New York, New York
Concrete jungle - here we come. Just a short bus ride away. We of course sleep the whole way there. We awake to a massive tunnel ride under the Hudson. I describe the plot of the movie "Daylight" (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0116040/) to Courts to ease her nerves.
We subway it up to Harlem without any issues. We realise that we are officially the whitest tourists in the world as we roam the streets looking for our apartment. Our apartment is in a building which houses an art gallery. Its pretty trendy. We are on a nice street in Harlem (132nd st). Just down the road is a large set of projects though, to keep things interesting.
We settle in and fire up the TV. Just a lazy 500 channels to sift through. The premier league is on. We chill out for a few hours and wait for Ashlee to arrive. We plan on going out to JFK airport to surprise her.
We've seen about 50 airports on this trip, so we are clearly pros. Sorting out JFK should be a breeze. Especially when we don't even know who she is flying with. Hmmm.
So there are 8 terminals at JFK and a train between each. We take a stab at who Ash might be flying with and head to that terminal. We guess wrong. Her flight has landed by now. None of us have sim cards so we can't contact each other. We miss her, she gets a cab to the apartment. We get the subway back. Surprise, surprise she beats us and is stuck in Harlem without anyone there, all of her luggage and no way to contact us. Good job.
We pick up the distressed damsel from the nearest Starbucks (aka wifi hot spot) and bring her home.
The girls stay up for hours chatting. It's good to have most of the family back together again, ready for xmas.
Day 2
Time to explore the Big City. We buy ourselves some metrocards and hit the subway. First stop on the standard tour of New York, Central Park, of course. It's massive. Courtney points out places where Sex and the City love scenes took place and the tunnels where many assaults have happened on Law & Order: SVU. It's an exciting time for her.
We note the ice rink and decide to have a go... at a later date. Stay tuned. We buy the obligatory street hot dog, first of many, and bump into Big Bird. Deciding we've had enough of the cold we pop into a nearby coffee shop to defrost and decide on our next activity from the tourist list.
Off to Times Square we go with a stop in at the M&M shop. The whole place is unbelievable. No photos can do the square justice. People and lights everywhere. As we stand there, mouths hanging open, we're approached by a guy from LA who was a market research/talent scout of some type. He sold us a couple of exclusive tickets to a stand-up comedy show on Broadway that night. All we have to do is show up, drink the free shots, order a minimum of two drinks then vote for our favourite comedian of the night. He and Jeff have a good old chin wag about the AFL as his sister is married to Mitch Robertson from Carlton. The only person we have met on our whole trip who even knows what an AFL is.
Onwards we go, still blown away by the grandness of Time Square. It's dinner time and we stop in at highly recommended restaurant, Ellen's Stardust Diner. It's very American, very Broadway. All the waiters and waitresses sing while waitering and are all aspiring to make it big on Broadway. Some really great singers and Ashlee got a lap dance. Good food and entertainment.
We make our way to the comedy show next. We order our drinks and settle in for some laughs. We aren't disappointed. Not by the host anyway. She is a pretty big black lady and doesn't mind poking fun at herself. She is hilarious. There were 5 comedians showcasing the talent, about 2 out of 5 had any, not including the host. Still a funny night, especially when the host laid into Jeff about his Xmas sweater.
First big touristy day done, we head home for some late night soul food (ghetto KFC) and bed.
Day 3
We book in to see the Top of the Rock later tonight. It seems that everything is still open on xmas. Oh, merry xmas by the way.
On the way to the Rockefeller centre we stop in to see the other half of Central Park (the north side). We spot another ice rink, but this time there isn't a massive line. We all have ice skating in New York on our bucket list (even though we aren't sure if we can actually skate). We hire our skate and hit the ice... so to speak.
We are all very nervous to start with but gradually build up confidence. The tip is to avoid anyone who has ice all over them. They have obviously been hitting the deck quite a bit and are liable to go down at anytime, bringing you down with them. Courts learns this the hard way at the end of our skate. She has a nice bruise to show for it.
