New York, New York!

Written in partnership - Johno & Wendy


We probably should have thought about extra security checks, given that we were going to New York just one week before the 10 year anniversary of 9/11, but we very abruptly given a heads-up at Buffalo airport where we boarded our flight. Shoes – off, belt – off, jewellery – off, wallets & glasses – off, laptop, phone, handbag, backpack – all passed thru the scanner, then we walk thru the screen; stop half-way, put hands on shoulders, stand front on, stand sideways, walk thru and then have body patted down and then your hair patted down because it was in a clip. All very matter-of-fact but seriously serious.

We were in different rows on the aircraft so I spent an hour chatting with a lovely lady from Buffalo and Johno was bored stiff, sitting next to some guy who slept (snored) all the way to JFK. My travel companion and her husband were taking their 16 year daughter to New York to celebrate her birthday. They live in a house that was built in the late 1800’s, designed by George Alison (famous architect). She told me all about their life-long work of restoration in accordance with current heritage laws, etc. I thoroughly enjoyed our conversation.

We arrived at JFK at about 8.30am to find it was nearly deserted, very quiet and in no time at all we had collected our luggage, jumped in a yellow cab and headed to Brooklyn to our hotel. A short time into the journey, we realized that the driver had no idea of where he was going, so Miss Technology (me) whips out her ‘i-phone” and proceeds to direct him, which was successful. We arrived at our hotel, the Sumner at Brooklyn, to find our rooms were unavailable, so we stored the luggage in their storage area and walked just a few minutes to the subway and, on the advice of the locals hanging around the station, caught two trains to get to the city.


Our subway stop (42^nd Street) turned out to be the perfect spot for most of our inner-city New York adventures. We came up from the subway near the New York Public Library and Children’s Centre and Bryant Park.

Bryant Park is one of the signature examples of New York City's revival in the 1990s. Essentially crime-free, the park was filled with office workers catching a bit of sun in the lunch breaks. It has beautiful shade trees, grassy parklands, lots of lovely tables and chairs everywhere, old men playing bocce and cards, people reading and resting, and small restaurants providing waiter service all throughout the area – right in the middle of the city.

We were keen to see more but went back to Bryant Park later that day for very late lunch sitting on comfy rocking chairs and people watching. I had a long conversation here with a banking professional named Mary who gave us her own very personal account of 9/11 – so sobering and emotional.

times Square

Rockefeller Centre

this building is callled the Flat Iron cause it looks like one

 

Gugenhiem Museum

View from the Hudson River

Yellow Taxi anyone??

With no maps, we headed off and found ourselves smack in the middle of Times Square. On the way we encountered Mickey and Minnie Mouse, Elmo and The Cookie Monster so guessed we were going in the right direction but nothing prepared us for Times Square. It’s the most bustling square of New York and is known for its many Broadway theatres, cinemas and super-signs. It is one of those places that make New York a city that never sleeps. Overwhelming – with so many moving billboards on tall buildings towering above us, the traffic (mainly yellow taxis) tooting their horns continuously and getting nowhere fast, fire trucks sirens blaring continuously, police in cars, on bikes, on foot, on motorbikes, on horseback; hawkers selling tickets to every Broadway show and every guided tour available, and tourists and workers everywhere. It was sight and sound sensory overload for us regional living Aussies. It was hard not to be caught up in all the hype but we managed, just!!

After we got our bearings, we checked out some shows we thought about seeing and bought tickets for a 48hour hop on – hop off bus tour for the next two days.

We wandered back to enjoy a late afternoon sojourn in Bryant Park then we caught the subway back to Brooklyn, wandered around the local neighbourhood, had some Chinese for dinner and returned to our hotel. That was day 1 – only 5 more to go.

Next morning, we were up and on the subway by 9.00am. There are some beautiful mosaics on the platforms and at one of the at one of the subway stations there was a guy playing the piano and singing – so professional and very good. I really loved watching the black American families, all dressed up in their good clothes, heading out for the day – so stylish, so cool - and you could tell that the mama’s had taken so much time with the children’s hair – just beautiful. I remember my mum dressing us all up for a trip to town or to the local show, and that’s what I was reminded of.

