So we've been home now for just over a week and I have had the worst "man flu" (watch this video for an explanation... video)I've had in a long time! But it does give me a chance to write my final blog entry, but keep your eyes open for Wookey's last post which is still to come!!
Our third day in NYC begins at our regular coffee house, Culture Espresso for a great coffee and yummy breaky while we plan our day. Our first tourist stop was the “Ghost City Station" on our way to Brooklyn. This is a closed subway station that you will sometimes see photographs of, but can never really get to without staying on the train at the end of the line and you will go past it, but you have to be quick!
We make our way to Brooklyn where we head to "One Girl Cookie" for some Spiced Pumpkin Woopie pies and hot chocolate. So yummy, it's not a cookie and not really a cake, but it's soft and tasty! Next stop was the Brooklyn Farmacy & Soda Fountain for an egg cream soda! These are soooo good, creamy, fresh & and slightly tangy. Contrary to the name it does not contain egg or cream, it's a little milk, chocolate syrup and soda water which is mixed until frothy (check out this link for more info... here). Brooklyn Farmacy & Soda Fountain is still decked out like a 1920's drug store and sells all sorts of bottled, jarred & canned goodies, like bloody mary mixes, ice-cream sauces and other yummies. We grabbed a little lunch and drank our fresh egg cream soda before taking a VERY long walk (due to incorrect instructions from the soda jerk) to the Brooklyn Bridge and across to Manhattan. Once back on the island we walked though the Grand Central Station Market which is very much like a cross between an indoor Queen Vic Market and the Myer Food hall, and then headed over to the Midtown Comics for some t-shirts and comics.
It's time for some dinner and if you're looking for some great BBQ ribs then you have to check out "Rub BBQ". Served on paper plates with paper napkins and with drinks in plastic cups, the ribs are SO good and the chicken wings in American with burn your lips off!! Paper plates aside, the service was fantastic and the food great, but it was time to walk it off. So we headed down to the gay district of NYC (well one of them), which is Chelsea. I found it to be a really interesting contrast between New York's gay district and the Castro in San Fran. The Castro seemed to be busy no matter what time we were there morning or night and just hummed with friendly faces and constant smiles. Chelsea on the other hand was almost the complete opposite, with very few people around and it really seemed very small and quiet. As we were walking back to the hotel we did come across a little bakery which seemed to be very popular, called Billie's Bakery where I purchased a small spiced pumpkin cheesecake and David got a half kilo slice of banana cake! Without a word of a lie, the slice of cake was MASSIVE!!!
Our third day in NYC begins at our regular coffee house, Culture Espresso for a great coffee and yummy breaky while we plan our day. Our first tourist stop was the “Ghost City Station" on our way to Brooklyn. This is a closed subway station that you will sometimes see photographs of, but can never really get to without staying on the train at the end of the line and you will go past it, but you have to be quick!
We make our way to Brooklyn where we head to "One Girl Cookie" for some Spiced Pumpkin Woopie pies and hot chocolate. So yummy, it's not a cookie and not really a cake, but it's soft and tasty! Next stop was the Brooklyn Farmacy & Soda Fountain for an egg cream soda! These are soooo good, creamy, fresh & and slightly tangy. Contrary to the name it does not contain egg or cream, it's a little milk, chocolate syrup and soda water which is mixed until frothy (check out this link for more info... here). Brooklyn Farmacy & Soda Fountain is still decked out like a 1920's drug store and sells all sorts of bottled, jarred & canned goodies, like bloody mary mixes, ice-cream sauces and other yummies. We grabbed a little lunch and drank our fresh egg cream soda before taking a VERY long walk (due to incorrect instructions from the soda jerk) to the Brooklyn Bridge and across to Manhattan. Once back on the island we walked though the Grand Central Station Market which is very much like a cross between an indoor Queen Vic Market and the Myer Food hall, and then headed over to the Midtown Comics for some t-shirts and comics.
