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NYC Blog – ‘The quiet before the storm’
Bed count = 1
Hi there,
Firstly apologies for the lack of blogging so far, but things have been a little manic for us the last few weeks, not to mention days (with an impending hurricane that is)! Anyhow, as you can see from the photo’s we packed our cases and flew out of London on Thursday afternoon. Both our bags weighed less than 15 kg each, so I think we have done pretty well for a 6 month travel. However Melissa’s hand luggage currently weighs an additional 6kg so I think a bit of weight redistribution is required before I endure another travel!!
Melissa’s parents (Rob and Carole) came down to help us tidy the house before we departed and then gave us a lift to the airport on a typically wet British summer afternoon. We would both like to thank them for all their support and expert cleaning/taxi services! Also thanks to our neighbours Gill and Rob who have also been very supportive in helping with a few last minute things. After a few teary goodbyes we boarded a jam packed plane bound for New York (NY). The fact that the inflight entertainment didn’t work and the annoying little boy in front of me provided an instant test of patience for the 7h flight ahead! However we landed safely and checked into a rather plush hotel in midtown NY. The king size bed is certainly big enough for both of us, so if anyone else wants to come along there is more than enough room! Not only did we get a room service menu but I also noticed a ‘pillow menu’ as well! Being a country Yorkshire man this was new one on me, but I think I may order up a ‘Swedish memory pillow’ tonight to ease my weary neck muscles!! As soon as we had dumped our bags we headed straight for the hotel bar and ordered up some typical American grub. That’s right…burger + fries…and a lot of them! I have already seen more overweight people in the last few days than I have in life (not surprising given the portion sizes here). As a Yorkshire man I shouldn’t really be grumbling about this, but we only have small bellies (at the moment)! Anyhow whilst finishing our meal, we overheard one of the waiters talking about a hurricane?! We thought he was joking only to turn on the news when we got back to the hotel room to realise that hurricane Irene was heading straight for the city!! More on this later, but only one day into our trip our plans would change…good job we have flexible flight tickets!
The next day (Friday) was supposed to be a chill-out day to recover from the last few weeks, but as a hurricane was on the way we did what everyone would do….hit the shops!! Only joking, but the weather was so beautiful on Friday that we decided to cram a day of sightseeing! After a quick stop off in grand central station, we loaded up with a full American breakfast and some ‘cwaafee’(coffee). Our first stop was catching the subway down to Battery Park to get the ‘Staten Island’ ferry out to see the Statue of Liberty. We had a tip off that we could catch a free ferry over to the Island and this proved to be a great piece of advice as we avoided 2h of queues! With the first tourist attraction down, we jumped back on the subway to Times Square. I would describe this as a mini Las Vegas and it’s absolutely manic down there…lots of flashing lights and people running to fancy shops! Whilst I’m on the subject, we couldn’t come all this way without Melissa going to Tiffany’s…so that’s exactly what we did. It saddens us both that she has left her costly engagement ring behind (for insurance reasons), but I made it quite clear that this didn’t mean we had to buy another one!! Melissa also ceased the opportunity to do some ‘power shopping’ and blitz a few shops! I strapped myself in anticipating the worst, but it really was quite a painless experience! One thing that did amuse me was that each shop seemed to have its own DJ playing in the corner and despite not being able to hear myself think, I did contemplate a quick break dance to re-energise my batteries….however the frowns from the security guard suggested that this was not the way to go! After the shops we hot footed it down to Central Park, stopping for lunch at the smaller ‘Bryant Park’ on our way. Lots of table tennis and juggling going on there, coupled with a nice relaxing atmosphere…I would recommend that one! When we got to central park, we decided to jump on a horse and carriage for a tour round the park. My brother did this on his wedding, so I couldn’t be outdone here and had to try it! It was a lovely way to see some of the park and get some orientation to the history and locations of top movie shots. After this we had a nice stroll around the park, although the jet lag and stifling heat were starting to take effect. We headed back to the hotel stopping by the Chrysler Building on our way out.
Following a long walk back we had a quick turnaround to head out for dinner with Dee, who is currently visiting her brother (Ciaran) and wife (Kara). We headed to a local Mexican restaurant and had a lovely night of good food and company. After that we decided to finish the day off by going to the top of the Empire state building at 10pm! What we didn’t prepare ourselves for was the 1 ½ h of queuing to get there! However once at the top the views were amazing and absolutely no signs of King Kong! After this Melissa’s heels (she had dressed up for the meal!) were starting to punish her feet so we grabbed a cab back to get some well-earned rest!
Today (Sat) has been quite a rubbish day weather wise as the storm pushes in from the South. The news has been of the hurricane but I’m not sure they have much else to talk about over here! You may have heard that NY has been evacuated, but it’s only certain parts close to the sea. We will not be evacuated and actually have a reasonable location to ride this hurricane out. Over the next 24 h it’s going to get extremely wet and windy here, but rest assured we are taking precautions and are prepared for whatever comes. We have stocked up on food in our room and expect the next few days to be pretty hairy whilst this blows over. Everyone is panic buying and there are currently no torches/flashlights for sale! The major concern for us is the likely devastation to the transport links, which may affect our onward travel, but we are just going to have to play it by ear. All New York transport (Flights, buses, trains) were stopped at 12pm this afternoon, so we don’t have much choice but to ride it out now! It is highly likely that we will lose power here, so it maybe a little time before I have chance to post again. However we will be looking out for each other and plan to stay safe.
Who knows what the next few days or weeks will hold for us, but I guess that’s part of the excitement! In the words of a New Yorker ‘it’s all pretty whack here’! On that note I had best batten down the hatches as its starting to get windy….
Speak soon JD :-)
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