accommodation.

"A Met's Fan!"

Come Saturday the apartment search improved dramatically. We had to change our parameters a little but we've found a brand new apartment in the right location. A bit of messing around to actually move in but it should all work out eventually.
We decided to get out of Manhattan for a few days and have come over to Staten Island, a 25 minute free ferry ride away from Manhattan, goes right past that statue. No wonder people catch the ferry to Staten Island and go straight back, but at least we can kick back for a few days.

Hope to have all the paperwork in place by the end of this week for the apartment.

Back to a Manhattan hotel on Thursday for a few days then we're off to Washington DC for the US Open Golf Championship.

Till next time

Pam & Terry