4th December New York

Last night on the night tour the guide pointed out a few good places to eat. one of these was Pick-a-Bagel so i decided to go there for breakfast and try my first American Bagel. I chose the breakfast bagel with bacon and eggs and it also came with a coffee. It was really good, their bagels are so much lighter than ours. I then headed off to join the Uptown hop on hop off bus. This was one area I had not managed to get to at all yet and I had a few stops planned on this route. Along the way, the guide pointed out different celebrity homes, including where Michael Douglas and Catherine Zeta-Jones live. I also saw where John Lennon lived and was shot and where Yoko Ono still lives. The tour guide also explained his opinion of the different inhabitants of Uptown New York. He said he has lived on both the Upper East Side as well as the Upper West Side, but he said he prefered to live on the west. He also felt that those that lived on the Upper East Side were far more snobbier and even knew people from there who wouldn't ever dare to dine on the westside. We went past the Cathedral of St John the Divine...nicknamed 'St John the Unfinished'...located in Manhattan's Morningside Heights. It claims to be the largest cathedral and Anglican church and fourth largest Christian church in the world. Then we drove through Harlem and saw the Apollo theatre, one of the oldest and most famous music halls in the US. It billed itself as the place "where stars are born and legends are made" and is famous for launching the careers of Ella Fitzgerald, Billie Holiday, The Jackson 5, Diana Ross and the Supremes, Stevie Wonder, Aretha Franklin and Mariah Carey. I had been looking forward to seeing the Guggenheim museum in New York, to match my Bilbao and Venice experience, so I got off the bus at the Guggenheim Museum. The Solomon R. Guggenheim museum is renowned for its continuously expanding impressionist, Post-Impressionist, early Modern and contemporary art and also features special exhibitions throughout the year. They had a Picasso 'Black and White' exhibit on, the first exhibit to explore the remarkable use of black and white throughout Picasso's career. I have to say I gained a greater appreciation for the work of Picasso after seeing this exhibition, maybe it had to do with the audio guide commentary, some of which was given by his daughter who spoke very fondly of her father and the motive behind some of the pieces. Just down the road from the Guggenheim is The Metropolitan Museum of Art (The Met)...and it is HUGE! It was way too big for me to really look around as my time was limited because I had a 4pm booking to do 'Top of the Rock', so I really raced through here. The Met is the largest museum in the United States with among the most significant art collections, its permanent collecton contains more than two million works, divided among 17 curatorial departments. And yes, I got to see more Van Gogh and Monet! I then headed to the Rockefeller Center to the 'Top of the Rock Observation deck on the 67th floor. The upper decks are 260m above the street and you get an unobstructed 360 degree view of New York City. You don't get an unobstructed view of the Chrysler building but you get a great view of the Empire State Building and Central Park. I then went to Tiffany & Co. to buy myself a little something! After that it was time to head to the Palace theatre to see Anthony Warlow in 'Annie'. It is Anthony Warlow's Broadway debut...hard to believe it took this long...and the show was great. I didn't particularly like the Sydney production but the New York production was great and I really enjoyed it!