It's time for some dinner and if you're looking for some great BBQ ribs then you have to check out "Rub BBQ". Served on paper plates with paper napkins and with drinks in plastic cups, the ribs are SO good and the chicken wings in American with burn your lips off!! Paper plates aside, the service was fantastic and the food great, but it was time to walk it off. So we headed down to the gay district of NYC (well one of them), which is Chelsea. I found it to be a really interesting contrast between New York's gay district and the Castro in San Fran. The Castro seemed to be busy no matter what time we were there morning or night and just hummed with friendly faces and constant smiles. Chelsea on the other hand was almost the complete opposite, with very few people around and it really seemed very small and quiet. As we were walking back to the hotel we did come across a little bakery which seemed to be very popular, called Billie's Bakery where I purchased a small spiced pumpkin cheesecake and David got a half kilo slice of banana cake! Without a word of a lie, the slice of cake was MASSIVE!!!
The weather in NYC took a dive from a very low teens to -3 degrees celsius in the morning and climbing to a modest 0 degrees by 2pm in the arvo!! This was our fourth day in NYC, where we walked the High Line Park, which is a garden build on the old de-commissioned above city rail line. It stretches around 23 blocks (1.5 miles) and is a great way to see some of the city. We then walked downtown to Christopher St and the Stonewall Inn which is the site if the Stonewall riots in the '69. Again I was a little disappointed as it was kind of a non event. There just didn't seem to be any real sense of "community" here (of couse this could be very different at night?). We then walked across to Union Square and the Flat Iron building where we grabbed some lunch at the Shake Shack. This was a VERY nice burger and the peanut butter shake was just divine! LOL, Americans LOVE their Peanut Butter favoured food and drinks!!
At this point we really needed to keep walking as we were FREEZING! So it was off to the International Centre of Photography back up in midtown. This was one of my major highlights in NYC and possibly one of the major highlight of the whole trip. One of the things I was really looking forward to in USA was seeing a great collection of photography, and until this point I'd been kinda disappointed. The Centre had three exhibits going when we visited, and we were lucky enough to have caught a free tour of all three just as we arrived.
The three exhibits were:
This was a really interesting exhibit for me, I found his strongest images where those of his portraits. He had a really great way of being able to connect with people and portray a very human and "real" story in him images. I found some of his architectural shots really captivating, especially those with great detail captured. He had a very good eye for being able to "document" details and a strong ability to create great stories in a very simple image. However, like a number of documentary photographers of his time, he wasn't above "stepping into the frame" and creating an image if one did not present itself. What I mean by this is, there's an image of a group of children fighting over something on the ground in front of the photographer. What had occurred was that Peter had seen these very poor children playing and had thrown a handful of pennies on the ground in front of him, thus "creating" the image he needed, showing how poor the children were and that they would fight other each other just to get a few pennies. Ethical? You decide...
At this point we really needed to keep walking as we were FREEZING! So it was off to the International Centre of Photography back up in midtown. This was one of my major highlights in NYC and possibly one of the major highlight of the whole trip. One of the things I was really looking forward to in USA was seeing a great collection of photography, and until this point I'd been kinda disappointed. The Centre had three exhibits going when we visited, and we were lucky enough to have caught a free tour of all three just as we arrived.
The three exhibits were:
- Signs of Life: Photographs by Peter Sekaer
This was a really interesting exhibit for me, I found his strongest images where those of his portraits. He had a really great way of being able to connect with people and portray a very human and "real" story in him images. I found some of his architectural shots really captivating, especially those with great detail captured. He had a very good eye for being able to "document" details and a strong ability to create great stories in a very simple image. However, like a number of documentary photographers of his time, he wasn't above "stepping into the frame" and creating an image if one did not present itself. What I mean by this is, there's an image of a group of children fighting over something on the ground in front of the photographer. What had occurred was that Peter had seen these very poor children playing and had thrown a handful of pennies on the ground in front of him, thus "creating" the image he needed, showing how poor the children were and that they would fight other each other just to get a few pennies. Ethical? You decide...
- Harper's Bazaar: A Decade of Style
This was a fantastic exhibit of outrageous colour and fashion, both fun and thought provoking. Images ranging from extreme high fashion, tongue in cheek faux paparazzi & mockumentaries, to classic beauty portraits and unorthodox "naked" beauty portraits (ie without any make-up). There were some truly stunning images here. I really recommend checking out the website to see a selection of what was on display. - ICP website
- Remembering 9/11
"In commemoration of the tenth anniversary of the September 11, 2001 attacks, the International Center of Photography is collaborating with the National September 11 Memorial Museum on Remembering 9/11, a major exhibition of photography and video that addresses the issues of memory and recovery from disaster and explores how New Yorkers and volunteers from across the U.S. responded to this inconceivable tragedy."
