Saturday 29 December 2018

Schoolies Days 23-25 - getting some value out of our New York Pass

Another city, another value admission pass to take advantage of!

Three day pass, $199 a head, giddy up!

Day 1 and we were rubbing shoulders with the stars at Madame Tussaud’s before jumping on the Big Bus tour of New York.  Normally I love these bus tours - they are a great chance to familiarise yourself with the city, work out where to get on and off and generally plan your days.  We did both the blue and the red route on day 1  but today, of the three live tour guides on board, two added no value whatsoever as they complained about everything from taxes to big business to the port authority.  Even the third one spent more time name dropping celebs he has met rather than telling us anything useful about New York.  I ended up flipping over to the recorded commentary to take a break from all of them!

We visited the USS Intrepid as part of the pass today too - a retired aircraft carrier moored in the Hudson River at the end of 48th St.  ironically this is just about where “Solly” landed his plane in an emergency landing 10 years ago.  Not only can you explore the inner workings of the Intrepid but you can also explore a submarine, browse an impressive collection of jet aircraft tethered to the decks (I loved seeing the Harrier Jumpjet) and finally you round out the trip with a viewing of the space shuttle Enterprise.  Interesting facts - the Enterprise was meant to be called the Constitution but was changed after a write in by many Star Trek fans.  It also never went into space. Enterprise was used to rehearse landings and the piggyback return method on the back of a Boeing 737.  We’ve now seen two of the retired fleet on display - there is a third in LA but not sure we will make that one too!

The bus loops ran really long and late today - the holiday traffic and crowds have meant long times standing in line that Jordan and I didn’t experience last time.  With the colder weather it has also been bitterly cold in the open top buses, because, let’s face it, with all the skyscrapers here, the sun rarely breaks through and when it does, it is a light, not a heat source!

Dinner on night one at Red Lobster where I have foolishly encouraged Hayden’s (expensive) love of lobster!  Great meal, excellent service and at this point I sent the boys home to meet Julianne and Maddie for my one and only off-off Broadway show.  I saw Puffs the Play in Melbourne earlier this year and loved it, so was excited to see it again here.  Never thought I’d say this, but the Australian production was so much better. Not sure if it was because of the great venue, awesome casting or better blocking, but while I loved it, I think we did it better.  Go figure - because Jordy hates it when I tell casts that I’ve seen the show on Broadway and they are just as good - but I could honestly tell them they were better!

Day two and the weather gods were smiling on us. First stop Madison Square Gardens for the Harlem Globetrotters “game”, followed by a subway ride to the American Museum of Natural History.  Of course we had to head to the third floor to see Dumb Dumb - or at least the statue that inspired the character in Night at the Museum.  Of course that also meant visiting Rex on the fourth floor as well. Plenty of interesting stuff to see and could easily spend a whole day wandering through the many halls and exhibits.  

Took the boys through the neighbourhood where Jordan and I stayed when we were here in 2015.  Walked up to 89th and then back to our local pizza place on 86th (Mama’s Pizza) where, for $26 we easily fed our family with one pizza and three drinks.

Now one interesting thing about NYC - not a lot of public rest rooms in the city.  They tell you to just use the hotel lobby toilets, but that only works when there is a hotel!  We were in a heavy residential area, so had to Navigate our way through a very dark Central Park to the public loos.  Even in the dark of night, the Park is a beautiful place to see, with plenty of activity even after dark. Walked about half the length of the park and then a further 30ish blocks to put ourselves in line for the Observation Decks at the Empire State Building.  Lining up is an institution for this city and I still haven’t gotten used to being happy to line up to get in, then line up to get through security, then line up to buy your tickets and then line up for the elevator to go up!  But line up we did and after about an hour and a half, we were rewarded with the clearest, most beautiful view of NYC after dark.  First stop 80th floor, then the 86th.  