We need to get our skates on if we are going to make it to Top of the Rock in time (pardon the pun). We jump back on the subway then run to Rockefeller. We get our tickets and get in line.
The elevator to the top has a clear ceiling so you can see how far up it is. Jeff doesn't appreciate this. We get to the top, none the less, and the sun has just gone down. An orange sky on one side of the city, the bright lights of Manhattan on the other side. The views blow us all away. Hard to put it into words, just add it to your list.
Apparently the cuisine to have on xmas day in New York is Chinese. Fine with us. We step in and have a nice family meal. We eat fast so we can head to watch the Boxing Day test at The Australian pub.
The pub is wall to wall with Aussies. Its funny how much the accent is standing out to us now, not having heard it in a while. We manage to get a little spot and watch the cricket. We see the Aussies get the first wicket. The crowd goes wild. Ah, its good to be home (temporarily).
We've heard that the Griswold Christmas classic is on TV tonight. We figure that is the best way to spend xmas night and head home. Not the most christmasy of christmases for us, but it was damn good.
Day 4
Shopping Day... Booo! Jeff decides to stay in Harlem and do some washing while the girls demolish 5th Avenue.
The girls catch the subway to 14th and work their way back uptown. All of the makeup and fashion and other girl shops are on this avenue. I don't really know what else to say about it, really.
The girls also visited the New York sex museum. They didn't really learn anything new.
Jeff does the washing, cuts his hair and heads in to the city to meet the girls. After so much American food (fried
We meet up there and then head to The Perfect Pint. We are enjoying the large selection of Irish bars at our disposal.
We head home and get some Little Ceasers on the way (a pizza joint). We play some poker back in the apartment. We all vow to get up earlier tomorrow and not sleep in so long.
Day 5
There are a few famous sites we need to check out today to tick them off the list. First up is the New York Library. Mainly because its in The Day After Tomorrow movie. Not to see the books.
The building is super impressive. We wander around and take pictures. Strangely enough there are some non-tourists (although severely outnumbered) trying to do real library things, like read and stuff. Only in America.
We grab a strong coffee and a slice of NY pizza on the way to Grand Central Station, another iconic building hidden below the New York skyline. Its pretty grand, for sure. It has shops and bars (one of which we attempt to enter but realise we are not classy enough and make a swift retreat).
Ok, so that's those 2 "must sees" seen, we are now on our way to Penn Station to get a train to New Jersey.
We stop in at a Levi's store. Its packed. Understandably because everything is so cheap. Jeff gets 2 years worth of jeans (2 pairs) for less than half price. Ash buys a few pairs as well.
On the train we go to Newark in New Jersey for tonight's NHL ice hockey match. We thought it would be a longer trip than it was. We missed our stop because we were too busy yabbering. Oh well, back we go. We get out onto the main street and go looking for a place to grab a quick bite before the game. We settle on a sushi place and have a good feed, including a side of sweet potato chips which were great.
We walk to Prudential Center (the main complex in Jersey where they have sports and music shows like Jay-Z etc. as well). Our seats are again nose-bleeds, but compared to the Basketball they are much better. We can see the full rink and puck clearly.
The game starts and immediately the chant goes up "Let's Go Devils". This is pretty much the only chant, but everyone gets on board. Jeff and Courts get a chant going at one point, but do it about twice as fast as normal accidentally. That was fun.
We notice the name Brodeur on most of the fans shirts. It turns out that he is their keeper. We think its a bit strange that their best player is their keeper, but I guess that's not too different to Adelaide United's Eugene Galekovic.
It turns out that he is by far their best player, pulling off save after save all game. The Devils' offence was poor at best, but Brodeur kept them in the game. It ends a draw and still nothing separating the teams after the overtime period. On to a penalty shoot out.
It takes about 3 shots each before the team from Ohio - Columbus Blue Jackets score and win. The crowd make a swift and quiet exit. Oh well.
None of us are that impressed by the Devils' performance and so don't adopt them us our NHL team. We are keen to go to another game in Canada or maybe California and will reserve our judgment until then. Either way though, this is a great sport to go and watch. Super exciting and lots of big hits.
