Kat & Marty

New York, New York!

I never realised how many movies filmed or how many famous people and so many famous buildings are all located in Manhatten, New York.

The ChristChurch skies cried buckets as we departed New Zealand through the Qantas domestic airport. It seemed the whole of NZ was covered in cloud, hiding those beautiful snowy mountains we were so excited over flying in. In Auckland I was able to quickly catch up on emails due to our flight being delayed by almost an hour. When we went to board our flight to LA we were alarmed to have our boarding passes blank and be detained to one side. The alarm didn't last long as we heard the good news that we had been upgraded to business class due to a full flight. So it was champagne and apertifs for us and probably as good a sleep as you can get on a 12 hour flight due to our reclining chairs that tipped back horizontally to a bed, pillows, blankets, good food and even better toiletries...I never want to fly economy again! Landing in LA late was a bit of a shock. The airport was dirty and unclearly labelled. We managed to get rebooked into a later flight after missing our connection. This flight was awful! 5 hours packed into tiny chairs and only served 2 glasses of water each over the entire flight. When we landed in New York it took almost an hour before our baggage was unloaded. In the taxi queue we got talking to a lovely lady in front of us called Miranda. She was from Perth, living in ChristChurch and was on a work trip to NY. She shared her taxi with us as she was staying in the same area - Upper West Side (how surreal to be using such famous words for real). That saved us $50 straight up so we were really grateful.

Our hotel was very  typical New York on Broadway and 94th, Upper Westside. The architecture was beautiful, the lobby full of marble and leather couches, then you step into the elevator. It was so dirty, shabby, slow and you could hear chains rattle as you ascend or descend. Our room on the 8th floor was tiny, with silk wall paper peeling off the walls. But it was very clean and I loved it. The Subway and Tourist Bus Stop were right outside as was a good bakery and other corner shops.

Our first morning was raining hard so we purchased an umbrella and walked down to the Natural History Muesum, a dream come true for Marty. We spent hours looking at dinosaur bones and fossils, then at Native American displays. Before leaving we saw the Aztec displays and the Hall of Biodiversity. At 2pm we finally stumbled back out into daylight ready for some lunch. Not fully comprehending distances yet, we decided to walk down to Times Square and get some food. We walked down through the grand trees, luscious greenery and beautiful lakes of Central Park. The rain had stopped and we finally found a food place just before Times Square that sold the most delicous split pea soup I ever tasted. Marty was happy with the lentil soup too. Times Square was not what we thought! It isn't even square and a road goes right through it! Here we splashed out and bought 48 hours on the tourist buses. They are double deckers with guides who describe what you are driving past with lots of stops at popular visitor destinations. It seemed like a really good way to orientate ourselves without having to brave the notorious suway.

The first bus we took downtown to the Staten Island ferry. This is a free ferry that sails right past the Statue of Liberty. Once we got to Staten Island we came straight back and took a subway to Greenwhich Village for dinner. This area is famous for it's beatniks and artists though we didn't see anyone unusual there. We wondered back toward our hotel taking in Washington Square with glowing fireflies and a cool organic food store called Whole Foods where we bought breakfast for the next day. A kind lady stopped and helped us pick out a route to get back to our hotel on the subway where we crashed out, tired and replete.

The next morning we jumped on the tourist bus to Harlem and had a fantastic tour guide point out famous buildings. It was strange to hear East Side and West Side bandied about so naturally. We got to see where the Black/Hispanic gang fights were fought and where Jacki Onassis lived. We changed buses at Time Square and went down to the Empire State Building. I don't know if it was so much a tour as being hearded through a cacophony of lines but the view from the top was quite amazing. It certainly felt like we were standing on top of the world. We came down from there and went for a shop in Maceys. It had some beautiful dresses and a gourmet food area, but the prices didn't really cater to a pair of Australian/Kiwi backpackers so we made purchases at cheaper shops off the streets. I got a little black dress and matching shoes and Marty got a dress t-shirt. From there we took the downtown bus again but had missed the Brooklyn tour for the day so had a beer on Pier 17 instead, then walked over the Brooklyn Bridge and back. From there we walked into China Town for cheap and tasty Vietnamese. We subwayed home, changed into our finery and hit the New York nightclubs. After reading a write up on them I was paranoid we wouldn't be let in as we aren't really part of the world's aristocracy, but we had no problem. The first one, Glass, was empty and we had a nice chat with a local gentleman who bought us drinks on his departure. The second one, Marquee, was turning people away. Marty asked if we were in the special guest queue and the bouncer let us in before anyone else! This nightclub has been known to have the Hilton sisters dancing on the tables, but they certainly weren't there this night. It was getting late so we didn't stay too long. To my surprise, the first taxi I hailed pulled over and picked us up.

Friday morning was a struggle to get out of bed due to jetlag and a late night hitting us hard. However we dragged ourselves out of bed to try and get 50% off Broadway tickets to one of the shows on that night. The ticket booth didn't open yet so after fortifying ourselves with tea, we took the subway down and joined the Brooklyn tour - our last on our ticket. Brooklyn had the most beautiful library. A hugely ornate building with greek colomns and statues in front and around. It was too bad we had no time to go in. After the tour finished we picked up our discount Broadway tickets then headed back to our room and rested a little before dressing up for Broadway. My New York dress was already getting some mileage. We went downtown early and ate pizza for dinner. We could see them making the bases by spinning dough around by hand - what skill! I would make the lumpiest base in that manner but ours was perfect. From there we went straight to the St James Theatre where we had booked in to see The Producers. It was hilarious and the actors and actresses really were world class. The most amazing thing to me, however, was the murals painted on the theatre walls and roof and the biggest chandelier ever.

After the show we took a taxi home packed our bags for Detroit then slept like logs. In the morning we had a call car take us to the airport through the hotel. We soon learnt these are a step above taxis in both comfort and price. We will know for next time.

Please forgive the lack of photos. We have a small limit right now but are working on a way to publish them.