This is one of the most emotional exhibits I've ever had the privilege of seeing in my life thus far. I have not had such a strong emotional response to a collection of art since visiting the Vincent van Gogh museum in Amsterdam. This exhibition spans 5 rooms each with it's own photographer, except for the last room which is a collective of works.
I was going to write a small piece on each of the five parts of the exhibit, but I don't think that my words are really adequate to capture and impart the emotional impact that the images evoked. The room that had the biggest impact for me was the "here is new york: a democracy of photographs" part of the exhibit.
This is a collection of photographs captured by anyone & everyone, from world famous professional photographers to police officers, firemen, businessmen, housewives, school teachers, construction workers, and children. These images are so raw and in your face, images filled with pain & exhaustion, fear & hope, anger & grief. I knew this was going to be a difficult exhibit to view when I heard about it, but these images just got to me, they are so powerful I moved to sobbing tears. I wish we could have spent more time here, but as has been the case all through the trip, we just ran out of time! I feel I have not done justice to this exhibit so I strongly encourage you to check out the images for yourself. (here is new york: a democracy of photographs)
After an exhausting day; both physically & emotionally; it was time for room service dinner back at the hotel!
Our next day was spent SHOPPING! (so gay!)
But then it was off to MoMA for some more culture, and again we were pressed for time so it was a real whirlwind tour with only enough time to whiz through the top two floors, before heading down to the third floor to the photographic exhibits. You could easily spend a full day in this centre of art. Of course we did lose 45mins having to wait for the cloaking service so we could check our backpack.
After an afternoon of culture and fine art it was time for some seriously childish fun, so it was off to FAO Schwartz, New York's most famous toy store, the place where they filmed that famous scene from the movie "Big". One of the main reasons for coming here was that a friend (Thanx Blair!!) had told us about the "build your own Muppet" counter!! And thus Seamus was born!! It's such a fun and easy process, you're given a full kit with three bodies to choose from, and you just use the supplied stickers to create your very own Muppet! It was so much fun. The rest of the store is pretty awesome too, but I was surprised that it was so small, apparently it used to be about 5 floors, now it's been reduced to 3. I highly recommend checking this place out, it's just that much fun and such a great way to finish our night.
Our second late day in NYC (and the USA), we began the morning with coffee followed by shoe SHOPPING! (Yeah I know, so gay!) I am pleased to announce that I have found my new range of comfortable and spunky shoes - Timberland! There are sexy work boots, comfortable runners and very classy dress shoes, all in the one range! But enough about shoes! LOL
It was now time to write postcards and blog entries, before getting ready for my birthday surprise Dinner & Show evening. After showering, shaving and sprucing up it was off to Broadway!
Dinner was at the elegant Barbetta, a 106 year old classic, elegant and stylish Italian restaurant. This place is so good that even ex-president Bill Clinton & Hillary Clinton eat here!! Of course we only found this out once we arrived at the restaurant, as the staff were being briefed about security for Mr & Mrs Clinton, who were to be dining here the following night. I find it a little rude that they didn't invite us to join them!! ;-P
Service here was very good but not excellent, we did have to ask were to cloak our coats as opposed to being asked if we would like them cloaked for us. We were also served our food from the wrong side and they forgot to provide spoons for our coffee. I know these all sound like little things and may even seem like knit picking, but at a place of this standard, it's the difference between good service and outstanding service! The food on the other hand was just divine, so this more than made up for the little errors in service. After a very yummy dinner it was time for the Show!!
I'll be really honest here, I had no real desire to see Mary Poppins at all. Even when it was playing here in Melbourne with one of our friends as the musical director, we didn't see it. It probably didn't help that I'd never seen the film as a child, so I had no familiarity with the story or music at all. I had this strange preconceived idea that it was going to be a bunch of brats on stage singing about how wonderful they were. I'm really not sure where this idea came from, but it was so far off the mark.