We head across the road to the bar and play some cards and watch the post match interviews. The bartender is pretty happy to be serving 2 young Aussie girls, which works in our favour with a few free drinks.
We make the journey home on the train. It doesn't take too long.
Day 6
A pretty late start today. We decide to go for a walk down one of the main roads towards Central Park. It's a really nice day and we are down to our t-shirts before too long.
One thing that is becoming apparent living in Harlem is how much more friendly random strangers are (generally) than in Downtown. Especially when we have Ash with us with her bright orange hair. Every second person seems to complement her. "Oh, I love that hair colour on you, gurl". etc.
We walk through a bit of Central Park and then find The New York Museum. We figure we should learn a bit about this amazing city if we can.
The main exhibit is of Hurricane Sandy and the destruction it delivered to New York. We are all surprised by how bad it actually was considering none of us heard all that much about it when it was happening (maybe time to start watching the news). But it was big. The photos we see are pretty devastating.
We also watched a 20 minute multimedia presentation on the history of New York. Very cool. Learned heaps about the place. Pretty interesting to see the history in the streets after knowing the whys and hows. Like how Manhattan used to be limited to where Lower Manhattan is now and had a large wall at the north boundary for protection. That wall was eventually replaced by a street. They called it Wall Street.
The sun has gone down by the time we leave. There are some really cool views of the skyline at this time of day. Lots of people out running and walking their dogs.
Time for dinner. We hear about New York's first pizzeria and are keen to check it out. It's down in Little Italy (of course). We spot the place easily enough.... it's the one with 60 people waiting outside for a table. PASS. We decide to come back on a Monday for lunch when it will hopefully be less busy.
We wander around a bit more of Little Italy. There are trendy cafes and Italian restaurants everywhere. Shouldn't be too hard to find somewhere. The only question is how long are we going to have to wait.
We settle on a place called Parm. The wait is only 30 mins. We head next door for a drink. The wait is worth it. The food and wine are top quality. Courtney had a prawn pasta. I had a lasagna/pasta bake thingy and Ash gets a meatball hero. The best meatballs I've ever tasted.
We drop into a desert place for some coffee and cake and then head home. All very happy with what Little Italy delivered.
Day 7
Forecast doesn't look good today. It's gonna rain. Plus it's cold and Courts and Jeff are both feeling a bit sick. This tough holiday life is catching up with us.
Ah well, into town we go for some American style breakfast at a place called Eisenburg's. It's complete with pancakes, eggs, bacon and sausage. Drowned in maple syrup of course. Oh and bottomless coffee, which seems to almost be a standard in America. A good, cheap and filling breakfast.
It's starts raining. We head to a pub to watch the second half of the Liverpool game. Still no sign of the rain letting up. Hmm. We wander around for a bit longer trying to find a weather friendly activity. We end up giving up and heading home.
We walk home in the rain and stop in at the famous Apollo Theatre in Harlem. This place started the jazz scene in New York from what we can gather. No shows on today though.
We make it home as drowned rats. We get warm, play some cards and generally take it easy.
We look up places to eat. Ash hasn't had a proper American Tex-Mex feed yet. We find a Mexican place in Harlem and Courtney leads the way. After a bit of walking we double check the map... Better get a taxi.
Courts and Jeff get wet burritos. Seriously, with a name like that, it has to be good. And it is. We have tacos and tostadas and generally overeat, as usual.
Home again, some more cards then bed.
Day 8
We've got big plans for today. But first things first, Pizza at the famous Lombardi's we couldn't get into the other night. We aim to get there when they open as they don't take bookings and we don't want to be lining up for 45 minutes.
We get there around 11:30 and are in luck. The place has only just opened for the day and its already pretty packed. We order Grandma's meatballs for entree. Being a more traditional Italian pizza place the pizza comes with basic, minimal toppings and you pay a bit extra for additional toppings. We went with sausage, pepperoni and capsicum (or red peppers if you're a yank). The slices are as big as one's head and tasty. Three of us don't finish it. We head off and not on our way out there is a massive line up around the corner again. Sheesh.
