30 May 2011 A few photos of New York

Time Square

Time Square

                                                           Time Square

                                                     Brooklyn Bridge

                                       Grownd Zero. Building on left going to be build twice as high.
         

                                             Looking down from top of Rockefeller Centre

                                     Looking at downtown Manhattan from the ferry , Empire State Building.

                          Downtown Manhattan from ferry. Cranes in the middle working on Ground Zero.

                                    Downtown Manhattan from the Ferry.

                                      Typical New York Streets with hundreds of yellow cabs.

                                       Cranes working at ground zero.

                                         Ellis Island. Statue of Liberty.

May 30 2011

A little slow thismorning after our night out last night and three very busy days.

Didn't get  out  until 10.30am. Haven't done much just went down to Time Square and did a few shops as we hadn't been near the shops. Even hotter today after early morning thunderstorms and heavy rain. Dad didn't hear a thing slept through it. By the time we where up it had cleared  and the sun was out and very humid.

Back to hotel by 2.00pm to relax and cool down in the airconditioning. Will go out later for a bit to eat then back to get ready to leave tomorrow from the Districk Hotel between 8th and 9th Ave. 40th St.West.
Its been a good location central to most things as in Midtown so can get to downtown and uptown easily.

We  pickup our rental car tomorrow and head up to New Milford for astop over between N.Y and Niagara Falls. About seven hours driving over the two days.

Well thats goodbye to  exciting New York

May 29 2011

Another very hot day must be over 30 deg.  Took another Hop on bus tour over to Brooklyn a suburb across the East river. Not a lot to see very quiet Sunday morning. It was a nice looking back over to Manhattan. The bus couldn’t cross over on the Brooklyn bridge as double deckers are too high so we went over the Manhattan bridge which is just a little way up river. This tour took just over an hour.

Got back to Battery Park downtown Manhattan and decided to go back to ground zero to see if we could get a better advantage point for photos as when we first went to that area it was all fenced off and could only see cranes working. We got a better look of the ground area but could only see the big hole through thick netting tried to take photo but didn’t come out clear enough. They are building another big tall building at 110 levels which will be just another target.

Another reason why the weekend is so busy is that it is Fleet week two large aircraft carriers are in port and lots of Navy personals are in town.

We thought that the line to catch the boat to the Statue of Liberty was long the other day but gosh you should have seen it today being Sunday. It was at least 700 m or more. Who would stand in that in the hot sun and it didn’t seem to be moving very fast. Glad that we saw it from the ferry the previous day.

Tonight was the night we meet up with the Menchers   (neightbours of ours when we lived in America for eight months when I was five.)Tom Marion Mel and Helen.  Had dinner at Mels and Helens and had lots to talk about as last time I saw them was 59 years ago . A long time. They had a nice apartment on River side drive looking over the Hudson river. We caught a bus up there which took about an hour with all the stops and Tom drove us back to the hotel in ten minutes. Nice evening.

May 28 2011

This morning we headed  back  down  to the pier to catch the river cruise ferry which takes you around Manhattan. Interesting  seeing  Manhattan from the water looking back at all the landmarks. The pier we left from was adjacent to where the plane landed on the Hudson river.  Just as well we  didn’t  queue up for the Statue of Liberty ferry yesterday because the cruise we did today went right up beside it to take good photos. The trip lasted for 1 ½ hours. Much cooler being on the water.

Another very hot day, 30 deg. and predicting the same tomorrow. I think that we are starting to get a bit of heat exhaustion  so much to see and do just have to keep going.

Our timing to hit New York wasn’t good as it is what they call memorial (same as our Anzac ) weekend and Monday is a holiday. You just wouldn’t believe the crowds that are in town.  I am sure that the whole of America has arrived.

This afternoon  we took the uptown Hop on and off bus. This started in the Times Square area along the western side of central park which they call upper west side through Morningside heights Harlem back along the eastern side of the park back to Midtown the area where we are staying.

This area is really different with some great old architecture mainly up market apartments ,universities  such as Columbia, Museums, private schools and of cause  a lot quieter. One part was along  the Hudson river called Riverside Drive where we are going tomorrow night for dinner  as I explained yesterday. Looking  forward to that. We got off the bus at one of the Central park stops had a walk through the park, watched a bit of local baseball then hopped back onto the bus. Went back to the hotel to cool down before heading out for a bit to eat then another walk round Time Square area. So crowded. Good to get back to the quietness of the hotel.

