On the Road Again...

This blog starts on Sunday Oct 2.

We had an early start as Lisa & Nigel had to get a 6.30am bus to Newark airport for their flight to San Francisco. The bus left from the Port Authority Bus Terminal which is only a 5 minute walk from the apartment. We waved them off and then went back to bed it was way too early to be up and about.

Had a lazy day around the apartment until our Canadian friends, June & Kalman arrived late afternoon from Paris, they had been travelling to Italy & Paris for a month.

A couple of Australian friends, Andy and Mary Thomas, were visiting New York for a week so we arranged to meet them after they had done the Empire State Building. We then headed back to the apartment to have some lunch and show them our abode. 

Terry then took off with them to the Staten Island Ferry to view that statue, walk around the financial district and they then caught the subway up to Central Park ending up at Mickey Mantel’s bar near the Plaza Hotel in 57^th street. Later that night we went to The Medi restaurant in 9^th avenue for a tapas meal with Kalman and June.

Now it’s that day, the reason we’re in New York, Terry’s ?0 birthday…(the ? can be whatever you want it to be…). June and Kalman gave him some wonderful presents from the Mets baseball shop.

Kristie was in New York for a couple of days with friends so we met up with her at a café near her hotel to have lunch and catch up on her news from the past 4 months.

We’d organised a dinner for 10 at The Harvard Club to celebrate the occasion – Terry & Pam, Kalman & June, Andy & Mary, Karen & Paul (from Chelsea) and the organiser Maria (our real estate agent) & Stephen. We had a wonderful dinner, Terry was spoilt with more presents and everyone had a great time. Terry got some calls from home as well as a number of messages on his facebook page, which was nice.

L to R - Steve, Kalman, Karen, Maria, Andy, June, Paul, Pam, Terry, Mary

Left New York in the hire car with June and Kalman on Wednesday for our trip upstate and into Canada. Getting out of Manhattan was a lot easier than we thought it would be and we got to Tarrytown about an hour north of Manhattan. Found a lovely restaurant on the Hudson River for lunch with a view back to the skyline of Manhattan. It was a little windy but the sun was out, very pleasant to sit in the open and take in the view.

Our first stop for the night was a small town called Saratoga Springs about 2 hours further north in upstate New York at a lovely B&B, The Lamplight Inn. We were directed to a local bar & restaurant called The Waters Edge, where we had a great night, wonderful service and food. On our return to the B&B June realised she’d left her bag behind so they went back to retrieve it only to find the bar manager ringing the B&B to tell her she’d left it behind. Wonderful service.

We drove around the area the next morning, Terry took some great photos of the autumn colours reflecting in the lake with the sun out. As we travel further north we’re told the colours will be even more amazing.

We travelled over the border into Canada without any problems and drove onto Prevost a small town north of Montreal. Kalman’s friend, Christian, who we’d met in 2008 on our travels through India, lives in Prevost with Martine, his wife. It’s a beautiful setting, the trees, the lakes, the colours and it was very mild, just magic. We had two wonderful days with Christian and Martine – walking around the local area, eating, drinking and socialising mainly in English but also a little French! Christian has a Formula One simulator  which Terry had to try, of course! He got such a buzz from it he took quite a few hours to get to sleep that night.

We had such a good time we were sorry to leave Prevost, however on Saturday morning we headed off to Quebec City. We took a secondary road along the St Lawrence River expecting we’d find a lovely little café on the river for lunch but it wasn’t to be. We did find a very basic roadside place  which suited our needs and then got back on the main highway to Quebec. We’d booked a B&B in the old city, which we found pretty easily and we were able to park the car. 

We then took off to walk around the old city, Kalman and June had lived in QC when they first met so they played tour guides and showed us the sights. We walked around the boardwalk to the Chateau Frontenac, a grand old building right above the river for a drink and to take in the view. Like many of those places we got stung on the price of the drinks but it was worthwhile. Our dinner that night was disappointing, the service was terrible, although the food was nice. We told the owner of the B&B to remove the literature he had for this restaurant and not to recommend it, he hadn’t been there himself so he wasn’t to know.

June and Kalman stayed at the B&B the next day, Kalman was coming down with a cold and feeling unwell. We took the car and headed north along the river to see the autumn colours and all the lovely towns along the way. The area is called Charlevoir and was recommended by Christian. We weren’t disappointed. Our first stop was Baie St Paul, a gorgeous little town where we found some wonderful art galleries, one in particular – Beauchamp. The owner was very talkative and even though there were many other people in the gallery he obviously took a liking to us and wouldn’t leave us in peace. However we took his card as he has a gallery in Toronto and we’ll look into that one when we get to Toronto, he won’t be there! We drove through many more towns and found a place for lunch on the river at St Simeon, again a lovely relaxing spot.