Cold out on the open decks, but worth the chill to see the city by night.  Even Brendon braved the heights for a minute or two and Hayden has no problems checking out the view.  Back to MSG for our Path train home with a not so quick checkin to Modell’s - a sporting clothing and shoe company where they had one shoe attendant to look after 20 customers.  The long wait meant I spent a good 30 minutes outside fuming while the boys bought new shoes.  Finally Day 2 done.

Day 3 and the rain has come in - not too heavy but enough to make visibility low, but the temps have risen somewhat (11 degrees today).  Not ideal conditions for going to the Top of the Rock but still interesting to find ourselves at the top of another of the big buildings in the City.  Hayden helped us get to Grand Central Station, which is one of the most majestic buildings in New York - it just seems a shame that it’s just a train station!  Sadly I couldn’t locate the bakery where I got my crumb cake last visit, so I’m still yet to enjoy that delicacy again.

Onto the subway and down to the 9-11 Memorial, where the line up meant we wouldn’t get in until 4.30 - which is no good as we have tickets to the ice hockey at 7.  So we will save that one for another day!

We did manage to explore the World Trade Centre 1 Occulus this morning where Hayden and I had a nice Japanese curry before making our way back to the apartment for a rest before our ride to Brooklyn’s Barclays Centre to watch the Islanders play the Senators in the NHL.

And that is where I am writing this, so you just know how enthused I must be by this game too.  Once again we have organised ad breaks (3 per period at dedicated times in the match).  It’s an interesting game to watch, but it’s not something I’d bother watching again.  Don’t get me wrong, I can appreciate the skill involved and I’m enjoying it more than the football, but I’m kinda over the hype.  Truth be told,  it’s the “u-S-a, u-s-a” chant that has put me offside so tonight I’m cheering for the Canadians. 

One thing I have noticed at events here is that people just rock up whenever - we are always here early and in our seats ready for the first whistle.  But people just filter in whenever which is super annoying as you have to stand to let them pass you, which blocks your view as they go past and blocks the view of those behind as you stand.  And then there are the people who come down the row only to find they may be in the wrong row and then spend minutes standing in front of you to check their tickets again.  Nothing more frustrating than hearing an “ooooh” and knowing you’ve just missed an exciting piece of play because some boofhead is arriving late to the game.  
 
Those same people will, no doubt, also get up multiple times to get beer, snacks, toilet and leave early.  However one thing I’m loving at the basketball in particular is that no alcohol is sold after the final quarter has started and only one drink can be bought at a time so drunken louts are ata minimum!










Wednesday 26 December 2018

Schoolies Day 22 - Christmas in New York

It’s a Christmas miracle - Santa found us, even halfway around the world.  Although the tree was a bit sparce and the gifts were few, because let’s face it, this holiday is gift enough methinks!

After a leisurely breakfast of homemade pancakes, we jumped on the Path and rode it to the end of the line - 33rd St station, right next to Madison Square Garden - because nothing says Christmas in New York more than a basketball game.  The Knicks games are big sellers here and I had to pay an arm and a leg to get three tickets - upwards of $750 Australian for the three of us to go, but let’s face it, we may only get here once and Jordy had no interest in sport when we visited last time!

Turns out we didn’t have the nosebleed seats - there was a whole other floor above us, and the price was worth it to see the look on Hayden’s face as he looked down onto the court for the first time.  To say he was like a kid on Christmas is probably a bit cliche, but there you have it!

Like all American sporting games, this had the same sort of spectacle as the football - cheerleaders, t-shirt cannons, crowd participation - the whole nine yards so to say!  Sadly the home team didn’t get the points today, largely due to a poor shooting percentage - just under 40% - but still great to get to the game.  

So what next to do on Christmas Day? How about catching up with our fellow footy mates, the Creati family who are also here on holidays.  Met up on the corner of 41st and something, and can’t tell you how great it was to see some familiar faces in a sea of strangers.  Hayden and Tyson play footy together at Alex Hills, and Maddie and I share a love of all things Pottter.  Grant and Brendon have a long-standing sledging mateship and Julianne keeps me grounded at footy games and explains play to me!

