Boys are stupid - throw rocks at them

This morning we said goodbye to the best breakfast omelet chefs in town and moved to our new hotel in midtown - the Millennium Hotel. All I can say is that this hotel sums up my feelings about New York - it is flashy on the outside, but inside it is rundown, overpriced and overrated. Our room is large and the view is great (if you stand close to the small windows), but it the decor is definitely last century... think apple green tiles in the bathroom. We've taken the positive though and said at least it will encourage us to be out more :)

Taking up that spirit, we left the hotel to see some more of the city, walking up 3rd Ave to 58th St and then across to the Apple store on 5th. It was absolutely packed with people with iPods and Macs and everything in between tucked under the arms. 

Just next door is one of the city's biggest toy stores FAO Schwartz - a dream store for kids both young and old. I was particularly taken with the huge display of Playmobil toys or "clicky people" as they were called in my family. I just had to photo the Monopoly section... 

... and my personal favourite...

Emerging back into the cold air I spotted Tao, an Asian restaurant that was recommended to me by a friend at work. Actually, all he'd told me was that he'd been to a great place with a huge Buddha inside and by coincidence I'd seen an ad for Tao on the TV that had shown a picture of the statue but I hadn't caught the address, so we were pleased to find it. Richard was right - the food was fantastic. 

We started with crumbed tuna sashimi with seasame edamame beans. Phil had thai seafood hot pot for mains, while I had chicken and water chestnut dumplings with stirfry Asian greens. However, the piece de resistance was the dessert - molten chocolate cake for Phil and a giant fortune cookie stuffed with white and dark chocolate mousse for me. Almost as good as Dream cake!

The Knicks Get Knicked

De-fense De-fense ...

This afternoon we rocked up to Madison Square Gardens to watch the New York Knicks play ball (basketball) against the Chicago Bulls. I was really excited to be going as I used to be a great Perth Wildcats fan. Unfortunately the reality wasn't all I'd hoped for. The Knicks haven't been having a great season subsequently their fans have lost their spark, so the atmosphere was no where near as electric as I was expecting. Oh well... it was fun anyway.

Perhaps I need some practice on my photographic timing...


After the big game (result 100-83 against the Knicks), we subway-ed to China Town for some Dim Sum. East Broadway (street) is lined with Asian markets with all sorts of odd looking treats (e.g. cuttlefish balls) and tiny little takeaway places. I think we may have picked the most Westernised Dim Sum restaurant in town - the name gives it away... "Dim Sum Go Go" - but the food was really tasty and it was much cleaner than a lot of the places we passed. The steamed roast pork buns were the favourites (as always), but the coconut cake that looked like white jelly was the most entertaining - it was hard to eat even when we abandoned our chopsticks and went for fingers!

This evening we were planning to go to an Improv (comedy) club uptown, but we opted for a cosy night in instead and watched the Deadliest Catch marathon about crab fishermen in the Bering Sea followed by Iron Chef America - classic entertainment!

1.5 hours for pizza - only in New York!

Phew! Today has been busy, busy, busy.

We took the 3 hour Circle Line boat tour around Manhattan Island this afternoon. The commentary was excellent - really funny and quite informative. For $30 per person I think it was pretty good value. I took lots of pictures, although most of it is old buildings and bridges. We also got to take some close up photos of the Statue of Liberty, so hopefully we got some good shots.

Once we'd thoroughly frozen ourselves out on the front deck, we disembarked and walked up 42nd Street to Times Square, where we were looking for the Apple Store so I could upgrade my Mac to Leopard (the new OS). We didn't find the shop and we are rather put off going to Times Square on New Year's Eve as it was absolutely PACKED even today! So much so that they have to have traffic cops in addition to traffic lights controlling the pedestrians and the traffic - it is just that crowded! At one point we weren't actually making any headway, so we turned down what we thought would be a quieter street only to find we were passing the Rockefeller Centre with its famous Christmas tree! Eventually we gave in and headed for the subway.


Phil was still determined to have Grimaldi's Pizza, so we headed out to Brooklyn for dinner. Amazingly, what had been a small dark shop on a deserted street on Christmas day was now a bustling neon lit restaurant with a HUGE queue outside! There was no way I was coming back a third time, so we waited out in the cold in the queue for 1.5 hours to get a table along with half the rest of New York! Once we got our winning ticket (a table inside) we entered to find a crowded pizzeria with checkered tablecloths and Frank Sinatra playing over the hubbub. The pizza was delicious and even tastier given the wait! Nicely, the windows were all misty so you couldn't see the line of hungry people eagerly awaiting your table outside :)

We are now lying in our super size super comfortable bed watching the New England Patriots play the New York Giants in the football (NFL) match of the century - the Patriots are trying to become the first team not to lose a game during the regular season and this is the last game they have to win!

