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Published: March 1st 2006
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What a start!
Kristin takes the rude awakening in stride Hi all,
Well the blog is a bit late, but better late than never aye?
So... after spending Xmas up in Newcastle with Kristin's sister Ann, and the boys, we finally got on the plane on the 28th bound for NYC. On arriving in NYC at around 11pm local time, we headed straight for the hotel. The hotel is in a fantastic position, right on the park on the upper west side. Unfortunately it would seem that an arm and a leg doesn't buy you much in Manhatten so we were greeted with a room barely big enough to hold the bed! Not to worry, we weren't planning on spending much time in there.
On the morning of the 29th I awoke somewhat early to the sound of heavy rain above us? I took a quick look outside and sure enough it was chucking it down. Maybe it was the jetlag, maybe I'm just not particularly quick, but I put my head back down on the pillow and didn't give it another thought. And as I lay my head down I saw the light shade above the bed collapse under the shear weight of water literally streaming through
Grand Central Station
Kristin warming up a little at Grand Central. from the room above!!! Can you imagine how fast I moved?? Cat like comes to mind.
Anyways, even though that hotel staff we even slower on the uptake than I was at that time of the morning, we got an upgrade to a room 3 times the size. No harm no foul.
Kristin and I both have a bit of a soft spot for pancakes, and as they are next to impossible to find in the UK, we were on a mission to find a good breakfast place. Luckily for us we found a cafe a couple of blocks from the hotel that did a cracking blueberry pancake stack! Sure enough we were a regular feature for the next 4 days!
The rain was still heavy after breakfast so sightseeing wasn't really much of an option, so we decided to have a laugh, get hold of some umbrellas and walk the length of Central Park down to 5th Ave. Even though we got pretty wet, it was good fun.
The good thing about the weather being as it was, was that there weren't many people out on 5th Ave so we were able to take it
Ice skating at the Rockerfeller Centre
Although we weren't brave enough to lace up some skates, the ice skating at the Rockerfeller centre did look like fun. all in without the hassle of dodging pedestrians. We made our way down to Times Square, by which time we were ready to find a bar, have a drink and dry off a bit. Planet Hollywood was a bit of a laugh, along the same lines as the Hard Rock Cafe. We split from there and headed down to the ESPN bar. How cool was this place!!! Sports wall to wall, beer and bar food. What more does one need? And the best thing was that the NBA was on so Kristin was into it (being a basketballer and all). Sorted.
On the way home we took a better look at the Rockerfeller Centre and the ice skating that was going on there. The Xmas decorations were still all out, and streuth were they good. Definitely a few ideas for next years tree ;-)
The 30th brought some fantastic weather so after breakfst we headed straight for the Staten Island ferry for a look at Manhatten from the water, Ellis Island from a distance, and of course the Statue of Liberty. As you can see from the photo's, there were some spectacular views from the boat.
After
The Rockerfeller Centre
The Xmas decorations at the centre. the ferry we did one of the walking tours in the Lonely Planet up through Wall St and the finantial district. The Wall St bull wasn't quite as attention grabbing as I was expecting, and we probably would have walked straight past it if it hadn't been for all the other tourists trying to get snaps with it. At the end of the walk we found ourselves at Ground Zero. Now, we hadn't planned to go out of our way to see Ground Zero because we had heard that it was just another construction site these days, and we basically knew what had happened there so reading the info on the walls there wasn't going to be anything new, but being there was more moving than I expected once one realised what it must have been like for the people there at the time. The buildings there are just so big, and there really isn't far you can go. I can hardly imagine what it must have been like.
From G0 we walked our way through China town and Little Italy and then down to the water near the Brooklyn Bridge for a look. Man did we do some
Kristin at Rockerfeller Centre
Kristin didn't realise that I was taking a shot of her resting her feet a little here, but it turned out to be a cool pic. This is the 5th Ave side of the Rockerfeller Centre. walking that day!!
New Years Eve was a bit of a "Ben" day, and Kristin was very patient whilst being dragged around Grenwich Village looking for Cafes and houses of realitively little significance. Long story short, we found Cafe Wha?, an apartment block where Bob Dylan lived for 4 years, and the spot where David Lee Roth got himself arrested buying pot (ironically we had a couple of blokes offer to sell us some "items" while we were looking around. Kristin was keen by I'm not into that sort of thing ;-)).
After all the walking we went to a matinee of Chicago on Broadway. The theatre was nice and small, and we got some great seats but best of all, the lead actor, the lawyer, was none other than Huey Lewis!!! Champion. I'd like to say I was wondering what had happened to him. All things considered Huey did a good job, he didn't try and do any real dancing while the rest of the cast were throwing themselves around the stage, and he left them all for dead with his singing. Fantastic.
We were planning on heading down to Times Square to bring in the
Manhatten skyline
A shot of Manhatten from the Staten Island Ferry. new year, but I'm affraid that this is where the excuses start. To sum it up, if you wanted to see anything then you had to get there in the morning and reserve your spot, the weather was poor, the ball drop was a complete anticlimax, there were no restrooms anywhere around there, and finally an most importantly... there was an alcohol ban and there were check points on the way in! Not on my watch! So we saw the new year in in style in the hotel room, Kristin asleep by 8pm and me watching gridiron and having a few cheeky ones. Good times I tells ya!
New Years day was our last day there, and yep! she was all about shopping!!! We spent pretty well the whole day shopping around 5th Ave and Madison Ave. Obviously there was a lot of window shopping, but it was shopping none the less.
I'll tell you something for nothing, the upgrade that came from our rude awakening was an absolute blessing! I still can't beleive how much sleep we needed with all the walking. My advice for anyone heading to NYC... take a comfortable pair of shoes.
And
Manhatten skyline 2
Another shot of Manhatten from the Staten Island Ferry. that's my story. We were on a plane at 9am on the 2nd, so that was the end of that. The only regret that we really have is that we didn't realise there was a NBA match on the 2nd before we booked out tickets. Next time aye.
I hope that all is well with everyone whereever you are.
Take care.
Ben
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Nick Pritchard
non-member comment
Jealous
Hey Ben Great to read about your NYC trip - very jealous as the title suggests. I've only been once before but arrived at night and left in the morning, bit of a rush to get somewhere else i'm afraid. But your blog tells me I should go again one day. Hope life is still treating you well in Oxford. Is your work permit assured? Still at Talbot doing the Cat modelling lark so not overly exciting. Love to Kristin Take care mate Nick