New York - Sein-tastic

Today was a busy day.

We walked a LOT. Firstly we walked all over Greenwich Village (the west village) - pretty place. Shane loved it because it has many grungy looking cafes that look like they serve REAL coffee...something he hasn't found in the US so far - he is actually not drinking coffee since we have been here, maybe one every 3 or 4 days.

We found a fabulous bakery that sold amazing cookies - the girls struggled to choose but rainbow sprinkles won out in the end (as it always does).

And I found a place that I am sure a few of my colleagues would enjoy going to....

After exploring the village, we caught the subway to Brooklyn and walked back into Manhattan (in the rain) over the bridge. Actually - we RAN over the Brooklyn bridge because Eloise decided she needed to go to the toilet halfway across!!!
Still managed to get a few photos of uptown, downtown and the statue of liberty on the way over...

The Brooklyn Bridge




















































 





 The Statue of Liberty

 Downtown Manhattan - the central business district
















 Uptown Manhattan - the shopping and theatre district

















For dinner tonight - we went down Broadway to a little Diner that may look familiar to many Seinfeld fans....

The inside isn't exactly like the TV show - but there is a lot of Seinfeld memorabilia....and I swear friends of Mr and Mrs Costanza were at the table beside us!

Tomorrow afternoon we fly out to Dublin, Ireland (via Zurich, Switzerland - go figure) so I suspect we will spend most of our final hours in New York at Central Park.

New York has been fabulous. It's a busy, busy, busy city that holds more people than I thought could exist in one place together - it certainly is the city that never sleeps and I will leave knowing that we have taken quite a big bite out of the Big Apple!!!

New York - new shoes

My shoes are broken. My brand new shoes that I bought before I left have literally worn out on the bottom....is this a sign that I need to go shopping?

This morning I walked along Broadway...just window shopping until I realised that one shoe was making a clunking sound as I walked. So window shopping became a mission to find some new shoes.

Mission accomplished. Nothing fancy, although I 'could' have gone silly - but I got some shoes that will hopefully last me more than 2 weeks...

So to test out the new shoes we had a picnic lunch in Central Park. I say 'we' but it was really only Shane and I who had a picnic - Neve and Eloise were too busy trying to catch a squirrel (unsuccesfully I might add). Although they did stop long enough to eat some 'blue chips'....

We then took a walk around the 'reservoir' in Central Park. Officially named the Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis Reservoir, the Reservoir is famed for the 1.58 track that encircles the 106-acre body of water. This is a favorite jogging spot of many celebrities.....unfortunately strollers are not allowed on the jogging track (which must be a huge disappointment for those who have 'jogger strollers') so we had to take the track that ran just beside it and pop up onto the jogging track for checking out the scenery and trying to spot a celebrity or two (unsuccessfully).

 

Eloise is challenging my lead in the squirrel spotting competition - although I think that some of her squirrel 'sightings' are fakes! She did however spot a few slower creatures by the side of the reservior.

We made it right across the park and came out at the Guggenheim museum. The girls weren't interested in seeing art but they did like the building (mostly because of the guys selling ice-creams outside).

Dinner was at a typical 50's 'diner'..Big Daddy's......with the largest strawberry daiquiri I have ever had (for only $4.50!).

And my shoes held up very nicely!

New York - greenery scenery

Today was all about Central Park.

A slow morning led into a slow stroll through Central Park. Central Park is so big (it's 4km long and nearly 1km wide) that you probably couldn't walk along all of the paths that cris-cross all over the park in a single day.

We started out at West 72nd Street...at the corner where the Dakota building is. The Dakota building is famous as the home of John Lennon and Yoko Ono and is the site where he was shot. Across the road in Central Park is Strawberry Fields - a 'quiet' place to sit and contemplate the world (a rare thing in New York)....and the 'Imagine' mosaic created after John Lennon's death.

 Wandering through the park from here you come across 'the lake' - where you can hire a rowboat, and the Bow Bridge, which is popular for weddings and in many movies.

 Also in many movies is the Bethesda Terrace and and Angel of the Waters fountain, both of which were constructed in 1860-1870.