3rd December New York

Today I decided to buy a hop on hop off bus ticket so I could get to see more of the city that I just would not get to on foot. I first took the downtown loop so I could connect with the Brooklyn Tour. Normally it departs from Battery Park, but due to Hurricane Sandy there is so much work going on down there that we joined this tour at the World Trade Centre. It was a two hour non-stop tour of Brooklyn which pointed out sites such as Fulton Mall, the Brooklyn Museum of Art and the Brooklyn Bridge. As we passed the Brooklyn Botanical Gardens many fallen trees from the hurricane could still be seen.  We also drove through Chinatown in downtown New York which has the highest concentration of Chinese people in the Western Hemisphere. We also drove past the dock area on the Lower East side which parts of are still closed after Hurricane Sandy.I also got a glimpse of the United Nations building....and I also got my first glimpse of the Plaza Hotel and Central Park. I was planning to do the 'Top of the Rock', which is going up to the observation deck of the Rockefeller Centre, to take in the views over New York. This was recommended rather than the Empire State Building because from the Rock, your view of New York includes the Empire State Building...and I figure I could always do that next time! By the time I got to the desk it was starting to get dark and there was going to be about another 30 minutes before I actually got to the top. The girl at the desk said she could book me in for 4pm tomorrow and then that way I could get daylight views as well as the sunset. the weather forecast was reasonable so I agreed to do that. She also said that a walking tour of Rockafeller Centre was just about to depart if I wanted to join that. After doing the walking tour on the Royal Mile in Edinburgh I agreed because on that tour so many things were pointed out that I had missed just walking there on my own. A very enthusiastic art student was our tour guide and I must say that I really enjoyed the tour. Again many things I had walked past over the last couple of days gained a whole new meaning. This included the fact that I had been walking past the NBC Today studio and I hadn't even noticed! We also stopped to watch the light show (a bit like Vivid in Sydney) on the Saks Fifth Avenue building. I decided not to go to a show tonight and instead joined the hop on hop off bus Christmas Lights tour. Again I thought I would get to see more this way than trying to cover it on foot. On the way home I stopped at the Cold Stone Creamery (our Cold Rock equivalent) and chose the 'Founder's Favourite'...sweet cream ice cream, pecans, brownie, fudge and caramel...mmmmmm! Tomorrow 'Uptown'.

2nd December New York

It's Sunday today so I thought I'd begin my day by going to church at St Patrick's Cathedral on 5th Avenue. The Cathedral of St Patrick is a decorated Neo-Gothic style Roman Catholic cathedral church and is the seat of the archbishop of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of New York. It is directly across the street from Rockefeller Center and specifically facing the Atlas statue. The cathedral takes up a whole city block and can accommodate 2,200 people. On the day that I was there it was packed!!! All available seats were full and both side aisles were filled with people standing (including myself) as well as people standing at the back of the church. I went to the 10:15am and Mass which was said by Cardinal Dolan and this Mass is also televised. At the end of Mass I had a wander around the cathedral. They had a huge nativity at the front of the church where people were crowding around to take photos and at the other side the Cardinal was seeing people. The cathedral is lovely and while its architecture says 'history', compared with other grand cathedral's I have seen it seemed too new and lacked the character or 'ancientness' for me. But I guess if you were to compare it with St Patrick's at Parramatta...it looks like really old arcitecture! The front of the cathedral is also covered in scaffolding as they are currently undergoing restoration work.

I then walked up to Radio City so I could buy a ticket to see the Radio City Rockettes in their Christmas Spectacular...a holiday tradition in New York. Not far up from Radio City was the MoMA. The Museum of Modern Art has been important in collecting modernist art, and is often identified as the most influential museum of modern art in the world. The museums collection includes modern and contemporary art and includes works of architecture and design, drawings, painting, sculpture, photography and prints.  There I was able to see a range of artists who I have become quite familiar with throughout this trip including Van Gogh's "Starry, Starry Night", one of my very favourites! In fact, when it comes to the impressionist period I am starting to recognise the works of a particular artist when I walk into a gallery. The idea for the Museum of Modern Art was developed in 1929 primarily by Abby Aldrich Rockefeller, the wife of John D. Rockefeller Jr. who I discovered on a tour of the Rockefeller Centre was quite a collector of art. After the MoMA I walked back down to Rockefeller Centre to see the Christmas tree and the ice rink. The Rockefeller Centre Christmas tree is a world-wide symbol of the holidays in New York City and is a large Christmas tree placed annually in Rockefeller Centre. A tree has been put up every year since 1933. In fact the first tree erected there was by the workers building the Rockefeller Centre and after that John D. Rockefeller Jr. decided it should be done every year. This year the tree is an 80ft Norway Spruce from Flanders, New Jersey and it was lucky to survive Hurricane Sandy...the owner was quite relieved! I have a cotton palm out the front of my house I would have been happy to give them! Out on the surrounding streets they also have some large christmas decorations and many of the trees are covered in fairy lights. It was even more spectacular seeing it at night when I went back after the Rockettes show. While I had intended to try and see a show in New York each night I was there, I hadn't planned to see the Rockettes Christmas Spectacular. After seeing all the hype around the city for it though, I decided it was a traditional New York experience I probably shouldn't miss! The show is held at the Radio City Music Hall, an entertainment venue located in Rockefeller Centre. It's nickname is the 'Showplace of the Nation' and for a time was the leading tourist destination in the city. The Radio City Rockettes are a precision dance company founded in 1925. During the Christmas season, the Rockettes present five shows a day, seven days a week. Their best known routine is an eye-high leg kick in perfect unison in a chorus line, which they include in every performance. It was a great show and the dancing was amazing. I have never seen such a large group of dancers so in tune with each other, they were so good. I walked back to the hotel via the Christmas tree again...once..or twice...is just not enough!

