Time travel

Back to NYC. Aaahhh....this is going to be hard to do, actually. I do miss it so. I haven't talked or thought too much about New York, for that very reason.


I believe I left off here, Radio City, the Rockettes etc. Next on our epic schedule of New York touring was the Staten Island Ferry.




Well actually I lie...for Dad it was a trip to The Intrepid, a big giant aircraft carrying ship thing that bobs about on something like 46th St and 12th Avenue (I just checked this and was correct...hey!) Full of planes trains and automobiles. Well actually not really, but it does have a Concorde jet, and lots of other moving cool hardcore things. THEN we met once again at the ferry terminal. It was a beautiful day, in fact it was just about a t-shirt day. So we set off on our lovely journey over the water. It was very gorgeous, cracking views of Lower Manhattan, a bit of Brooklyn, the Statue.







And when we arrived on the Island it was such a lovely day that we got some pizza (from a guy who positively delighted me...he was this big fat red-faced Italian bloke who looked like the epitome of the New York pizza oven maestros) and we sat on the benches on the waterfront watching a big ship go by, tres relaxing.


Daddy eating Manhattan, apparently.



Dad's shades: better on dad.









OH YEAH and today of course was really St. Patrick's Day, after we confused ourselves the day before wondering where all the green drunks were. So, the whole place was packed out and yes there was green everywhere...hats, jumpers, t-shirts, faces etc etc etc.

We swung by Times Square just in case for some reason the TKTS line was smaller today. Well, I couldn't tell you, because it was utterly heaving so there was no telling who was in line for what. Revelry was rife (and annoying) so I put on my best 'I'm a busy New Yorker, get the fuck outta my way' manner and ploughed on through. After years of wading through underage drunks and drunks of age who should've known better, we came out in the relative peace of the East Side: Madison, Park, Lexington Aves. After a lot of walking (and a stop at Starbucks which featured the dimmest barista I've ever seen - she managed to get not one single thing about my order right, yaaaay) we made our way to 59th St and 3rd Ave, where the Roosevelt Island Cable Car sets off.




Roosevelt Island is the skinny little island between the Upper East Side and Queens. It's mostly residential, with very little traffic. There's not much of note on the island itself but the cable car, I was promised by one Wave Bonardi (who I miss greatly), was something special. It costs the price of a subway ride, so if you have an unlimited Metro card, you're laughing.

Turns out Wave was right on the money. It felt fantastic to soar up through the skyscrapers and across the river, in the gorgeous sunshine. Apologies for the dodgy quality of some of these, I was working through grimy glass here.







What a beautiful day. We thoroughly wore ourselves out with large amounts of walking and parted with plans for breakfast the next day (New York does a damn good breakfast).

I don't remember what I did that evening. Oh wait yes I do I remember exactly. As it was St. Paddy's day, we decided to celebrate in true Irish style (despite the fact that none of us are Irish...well Wave is 1/4 I guess, that's why she celebrated properly.
So Joe bought beer and I bought a tub of 'Dublin Mudslide' Ben and Jerry's ice cream.

I also remember there were lots of v. drunk people in the garden.

CoughAdamPriceCough.

Anyhoo, that was Friday. And so the whirlwind tour of the Big Apple continues.

Peace and love and rock and roll
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How important is chronology, really...

I am going to interrupt myself for this quick announcement...



This is 103 floors up the Sears Tower (only it's now called Willis Tower). It's 1450ft tall, taller than the Empire State. And it has these little glass boxes on the side of the building that you can stand in and look straight down through the floor at the street.



Teeheeheeheeheehee! I should mention that many people are too scared to stand in these things. I'm pretty proud that I went the whole hog and stood in it upside down.

............after a brief hiatus

I'M BAAACK!...errr...yes, not quite sure what happened there. Well actually no tons of things happened, that's why I haven't written anything for ages.

Right back to where I left off.

FAIREYS TAKE NYC
Commencing Tuesday the 15th of March at 10.00am

So Daddy flew in on Monday night and we met the next morning at his hotel on Union St, Brooklyn.
It was very exciting and very strange to have a member of my family in New York. Especially in Brooklyn.

So off we set on his first day in Manhattan. I, being so very excited and keen to catch up on gossip, managed to immediately send us the wrong way on the subway...but we moved past it and soon arrived at 42nd St and Times Square.