Grant picked The Counter for a late lunch - a cool build your own burger joint that was absolutely packed when we got there and even busier as we left!  Great burgers, great company and had a delicious cocktail - a Pineapple Mule - a new add-to on my cocktail list.

The Creati’s then took themselves off to the Empire State Buikding for a night time view of the city, while I decided to drag us off to Saks 5th Avenue to look at the Christmas lights and windows.

Ok this was a huge mistake, as every other person in NYC had the same idea.  Think 1 million people all trying to get into a city block at the same time.  Think what sheep look like when sheep dogs herd them into a tight pack.  Think holiday cheer going out the window!

It certainly doesn’t help that people don’t have any organisation while walking on the sidewalk.  If people walked on the right in the direction of travel, then things would work.  But just like on the roads, there are assholes who have to get there before everyone else and make it difficult to keep movement flowing.  You know the guy? Everyone is merging nicely in traffic and there’s the one guy who goes roaring up the outside and clogs the flow of the merge?  That guy!

Then there are the strollers.  In this packed display of humanity there are people ramming strollers into the fray, swearing and cursing that people won’t move for them.  It doesn’t matter that they are not moving because they can’t, these stroller moms just push on through rolling over everyone.  One woman screamed at me to move back to let her through.  My response - “sure, just let me push this 50 storey building back a foot so you can get through”.  Didn’t matter, she just ran over my feet and smashed my shins with the pram and cursed at me as she did so.  Merry Christmas indeed.

We finally broke free of the crowds and took ourselves home to watch a bit more basketball in the quiet warmth of our apartment.  

Big day tomorrow as we start our NY explorations proper - museums, parks and all the sights of the city.










Tuesday 25 December 2018

Schoolies Day 21 - Lady Liberty and the crowded masses

A whole new adventure on the way to a second visit to Lady Liberty today as we approached Liberty Island from New Jersey rather than Battery Park.  A much better option as there weren’t hundreds of people on our side and it was a quick security queue compared to the 30 minute process last time. 

We woke to a foggy day - which is ironic as the last time we went to see the statue we couldn’t see Manhattan through the fog.  Thankfully it burned off as we made outlet way there so visibility was much nicer today.

We had a brisk walk from our apartment through the streets of Newport to the Warren Street Pier ready to catch a 1 minute ferry across to the Central Rail docks.  Rushed to get there so we didn’t miss our ferry and of course it was 20 minutes late or the next one was ten minutes early - who knows!

Liberty State Park is all part of the National Parks service and the departure point to the island of the Statue of Liberty. It is also where the Central Railroad terminal used to be - which is a glorious old building right on the edge of the Hudson River.  It is also directly across the river from where the twin towers once stood and there is a beautiful memorial to the people of New Jersey who lost their lives in the 9-11 terrorist attack.  Two long walls direct the eye to the place where the towers once stood in the NY skyline, with a title of Empty Sky.  The names of every NJ resident who perished is engraved on the walls.  There is also a piece of the debris at the beginning of the memorial to remind us of the outcome of the attacks.

We caught the Lady Liberty Ferry first to Ellis Island (where we didn’t get off) and then to Liberty Island where we enjoyed an audio guide telling about not just the history of the statue but a bit about the Manhattan skyline and busy New York Harbour.

Having been before, I knew to book our climb to the crown tickets 3 months ago so was lucky to snag them again this trip.  The three of us made our way up the spiral staircase (190 odd steps from memory) to peer through the viewing windows on the crown for a view across the harbour..  unfortunately Brendon’s fear of heights kicked in and he didn’t make it to the top, but Hayden got there and was pretty impressed with the view.  I was pretty impressed with him for his efforts as he has a height phobia too.

So here’s today’s rant.  People take far too many photos at these places and they take far too much time setting up the entire shot.  One family held up the flow of traffic on the pedestal for about three minutes as they swapped places, changed angles and then just when they moved to the next corner, did it all over again.  Don’t even get me started on the chick at the crown who constantly flicked her hair over her shoulder onto me as we stood looking out the windows.  These people will only have photos and no actual memory of the event. Hair woman didn’t even look out the windows - she just posed in front of them and kept checking her phone for the best angles. FFS - look around you and try to be more self-aware and considerate of all around you.

