Last day...

Monday 9th April..

I'm writing this final blog at 31,000 ft, on the return flight to Blighty.

This morning Sally arrived at our hotel and we sorted our bags into the left luggage place, (we didn't need to get the train to Newark airport until 3 so had to leave our stuff somewhere), then we decided to revisit the place we had enjoyed the most - Greenwich Village.

I treated myself to an authentic New York made "flat cap" from a hat makers on Bleeker Street, and Sally bought herself a souvenir t-shirt... After coffee in another great little cafe and a long, relaxing sit down in Washington Square we returned to the hotel to collect our bags and leave once and for all.

Footnote... The luggage check in arrangement for United Airlines at Newark is bloody awful! The system is a "self service" set up, where you go to unmanned terminals and input your flight details, except this is not explained anywhere, so people are confused and desperately waiting for a airline representative to help them out. This caused a load of stress and tempers were frayed..... Sally subsequently told us that Virgin Airlines were efficient and no problem at all.......

 

Coney Island and the Heights of Brooklyn..

Well as it's the holiday weekend and the weather has been so good we decided to visit the seaside today - Coney Island to be exact.

I had my early morning run in Central Park, and then we had our customary breakfast at a local Deli, then we took the subway and headed coast wards!

Coney Island is actually a long way from Manhattan, but as every subway journey costs the same, this time we got our money's worth, a 50 minute trip for less than 3 dollars.

Coney Island is a resort area, a bit like Skegness, amusements and funfairs, hot dogs and chips - the place is actually very grubby but it is an historical place, with a really old wooden roller coaster called "The Cyclone", and an equally old Ferris wheel called "The Wonder wheel". Sally and I went on the Cyclone, and all of us went on the Wonder wheel - Jan usually avoids fairground rides, but today she was brave, only screaming and shrieking for some of the time!

On the way back into Manhattan we stopped in Brooklyn and had some coffee, and then explored a really atmospheric old area called "Brooklyn Heights", this area was very quiet, leafy, trendy and obviously expensive.

At the weekend there is a lot of maintainence on the subways, and so the rest of our journey was a bit painfull due to delays and diversions, but now we're back in the room and chilling before we go out tonight for our last evening... I'll write the final posting tomorrow on the plane.

 

9/11 and Brooklyn..

Saturday 7th April...

Lots of walking again today, at the moment my feet are steaming!

We began by collecting Sal from her hotel and walking "Down town" to find a breakfast Diner, waffles and oatmeal and all the coffee you can drink... Lovely!

We had booked a "time slot" for a visit to the 9/11 Memorial site and set off on the Subway to the World Trade Center stop. Much security later we were in the Ground zero site, it is obviously a work in progress, several massive skyscrapers are under construction, but there are two "Memorial" fountains - both situated on the "footprint" of the two towers. It's been done really well, and when the trees become bigger and the grass is settled it will be special.

After this we set off to the Brooklyn Bridge Footpath, I was slightly unsure about where it was until we got close... Hundreds of people were doing the walk! The bridge was packed, in fact the cyclists who were on the bridge as well could hardly pass by!

Our idea when we arrived on the Brooklyn river side was to find a Diner and eat lunch, except there were hardly any "eateries" there! And those that were there were packed, So we returned over the river and headed for a water front area called "Pier 17". In the shadow of the bridge we found a great bar-"The Cow girl Sea horse"(!), and we are there now, I'm on my second beer and it's really chilled.....

 

 

Rockefeller and Flat iron..

First let me explain the brevity of yesterday's blog. Because I am using my IPad on this holiday I wasn't able to include photos...until I had visited the Apple store yesterday and discussed the problem with a helpful Apple "Geek", he suggested I download an App for precisely this purpose. However there is a learning curve with all these things, and as I was learning how to use the software I was also paying for my ignorance with annoying "muck ups"... The last straw was when I "lost" all the interesting and amusing little anecdotes I had painstakingly typed in! Never mind, today I am confident all will be well...

 

This morning I went for an early morning run at Central Park, (7:30 am), and then we set off to view the dizzy heights of the Rockerfeller Centre Observation Deck. The Rockerfeller building has 72 floors - the Empire State has about 90, (and the World Trade Centre had about 120!), but it was still very high! It seemed that loads of people were going up, but like most of these places, they're so big that the crowds get absorbed by the space and there's really plenty of room for everyone. The views were stunning, made more so by the beautiful clear skies, the weather has been lovely and sunny, but very chilly.

