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

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