Courtney has a list of a few Sex and the City locations she wants to check out and we decide to walk out to the places so we can see some more of the city. We stroll through some more of Little Italy we is much less touristy but still has that New York charm, and then through SoHo, which is much more trendier and ritzy.
Onwards we go until we find the apartment front that was used as Carrie's apartment in Sex and the City (only the front of the apartment was used for filming, the real inside of her apartment is just a set. Heartbreaking). Easy enough to find as there are about 5 other girls loitering out the front. The owners have a chain across the steps politely asking people not to sit on them. A very exciting time for everyone except for Jeff.
Next it's on to Magnolia Bakery, another location from SATC. This bakery is actually part of chain but rest assured detective Courtney lead us to the original from the show. The place is packed and apparently the cupcakes are delicious. Photo taken, a peak in the shop and we're off again.
Next on our tourist to do list is the 9/11 memorial. We make our way to the Financial District and head for Ground Zero. It's about mid afternoon and the place is packed. None of us really knew what it would be like but we were quite disappointed that we were supposed to buy tickets in advance, no-one else was allowed in that day and the whole thing was just a big tourist attraction, like lining up for the Empire State Building. We decided to give it a miss as the whole thing appeared to be far from memorable.
We stop in at a nearby discount department store and Jeff stocks up on bargain sports souvenirs. Now he's had his retail fix, it's time to tackle the Brookyln Bridge. We get up there, it is -2 degrees and it is amazing. The view of Manhattan from the bridge and the bridge itself are spectacular.
We make it to Brooklyn and we are cold and hungry. We set about trying to find a place and aren't having much luck. We trek around the area known as DUMBO (Down Under The Manhattan Bridge) for half an hour before finally finding a Mexican place to eat. We get there just in time to enjoy the last half hour of happy hour and before frostbite sets in. The restaurant is a little gem, the food probably the most authentic Mexican we've had since, well, Mexico.
Feeling full and happy we brave the cold streets of Brookyln and the subway home.
Day 9
It's new years eve and the forecast for tonight is freezing. Courtney has a few more sights she wants to check out and Ash wants to buy some more make-up. First we head for breakfast at a trendy Cafe in our hood that Jeff and Courtney had coffee at the day before. Ash and Jeff thoroughly enjoy their breakfast, Courts not so much with her woeful microwaved eggs that cost $8. To make a point she does not give them a tip. That'll learn em.
We head into Times Square and feel we've made the right decision to ring in the New year on a boat. The place is already packed with people. Ash heads off to the make-up shop and Courts and Jeff head to a bar to watch a hockey game. It's way too cold to be walking the streets today. This is probably the coldest we've felt so far. Hands, feet and face are freezing. It's only about -3, but feels colder.
Ash meets us an eternity later and almost penniless. We head back to Harlem and a light snow starts. We're like kids in a candy store. We stop for a quick bite for lunch then drop Ash to splash some more cash and head home for a nap before the big night.
Finally shopped out (for now) Ash arrives home and wakes us from our slumber. We have a few pre-drinks while getting ready, then hit the town. We get the subway out to Times Square and and there are people as far as the eye can see. Luckily we've got tickets to the party boat as the NYPD let us cross all the closed off roads to get to our destination.
Day 10
Laziest day ever. Ash goes and gets us all breakfast. We eat. We sleep. We watch one of the thousand cable channels. A nice start to the new year.
We do some Man Vs Food research to see where he goes in New York. One of the places is in Harlem, so we figure we have to go.
The place is called Sylvia's. It's a soul food institution that is famous around these parts. They even sell Sylvia's BBQ sauce in the shops. All the deep fried animal you can handle.
The girls get the fried combo. Chicken, BBQ Rib and then some sides of mash potato and home made mac & cheese. Heart-attack-a-licious. Jeff settles for a boring burger and a local Harelm beer.
This is about all the excitement we can handle for today. Back to the apartment for an early night. We have big plans for tomorrow, since its going to be our last day in NY.
