New York from Above

---

We rose early this morning for our 9am New York, New York helicopter ride and ordered room service breaky to kick start the day. Annie, I have to say the breakfast bagle with cream cheese that Mum and I had was WAY better than any I've had elsewhere.

So after a quick bite we thrust ourselves into the cold and quickly into a taxi, bound for the Downtown Heliport.............well, that's where the Bellhop and I told the taxi driver to go however we ended up at a completely different heliport on the other side of town (even after again asking that it was the correct address and showing him the address when we arrived only to be told that of course it was... GRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR). Needless to say we stood on the bitterly cold footpath for ages trying to hail another taxi after confirming that we were in the wrong place, oh and then arriving late at the correct address.

Anyway, drama over and very excited, we went through the security checks and safety brief before Dad and I jumped on board the helicopter. We loved it! Fantastic views of New York from Jersey to Queens and beyond. The magnatude of this amazing city is clear from the air - one side full of skyscrapers with Central Park in the middle, the other a hugley populated concrete jungle. The Statue of Liberty is a beautiful object and much larger than I first thought, we circled her a few times before heading over Yankee Stadium and Central Park. Dad really enjoyed the flight (about 25 minutes) and I would highly recommend it if you get the chance.

From the heliport, we all caught the Staten Island Ferry so that Mum could see the Statue of Liberty (it's free, takes about 20 minutes to S.I. and goes right past her). It was a lovely little trip and if I have more time later in the week I will take the Statue of Liberty tour which takes you inside the Statue and over to Ellis Island, but that's an all day affair apparently.

Official tourist activity done for the day, we jumped into a taxi bound for Macy's. OMG I have never seen anything like it - an 11 floor department store with just about everything - Shopping / Starbucks / Pizzeria / Cafes - and it's all reasonably priced (you'd be amazed at how cheap Levi's, Tommy Hilfiger, DKNY etc etc are here, we are getting ripped clean off in Aust.) I had shopping overload and left the oldies behing after purchasing a warm coat, jeans and knit dress with tights, oh and stopping in at Victoria's Secret. NB: Macy's offer overseas visitors a 10% discount card at their visitors centre, it counterbalances the State Tax you get charged.

When Mum and Dad (finally) returned to the hotel, I made them dump their bags and pushed them out the door back into the bright lights of Times Square. We visited Madam Tussauds and had a great time mingling with the stars! After that we took the concierge's recommendation and went to Trattoria Dopo Teatro, a lovely Italian restaurant near the hotel. Mum had the octopus with berlotti bean salad, Dad had the barley soup and Italian sausage with polenta (yes Dad actually ate and enjoyed polenta) and I had the roasted artichoke salad and mushroom with ricotta and asparagras ravioli. Mum and I had dessert (chocolate almond cake and cannoli) while Dad had grappa and we couldn't fault anything there, the waiter was very friendly and jovial, the atmosphere was great and the food was delicious. It seems we are getting acustomed to dining late at night too, look out kids dinner will be served after your bedtime when I get home ha ha ha.

Content and tired we retreated to the hotel to rest up for tomorrow's tour with Famous Fat Dave.................stay tuned for that!!!

---