USA: The BIG Apple, New York, New York

2 of the 'New" Towers in New York

Start spreading the news
I am leaving today
I want to be a part of it
New York, New York .......

Dah, dah, de darh, da.....

Anyone know the rest of the words  ?????


Statue of Liberty

Central Park, Times Square, Ground Zero and the new Freedom Tower, Times Square, Rockerfella Centre, the High Line, Hudson River, Statue of Liberty, Brooklyn Bridge, Manhattan Island, the M & Ms Museum, Hershey's Chocolates, 1 Police Plaza, Uptown, Downtown, Westside, Eastside, Staten Island, subways.  Just where do we begin with this part of our travels.  Perhaps the most obvious is our arrival into New York in the late afternoon.

Columbus Circle, New York

We'd been keeping an eye on the weather and even before we left Boston there was a whole rain pattern in the north-eastern area covering Massachuettes, Conneticut, New Jersey and New York and we were heading to the centre of it.  The temperature had also dropped significantly to around 52 degrees farenheit.  That's Cold AND that's wet.  Not something we were looking forward to but all that was about to change and besides, our main priority was to quickly work out the subway system and find our way to where we would be staying for the next week.  As it turned out it was a fluke that we found it and the location, Westide Y was perfect  (the abode not so much)  but it was 3-5 minutes walk from the 59th and Columbus Circle, on 8th Avenue, Westside.  The way we remembered where the subway line was by a world globe structure - with a map of Australia at the entrance we were to use.  Easy! 

They say that New York is a city that never sleeps and when there you can actually understand why.  During the night you can hear a hum of the city, not necessarily traffic or people noise but just a strange hum. The other thing is that it just GLOWS all night, like a pending sunrise that just goes on and on until daylight actually hits.  Strange!!  But with Time Square and all the highrises it makes sense.

New York Subway system

The actual address made no sense to us either, but days later when the grid system was explained to us it all came together - I think! But that didn't explain the complexity of the subway systems because what we found was the even if you know your station, the exits were an issue because you had to know exactly which one you wanted.  Otherwise you would end up about 3 blocks from where you wanted to physically be.  In addition to that there were sometimes 3 levels of platforms underneather the city and it was easy to get it very wrong.  We had a good laugh when we did!!

Because New York has so many sites to see and things to do our plan of action was to buy the 2 day Hop-on, Hop Off bus tickets, plus a New York pass which allows priority entry to the major attractions, togethere with various other benefits such as bicycle hire, boat cruises, museum tickets and discounts etc.  So we made the most of it.  Thankfully on the following day the rain had cleared, but I don't think rain would have stopped us anyway.  

First it was collecting the New York pass, then on to the bus, and double decker Red bus (you can't miss it) where a guide provides commentary.  We did the usual "recky" run where we decide the attractions we would go back to.  OMG!! There were so many we wanted to cover in a week but we put together of the 'must do's" and here is our checklist AND we saw them all, not necessarily in this order but we did see them, or did what we had planned.  Here goes.......

·         Statue of Liberty

·         Empire State Building

·         Ground Zero/911 Memorial

·         Times Square

·         Chinatown

·         NBC Studios and get on Today Show with message to the family

·         M and M’s Museum

·         Bicycle Hire & Ride complete circuit of Central Park

·         Grand Central Station

·         1 Police Plaza (Law & Order)

·         Federal Courts Building (Law and Order again !!)

·         Walk across Brooklyn Bridge

·         The Bodies exhibition

·         The Chinese Warriors at the Discovery centre

·         Ride the Subways

·         Staten Island Ferry

·         Rockafella Centre

·         Battery Park and adjacent Marinas/Piers

·         Go to Harlem

·         American Natural History Museum

·         Walk the High Line

·         Eat at Taco Bell

·         Try a New York Pretzel

·         Cruise on the Hudson River

·         Coney Island

·         Water Taxi around Manhattan

·         Buy NYC postcards and souvenirs (Oops how did that one get in here)

Old Subway tracks converted into Gardens and Pathways

  One of the things that we found about New York was that the majority of people were really quite friendly and willing to help if we looked lost. I guess another sterotype portrayed by TV. Another fact is that large numbers of Aussies travel to NYC. One night we started a conversation with a family from Sydney - ( the Penrith Panthers shirt gave him away) they gave us the results of the 2nd State of Origin.  The next night in a Chinese restaurant, we were sitting next to a couple of guys from Melbourne who were there on business.  We told them the results because they were in transit and hadn't caught up on the news.   But considering that we've travelled in the States for 3 months, (excluding 3 weeks in Peru), hearing an Australian accent sounded really strange !!(and almost quite welcoming)

    There were so many pics taken in New York and if I wrote about the highlights it would take me a week to put it together.  So instead I will post photos only with some captions below.

    Hope you like them and you can zoom in to get a better look at the detail.

    One big piece of news was that TJ made it to the 86th floor observation deck of the Empire State Building, but he wasnt having any part of paying an extra $17.00 to go to the 102nd floor observation deck, and I have the photos to prove it !!!

    As was our custom in most cities in the USA, we visited Chinatown on the last day/night for some souvenir shopping and a meal, and it was glaringly obvious and we were devastated to see the number of "curries" selling merchandise. Come on you chinese americans stand up for your rights, send 'em back to Mumbai to sell their bloody wares, not on your patch. Anyway, we did the right thing and only bought goods from real chinese in Chinatown, had to have some racial equality.

    Having done all the things on our checklist the very last task was for Liz to do up a big sign, go to the NBC Studios and get on the NBC Today show at Rockafella Plaza.  This meant she had to get up really early, navigate the subways and challenge the crowd for a place in the spotlight.  She did - and she did see Mark Wahlberg who was on the program to talk about his latest movie, Ted.  Just so happened she was in the background behind him. And managed to follow the camera around at every opportunity. Ann actually came up and asked where home was in Australia. If you happened to miss the program, which showed at around 3am Australian Eastern Standard Time - here is a captured moment !!!


For us it is the end of our United States leg of our journey flying from JFK International Airport to Paris via Frankfurt.  The trip to the airport took us 2 and a half hours on the Expressways (banked up traffic) for a trip that would normally take just on an hour. That's another story but I'm not even going to start......

    We've travelled over 14,500 kms and that's not counting the extra distances in between.  We travelled in 30 States in America. Our modes of travel were by Amtrak, Greyhound Buses,  Jitneys,  buses, ferries, bridges, double deckers, subways, cars, Shuttle buses, Samuel Adams/Doyle's Party Bus, Monorails, Metros, Charlies, Bicyles, Trolleys, Cable Cars, water taxis, and all those other train and bus systems across the States. One omission though -  based on bad driving habits we witnessed we didn't ride in a NYC Yellow Taxis. LOL !!

    It's ALL been one hell of a ride.

   More to come about our travel adventures from Europe.

    Bonne nuit mes petits choux.

  

      Liz and Tony

Times Square by Day

Times Square by Night

Freedom Tower in clouds
One of 4 new towers to be built
at the former World Trade
Centre sight

Manhattan from Empire State Bldg

Freedom Tower

Rockafella Plaza



Old NYC Architecture

Liz on Brooklyn Bridge
with Manhattan Skyline

Manhattan & Hudson River
at Sunset

Coney Is Boardwalk

New York Brownstones

Expressway by the Hudson River

NYC with views to Central Pk

TJ  ready to walk
Brooklyn Bridge

Entering Harlem

 Chrysler Bldg

Warrior in NYC at Discovery

911 Memorial Pools

NYC Skyline (1)

NYC Skyline (2)

Dakota Bldg
 John Lennons former apartment

TJ walking the Empire State Bldg
 86th Floor Observatory 

USA: Boston, MA

Boston, Massachusetts

Our journey from Atlantic City via a very quick stopover in New York on Friday 8^th June wasn’t the most pleasant experience to say the least because I became quite ill and considering that we had travelled all over the States on either Greyhoung bus or Amtrak trains without any problems - it was quite unexpected.  I won’t go into detail about the reason I thought I was sick, but I don’t think it had anything to do with motion sickness.  I felt like I had been possessed (imagine scenes in the Exorcist without the head turning). I couldn’t wait to get off that bus quicker and in between ‘heave ho’s’ I was counting down the miles.  So after arriving at the Boston Greyhound bus terminal we then had to change to the local train system to get us to Oak Grove where we would be staying for the next few days with Vera, who we found just how much of an interesting and talented person she was.  She was delightful and really interested in hearing about our travels and Oz. 

Typical Boston 'burbs housing

Boston Inner City Apartments

Just like Washington the scenery in Boston was lush and green with mainly beech and maples.  Not a gum or wattle tree to be seen anywhere here.  We met Vera our airbnb host who kindly offered to make us something to eat (it wasn't a good time for me and all I wanted to do was to lie down and rest. However, the next morning after a quick orientation we decided to venture into the city and make our way to the touristy areas and see what sight-seeing options were available.   Our first impressions were that the City was very welcoming and the houses and buildings had a distinct character of their own.  But before this we had to find our way into the city itself. 

The first hurdle was the train lines were undergoing some maintenance over the weekend, so we had to transfer by shuttle buses to another station, then get a train to State Street.  As soon as I jumped on the bus I started to get that “Greyhound” feeling again.  Thankfully that didn’t last long at all. 

State Street, Boston

Down by the Boston Harbour we found the “Old Town Trolley Tours” and for a reasonable price you get a 2-day Hop on-Hop Off as much as you like, see all the main attractions, get discounts at cafes, restaurants etc, with on-board commentary (which sometimes made us laugh that much we had to find the closest Rest Rooms), and even includes a Boston Harbour cruise that lasts for 2.5 hours.  Bargain! 

Old Town Trolley Tours

Cheers Pub at Quincy Markets

We decided to sit on that trolley and go around and around until we finally decided which sites we would hop off and walk around. The choice was endless.  But the main ones we both agreed on was to at least walk a little of the Freedom Trail, go to Paul Revere’s house and then go to Boston’s oldest pub, serving Samuel Adams Lager.  OK, you’ve caught on – the oldest pub, “The Bell in Hand” Tavern was actually our main attraction. But we did see other sites including Mike's Bakery http://www.mikespastry.com/ which we had no idea existed until the lady driver of the trolley mentioned that she was going to stop in for some Canoli. Then there was Constitution Dock and the museum, historic Faneuil Hall and Quincy Markets where another old Irish Pub Establishment called "The Black Rose" just goes off on St. Patricks Day each year (pity we will be missing that one). But as we understand it, it doesn't have to be St Paddy's day because it is open 7 days a week and serves Guiness and traditional Irish Stews.

Then we shouldn't forget about the 'Cheers' pub, one and the same as the TV show, except they only used the outside as a prop.  That was dissappointing but we found a replica of the Cheers bar at the Quincy markets. 

Strange shadows on the Freedom Trail

We needed to get to the Samuel Adams Brewery in the days before we leave Boston.  All was achieved and more. 

A couple of sites we saw included the Boston Celtics “The Garden” Stadium and it surprised us to learn that even though they built this huge wonderful stadium to fit thousands upon thousands of fans they didn’t include any car parking spaces on the site. 

The Garden - Celtics Home stadium

Instead a couple of blocks down there is another site which is the “Preferred Garage of the Boston Celtics”. 

And while we are on the subject of parking and stadiums another famous Stadium we passed was Fenway Park, Home of the Boston Red Sox. The Stadium is heritage listed and any changes have to be passed in accordance with the Boston city Development plans, and this is where parking issues also play a big part within the surrounding areas of the stadium.  Near Fenway Park, the local CVS (a supermarket and pharmacy chain in the US) has its own security guard to keep out people wanting to park during the big games.  In fact, the local Shell petrol station, makes more money as a Car Park than it does selling petrol on days of baseball matches. 

Fenway Park, Boston

And the servo lot holds around 100 cars. 

Before the Game - Check our the
Parking Prices

During the Game

One thing we failed to mention was that our arrival in Boston coincided with the annual Pride March, which goes for 2 days, and it wasn’t until we were on the trolley that it was announced the street closures and possible delays due to the parade.  

Sometimes it was more entertaining sitting on the stationary trolley than the commentary because we had the opportunity of seeing more attractions than we had anticipated. One of those was seeing Norman Bates pushing 'Mother Bates" into a luggage store (seriously Mrs Bates was an excellent Taxidermy or dummy or both). 

Psycho - is this
Norman Bates in Boston?

What the ???

Boston, Please Explain !!! 

MIT with the “Cyclatron” was interesting as were the stories about the history of Boston, Paul Revere, Samuel Adams, how the waterfront has been reclaimed over the last century, and how various cultures had an influence on Bostons’s past such as the Italians and the Irish.  Seen the Departed with Leonardo Di Caprio and Mark Wahlberg?  We actually saw the area where it was filmed.  And Boston would be the only place where in all of our travels we have seen so many Irish pubs – nearly one on every corner – and the blocks are short.  We haven’t been to Ireland so I can’t comment on that one.  And perhaps the best Irish name we’ve heard in all our travels is – Jose McIntyre !!!  Now when it comes to Mark Wahlberg, a true Boston son, we saw the Apartment building he owns right on the Harbour, prestige property with a going price of over $2 M.  I didn't see Mark on that day but would have the chance when we get to New York.  Honest!

One of the things that we liked about the Boston folks is that they have a real sense of humour much like us Aussies.  In other words they take the PISS !! For example, they throw off about their own accents – much like we do.  Instead of saying the Car Park near the Harbour – it sounds like the CARH PAHRK near the HARH-Bour.  They even have souvenir T-shirts with it on them !! Loved it.  Even when we went into this place for lunch called Al's Cafe, that the girl behind the counter asked where we were from.  Her reply after we told her was that she loved our accents.  We had to be truthful and say WE LOVED THEIRS TOO  !!  In fact, it wasn’t until we were talking to Vera later that night when she was trying to copy how I was saying YEAH.  But I really loved the way she was saying WOW !!! 

As mentioned earlier Vera was also a very interesting lady and I was amazed at how talented she was.  Not only had she been an extra in a movie “Shutter Island”, another Leonardo movie, Vera is musically talented and plays Glass Musical Instruments. The most famous of these being the Benjamin Franklin invented “Glass Harmonica” and she was kind enough to play Waltzing Matilda and other tunes for us. 

There are a number of short You-Tube clips of Vera playing at the Paul Revere house where she goes each weekend and plays for tourists. Strange that I took a photo of the signpost at Franklin Court, Philadelphia which mentioned he was an Inventor - and here we were in Boston, 100's of miles away staying with Vera who was actually playing a 'rare' instrument the Ben Franklin had invented.  Is that a 6 degrees of separation of some sorts ??

Check out this You Tube clip of Vera playing the Glass Harmonica and listen very closely to what she is saying - very interesting...... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-WZExmtIJkI   Vera was absolute delight and we were thrilled she we had a personal rendition of her music.  There are many more You Tube clips of Vera in action if you want to see more of her talents. Incredible!
Here is another link of Vera playing at Harvard Square - http://www.madridemotion.com/en/come-to-madrid-to-celebrate-the-gay-pride-2012/

Boston was a treat and we’d highly recommend it if you are planning a trip to the States.  We could have stayed much longer except we had already made plans to get back to New York where we would stay for a week before flying over to Paris, via Frankfurt for the next leg of our trip.  But before all this it was mandatory that we fit in the Samuel Adams Brewery tour - what a way to end our stay in Boston.  This was an experience to be had and a MUST on any traveller’s itinerary. 

Firstly, we got there by the subway. Secondly, we thought we were at the wrong stop because we were in suburbia (until we saw the rising red brick towers of the Brewery). Thirdly, now this part is the best – Entry is free except for a Gratuity (tip) and what we were to find out is - WHERE CAN YOU SHARE 4 or MORE JUGS of BEER for about $5 ??  Inside we had Dave as the Tour Guide and he knew everything there was about beer. 

Samuel Adams Brewery

At the end of the boring stuff ie. looking at the hops, brewing tanks everyone was edging to get to the best part – the Munich Beer Hall style tables, jugs, cheers and lots of beer.

Dave the tour guide, the barman and Matt

Me, not being a beer drinker, I was under the impression that you only had to Guzzle it.  I was wrong!  David explained the way to taste each beer for its natural flavours, hops, wheat or barley.  It was like a Beer Apprecation Course ie. BEER 101.  And we all passed with a 100%.  Now I’m not sure how many tours Dave takes each day, but not only was he 2-3 beers ahead of everyone else, he also had BIGGER glasses than everyone else, to the displeasure of the hardened beer drinkers of the tour, but the consolation prize was that we get to keep the glasses we were drinking out of.  There was not a full jug left in the house after our tour !!!
  

All happily singing and laughing with all our new found friends, Matt and Lindsay from Atlanta Georgia, who we were sitting next to us sculling beer, (I mean Beer Appreciation), we were told about the Doyle’s courtesy bus.  Doyle’s is another famous Irish establishment just a couple of blocks down.  We couldn’t resist - we were on a fast as you could say MORE BEER !!

The Doyle's Party Bus

Lights, lights and more lights

Now this was NO ORDINARY courtesy bus as we were to find out.  Now for those of us who learnt to drive cars with gears, before automatics came into being, well our trip in this courtesy bus would be just like that – “Kangaroo HOPPING” all the way.  It’s not because the driver couldn’t drive or had just got his license.  It was because the bus was fitted out with …. wait for it …  Disco lights, Strobe lights, laser lights and music that pumped so loud that it could be heard all the way to Boston Harbour which was 20 kms in the opposite direction.  The driver was "dancing" the trolley bus to the beat of the music.  We just about couldn’t control ourselves again and were looking for the nearest Rest Room but had to wait until we got to Doyle’s.  

Matt & TJ seriously talking during half time
England in action in Euro 2012

At Doyles it just got better, the food was great, and they served Angry Orchard too.  Lindsay and Matt were a top couple and were also at the end of their stay in Boston.  Matty was from Manchester, England (and YES and Man United supporter) and Lindsay worked as a Nanny, they met each other at Uni. Unfortunately some of the photos I'd taken crashed, including one with all of us, but ones that saved were of the Kennedy Room at Doyles, and this one of Tony and Matt. 

Not sure how we got back to Vera's after that long session, but the parts I do remember - It was a great way to end our stay in Boston, very memorable.

Our next stop - The Big Apple - New York..........

Cheers from

Liz And Tony

Sadly, during our stay in Boston we were to receive news that Liz’s nephew Django had been killed in a tragic accident on Saturday 9^th June.  Her birthday.

RIP Django, your spirit in this life lives on in the next.

Boston's Finest for Crowd Control at the
Annual Pride

Lindsay - there you are.

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