Central Park

Once in the city we headed directly to the first stop of the bus tour. We took the uptown and downtown tours in the morning and the Harlem and Central Park loops in the afternoon.
 We enjoyed the commentary, learned so much about the history of New York City, and saw more many buildings, statues and monuments than you would ever have if on our own. We were amazed at the different architecture and took a g’zillion photos, e.g.  Trump Tower, Brooklyn Bridge, Chrysler Building, Gugenhiem, Metropolitan Museum of Modern Art, Rockefeller Center, Empire Sate Building, lots of churches and residential suites, etc, etc. Really gave the Olympus a workout!

Late in the afternoon we went to the Apple store in 5^th Avenue. It looks like a glasshouse, very beautiful and impressive. What’s not impressive is that it was overcrowded, noisy, and lacking in helpful staff who, when we finally got one to acknowledge us, could not answer our questions. Unfortunately nearly every Apple store I have ever visited is the same. Maybe Apple should look into that!!! Hhmmm.

Day three and we were back in Times Square. We took a three hour cruise on the Hudson River, (yes – we saw where the guy landed the plane), all the way out to Staten Island and the Statue of Liberty.  My goodness – she is BEAUTIFUL! We had a lovely trip and then headed to 9^th Avenue for lunch – great authentic Indian food.

Then it was back to Broadway to book a special lunchtime treat for Sunday. All you can eat buffet and Harlem Gospel Singers at BB Kings Blues Club.

Sunday was our fourth day in the Big Apple and boy, did we make the most of it. Again, we got into the city early and headed to Times Square for coffee. As we made our way we noticed many, many people wearing yellow and green coloured clothing and then we came across a whole city block, which had been shut down. There was a huge stage set up, market stalls going in everywhere and the crowd getting bigger and bigger. It was “Brazilian Day” and the city was ready to celebrate with music and dancing in the streets. Over 1 million extra people, mostly Brazilians were in the city for one enormous party and one of the largest street festivals in Manhattan and we were there to see it. Amazing!!!

We had a date with BB King so didn’t stay too long. The venue is really funky. All the chair backs have a musical note carved in them, the mood of the club is bluesy and the beer taps are made from saxaphones. There are three bars, each with a stage and you can enjoy live music most nights, for free. The buffet featured Creole and South Louisiana foods and was so tasty – a good introduction for our trip further south – and the entertainment was really special.

The Harlem Gospel Choir has been around for about 25 years and the original ‘boss’ is still leading his people out. They sing beautiful hymns and more up-beat stuff and in between, they preach the gospel to those who are lost and some of the choir share their testimony. One singer told us that she used to be addicted to heroin and lived however she could to get a fix and now, for the past 8 years, she lives a ‘clean’ life and gives God the glory for giving her another chance. We felt blessed to be able to see and hear their performance – very emotional and inspiring. Before we left, Johno bought a great looking t-shirt featuring a picture of BB King and his guitar.

We went back to Times Square to wait for the 3.00 o’clock TKTS half-price tickets. Under very sunny warm skies, we patiently waited in a queue for a long time just chattin’ with other patient ticket seekers. We bought tickets to see the Cirque Du Soleil being performed at the Radio City Music Hall, off Broadway. It was a 7.00 o’clock show so we wandered up to the area of the Radio City Music Hall to search out a dinner venue. There were plenty of sidewalk venders soliciting for our patronage along the way but Wendy wanted vegetables and a proper meal to sustain us for what appeared to be a long night ahead.

The foyer - Radio City Music Hall

An Irish bar was spotted across the street with a menu purporting to be homemade style. “That’ll do,” I said. So we dined with real Irish bread and butter, and tasty fare which was very filling. Then we were off Radio City which I had seen in music DVD’s [Dave Matthews/Tim Reynolds] but they did not prepare me for the majestic grandeur of the Foyer and pubic spaces ----AWESOME ---- and the performance was yet to come.