None of us was particularly interested in Ellis Island exploration (I find it hard to get excited about their history of immigration given their current political administration), so we decided to skip that tour and caught the ferry back to Battery Park and hop the subway into Times Square.

Now it was pretty cool to see the reaction of my boys as we came out of the tube stop and walked the one block to the Square.  Times Square is so well billboarded electronically that, as in Hayden’s words - “you don’t need to have your headlights on to drive through there at night” and he is spot on. Times Square glows even on the darkest New York night.  It is a thriving hub of scum and villainy...sorry I got lost there for a second. It is a hub of commercialism and humanity.  After a very late lunch at The Olive Garden (which was delicious and well priced), We navigated down to Madison Square Garden where we tried unsuccessfully to snag tickets to tomorrow’s Knicks game.  Yep, there is a basketball game on on Christmas Day!

Sadly, said tickets were US$269 so after a bit of fast checking on the official resell sight we got them for substantially less (but still have to sell a kidney to pay for them). So the Boyd’s are off to the basketball tomorrow.

With nothing else planned we walked to the Bryant Park Christmas markets (busy!) and then to the Rockefeller Centre (even busier)  to check out how a tree should be done (I’m talking to you Brisbane City Council) - a 65 foot real tree decorated with thousands of lights.  Not a plastic bough in sight!  

Found our way to the Path train back to NJ and bought cannolis at Carlos’ Bakery in Hoboken before a cool walk home to our apartment.

A busy eventful day.  Looking forward to Christmas Day tomorrow and hopefully catching up with friends.











Monday 24 December 2018

Schoolies Day 20 - American Football is Weird

ok, before we get to the weirdness of American Football, I want to do a shout out to the New Jersey Transit Authority who made it super easy to get to the game at MetLife Stadium this afternoon - seriously easy and relatively inexpensive. Hats off at the end of the game that we were home smoothly as well, with little to no hassle!

Now as for the football, I have to say that American Football is pretty hyped.  Super impressive stadium (80k+ capacity) where even the cheap seats are good seats. Huge tailgate parties in the parking lot, and activities all round the stadium pre-game.  There are the obligatory New York Jets flight crew (cheer leaders) the fans are called Jets Nation and there is always some gimmicky thing in the crowd like T-shirt cannons and tossing into the crowd, super fans who lead chants like J-E-T-S, JETS, JETS, JETS, or De-fense (clap clap) a really annoying air raid siren that just goes on and on and on all game.

And then there is the football.  I read an ESPN article before the game that said the average action time for games had dropped to 11 minutes this year. Now let’s get this straight.  They play for 4 x 15 minute quarters.  That’s an hour of actual play.  Only 11 minutes of it is “action”.  And it takes 4 HOURS TO FINISH!

I can watch pretty much any sport, hell on this trip I went to a Premier League soccer match and enjoyed it.  But this is not something I will replicate again.  The constant stop-start of this game is frustrating.  The standing around waiting while a countdown clock advises you that there is a 2 minute tv break, the changeover of teams because heaven forbid you can play both offence and defence (don’t get me started on the specials).

But the Americans love it.  I imagine they would diss my footy if they came to watch it, but at least with our stoppages we add the time at the end and the action is pretty much ongoing all game.  I spent more time watching the crowd than I did the game - because the game doesn’t play constantly for the quarter.  I mean, I timed the last 7.06 of the final quarter and it took 40 minutes to play - OMG!

Anyway, it came down to a nail biting finish.  The Jets kicked a field goal with seconds to spare to tie the game and force the game into ten minutes overtime (kill me now!).  Thankfully it’s similar to golden point so first scorer wins.  Sadly today that was the Packers so it wasn’t a good day for Jets fans.  If you ask the fans, they were robbed - there were certainly a lot of penalty flags thrown and there was one questionable touchdown awarded (there is no review system for touchdowns).  I was pretty surprised that the only ‘big hits’ we saw were all penalised and interference penalties were awarded a lot too.  It must be a real difference when our footy players come here as specialised punt kickers - to go from our game to this - it is certainly not what I expected!