Behind the Bethesda Terrace is the "Mall"which gave us a lovely shady walk towards downtown after lunch of New York hotdogs...our squirrel sightings definitely increased today, with Eloise catching up in the squirrel spotting challenge!

 We found the carousel - which I had promised the girls a ride on the vintage (built in 1908) merry-go-round since we had left our apartment. Needless to say there were very excited to find it.

 We also discovered ANOTHER playground - this one is definitely the biggest we have seen. There is certainly no lack of play areas for the kids which is nice in such a busy and fast-paced city. 

Shane had a visit to the MoMA (Museum of Modern Art) today which he said was fantastic -Van Gogh's and Piccasso's a-plenty and I had a visit to Macy's department store....shoes and clothes a-plenty....

One last visit to the park for the day and Eloise wanted a turn under the fountain at the West 96 Street playground....

New York - creatures and features

Central Park Zoo...is not as big as I imagined. Perhaps I have watched too many movies but I always thought that there were more animals in the zoo (Madagascar has a lot of explaining to do!).

But it is still a nice little zoo. We took the subway downtown and walked along the horse and carriages waiting for customers. Eloise thought the horses were 'smelly' so not sure she will be harrassing us for a carriage ride anytime soon.

When we got to the zoo they had a '4D' Dora and Diego movie - which, (I am a little embarrassed to admit) was pretty great. By 4D it meant that when the movie (which was in 3D) showed a banana being peeled, the smell of bananas filled the theatre. Or when we were flying in a plane, the seat vibrated like being in a plane, and we got 'splashed' with water when we 'flew' through the rain....





















After the movie we went and saw the animals. First up was a penguin feeding...

 And then we watched the sea lions. I thought they were seals but I have learned...
"A sea lion has external earflaps, while seals have internal ears. Sea lions can pivot their hind flippers to walk on land, but seals cannot. Sea lions propel with their front flippers and steer with the back, but seals are opposite of this."

 We also saw polar bears, snow leopards and snow monkeys, along with a few other small creatures...including a few more squirrels (I am still winning the squirrel spotting competition but have lost count!)

There is a nice view of the city from the zoo

And speaking of nice views of the city....after the zoo we walked down 5th Avenue past all the designer shops including Tiffany's (which Shane was willing to go in and buy me something - but not sure the bank would approve!!) before we got to the Rockerfeller Centre.

We took the lift (which was amazingly fast) to the top and got a fabulous view of all of Manhattan.

This is 'downtown' with the Empire State Building in the background. The building at the back with the crane on top of it is one of the new towers at the World Trade Centre and you can 'just' see the Statue of Liberty at the top of my head (although very tiny - the statue, not my head!)

 

This is 'uptown' with Central Park dominating the scenery. We are staying in the "Upper West Side" which is about halfway along Central Park and on the left here. 

More playing in Central Park this afternoon before a thunderstorm but a dampener on things.

I feel like I have ticked off all of my 'must see' list - still with over 3 days to go - which should give me enough time for some shopping and more cupcakes!!!!!

New York - relief at last

Today is 10 degrees cooler than the last 10 days....hoorah!! It certainly made getting around (and being around) MUCH more comfortable.

It was all about the kids today. A play in Central Park in the morning followed by a walk down Broadway to the Manhattan Childrens Museum (while Shane went to the Guggenheim Art Gallery). What a fabulous place for kids! The girls had a fantastic time playing on all the exhibits and getting dirty with paints - they could have happily stayed for a week.

After lunch at a 'typical' burger joint, we stumbled upon one of those magical places that you can only dream about......a cupcake shop!!!! The array of different cupcakes was unbelievable and it was a touch decision which one to choose - but I couldn't go past the 'red velvet' cupcake.  The girls are normally happy to have anything with sprinkles on it so I knew they wouldn't be disappointed with whatever they got!

 

 I think we may become regulars!

An afternoon play in Central Park and the day is done....by all reports the weather is set to stay like this (cloudy and cooler at 25 degrees) for the next few days and I must admit I am thankful for that.

