138 The Last full day in New York.

Sunday 14th April
It's Happy Birthday to my wee brother today.  He enjoyed a cooked breakfast with my Mum and Sandy and I can say that I am jealous of that!
 
We had a slow start and our plans for today changed with each footstep we took.  Over the last few days we have walked miles and I am the only one out of the two of us who will admit it, but my feet ache.  Anyway, after our breakfast, we trekked down to Madison Park where we jumped on the bus, courtesy of our "passes" and headed for the Brooklyn Bridge.  Ray had heard it was a great walk. We left the comfort of our bus and walked onto the bridge and headed for the middle so we could get some fabulous views looking out over the Hudson river and New York.

The Woolworth building

The weather today was sunny with a temperature of about 60, but it was still pretty chilly.  The bridge, as it turned out, was under renovation and you couldn't really see much, but what we could see was impressive, however it was a tad fraught as we dodged cyclists and joggers who just aimed at us.

The Brooklyn Bridge under renovation. Pedestrians walk over the cars.

Looking South towards Wall St. Named as such by the Dutch who built a wooden wall to keep the native Indians out. It worked, for the Indians, not for us though. The Brits cam along and kicked them out. New York was called "Little Amsterdam" until the Duke of York took it over. Hence the name now.

We gave in gracefully and came down off of the bridge and straight into some street performers.  They had a lot of patter, but failed to deliver, but they did manage to get a fair amount of tips out of the gullible crowd.  We had no change, so escaped and wandered off muttering as is our want.

The street performers were actually scammers. They did a lot of fancy posturing with veiled promises of amazing tricks, then passed the hat around and this is all they did, wiggle under some peoples legs.. 

We took a walk around China Town, where we were offered many things for "ten dollar", not all were watches or handbags.  Again I had been here with my Mum many years before, but it seems to have expanded and was very busy this time.

We do not miss this crap.

We found a little restaurant off of the beaten track, where our food was very authentic, but all the staff were wearing Hawaiian shirts and spoke no english, slightly bizarre, but fun never the less.

A proper Chinese Restaurant, where the locals eat and meet.

The food was good too.

Our plans changed again and after a long hike, we found the bus stop for our tour bus again.

Whilst walking for the bus we saw this. A typical New York, back street, car park. Would you ???

The bus arrived, the doors opened and nothing happened, so I got on the bus, and with that, one of the witches from Macbeth shouted "How dare you do that, don't you know people are trying to get off"  We stood for the next 5 minutes getting a lecture on manners, health and safety and "I know in London that doesn't happen".  I still didn't see anyone trying to get off, anyway we have obviously been together too long as at the same time both Ray and I said, "Can we just get on now, we've got the message."  After her patronizing lecture, we listened to her plea for tips, so in our best grown up way, we jumped off the bus without leaving any except, "don't eat yellow snow".  Lets see her feed her dog and get her tea on that!  HAH!!!
I've digressed again, we were actually on our way to Times Square again, this time to go to the Harry Potter Museum, unfortunately, yes just for a change, it was shut for two weeks, so walking back to the main drag, we came across a great bar called "Jekyll and Hyde.  It was fantastic, all done out with spooky props and various actors doing little sketches of Frankenstein creating his monster. It was really fun.

Imagine going into a restaurant and seeing this as you walk into it !!

And it just got worse or better depending upon your point of view.

Whilst we were sat at the bar the center shrunken head on the back of the bar decided to strike up a conversation with me. (Yes, you did hear that correctly.) He asked my name and where I was from etc. It was bizarre. It got worse when his mates joined in later with a song.

Then out popped the local Zombie moaning about human (ish) rights for Zombies and moaning about him and his mates always being bludgeoned or shot in the head.

Would the place be complete without the usual Frankenstein enactment. I just missed a photo of John Merrick (the Elephant Man) when he turned up. Mad, completely Mad.

Our main aim for today was to wait until it got dark and go up to "The top of the rock", which is the Rockefeller building.  We wanted to see New York with all it's lights and see the Empire building all lit up.  That was our next stop and it was worth the wait.

The 80 floor Rockafeller tower.

...And the view from the top looking over Central Park (left of center)...

....and the Southern view showing the Empire State Building on the left.

The cure for my fear of heights.

Having hit 9pm we were both shattered, so a quick dinner and so bed.