Our destination was Tadoussac, about 250km north of Quebec City, a big day trip but well worth it. We had to get a short car ferry ride from the Baie St Catherine across to Tadoussac on the river Saguenay. Tadoussac is a small tourist town right on the river where many whale watching trips originate.

Unfortunately we didn’t have enough time to do a whale watching trip but we walked about the town and the beautiful old hotel right on the water before heading back to Quebec City as we’d booked dinner at a lovely restaurant, The Continental. We got back to the B&B by 7.15pm and walked a short distance to the restaurant. Dinner was excellent, the food and the service, we had a wonderful night. 

After dinner we walked around a beautiful fountain, just outside the gate of the old city, which was lit up with purple spotlights, Terry got some great photos.

We had another day in Quebec City so we spent the morning walking around the old city and along the old city walls.

We drove over to Ile d’Orleans a small island in the St Lawrence River quite close to Quebec City. We had lunch at a lovely restaurant on the water and then drove around the island, which has many galleries, wineries and cafes. Before we headed back to Quebec City we had a quick visit to a huge Catholic cathedral, St Anne’s and the Montmorency Falls.

Had a great chat to the owner of the B&B, Francis, who surprisingly loves vegemite so we left him the part tube we had with us.

Kalman and June headed back to Toronto on Tuesday morning, so we dropped them off at the airport and drove onto Montreal via the river road; the colours were beautiful. We stayed at the Hilton Garden Inn right in downtown. They had a happy “couple of hours” with half price cocktails so we partook for a couple of hours and then watched the baseball on TV as the baseball is coming to the end of its playoffs before the “World Series” final commences later in October.

We walked around the old city of Montreal the next morning; it was very quiet. Montreal is a big university town so apart from students there didn’t appear to be much happening which was contrary to what we’d read and been told. It would appear that after the Canadian Thanksgiving weekend in early October (different date to the American Thanksgiving holiday) Montreal goes to sleep. Montreal is on an island and has many other very small islands within its municipality, we headed over to one which has a Biosphere but it wasn’t that interesting although Terry got some good photos.

We took in the main art museum and then Terry took off to the Olympic Stadium on the metro for a quick look.

That was the end of highlights in Montreal except for a quick visit to St. Joseph’s Oratory, a huge cathedral on the outskirts which we visited on our way out of Montreal the next morning.

Next stop, Ottawa, the capital of Canada. We took a leisurely drive from Montreal which is in the province of Quebec, to Ottawa which is in the province of Ontario along the Ontario side of the St Lawrence River through some beautiful towns, particularly Hudson. The colours of the trees and the grand houses were picture perfect.

We got into Ottawa late in the afternoon, booked into a hotel very close to the city centre and went for a walk around the ByWard market area, which is one of the oldest public markets in Canada. Lots of pubs, restaurants and shops are around this area so as it was wet and cold we had a drink in an Irish pub and a lovely meal in Vineyards Restaurant nearby.

The next morning, Friday Oct 14, was a lovely sunny day so we took off and walked around the parliament buildings which are in a beautiful setting with the Ottawa River on one side and the Rideau Canal on the other. Further up the canal is the Notre Dame cathedral and various museums.

The weather was changing so we took off in the car towards Toronto, 450kms away, along some of the back roads. The rain was very heavy in a couple of places so driving was difficult but it cleared and we managed to find some beautiful spots; Chaffeys Locks in particular.

We got back onto a main road and knocked over some kilometres before stopping at Cobourg on Lake Ontario for dinner. We found a Scottish pub, which used to be a prison, with old fashioned meals, Terry had liver, Pam had fish & chips. We eventually arrived at Toronto to stay with June and Kalman for a couple of nights.

Halloween decorations on the way to Toronto

It was a very, very cold Saturday morning in Toronto, so with coats and scarfs we jumped in the car and spent the morning seeing some sights in Toronto – the university and surrounds, the inner city and found a lovely South American café for lunch.

Found the sister gallery to the one we’d previously seen in Quebec which had less on display although June and Kalman found a painting they liked. That night they’d asked a number of friends over for drinks so we spent a pleasant couple of hours talking travel & sport with Canadians.

Next stop Niagara and then onto upstate New York.

Pam & Terry

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

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