New York City, NY

NYC Botanical Garden 12-5-2008 2-02-16 PM.JPG
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2008-12-05

The first day in New York was to be a quiet one settling in and seeing the New York Botanical Gardens. They had lunch at Gabby’s apartment and then Lori braved driving in the Bronx. Luckily the instructions that Gabby left were perfect and Lori only had two moments of panic on the trip, but with Ian was able to navigate to and from the park. Unfortunately, the timing of their visit was not great as they were told at the gate that the park closed at 3 pm that day and it was 1:30 pm when they arrived. Lori and Ian first viewed the train show, which included miniature replicates of famous New York landmarks and of course trains. All the landmarks where made with natural things such as leaves, branches, and wood chips. Lori and Ian quickly walked around the rest of the park. It was nice, but given it was the middle of winter, they thought that the park looked bare and would look much fuller in summer and the colours would be beautiful in fall. Lori and Ian spent the rest of the afternoon looking on the journal. That night, a Harry Potter marathon started on one of the tv stations, so they enjoyed the first movie in the series.

Our faces were feeling the freezing winds and sub zero temperatures just from the walk from Wall Street subway to Battery Park (5-10 minute walk).

NYC Botanical Garden Holiday Show 12-5-2008 1-47-40 PM
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2008-12-06

As Saturday was suppose to the best of the weather we were going to get in New York City, Ian and Lori got at up 9, which was early for them, and took the number 9 express bus from the Bronx (Tremour Ave) to the south end of Central Park near the Plaza Hotel. Lori wanted to try and go ice skating and they managed to get tickets at the Wollman rink. They put their things into lockers, laced up their ice skates and were soon on the ice with about 150 others. The Wollman rink did not really control how many people were on the ice at once, so Lori and Ian did not skate very fast and spent most of their time trying to avoid collisions with anyone else. The view of the city and the park was worth it though. As the ice skates were rented, they were not the most comfortable things in the world, so after and hour, Lori and Ian decided to stop skating, found a spot by the rink and made up their sandwiches for lunch. After lunch, Lori and Ian walked north through the remainder of Central Park.

NYC Central Park 12-6-2008 2-26-14 PM
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Central Park is approximately 843 acres in size and took around 2-3 hours to walk around. Along route there are numerous things to see. Walking down the “grande promenade” know as the Mall you are lead to Bethesda Terrace an impressive structure overlooking the lake. Lori and Ian saw a bride and groom taking photographs in this area. Gabby, later told them that this was very common, but given it was winter and the trees were pretty bare, Lori and Ian did not think it was the ideal time of year for wedding photos in the park. Throughout the park we counted over 19 bridges with the most impressive probably being ‘Bow Bridge’. Beyond the bridge, there is a National Weather Station located at the impressive Belvedere Castle and an outdoor performance venue called the Delacorte Theatre. Stuck in the middle of the park is a rather large reservoir with a running track around it and as you start to get near the Harlem end of Central Park you will stumble across the Lasker Pool & rink. Today, it was being used as another ice skating rink, but Lori and Ian were glad they chose the Wollman rink to ice skate at as it had much prettier views. There are many more sites to see in the park including ponds, lakes, forests and fields. Far too many to mention or remember!

NYC Central Park Wollman Rink Lori and Ian 12-6-2008 1-42-33 PM
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Next was a trip on the subway to Times Square. Lori braced Ian for the Saturday crowds that they were likely to experience and she was not wrong. It was busier then Oxford Street at Christmas. Times square is located off Broadway and Seventh Avenue and stretches from West 42nd to West 47th Streets. It is basically a shopping area with a vast amount of animated digital advertisements scattered around a confined area. We braved the holiday period crowds and hustled and bustled our way though and onward to Rockefeller Plaza, covering 22 acres between 48th and 51st streets, to see the Christmas decorations. Ian took a short cut through a store that managed to get Lori and Ian some great views of Rockefeller Plaza ice rink and decorations. They walked to the nearby St. Patrick’s church on Fifth Avenue between 50th and 51st Streets and managed to have a little time to sit down in a pew to reflect on the day before mass started. The Cathedral is the largest gothic-style Catholic Cathedral in the United States. On their way back to the express bus, they found the quiet square with trees, The Urban Center – New York Palace; it also included a very nice Christmas tree, decorated with white lights. Ian had an interesting run in with some Spanish tourists and spent several minutes trying to take a photo for them in front of the Christmas tree. When they arrived home, Lori and Ian had hot chocolate and cookies (complements to Gabby for the delicious and endless supply of chocolate chip cookies while we were in New York City) and enjoyed warming up while watching the second and then third Harry Potter movie. For dinner, it was another spaghetti night.