From there we walked the 17 blocks (sorry papa!) to 59th and Columbus Circle and carried on into the park. We wandered all the way up to Strawberry Fields to take a look at the Dakota and the John Lennon Memorial (and to have a little rest on a bench) and then decided we were hungry so we went to eat giant meat and cheese sandwiches at a small chain in my old neighbourhood of Chelsea. While we were there we also swung by my old building so I could point out the window that was my bedroom a year ago.

Suitably refuelled by enormous food and coffees, we headed for Union Square, to stroll around, people watch and have another sit down on a bench. (In a family of dodgy knees, sitting down on benches features heavily here).

During this bench sit we decided we would go for the gold and headed for the Empire State Building. Once again luck was n my side with that place, and we barely had to queue which always makes it a more enjoyable experience (and it's pretty darn enjoyable).

It was spectacular as ever, and in fact was my first time up during the day, so I could finally really see the view...and as you can see, wow.

Following this bout of exertion we found a Pret A Manger (one of the few places I thought we could reliably get an ok cup of tea (you can take the girl out of the England but you can't stop her fulfilling international stereotypes))

Our final sight for the day was the New York Public Library, one of my top buildings in the city. It's so beautiful and peaceful, and there happened to be a small exhibition of artworks that ran alongside a biography of Marie Curie so I learned something too.

All libraries should look like this.

Aaand that's day 1. We packed in a lot of stuff, and a lot of walking. Oh I forgot we also went home via Grand Central station, another sight to behold, though I'm grateful to the nice chap who found our train for us cos I can't for the life of me navigate that thing.

We made daring plans on the way home to MEET in Manhattan rather than me stopping at the hotel again and picking up Dad, and so, full of trepidation (just kidding) I left him on the train hoping he wouldn't nod off and end up at Coney Island. And I went home and did something, I don't remember what. Who cares.

Sooo Wednesday 16th March

Oh it's the 16th...it's St Patricks Day! Nope. This was the misapprehension under which we laboured all day though, and kept wondering out loud where all the drunken louts in green were. Duuuuh (gelatooo)

Anyway. Our plan to meet at the Staten Island ferry terminal went without a hitch. Except that it was grey and cloudy so I didn't want to go on the ferry. So we took a wander around the Financial District instead, stopping at Ground Zero, the Stock Exchange and the South St Seaport. (And yes if you're observant you will have noticed that I did a very similar tour with Joe not so long ago so it was all fresh in my mind...that's why I decided to take my dad there, cos I thought I could still navigate fairly well!)

After nourishing ourselves with giant sandwiches at a diner ('I didn't know it came with fries' said Dad in alarm. Silly padre, this is America) we whizzed back to Times Square in the hope of grabbing discount tickets from the TKTS booth. The queue however was astronomical, causing me to severely question the sanity of some people (do they really want discunt tickets so much they'll queue for an entire day in hot, sweaty Times Square?)

So we moved rapidly on a few blocks north for a memorable tour ooof......Radio City Music Hall! Now I'm not normally one for guided tours, but this was fab fab fab. Everything about it was great. Our guide was a very nice girl called Emily who we both listened to enraptured the whole time...she was a bloody good tour guide! I never appreciated how hard it is to do that - speak fluently and confidently about something for an extended period of time without sounding irritating. But she pulled it off. And Radio City is fun fun fun! It's all gorgeous inside. I think Dad mostly liked the Art Deco and I mostly liked the aura of Sssshhhhowbiz I could feel coming off everything in the building.

Radio City is famous for all kinds of superstars performing there. It is also famous for the annual Christmas Spectacular, featuring none other than THE ROCKETTES. Now I don't think I've ever mentioned this to many people but I LOVE THE ROCKETTES.
They are the final representatives of old school theatre and Broadway and chorus lines. Rockettes mean glamour, lavish costumes, kick lines, eyes and teeth, the whole shebang. And here is Lindsey, who just happens to be one! I'm only sorry that I didn't ask her if we could do a more interesting pose...shouldered legs or arabesques or something. And also that I look so scruffy...still, a Rockette is a Rockette. I was so very excited!













And here are some old Rockette costuuuuumes.....yay!


Hmm gosh this is getting rather long-winded. Better start a new one for days 3 4 and 5.

Arriverderci for now (I shuld say that I am once again blogging from a bed of pain...I'm sick, ugh. Well not really but I did feel awfully funny this morning and then threw up. Now I only feel a little funny:D)xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx