Central Park Wanderings

Plaza Hotel

The Dakota building

 Yesterday Tony and I walked from one side of Manhatten Island to the other.  Today we weren't so ambitious, and only walked from one side of Central Park to the other! Central Park is huge, green, peaceful, wild, manicured, lush, contained and yet another place where New Yorkers can enjoy their free time. I had wandered around the top half of the park on Saturday, but today we decided to tackle the place from the bottom, from  59th Street.  We emerged from the subway in front of the fabulous Plaza Hotel, complete with gilded statue of General Sherman in front of it and then set off on a ramble up 5th Avenue on the side of the Park, following our Frommer's walking guide (it's a great little book).  Had a look at more fabulous mansions around 5th, Madison and Park Avenues all the way up to 72nd Street and then grabbed a hotdog each and dove into the Park itself. Meandered around looking at various things, including Strawberry Fields, where the 'Imagine' mosaic was installed by Yoko Ono after the death of John Lennon. He was shot in front of the Dakota building, which is just outside that area of the park.

Part of  'The Lake'

There are some stunningly beautiful areas in Central park, including 'The Lake', where you can hire a rowboat and waft your hand romantically in the water while your game partner pulls on the oars.  Also found the 'Great Lawn' where people play baseball, throw frisbees, and take off their shirts to impress everyone else (the boys, that is).  All the while cyclists, joggers, skaters and people using other ways to get around while getting fit passed by on all the paths.  But again, here was a place where, if you really wanted, you could find places to be alone, to contemplate, and to read your book in peace.

It was a lovely way to end our first New York experience.  Now we are back at the hotel packing up and getting ready to ship out early tomorrow to Niagara Falls. Our train experience starts tomorrow!  We will be back in New York at the beginning of August.  What will we have seen in done in the meantime?  Can't wait to get started on our big adventure....

Canyons of Power

I think that heading has been used to describe the area of Lower Manhatten, but it really sums up the place so beautifully I thought I'd steal it^^

My breakfast...!

Tony is now safely here, so it's on to the stuff that we can both see together! First off was a HUGE breakfast in an honest-to-goodness diner, which filled us up for the entire day.  All together now;"CALORIES!!!"
After eating this kind of breakfast often, you'd probably then need some kind of medication. However, all the ads on TV for medication here go into grisly and complete detail of the all the horrible side effects that could befall you should you dare to take this medicine. "Gravelon, your only choice for indigestion. Take as directed. See your doctor immediately if you notice hair loss, green tinge to skin, tendency to mug little old ladies walking past, or brain infarction leading to death...."

Brooklyn Bridge

Then it was onto a walking tour of Lower Manhatten, starting from the Brooklyn Bridge. We took the subway over to Brooklyn and then walked back into Manhatten over the bridge. Great views of Manhatten through all the wires.  Tony remarked on the rust, however; there is patchy bits which have been painted, but it's pretty poorly maintained, at least on the walkway sides.

Forests of skyscrapers

Then we were over the bridge, and were swallowed up in the forest of skyscrapers that make up Lower Manhatten, the area first settled by the Dutch way back in the 17th Century.  Skyscrapers notwithstanding however, we still found plenty of places to sit down. As Tony says, this city always has seats just when you need them. This is true - there are dozens of little mini-parks, chairs and tables, benches and perches all over the place.  It's made for people, this city.  Unlike the modern glass encased cities, this place remembers that people are going to be wandering around its streets, and will get tired and will want to sit down and watch the world go by.

Ground Zero building site

We 'did' all the requisite sightseeing spots, including Trinity Church, Wall St (and the Bull), Battery Park (which was delightfully shady and cool; yet another place that shows NY is people friendly), City Hall, and then we came to 'Ground Zero', former site of the World Trade Centre towers.  It's a huge building site, supposedly being readied for a grand opening by this September.  It looked a very long way from being finished, so I don't know if this will actually happen.  We visited the memorial centre also.

By this time I was searching desperately for restrooms, and my feet were telling me in no uncertain terms that ENOUGH IS ENOUGH already! So we found a subway and got back to the hotel, and promptly collapsed in sweaty and tired heaps on the hotel room floor.  Anyway, now out for something to eat. Last night was Tony's first night here, and we sat on chairs on Broadway and ate fabulously fresh and healthy sandwiches from a deli, and looked at the world going by.  Tonight I don't care, as long as we don't have to walk too far!

Photos from the day can be seen if you click this link.

*Noted: NY is a great 'people' place, but there really needs to be more public restrooms around.  Also, if they want to cut down on plastic, have more places where people could re-fill their water bottles, even if they charged you for it.  I've had to throw away so many water bottles because, once you've used them, there's nowhere to get water from to re-fill them.  Just a thought...

Say it Loud, They're Gay and Proud...!

Following on with things to do that would interest Tony not a bit, today was the Gay Pride parade in New York city, and, typical of NY city, they put on one hell of a party!  Decided to join the thronging millions on 5th Avenue for the parade that kicked off under a bright, sunny sky.  There were just too many people, so some of us naughty ones were trying to sneak onto roads that the police had closed to traffic, but were not letting people onto, so we could see better.  *Trophy moment* I got shoved by a New York city police officer! Woo hoo!  They had their hands full and I don't envy their job. However, the general mood was very up and, dare I say it, gay, so I'm not sure they had to do much except crowd control.