It’s amazing that Manhattan is all built on rock which you can see through Central Park  where  a lot of the rock  is exposed out of the ground. Must have been very hard to develop  the area  cutting through all of that.

Forgot to mention yesterday we walked over Brooklyn Bridge. The oldest original bridge to cross over to Manhattan. Also walked down 5^th Ave all the posh shops just kept walking didn’t go in any of them also 7^th Ave, Broadway all great to see as we see and hear of all these places on T.V. so much.

27th May cont'd

As we had a free ticket to do a river cruise around Manhattan we took off on foot to the west side where all the ferry ports are thinking it wouldn't be far but the instructions we where given were way out. Walked way too far, talked to some local girls who put us in the right direction  back to where we came from. Finally when we got there the last ferry for the day left a couple of hours earlier.

Very hot at this stage. Saw a bus which would take us back to the Rockefeller Center where we could use another free ticket to go to the top to an outside viewing deck 67 floors up so you can imagine how Pete / Dad  felt about that. He did go but once you got there, there were another two stories up to further outside viewing but yes you guessed it I had to go alone from there on. Fantastic views although not so good for photos as still a bit misty like when we arrived although the sun was very hot.

After that experience it was past tea time so stopped and had our first subway (meal  not underground.). Then we stopped and picked up a McDonald Milkshake and took it back to the Hotel.
Hot and exhausted.

Rang Mel and Helen Mencher today ( Nana and Papa's friends from when we lived in America when I was five.) Going to their place for dinner on Sunday night. Alot of memories should come back.

Just to explain why we have these free tickets, we get them when we purched our Hop on bus pass.

27th May 2011 NEW YORK

 Woke feeling  refreshed after eight hours sleep. Don’t feel any time change, no jet lag.

Went downstairs in our hotel  for cooked breakfast $12 each. We are on the 19^th floor Dad won’t look out of the window. Room 1905. The hotel is so narrow that there are only five rooms per level.

Left  hotel  just before nine and brought a three day pass on the Hop on and Hop off bus and took off. Did what they call the downtown loop this morning. (We are staying in the mid- town area) Although a little misty at first got very hot and sunny especially sitting up on the open deck of the double decker bus. They were predicting 30deg today.

So far we have seen Time Square at night fun place saw Empire State building, ground zero, although the area was all fenced off and you couldn’t see anything except all the tall cranes working.  Theatre District ,  New York Stock Exchange, Wall Street , walked through some of  the financial district. Walked  through Battery Park down by the harbour. Wanted to take the boat trip over to the Statue of Liberty but the queue was so…………long the guy said it would be at least one and half hours wait and by then it was too hot to stand that long. Maybe get down there early one morning and try our luck.

By 1.00pm the heat was getting to us sitting on the open deck of the bus and doing a lot of walking in between, we ate a pizza and headed back to the hotel to cool down. Dad watching a bit of  tennis  before we head out again.  (I think that he might have dropped off).

The hotel doesn’t have a coffee maker, where are you Adam having withdrawals. I guess lots of water is better for me.  

26th May 2011

On board flight Q25 for Los Angeles.

Left home at 9.00am picked up by Des. Couldn’t check in on line as website was down for the 24 hours we tried. As this applied to everyone made check in at the airport  very slow.

Caught up with Dave at the airport as he was working.

We left on time 1.05pm. Nice plane Airbus 330-200. Plenty of leg room and very quiet. Just two seats next to the window so nice not to have anyone sitting next to us. Easy to run around as we please.

Eleven  and half hours flying to Los Angeles where we have a two and half hour transit stop before changing planes to New York.

Arrived on time In Los Angeles. Very good flight slept about six hours. Now 2.00am N.Z. time sitting in transit for our flight to New York.

We had to go through full security/customs even though we are only in transit. Not sure if this means that we have to do it all again in New York. This is America I  suppose.

We see that we are on another Airbus 330-200. We had been told that it was going to be a Jumbo but not enough passengers . Good one as we will have two window seats together again. As I said nice quiet  comfortable planes .

Another good trip five hours to New York. More sleep on and off so arrived feeling good. And no we didn’t have to go through customs again at New York. Twenty hours from Auckland airport to New York airport. Another hour and a half taxi drive to hotel as rush hour. Usually takes about half hour. Fortunately it wasn’t metered  fix price. US$45.00.

Checked in, then went straight down to Times Square for a walk  and just got back after two hours. It was getting dark so great sight with all the lights and atmospher.

All up from the time we left home to arriving at hotel was about 25 and a half hours but still feeling good but on saying that just about to go to bed.

May 22 2011