The Met

Yesterday was a bit of a write off, although we did discover that we don't have to leave the hotel to go to the movies or shopping... Phil came down with flu symptoms so we had a lay day in the hope that he would recover enough to enjoy the rest of our holidays. We did make it down to the Manager's Happy Hour in the hotel bar for free drinks and pre-dinner snacks.

This morning we took it easy and then ventured out to see the Met - the Metropolitan Museum of Art next to Central Park. The museum is massive and it was heaving with people. As we've seen a lot of Egyptian and European stuff at the museums in Europe, we headed straight for the American Wing. The first section of that area consisted of silverware and furniture. Funnily enough we saw a lot of pieces that looked exactly like the furniture that was/is in our new apartment. We think we might be sitting on a goldmine ;) Even knowing that we still don't want to live with it!

This was the police security car outside the Met - isn't it cute?!!


We both came out of the museum thinking that we liked the British Museum and the Louvre better, but I don't think we've really given it justice. I think it would be a different story if we were living here and had time to wander through when Phil wasn't feeling like death warmed up.

The trip home was interesting - we caught a bus from near the museum and were entertained by a mother reading her children a Pippi Longstockings story. It was enjoyed by everyone in the back of the bus - particularly since we were stuck in heavy traffic. We eventually gave up on the idea of catching the bus home and switched to the subway. We've become so used to London where the tube is always packed and no-one drives. Here in New York you can always get a seat even in peak hour, but the traffic is gridlocked.

Cyrano de Bergerac

We got tickets!! After trawling 42nd Street yesterday we came back to the hotel and I rang Ticketmaster to see if they had any cancellations... and they had some spare seats! It was only an hour before the show started so we dressed up, rushed to the subway and flew into the theatre - skipping the long entrance line because we had to pick up our tickets. The best surprise was yet to come - we found we were sitting in the very front row slap bang in the action!

Cyrano de Bergerac is the tale of a French army cadet who falls in love with a lady called Roxanne, but is afraid to tell her because of his big nose. She is in love with another cadet called Christian who is handsome but not eloquent, so Cyrano writes poems and love letters to Roxanne on Christian's behalf. I think most people will have seen the equivalent movie named Roxanne.

The play is starring Kevin Kline (of a million movies and plays including A Fish Called Wanda) as Cyrano and Jennifer Garner (most famously of Alias) as Roxanne.

We weren't expecting the play to be as funny as it was, but Kevin's comic timing is brilliant. It was absolutely worth the standing ovation it received. All up we'd given it a definite 12 stars (out of 10)!

New York Icons - Macys and the Diner

Today we thought we'd check out Macys, Times Square and 42nd Street... along with 10 zillion other people in the city. We got sucked into the doors at Macy's and swirled around until we were spat out somewhere near Santa land. It is all a bit of a blur.

I thought I'd buy some jeans, but as I have no idea what the US sizings relate to the over enthusiastic shop assistant declared that I needed measuring. She then proceeded to tell me that I'd just need the average length as she and I were about the same height. She said this while waving here hand about to indicate our "similar" heights - above her head, but at about neck level for me! The result was that I was shepherded into the changing rooms with two pairs of jeans that were well below "low slung"! While the shop lady was busy helping somewhere else, I slipped out the front door - SHOPPING OVER!!

We spent some time gawking at the massive screens in Times Square, then followed the crowd into Toys R Us. Wow!! It has a 600ft ferris wheel and a two (real) storey Barbie house inside. I'm not sure if the grown up kids or the actual kids were having more fun. Phil had a look at the new XBox 360 gear he wants, but the checkout lines were massive too.

There is a play that I'd really like to see while we are here after I found out that its season has been extended to the 6th of January, so we traipsed around looking for some tickets for a while. I had forgotten both the name of the theatre and where it was located, so our search was a little futile amongst the abundance of Broadway theatres. I'm hoping I can book some tickets online from the hotel.

We visited another New York institution today - the Diner. The place we chose must be absolutely packed during a normal lunch hour. The food was fresh and delicious, and there was lots to choose from. Definite thumbs up for the diner!

Highlights of the day:
1. Toys, toys, toys - every kids dream store!
2. Cheeseburger deluxe from a New York diner.

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas everyone!

Today started slowly with a late breakfast in the "Brokers Loft" restaurant in the hotel. It seems that everyone had complimentary breakfast pass, so the place was jammed with holidaymakers. Luckily, in true American style there was plenty of food. Top of our list were the cinnamon bagels and the crispy bacon... so good!