I'm so glad that David secretly brought tickets for this production. It was just Magical! The sets are fabulously elaborate, the music is so much fun and the story is simply wonderful. It was full of emotion and magic, just like almost everything Disney does. The actors were amazing and you can see just how much fun they were having doing the show as the audience was watching it. I would highly recommend seeing this musical production whenever and wherever you get the chance, because it is just Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious!! You really do come out of the theatre saying, "why didn't I have Mary Poppins as a nanny!"... Or maybe that's just me! :-) Needless to say this was a wonderful way to finish our time in NYC and a magical birthday present! Thank you my Love.
Our last day in New York City, and America was a very quiet one moving at a nice slow pace. We enjoyed our last coffee and Culture Espresso, then headed to the Empire State Building. Of cause this was one of the only days that we had major cloud cover and it was kind of drizzling all day. This meant that there was going to be zero visibility at the observatory level, but it was our last day so...
It was an express ride up to the observatory level due to the limited visibility and there was NO line at all. Once we arrived at the observatory level you understood what the term "zero visibility" really meant. It means you can see white. Yep just white.
As luck would have it, the wind kicked in and the fog began to lift and I did manage to get some really nice shots of the city with this dense white fog behind it. After about an hour or so admiring the city from this height we needed to get into the warmth again and defrost. So it was off to lunch and some famous New York cheesecake. Mmmm creamy rich baked cheesecake, it was really very nice. Then it was back to the hotel and time to pack, followed by a brief trip through New Jersey to the airport and the beginning of our 20 something hour flight home.
But then it was off to MoMA for some more culture, and again we were pressed for time so it was a real whirlwind tour with only enough time to whiz through the top two floors, before heading down to the third floor to the photographic exhibits. You could easily spend a full day in this centre of art. Of course we did lose 45mins having to wait for the cloaking service so we could check our backpack.
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| Welcome Seamus! |
Our second late day in NYC (and the USA), we began the morning with coffee followed by shoe SHOPPING! (Yeah I know, so gay!) I am pleased to announce that I have found my new range of comfortable and spunky shoes - Timberland! There are sexy work boots, comfortable runners and very classy dress shoes, all in the one range! But enough about shoes! LOL
It was now time to write postcards and blog entries, before getting ready for my birthday surprise Dinner & Show evening. After showering, shaving and sprucing up it was off to Broadway!
Dinner was at the elegant Barbetta, a 106 year old classic, elegant and stylish Italian restaurant. This place is so good that even ex-president Bill Clinton & Hillary Clinton eat here!! Of course we only found this out once we arrived at the restaurant, as the staff were being briefed about security for Mr & Mrs Clinton, who were to be dining here the following night. I find it a little rude that they didn't invite us to join them!! ;-P
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| Barbetta |
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| Secret Show Revealed! |
I'm so glad that David secretly brought tickets for this production. It was just Magical! The sets are fabulously elaborate, the music is so much fun and the story is simply wonderful. It was full of emotion and magic, just like almost everything Disney does. The actors were amazing and you can see just how much fun they were having doing the show as the audience was watching it. I would highly recommend seeing this musical production whenever and wherever you get the chance, because it is just Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious!! You really do come out of the theatre saying, "why didn't I have Mary Poppins as a nanny!"... Or maybe that's just me! :-) Needless to say this was a wonderful way to finish our time in NYC and a magical birthday present! Thank you my Love.
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| Empire State Building |
It was an express ride up to the observatory level due to the limited visibility and there was NO line at all. Once we arrived at the observatory level you understood what the term "zero visibility" really meant. It means you can see white. Yep just white.
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| Empire State Building |
There is so much that we didn't get to do in the US, so we will definitely be coming back. Next time I think I'd give LA a miss and just go straight from Disneyland to San Francisco for another week, and then back to New York. I've really enjoyed my time in America and can't wait to return.
Thank you to everyone that has followed us through the blog and on facebook, your comments and support have been great!
Thank you to everyone that has followed us through the blog and on facebook, your comments and support have been great!
"Let the mind be enlarged to the grandeur of the mysteries, and not the mysteries contracted to the narrowness of the mind." - Francis Bacon
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