Day 11
Our last full day in this incredible city. We've seen just about all we have planned to. But of course there is always more. And for Ash, more shopping. She heads off early to 125th street (the main street of Harlem). We patiently wait for her message saying she's done. But we give up and head off towards the upper west side. We bump into Ash on the way. NY ain't that big after all.
It's cold today and was snowing overnight. Lots of snow and ice on the ground. It's beautiful.
We grab some breakfast and coffee at a diner on Broadway. Again, very American. Very good. We walk Downtown down Broadway from there.
We walk past Carnegie Hall. It's ok. A bit boring looking. Sydney Opera House is winning in that department.
We head back to Rockefeller to the NBC gift store. Courts wants to check out what Law & Order: SVU merch there is.... The choices are shirt or key ring... Pass. Meanwhile, there is some really cool stuff for just about every other NBC show like The Office, Community, Parks and Recreation and of course, 30 Rock.
We jump on the subway out west again, this time to the meat packing district. We are looking for The High Line - where the old train tracks used to be elevated above the ground to get goods out of the Meat Packing district back in the day. It was left to be overcome by wilderness by the 70s and nearly torn down before being saved and now used as a walking path spanning a number of blocks.
We are getting pretty cold by now. We stop in for coffee to warm up.
Ok, on we go towards a Subway station. We want to head to an African burial ground and museum. On our way there we pass a dwarf. All 3 of us look at each other and agree that we just saw Tyrion Lannister (Peter Dinklage). Sure enough it turns out he lives in NY, so it must be him.
We go looking for the burial memorial when we notice we are in an area that looks like it could be close to the new york court house, which is on the list of things to see from Law & Order. We find it and get the obligatory pics then find the burial memorial. We can't go in so we carry on.
Apparently one of the must see places in NY for views of the skyline is walking distance away. So off we go. This is in the south west corner of Manhattan. The views are ok. We basically saw all of this on the cruise the other night so we don't spend long. We walk along a path and admire the statue of liberty again. Ok, back onto the subway. It's food time.
We pick out a good looking Japanese place and bunker down. We have lots of raw fish for starters. Very nice and authentic. Our mains weren't quite as good. We think we may have ordered from the western part of the menu. Oops.
Ash has her "final" bit of shopping to do. As per usual Jeff and Courts wait for her at the nearest bar.
We make friends with 2 African American guys who raise their eyebrows when we tell them we are staying in Harlem, which we find quite amusing... and slightly disconcerting. But we only have 1 night left now anyway.
We also make friends with 2 Mexicans and a Columbian, which is great because we are able to reminisce about our time there and crank out a little Spanish again. That tested the brain.
We drink, chat and laugh with them until they invite us to their apartment for some tequila. How can we say no? We follow them outside into the snow storm. The city is covered in white. There is snow everywhere. We have our first ever snow ball fight. It's incredible. No cars on the streets means the city has turned into our private wonderland/battlefield.
We party with our friends for a few hours, already making our next travel plans to meet them in Belgium in 2015.
Before we know it its too late to go home and our friends offer us a place to sleep. We accept. Only a 5 hour bus ride for us tomorrow. So we will have plenty of time to catch up on sleep then. Or when we are dead. Either is fine.
Day 12
We wake up and realise we need to hustle home if Ash is going to make it to her flight on time. We gather our things, say our goodbyes and head off to the subway.
The city is bright white. Workers have been busy all night ensuring that there are little paths to use. These are only paths where there is less snow, however. An awesome final adventure in NY, and good prep for what we have in store in the coming weeks up north.
We make it back to the apartment. Ash starts packing. We go back to sleep since we have a couple of hours until our bus.
We wake up briefly to say goodbye to Ash. She heads off to the subway dragging her big suitcase through the snow.
We eventually getup, pack and head off to the bus station. We're running a bit late, so its an interesting little half jog with our backpacks on the snowy roads. Great fun. Jeff's feet are freezing. He only has his sneakers on, which means they are wet and icy. Good times.