ZARKANA was the title, an acrobatic rock opera blending the circus acts with the surreal power of magic to create a mystical show - what a show indeed! Any who have seen a Cirque Du Soleil performance will understand what a GOBSMACKING EXPERIENCE it can be. Johno’s mouth just kept popping open in amazement and I kept grabbing his hand, fearing someone would fall. The music was live and the musicians became part of the show. There was so much to see we didn’t know where to look or what to look at. The artists are skilled perfectionists and theatrical, all at the same time

Radio City Music Hall has one of the best flywire systems in the world and the highwire acts took advantage of the large-scale building for the Zarkana show. What a privilege to see it in good seats and only $75.00 each.

We wandered out of the theatre and down past where the Brazilian celebrations had been held. There was so much rubbish everywhere but there were also hundreds of city employees and others cleaning and packing up – it had to be back to normal by midnight, we were told.

We stopped for cold drinks and continued on back to the subway for the trip home. On the train there was some advertising propaganda for the 9/11 10year anniversary and these are the words used. “God is our refuge and strength, an ever present help in times of trouble. Therefore we will not fear though the earth give way…” Psalm 46v1 -2a.

I have to say that we felt totally safe everywhere we went and were never threatened or felt intimidated.

Central Park

We did not get too close to the Ground Zero site as it was only one week til the unveiling of the monument and the 10 year anniversary - lots of work still going on and lots of security. However we did get a really good perspective of tower site whilst on the cruise. From out on the water, you could see exactly where the towers had been and the cruise commentator gave a very good account of the events surrounding 9/11. There were also documentaries on television every night explaining to New Yorkers what to expect at the Ground Zero site in future. A lot of time and money has gone into ensuring that the event is not glorified but the lives lost are acknowledged, respected and appropriate homage paid to their memory.

So, Day 5, we are starting to get a little weary so headed into Central Park for some chill out time. 

You need to wear comfy shoes. It is a really big park (three water areas, a zoo, many playgrounds, etc, etc) and there’s so much to attract your attention, not the least the squirrels which run about the ground and up and down trees foraging for food. People everywhere - walking, rollerblading, running, jogging, cycling, strolling, segways rolling, and even riding childrens toddler toys - just enjoying the final days of summer.

We found Strawberry Fields the area that is maintained by Yoko Ono as a memorial to John Lennon who lived across the street opposite and was killed there. 

The “IMAGINE” mosaic in the middle of the pathway is a permanent declaration of his love of N.Y. In the afternoon whilst looking for a coffee we found a Starbucks in the Trump Towers building - talk about marble & granite with opulent rest rooms with gold plumbing. The observation deck at The Empire State Building was next on list but a 2 hour delay put an end to that, so off to Madison Square Gardens. 

can you see this guy?
flying over his human bus

ON the way we were distracted by street performers - loud and brash ….Evil Knievel might jump buses but these guys jump people and try to bleed your cash while you watch them. We finally called it a day, walked to the subway and returned to our hotel after getting a snack on the way.

Next morning we slept in, had a relaxed start, packed our bags, checked out of hotel who called us a cab which stirred Wendy up because his quote was well above the recommended rate of JFK Airport. She won, he revised the quote to an acceptable price and we were on our way. It was raining at the airport - delays and security –then 1.5hrs later we were back in Buffalo where another taxi took us back to Freddie the RV which was waiting at the campground in Niagara Falls.

All in All, New York fulfilled all our expectations and then some. We loved the energy, the ethnicity, the culture, the architecture, the food, Central Park, the subway, the skyscrapers. We were overwhelmed by the traffic, the noise and the visual pollution.

Did you notice I haven’t written about the shopping? Well, that’s because I didn’t go shopping – too busy looking, exploring, and experiencing to shop. But don’t fret – I’m sure to shop before I come home – it’s on the LIST!