NYC New York Palace The Urban Center 12-6-2008 4-39-42 PM
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2008-12-07

The day began with Clyde meowing through the door to wake us up to feed him. We got ready and took the express bus into the city and then took the subway to Wall Street. It started to snow when we were waiting for the express bus, but luckily that was the only snow we saw that day. The weather was colder and within minutes our faces were frozen. It was also pretty windy and it was that that really made the cold. The columns around Wall Street were decorated to look like an American flag and there was a huge Christmas tree. As it was a Sunday, it was not very busy in the area. We next took a short walk to ground zero, which is now just a construction site. Ian bought a hat on the way there, as his ears were getting so cold. We were both surprised to see how little progress had been made at the site. Gabby later informed us that this was due to the political wrangling that had been going on for so long as to what best to do with the site. We wondered around the site and into the Financial Complex and managed to find a place with benches where we could sit down and make our sandwiches for lunch and warm up. After lunch, Lori and Ian went across to Century 21, a discount shopping store that Lori had discovered through her friend, Nicola, on her last trip to visit Gabby in New York City. Lori and Ian managed to find a few Christmas presents. They called Gabby and arranged to meet her at Union Square. While Lori and Ian waited for Gabby, they wandered through the Christmas stalls that had been set up in the square. When Gabby arrived, the trio made their way via the subway to the Brooklyn Bridge and walked over it. They enjoyed views of all the skyrises in the city and the distant view of the Statue of Liberty. There was a gorgeous sunset that night that improved the views too. Gabby then directed us to Chinatown. Our mission was to find a flying pig and flying (holy) cow for her dad. After trying several stalls, we managed to find them after being offered hundreds of designer watches and handbags. It was getting dark and pretty cold, so we decided to take the subway back as the timings did not work out for the express bus. This was a massive trip on the subways and some 30 stops before reaching our final destination. At home we warmed ourselves with hot chocolate and cookies and made cottage pie (without the cheese) for dinner. The day was finished off with the Harry Potter marathon by watching the fourth one in the series.

NYC Rockefeller Plaza Lori 12-6-2008 4-07-33 PM
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2008-12-08

A cold front hit NYC and our early rise to visit the statue of liberty meant we were to bear the brunt of it for most of the day. We had booked our tour of the Statue of Liberty with pedestal access and a trip to Ellis Island in advance for 10am. This meant an early rise and an express bus and subway trip to Battery park to catch the Ellis ferry for 9:30am. Our faces were feeling the freezing winds and sub zero temperatures just from the walk from Wall Street subway to Battery Park (5-10 minute walk). We had wrapped up warm and we were both wearing our thermals, four additional layers on top, hats, and gloves (in Ian’s case two pairs)! The ferry over gave great views of the statue as well as views back over the NYC skyline. It lasted for about 15 minutes and upon arrival we walked around ‘Liberty’ before going into the pedestal to find out its history. Ian learnt something new as apparently the Statue of Liberty was actually built by the French and given to the people of America as recognition of friendship. Over the years, the Statue of Liberty has grown to include freedom and democracy as well as this international friendship. Whilst the statue was built by the French it was the American people were responsible for the pedestal. Unfortunately, you are no longer allowed due to health and safety to climb to the very top of the statue and into the torch. The only access is to the pedestal and even this is limited to a given number of people per day. You do get some great views from the pedestal back over the cityscape of NYC as well as get to see in detail the history of the statue.