 

After our descent and a coffee - and a muffin(!), we explored some "posh" shops. Tiffanys was very exclusive obviously - nothing had a price tag, but you know what they say: "if you need to ask the price you can't afford it!" Bloomingdales was just as "glitzy", loads of perfume and areas staffed by women with inches of make up on their faces, and inches of heels on their shoesr. I said to Jan: "Anything you want love, anything..." but mercifully she didn't call my bluff!

Yesterday evening Sally had gone out with a friend she knows from Uni, and so she wasn't with us till now, but we met up with her in a cafe near Grand Central Station for lunch and she told us about her "Brooklyn" adventures.

 

Jan and Sally left me for more retail therapy, (I hope she's forgotten that, "Anything you want" suggestion.....), and I went to explore more.

 

I wanted to find the "Flat Iron building", a block of offices built on a "wedge" shaped plot of land. The building is triangular in shape, (in fact some would say, in the shape of an old fashioned flat iron...). I found it, and it didn't disappoint me in it's weirdness.

 

Tonight Jan and I are off to the theatre to see James Corden in "One man, two Guvnors", so I now need to "freshen up".

 

Testing my new Blogging...

I've just spent an hour putting this together once only to lose it all! So now I'm just posting very brief notes.. Apple store, Central Park, Staten Island Ferry...

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Parks... Central and High

Wednesday 4th April. Another busy day! I got up early and did a Parkrun in Central Park! I took the Subway up to Central Park and did 5km, that's around the reservoir twice. Central Park is really an amazing place, a massive patch of green in the middle of all this high rise concrete, there were so many runners out and about at 7:30, and the weather was sunny and warm - I almost ran a PB as well! After breakfast we set off to a strange Park, it's called the "High Line Park", it's a walkway which has been created from a renovated, abandoned, raised train track. Commercial goods used to be transported by train into the warehouses and industrial areas of Manhattan along this elevated railway line, it has lain disused and neglected for years and was under threat of demolition until a pressure group of local folk suggested it should be saved and turned into a "Linear Park", and a great success it is too! We met some friends from Kimberley who just happen to be in New York as well, Megan and Joris, and we spent the rest of the day together, exploring the "Meat packing" district - guess what this area used to be famous for, and generally eating, drinking and chatting.... Oh and shopping, Jan and Sally both have the new shoes to prove it was a successful day!

Greenwich Village..

Tuesday 3rd April Greenwich Village - Lots of walking today, met Sally at the Diner downstairs where we had a great "New Yorker" breakfast, waffles, eggs - "sunny side" up and as much coffee as you can drink! We walked down town to Christopher Street and explored, Greenwich Village is a really interesting area, not as busy as the main roads, and loads of neat little cafes. We came across a little bar, which is apparently over 150 years old, with sawdust on the floor! We just had to stay for a drink or two - I enjoyed telling the guy at the bar that although the place was indeed old, "back home in Nottingham there's a pub - Ye Olde trip to Jerusalem, which is over 500 years old......" We then walked east to the Hudson River and relaxed whilst watching the joggers, on the way we passed "Katz", which is the diner made famous in the film, "When Harry met Sally", the diner in which Meg Ryan get excited... Back at the hotel now for a chill, and then Little Italy tonight for some pasta...

New York, New York!

Monday 2nd March Set off from our overnight hotel at Birmingham Airport at 6:30 am - a more depressing and soulless place would be hard to find! (we changed room because the first one we were sent to stank of cigarette smoke.... Non smoking hotel? Hmmmm...) Anyway, everything's hunky dory now, airport departure was really smooth - except Jan was chosen "at random", by the computer, for a full baggage search... by security - I misheard and thought he sad "full body search" and sniggered childishly before being silenced by Jan's frosty glare... I'm writing this at 38,000ft having just enjoyed a surprisingly tasty "in flight" lunch of "chicken in plastic" whilst listening to Santana on the "in flight" audio system, in a moment I'll be watching the latest "Tin Tin" film on the "in flight" video system..... definitely in relaxed holiday mode now! (several hours later).... So we have now arrived Stateside, and yes, everything is indeed bigger - the queue at "Arrivals" was massive, and tediously slow, it took at least 90 minutes before we were "processed", this delay issue is a real problem when coming to America, and must put off loads of people. We got the train from Newark airport and found our way to the hotel, the "New Yorker", just near Penn station and Madison Square garden. Our hotel is nice, it is styled as 30's "Art Deco" and although a bit faded, certainly good enough. We explored locally, found a Diner for Cheese cake, and are now about to go to meet Sally - her plane arrived 7 hours after ours. No pictures today, I'm using my IPad and am having a few problems, maybe tomorrow..