Taking a relaxed approach to Christmas, we spent the rest of the morning planning our stay - which was really just an excuse to try out the cool features on Phil's new laptop.

This afternoon we strolled around the river's edge to the ferry terminal and caught the free Staten Island ferry . Phil was surprised to realise how big Staten Island is - it is about half the size of Manhattan, whilst I was disappointed to find that the Statue of Liberty isn't just off the edge of Staten Island like I thought. Oh well, live and learn. We did get a fabulous view of the Statue on the way back with the city lights in the background as the sun set. Phil took so many photos from all different angles that one girl whispered to her partner that "he must be a professional"!

Back on dry land, we continued on around the bottom of Manhattan in search of the entrance to the Brooklyn Bridge. The whole area was pretty deserted as everyone must have been at home with their families. It was much further to the bridge than we were expecting and Phil was just about ready to abandon our quest when the entrance ramp appeared in front of us.

Walking across the Brooklyn Bridge is a "must do" on any trip to New York. There is a wooden jetty-like walkway over the central section of the bridge. The cars zip along on either side below you and the thick supporting cables stretch up into the sky above you. The whole experience really makes it feel like you are in a big lively city - something which we hadn't really felt until that moment because there are very few people about in the financial district where we are staying due to holidays.

Our ultimate goal was Grimaldi's pizzeria, on the Brooklyn side of the bridge. We were hungering for our first taste of the famous New York style pizza. Unfortunately when we finally found the place it was shut tight against the cold and closed for Christmas. Disappointed, we made our way back to a subway station to catch the A train back into Manhattan.

Following what is becoming a tradition for us, we had Japanese for Christmas dinner in a small friendly restaurant in the back streets of Washington Square. (This is the third year in a row we've had Asian food for Xmas dinner). The food was tasty, but didn't live up to the family roast dinners back in Oz.

It seems we're out of practice on this holidaying thing, so we've come back to the warmth of our hotel room to watch some TV in bed :) Holidays are all about relaxing too, right?!!

On our way back here we emerged from the subway right at Ground Zero where the twin towers collapsed on September 11, 2001. They have started rebuilding there, so the whole area is a construction site, but my brain just couldn't comprehend what that day must have been like. The site is surrounded by skyscrapers and you just can't imagine any of them collapsing. Even six years on, being there still evokes a strong emotional response that is hard to describe.

Actually, something we have noticed is that there are police cars everywhere in the city. Lots are just parked on the roadside with no-one in them. It's like they are waiting - spread out across the city just in case... It's a little freaky.

Highlights of the day:
1. Taking a moment to reflect at Ground Zero.
2. New Yorkers - they are all so friendly and willing to help out.
3. Breakfast - oooh I love that crispy bacon!

Dazzling lights of New York

This morning too early (i.e. 5:30am) we left our cosy apartment for Heathrow airport and our flight to New York city. Upon opening the front door we were pleased to find that the thick fog that had been causing havoc at the airports on Sunday had finally lifted - an auspicious start to our adventure, we hoped.

Unfortunately it didn't take long for our luck to wear off as I slipped down the tube steps at Earls Court station and bruised my coxic bone - not recommended when you have an 8 hour flight ahead of you!

We were expecting the airport to be chock a block with holiday travelers, but either they all went on Saturday or the new self check-in facilities really are making a huge difference. We sauntered up to the check in desk and were off to the departure lounges before we knew what was happening!!

Flying Virgin Atlantic was fun, friendly and comfortable, but Singapore Airlines is still my favourite. No complaints though, as we were flying using our frequent flyer points - finally some return for all those rewards programs you get attached to everything these days

Our hotel, the Embassy Suites, is in the financial district at the bottom of Manhattan. Our room has harbour views and we can see the ferries rushing up and down the Hudson River. If we press our noses against the bedroom window we can see Statue of Liberty. We've enjoyed watching the bright pink sunset fade and all the New Jersey buildings light up for the night.

We took a local bus from near the hotel all the way up 8th Avenue to Central Park to see the city lights. And city lights there certainly are... block upon block upon block of neon lights! We hoped off the bus and walked for a while stopping off to stock up on almond M&Ms, before catching bus number 20 back down Broadway through Times Square and on to our hotel.

Despite looking forward to our first New York meal, my migraine has got the better of me and we've had delicious room service before jumping into bed.

Highlights of the day:
1. Being dazzled by Times Square and the theatre lights on Broadway
2. Best room service ever - included a tub of Ben & Jerrys icecream!
3. Kids sitting behind us on the plane slept all the way!