New York - new beginnings

Another steamy, hot day in the Big Apple.
I have realised that New York, in summer, with little kids...isn't the best time to be here. It is just SO hot (although the locals say that this is unusually hot for this time of year) and SO crowded!! When I come back to New York (and I say 'when' not 'if' because I know there will be so many things that I won't get to see) it will definitely NOT be in the middle of summer and middle of school holidays!
We took the kids to Central Park this morning for a turn in the playground - the girls fell in love with a tyre swing that spun around and around.....although with so much spinning and so much heat, poor Eloise's stomach didn't cope so well.
We have a 'squirrel spotting' competition in Central Park - I am ahead 3 to 0. They are cute little creatures.

There IS a squirrel running up the side of the tree.























Today we went to the 9/11 memorial site. We were VERY lucky that we had tickets for a time that obviously wasn't too busy (it's a christmas miracle!) so we got through the 4 security checkpoints really quickly!
The memorial itself is very beautiful. It is strange to think of these massive structures just collapsing. Walking in the streets surrounding the site it is impossible to imagine the terror and chaos that must have been so overwhelming at the time. The building works are going along at the buildings that will replace the world trade centre will be pretty impressive.

The two pools or waterfalls that are in the footprints of the twin towers are amazing. Just the size of each one is astounding but when you see the names of the 2,977 people killed (including those on the other flights that came down that day) it brings home what this is all about.

 The 9/11 museum is still not open yet but I can imagine it will make the whole experience even more memorable.

Moving on from there we stopped by Times Square. I don't think I have ever seen more people in one spot in my whole life! It is pretty amazing with the lights and the colours and action - but not the best place to be with two tired and hungry kids. Glad I saw it though.

I think the weather is supposed to cool down tomorrow which will be good - we might try and go to the Central Park zoo.
The girls have been FANTASTIC so far this trip - Neve has walked miles without much complaint - although she has not stopped talking since we left Newcastle - it is getting beyond ridiculous! Eloise is getting into the travelling groove and is coping really well with the heat and crowds. I am very proud of both of them!

New York - our lady Liberty

Today was a busy day.
We took our first 'subway' ride - which was an adventure all in itself. I can imagine that in the midst of winter the subway would almost be a warm 'escape' from the snow and cold outside - but when it is 30+ degrees and the subway is another 5 or 6 degrees warmer - the feeling of actually being 'roasted' inside a metal tube under the ground isn't that pleasant.

But it gets you downtown and around town really quickly and efficiently so there will be no more complaints (apart from how crowded the subway is - I thought London and Japan trains were busy but they are nothing compared to New York. Although the photo below was taken right at the end of the line when most people had gotten off.

Anyway - we made it downtown and got on the Staten Island ferry which took us past the Statue of Liberty and gave us a great view back to the business district of New York.

 The Statue of Liberty is beautiful - smaller than I imagined but I am sure if you get up close (which we didn't do - apparently the line to get on the island that the statue is on is several hours long) it would be much bigger....

The city actually doesn't look that big from this angle - but this is really only the 'tip' of New York...it goes back from here for miles! The building that you can see being constructed in the middle of the shot (with the cranes on top of it) is one of the new 'twin towers' that are being constructed the other ones were destroyed on September 11, 2001. We will visit the memorial site for this tomorrow.

Neve (of course) made friends with a local on the ferry and we learnt a lot about New York and taught her and her Mum a lot about Australia.

After some lunch, we walked uptown (New York has 'downtown' which is to the south and 'uptown' which is north) and saw Wall St and the New York Stock Exchange. This was the first time I had seen people actually dressed in suits and business clothes - even in New York the dress is far more casual than I thought it would be. You can't actually go in the stock exchange - it is all roped off - not sure if this is normal or whether there was something happening.

Catching another subway train uptown we found the Plaza Hotel (where "Eloise" the book/movie/story takes place). The girls were VERY excited about this (particularly Eloise) and we HAD to go inside and take a look. It was VERY fancy but Eloise found a familiar face on the wall.

Across the road from the Plaza is the famous FAO Schwarz toy store. There were quite a few dilemmas with the girls not being able to decide what doll they liked best....eventually they chose one each....although we did spy a doll with a freakishly familiar face on the box.....

Who does this look like????????

Hello year 1. This is Neve. I am missing you all very much. I hope you are enjoying this blog. We will try and post updates every day. Please leave a comment if you can.
Thank you.