Anyway, tick that box off, I’m done!






Sunday 23 December 2018

Schoolies Days 18 & 19 - Universal fun and our first day in NYC

Universal Studios day 2 and it was a marathon - through the gate at 9 and out the gate at 9 - we got our money’s worth today.

Now I have to give the US their due - these people know how to cue, and they do it patiently.  This is not my forte, and I have struggled with standing in line sans phone for upwards of an hour in some situations.  Rather, I don’t mind waiting but it’s watching people holding spaces for their ten friends, watching the people who can afford express passes skipping the queues and the people who just insinuate themselves into a line where everyone has been patiently waiting and expecting no one to arc up! My inner Sheldon Cooper just begs to pop up and correct them, and may have done so a couple of times!

The lines here are pretty good though. Every ride has a time to wait indicator out front and for every ride it has either been spot on or slightly faster than they have indicated.  Longest time we have spent on a line was 1 hour for the Hulk Coaster and that was worth every second of waiting.  We have seen times exceeding 120 minutes but they’ve been for rides we had already done.

We spent most of our day park hopping (we had a park to park pass which gave us access to all three parks).  Needless to say, we weren’t going to use the Volcano Bay pass - it’s a water park and given how cool it has been, no way are we venturing into the water.

It was a big retail day today, with each of us spending a bit of cash at the gift shops, me for a Slytherin beanie and some swag for my girl for Christmas, Hayden for his very own wand (Albus Dumbledore’s no less) and Brendon for a souvenir tee.  I’m sure we bought other stuff too but I’m a bit brain dead at the moment and can’t remember!

We also watched a few more shows and both of the parades today.  I also managed to snag a pic with Dr Emmet Brown, much to Hayden’s disgust (because he missed him!)

We had breakfast at the Three Broomsticks today - again, the attention to detail is pretty spot on, and lunch was at the Hot Dog Hall of Fame - where we each had a different dog - Brendon had a Arizona, Hayden had a Detroit and I had a Milwaukee. I introduced the boys to chilli cheese fries and I think they were suitably impressed!

Food has really been a killer at Universal.  Because we are staying at the resort, we are paying inflated prices for everything, and are pretty locked into their options.  I am already over burgers and fries and can’t wait to get to our little apartment in New York so we can have some good home cooked meals that include fresh veges and fruits.  You can only eat so much junk before you crave the good stuff!

So even with two full days in the park, we still haven’t seen or done it all.  If I make my way back here in October with our Magnet conference, there will still be plenty to make it shiny and new still - oh and the fact they are building a new HP ride might help too!  There are so many other parks here (as well as a swamp boat ride), that Orlando still has a lot to offer.

I wouldn’t stay at the Universal Resorts again though - I much prefer being in Orlando itself, without being locked into the resort - we couldn’t easily walk to the other side as the main arterial road makes it difficult to connect to the main drag (International Drive) - and that’s where the fun is!

After checking out of Aventura today, we began our trek to NYC - two hour flight, followed by Airtrain to Jamaica Station, subway to World Trade Centre, Path train to Newport and a 3 minute walk to our home for the next ten days in Jersey City in a little pocket called Newport.

We have a cute one bedroom apartment- with Hayden on a sofa bed in the lounge room, although after pulling it out he has decided to just sleep on the lounge!

After a spot of grocery shopping, we have had a dinner of Spaghetti Bolognaise followed by my favourite Talenti gelato and have settled in to watch a Harry Potter marathon - because you can never have too much Harry Potter!

Oh and have I mentioned the view? We have the most delightful vistas over Manhattan from across the river and some beautiful Christmas displays just downstairs.

Tomorrow we are off to the NFL - Jets v Packers. Wish us luck on the public transport!