NYC Brooklyn Bridge City View Lori and Ian 12-7-2008 3-37-03 PM
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Ellis Island, a separate island from Bedloe's Island where the Statue of Liberty is located, was our second destination and was a short 10 minutes ferry ride away. Ellis Island was established in 1892 as a port of immigration into the USA. It was to remain open till 1954. Over 12 million people entered the United States through Ellis Island. Surprisingly the vast majority of these people were Italian and Russian (which we discovered during a 45 minute movie we watched on the island) and about 98 per cent of all immigrants were admitted to America, only 2 per cent of immigrants were sent back to their native countries. Immigrants were determined to be mentally and physically ok within 6 seconds via a visual inspection. Those that were not given the ok, could be cleared after recovering from their physical illnesses. The first floor (ground for the English) included an interested statistical exhibit with various facts and figures about the immigrants and various trends. The island was not very large and after a couple of hours, we had toured the immigration center and decided to head back to downtown Manhattan. We caught another 10 minutes ferry back to the mainland where upon we decided to head to Grand central station. Grand Central station was as impressive as it is in the movies. As it is the holiday period they were putting on a Kaleidoscope Light Show on the walls that created an impressive, free show to the public. Next on the busy days itinerary was the ‘Top of the Rocks’ as the Rockefeller plaza. We decided to go up this building rather than the Empire State building as it gives good views of the Empire State building as well as the rest of the city. The observation desk is some 70 stories up and gives full 360-degree views over NYC. We arrived about 4pm and after about a 30 minutes wait to actually get to the top (they had a Disney like line (queue for the English), we got 30 minutes of sunshine before the sunset. We stayed on the observation deck for 30 after the sunset, so we could see the lights of the city. By this point, we could bare the cold no more and had to go inside. After such a busy, cold day we headed home that evening to a nice night in with a warm cocoa!! We made chicken stir fry for dinner that night and enjoyed catching up with Gabby on her day’s events.

NYC Brooklyn Bridge City View Gabby and Lori 12-7-2008 3-51-41 PM
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2008-12-09

Our last full day in NYC was to be another busy day. We slept in and headed into NYC via the express bus in the afternoon. We stopped at Central Park, as we wanted to walk over to ‘Strawberry Fields’ and see the John Lennon monument located there. We did not manage to see this part on our previous hike in the park on Saturday. Strawberry Fields is located to the west of the park, a 2.5-acre tear-drop-shaped landscape. After seeing this area, we had a gentle meander back to the Plaza hotel at 59^th Street to find the new Peter Lik Gallery located there. We were not disappointed and browsed the gallery for about an hour before buying a book of his photography in Australia as a memento of our time there. After the gallery, we walked all the way down 5^th avenue to 34^th to see the window displays at Macy’s and to do a little Christmas shopping. Lori pointed out to Ian the green area outside Macy’s where the Thanksgiving Day parade that they had watched had taken place. As time was starting to get on, it was time to meet with Gabby in Times Square and have a pre theatre meal at O’Lunneys Bar and restaurant located on 45^th street. We had a nice meal there and felt prepared for our night at the theatre. We had tickets to see ‘Equus’ at the Broadhurst Theatre. It starred two British actors, Daniel Radcliffe and Richard Griffiths. Daniel is obviously known for his role as Harry Potter in the Harry Potter movies and Richard Griffiths also has a Harry Potter connection playing Vernon Dursley, Harry’s uncle. The play is about a psychiatrist attempting to unravel why a child blinded 6 horses with a hoof pick. It was actually a very good play and kept the three of us on our toes until the end wondering what was going to happen next. For those of you that are familiar with this play (either the original version in 1973 of the remake that played in London), you will of course know that Daniel has a nude scene in the play. After the play ended, we managed to catch Daniel (luckily clothed by this point) and Richard outside the theater for autographs and photo. Richard was not feeling well and we had a good exchange with him as he was signing our theater programs. He is quiet a character. Gabby drove us back to her place after the performance where we had our usual hot chocolate and cookies. We said our goodbyes that night, as Gabby was leaving at her normal 6 am time in the morning, and we would not be up until later and were leaving for DC the next day. We had a great visit with her and look forward to returning to NYC at some point in the future … when it is warmer.

NYC Brooklyn Bridge Lori Ian and Gabby 12-7-2008 3-59-01 PM
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