The parade went on for several hours, with every possible group represented: gay grannies, gay pool players, HSBC bank(!), pro-gay politicians, all sorts of religious groups, gay-brarians (that's gay librarians to you)...you name it and they would have had someone dressed in bright colours, walking along 5th Avenue and waving a rainbow flag on this day.  This was the day to celebrate being same-sex orientated, particularly as NY State has just legalised same-sex marriage.  I wonder, however, if the loving atmosphere surrounding the paraders would have spread out further than a couple of blocks either side of the parade, whether the majority will pack up their costumes at the end of the day and go back to being largely conformist.  But whatever, they had a fantastic time today, and I was really lucky to have seen it.  Staggered back to the hotel after 5 hours standing in the sun getting jostled and pushed and determined that I would do no more.

My photos from the day can be seen at this Facebook Link

But then I did go out again...this time to Koreatown for dinner.  Heaven.  Dolsot bibimbap (stone pot rice) with great side dishes and an Asahi...aaaaju masshissoyo (yum!).  Called in on the Korean grocer next to the Hotel on the way home to pick up supplies, and now I'm ready to collapse.

And as I write, Tony is finally winging his way across the Pacific, so this time tomorrow he'll hopefully be here :)  Great end to a great day!

First Look at the Place...

Day 1: NEW YORK

OK, so this is going to be a running commentary on our travels in the USA and UK this summer. 'Our' meaning Tony and myself; however Tony is still on the other side of the planet, so for the moment it's just me! Chilean volcanic ash is determined to prevent him getting here. He is back to house-building while he waits for the all-clear in the skies and gets the hell over here; I wait with fingers crossed.

I actually arrived in NY last night, after a 7-hour delay in Dubai which

included a 4-hour hotel stay courtesy of British Airways...and then two, seven-hour flights. Encountered my first super-friendly Americans at the airport, and traveled, shattered, into the city by shuttle bus. Found the hotel with no trouble and collapsed.

The Affinia Manhatten is probably THE best place to stay for a newbie to this place. It's an older style place

on 7th Avenue, right in the beating heart of Manhatten, within spitting distance of Penn Station and a ton of must-sees and must-dos for tourists.

So now, what do I do here in this incredible city when Tony isn't here and I don't want to do things that we could do together....search for things that won't interest any normal red-blooded male with a penchant for old cars and architecture. Cue medieval and religious art.

I've always wanted to see the Unicorn Tapestries at The Cloisters, so that was the goal

for the day. This involved navigating the NY subway.

Noted: I thought the USA would be the place where nothing would be a mystery. However, it's a really confusing and complicated place at times. Bureaucracy means forms are terribly confusing, and they seem to leave out signs and instructions that would actually HELP people, for example at the airport, or the subway.

Penn Station is across the road from the Hotel, which is really handy. It's huge, hot, very confusing and packed with people. My first attempt had me climbing over a subway turnstile, wandering around in a panic, and then retreating with tail between legs back to the hotel and the sympathetic concierge, to get more information and some sympathy! The second time I got it right, and made it onto the correct train. Phew! The subway is dirtier than Asia, but not as old as the London Underground. You can't go to sl

eep as there are no in-carriage notifications of what stop you are at - you have to keep your wits about you and eyes open to figure out where you are. Didn't see any crazy people/threatening gang members/any other stereotypical images of the NY subway as seen on TV!

So I went down into the subway in

the middle of the concrete jungle, and came out again...into a park (this photo is what greets 190th St Station exiters). 190th

St Station is near Fort Tryon Park, and it is just a beautiful spot. So many people picnicking and wandering, and I joined them on the meander through the park to

the Cloisters museum.

Spent 3 happy hours at the Cloisters, taking dozens of pictures of the beautiful art, marveling at the Unicorn Tapestries,

learning about medieval church architecture and wandering around the gardens, which were full of medicinal herbs and kitchen plants as you would find in the medieval monasteries.

OK, next? Well, why not the Metropolitan Museum, as my entrance fee to the Cloisters would let me in there free on the same day. I jumped on a bus that took me down through the Bronx and onto Fifth Avenue, next to Central Park. I got off early, and wandered down Fifth Avenue, poking my nose into Central Park and ogling all the amazing apartments that border the park, where the rich and famous live. Oh for a substantial lottery win, to buy a place here...

The Met - well, some say you need a lifetime to see everything in here, so I didn't get anywhere near seeing anything in just an hour or two. Decided to carry on the medieval theme and just spent time in the medieval and

Byzantine sections, but still...my God what a magnificent place. My favourite piece was this rosary of death, dating from the 15th century, guaranteed to give any child god-awful nightmares...I want one!!

Well, that was enough for the day. Found my way back to the Hotel, with a small detour to Macy's Department store. And now I'm going to get some well-deserved sleep, as I'll be doing it all again tomorrow!

Noted: Friendly people! The Cloisters guard from the Bahamas, who followed his Sri-Lankan girlfriend down to Whakatane, but ended up back in New York; the Ghanian guard at the Met; the amazing concierge at the Affinia; two of New York's finest (police)... people here are just falling over themselves to chat to you. Godda love it :)


My Facebook albums for both the Medieval Art and my first looks around New York can be found at these links:
Medieval Art photo album
First Looks at New York album