Yay New York!

We are excited when we get up this morning because today we are meeting our friend Jeanne from the Olympics (and avid blog reader), who we last saw in August just before she was returning to the USA with Josh and Charlie and also just before we left on our big adventure around the world - we certainly had lots to catch up on!

After meeting we head out to the Rockefeller Centre and first see the iconic Christmas tree and the famous ice rink - America certainly knows how to do Christmas!  We head up to the 'Top of the Rock' observation deck in an elevator reminiscent of Roald Dahls great glass elevator, with flashing lights, music etc! 

With Jeanne at the Rockefeller Centre

What a fantastic view from the top and fortunately not too exposed!  We can see for miles, all the amazing skyscrapers (including my favourite the Chrysler Building), and cars now more reminiscent of ants!

One of the great views from the Top of the Rock observation deck

A great view of the Empire State Building

Its then time for a good lunch and a big catch up on all of Jeanne's news, our news and our future plans before we head to Central Park.  Central Park is such a fantastic place as it is really peaceful despite being in the middle of Manhattan. We have a great walk around and see some brilliant buskers - including a duet playing a nice bit of Vivaldi on the cello and violin - not your average buskers!  

Views from Central Park

Next up we take the subway to Washington Square Park where we see another lovely Christmas Tree framed by the Washington Arch.  We have a wander from here down into Little Italy and the edge of Chinatown, stopping off to pop into a Christmas Market on the way.  This area is certainly interesting and we plan to come back later in the week to have a good explore in the daytime.

Washington Arch with Christmas Tree

After a bit of a hunt around and a rather scary taxi ride we find a good place for dinner (or the team sabbatical Christmas Party) before it is time to say goodbye.  It has been great to see you Jeanne and have a good catch up -  we've had a great time!

Mrs & Mr M

Will have Manhatten, the Bronx and Staten Island..

Too tired to get up this morning - we think the American jet lag is now properly kicking in!  

Kelvin is excited to make it to the Big Apple...

After a spot of breakfast we head down towards the piers to see whether we can go on a boat trip around Manhatten to get some great views of the skyline.  It is a really lovely day - sunny, crisp and cold (no snow yet!).

We are in luck as there is a Circle Line Cruise leaving in 30 minutes so we get a City Pass which covers this trip and all the top attractions in NYC and go to find a good spot on the boat.  It is certainly very popular but we luckily get two seats together outside on the upper deck.  

Now Mrs M has done this trip twice before in her very much younger years and her abiding memories of these previous excursions was that it was very cold and there were lots of bridges - whilst this is again true today we have some really great views of the Statue of Liberty, the Enterprise Space Shuttle, the famous skyline including the new Freedom Tower being constructed and the other districts including the Bronx, Brooklyn etc. 

The Statue of Liberty, Enterprise Space Shuttle and the construction of the Freedom Tower

We are really pleased we did it as it was an excellent three hour tour and the commentary was great.  Despite the cold we are also some of the only people (apart from a very hardy French family) to have lasted the entirety of the trip on the outside back deck - we are certainly in need of a cup of tea by the end to warm up!

Brooklyn Bridge with Wall St in the background

After disembarking we walk to Times Square to have a look around and to hopefully see whether we can get some tickets to a Broadway Show for this evening.  Before leaving the UK Mrs M's friend in the office had recommended a ticket booth in the middle of Times Square where you could get amazing deals on tickets for shows on that day. The only details we could remember was that the ticket booth was  under some big red steps - hopefully not too difficult to find....

Eventually (given Times Square is pretty big) we find the ticket booth and manage to get tickets to our first choice show - 'Nice work if you can get it' - a musical based on the songs of Gershwin starring Matthew Broderick.   We can't believe how lucky we have been to do all the things we have wanted to on our trip.

Back for a quick tea before the show at a great Mexican restaurant located in Grand Central Station!  Not quite what we expected for a station tea - and not what you would get at home!

We walk back to Broadway for the show which is amazingly good - the songs are great, we know all the words and it is a really happy and feel good.  We are totally buzzing when we leave - a fantastic night!

Times Square at Night

Mrs & Mr M  

Off to the Big Apple

Very very early start this morning with a rude awakening from the alarm at 4am - not a good wake up call and certainly our earliest start since before we left on our sabbatical!  Still we are up, final things packed and heading to the airport at 5am for our early morning flight from Vancouver to Chicago, before onwards to New York.

After checking in and going through USA immigration and customs at the airport, which should make things much more speedy for our connection in Chicago, we have some breakfast before boarding our 7.30am flight.  This is in fact flight number 19 and we can't quite believe that after this one only have two to go.

The man sat next to Mr M immediately recognises Mr M's Scottish accent and proceeds to tell the entire plane of Canadians that people from Scotland were on the plane and what a great place Scotland was and of his distant Scottish relatives - his poor children were even dragged up to meet us!  He (Tom - we got to know him on first name terms) also was telling us he has relatives  and has even visited Chingford, where half of my family are from - it makes you realise how small the world actually is.

The flight is good, very smooth and just 3 hours as there is a strong tail wind and we are soon landing in Chicago, with a couple of hours wait for lunch before our next flight.

Next flight to New York is only two hours flying time (will have to tot up the total amount of flying time completed in the next statistics update!).  I enjoy my window seat and despite a bit of a bumpy landing at LaGuardia Airport there are really great views as we come in of all the lights of New York.  We both realise how excited we are to have made it this far - our last stop before going home.

We are extremely pleased to see our bags waiting for us when we land, after the shenanigans on the last internal flights we did in the USA.  Next its a high speed (high danger) taxi ride to our hotel, and again we enjoy some great views of the city at night.  All checked in we decide to have a little room service as it is by now a little late to find somewhere close by for tea (despite being in the city that never sleeps!) and we certainly go to bed well fed and watered and tired after our big travelling day across 
America.  