1st December New York

Before you all get excited...the ONLY reason I have fallen behind in my blog is because I have been going out to shows every night...and the internet takes forever to load!!!
Today is my first day in New York!!! Andrew had told me that getaway had done a segment on New York this week called 'New York from the air', so I was able to watch it online. It showed some of the hosts highlights of New York and it included such things as the High Line and the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA), two things I was interested in seeing. I'd bought a New York Pass so I headed up to the Grayline office to pick it up. It is so busy in New York...I can see that already...but it is also the weekend! I had to queue to get my pass but it didn't take too long. I walked back to the hotel via Times Square...WOW! So much activity here, crowds of people and flashing lights...it's so exciting! The queues at the TKTS stand was insane, so I went to the box office for the Palace Theatre and bought a ticket to see Annie on Tuesday night. I had arranged to meet Lynette and her husband John who were going to show me around some of New York...I was so excited to catch up with Lynette. First they took me to one of their favourite Italian restaurants called Mercato, which just happened to be across the road from my hotel. They then suggested they take me to see the High Line, which was on my to do list, so off we went. The High Line is a 1.6km New York linear park built on a 2.33km section of the former elevated New York Central Railroad which runs along the lower west side of Manhattan. It has been redesigned and planted as an aerial greenway. They have planted rugged meadow plants including clump-forming grasses, liatris and coneflowers, inspired by the self-seeded landscape that grew on the disused tracks, among different plantings of various trees. I even saw a real holly bush! Portions of the track are adaptively used and include rolling lounges positioned for river views. The High Line als includes cultural attractions and has several temporary and permanent art installations, which my photos do no justice to! We also stopped at the Urban Theatre where you can sit and watch the activites/life of 10th Avenue. Next we stopped off at Chelsea markets, where there is an amazing array of gourmet style food shops. We tried some brownie at the Fat Witch Bakery...famous for their brownies and we also went into the Lobster Place to have a look at the huge lobsters they cook to order...a pity we had already eaten. Then we caught the subway where there were these really cute little bronze characters getting up to all sorts of antics inside the station. John and Lynette helped me buy a 7 day Subway ticket and tried to explain the subway system...it sounds a lot more intimidating than London and Paris! We caught the subway to Penn station which is the station near where Lynette and John live. We went for a wander and did some people watching, there are all sorts of characters in New York, including many musicians who play in and on the subway...and many are very good too. We walked past a shoe shine shop, so John suggested I get my boots done....when in New York right! After my boots were all sparkly Lynette and I headed up to their apartment. It is diagonally opposite to Madison Square Garden and It has an awesome view looking south across towards the Hudson River...beautiful. We then headed downstairs and around the corner to their local...Tir Na Nog. We had a few drinks...and by a few, I mean they were all in the same glass...they free pour, so one drink is like three at home!!! I was also introduced to American Football, Georgia were playing Atlanta, and Atlanta one...which apparently was a good thing. We then walked up to a bar and grill called Virgils...and more free pour drinks! I was tired so we headed back towards my hotel, but first we stopped at another Tir Na Nog which was just down from my hotel. It is owned by the same people as the one we went to earlier in the night and John and Lynette know some of the staff who gave us a tour of the newly opened pub. They told us they had a wedding the next day booked for 300 people! It was then time to say goodbye to Lynette and John and thank them for a wonderful day. One of the things I have most enjoyed on my travels are the unexpected days where I haven't gone to the traditional tourist sites but have ended up seeing a whole lot more of the real city than I ever imagined. Thanks Lynette and John :)))))