A room service treat (complete with proper cup of tea!)

Mrs M

Gastown and Granville Island

We head out this morning to Gastown for an explore, a cuppa, possible hair cut (Mr M) and to see the famous Gastown clock.  We are successful on all of these aspects, except the hair cut as the British barber had no appointments until tomorrow! 

The Gastown Steam Clock

We get the trolley bus back to the city centre and around to Granville Island for further exploration.  It looks a really interesting area and over the last 10 years has been regenerated, and is now the home to various markets, specialist shops, galleries and arts and crafts - I feel some shopping coming on!  We also see the most amazing ginger bread houses, which certainly beat the one Mrs M made last year!

The most amazing gingerbread houses!

We both really love Granville Island and of course return to the trolley bus, bus stop with one or two (or three or four bags of purchases).  Mr M has relented and said we could buy an extra bag when we get to New York for the additional things we have acquired on route!  Mrs M makes the mental note to not buy anything bulky until New York (unless it could be smuggled into Mr M's bag without him knowing, ala Pauline and the magic carpet!).

Christmas Cement Mixer - Granville Island

Early back to the hotel this evening to get packed up as we have an extra early start in the morning to make our way across America to reach New York.

Mrs M.

Robbie Burns, Totem Poles and a Christmas Market

Not quite as wet and windy this morning, but unfortunately still no mountains.  We decide today to retrace some of the places we saw on the trolley bus tour yesterday and have a good walk around several marinas to get to Stanley Park.  Stanley Park is a great green space and we have a good wander around, first to the statue of Robbie Burns and then onto the totem poles which we enjoy.

The walk to Stanley Park

Robert Burns Statue in Stanley Park

Totem Poles at Stanley Park

As the weather is again starting to come in we decide to go to the aquarium which is also located in Stanley Park. When we get there we are told they are screening 'The Polar Express' in their 4D cinema - this seems a good place to start and we join the line for our 3D glasses.  Now neither of us had seen 'The Polar Express' before, and we weren't quite sure what to expect, nor what the 4D aspects would hold, but we are soon having a great time (despite being the only people there without children!).  Seats that move in time with the train, real snow falling, smells of hot chocolate - it didn't beat the cinema at Wanaka, but was certainly better than just going to the Odeon at Winnersh!

After the cinema we explore the aquarium liking the fishy exhibits, watching the electric eels, dolphin's and sea otters, whilst trying to avoid the sleet now falling!  It has been a good afternoon and we have really enjoyed our visit.

We walk back to the city centre, enjoying the Christmas lights - especially on the boats where many have been decorated.  Before going back to the hotel we call in at the Vancouver Christmas Market for a look around the various stalls.  It is quite nice, lots of stalls, even a carousel, but certainly not as good as the Bath Christmas Market, so we won't be changing next years Christmas Market annual trip just yet!

Vancouver Christmas Market

A good tea at Earls and then home to bed pretty tired after our day of explorations.

Mrs M.

Brrrrrr Winter in Vancouver

After an unusual breakfast we head out to explore and get our bearings in Vancouver.  Unfortunately the weather has taken a bit of a turn for the worst and we are blasted with icy cold wind, rain and very low cloud so don't get to see the mountain scenery that Vancouver is famed for.  It is a little bit of a temperature change to Sydney and we are both relieved to have done some winter shopping in Portland before arriving here!

Wet and windy Vancouver

  We head first to the information centre where Mr M makes a good discovery of a half price theatre booth and we decide to try our luck for something for tonight.  Our luck is in (again!) and we are soon the proud owners of two half price tickets to the Nutcracker, being performed this evening by the Royal Winnipeg Ballet.

Next up we grab some leaflets and go for a cuppa to escape the wintery weather and to make a plan for our few days in Vancouver.  We decide to get tickets for the trolley bus, which does a 2 hour loop of the city, is hop on hop off and would also keep us warm and dry!

The trolley bus tour is really good and we get to see Stanley Park (the largest park in North America and also complete with totem poles, Granville Island and Gastown - it was a good trip, has warmed us up and helped us to get our bearings for more explorations tomorrow.

Vancouver skyline

After a quick stop off at the hotel for a hot chocolate (medicinal purposes of course to warm up!) we head out to find somewhere for an early tea before the ballet.  We have a bit of a wander around the theatre, but nothing looks right and we actually end up back at the Hotel's steakhouse for one of the finest meals of the North American leg of our trip so far!  Mr M has steak (of course) and I go for the garlic prawns - all very yummy and a good choice.

Next its time for the short walk back to the Queen Elizabeth Theatre for the Nutcracker to get us totally into the Christmas mood.  It is a really lovely production, excellent dancing and some great Canadian twists too - including Canadian Mounties as the soldiers, ice hockey and even the appearance of a brown bear.  A very good evening was had by all. 

Mrs M

Train Again

We are heading north again today but that's not till  later on this afternoon.  So we head off to the Penny Diner again for breakfast as it was so good yesterday.

Then we take advantage of the lovely weather for another walk about town and spot some of the great signs on the side of some buildings.

We also head back to Kenny & Zuke's Deli to pick up some take-out sandwiches and bagels to have on the train later. 

Then after a quick spot of lunch its off to Union Station for our Cascades train up to Vancouver.  Unlike the double decker train from San Francisco this train is much more like what we have back home.

We get settled down for the long journey ahead in the big comfy seats and enjoy the view out the window while it is still light.  Then its just another 6 hours until we get to Vancouver at 11pm.  We get through immigration and customs ok with another stamp in the passport and fortunately without having to surrender the Ghirardelli chocolates (as a food product, not strictly allowed in Canada).  Then its a taxi to our hotel where its straight to bed.

Mr M