Will you hurry up with my dinner before I fall asleep at the table.

  Tomorrow is going to be a fraught day. Our biker jackets have not arrived and we are due to check out and move on. Unfortunately, they are coming from Denver which is 2 hours behind us so we cannot even call them till 10am.
On top of that, the bike arrived at JFK airport yesterday and we have to clear customs for it and collect it too. Its going to be a busy day.

137 Empire State Building and Statue of Liberty.

Friday 12th April
The Hall curse on the weather has stayed with us and today it has rained and rained and then some more rain.  There is absolutely no point going up the Empire State Building as you can't see it.

The weather curse was following us. 1" of rain today

11
We went for breakfast and then jumped back on "the big yellow taxi" bus, (our tickets were for two days), to Times Square with a view to getting cheaper theater tickets for tonight, and found that the list for the tickets doesn't come out until 2.30pm. It was just too wet to hang around so after a little stroll we found an Irish Bar and had a couple of beers.  We did join the theater queue, but the one show we wanted to see, did not have any tickets available.  There really wasn't much else we wanted to see, so we ended up in the Bubba Gump Shrimp restaurant for a late lunch.

Life is like a box of chocolates

The rain continued so we caught the bus back to our hotel and eventually braved the weather and hit another Irish Bar called Mulligans.  Everybody else had the same idea and the place was packed.  Home again and an early night.

Saturday 13th April
We were up early this morning and after breakfast, we caught a yellow cab to a tourist office where we had to activate our New York passes. 

Breakfast is weighed and sold by the pound. Odd but fair.

Do I look scared.......Our luntic cab ride

We had purchased them whilst still in Britain and they entitled us to various different tours and entrance to many different tourist attractions for free.  We headed first to Pier 84 and jumped on a water taxi which took us down to Battery Park. 

A more sedate and interesting taxi

We got off there and went to the 9/11 memorial.  Where the twin Towers stood, there are now two water falls and all the names of those that lost their lives in that awful attack, The Pentagon and the flights involved and also the 6 people who'd lost their lives in the 1993 attack on the Towers.  Around the waterfalls, they have started to rebuild new sky scrapers and they will become the buildings for the financial district.  It is quite moving, but is also being done sympathetically.

The new "No 1", World Trade center.

We left there and returned to the water taxi, which took us around the Statue of Liberty, but we couldn't land and Ellis Island was also closed to the public.

We were unable to land due to hurricane "Sandy" damage being repaired.

New York, New York, da da dadda, da da dadda.........

It transpires that a lot of the attractions are unavailable at the moment, because they were damaged by hurricane Sandy.  This included the warship "Intrepid" which has the space shuttle "Enterprise" on it's deck.  Again this was closed due to repairs needing to be done.

Part of the USS Enterprise exhibition

Enterprise on the deck of USS Intrepid. This shuttle never actually flew. The last time I saw this, it was sat on top of a Jumbo Jet and landed at Stansted Airport. That was 1985 (ish).

After our tour by boat, we were taken by bus back to Times Square.  Our mission from here was to walk up to the Empire State building.  We could see the top of it today.  The sun came out after a slow start, but it was still quite cold.  We got in pretty quickly and up graded so that we could go right to the top.  First though we were treated to the New York Sky ride, which is a simulator ride on the 2nd floor.  It was a different way of seeing New York.  From there we went up to the 86th floor and walked around the observation deck.  The views are amazing and we could see for miles.  Next stop was the 102nd floor and apparently, according to the recorded message in the lift on the way back down, we are members of the "elite 102 club".  We didn't get a certificate though.  

The view from the top of the Empire State Building was incredible.

 
Having not eaten since breakfast, we stopped for some food and as it was getting quite late headed back to our room.
The motor cycle jackets we ordered have not arrived, so that might cause a bit of a problem on Monday, but I'm sure we will think of something.
Just as a bit of information really, we have been keeping an eye on the weather channel, mainly because we will be traveling around the US, and it would appear that Britain does not have the monopoly on weird weather.  There have been severe snow storms through the central belt and tornadoes and hurricanes are expected in Florida.  Most states have been suffering from temperatures almost 20 degrees lower than the seasonal average, and Boston, where we go to next showed a projected forecast of the next 3 days in the 50's, then one day 70 and then back down to 60.  Apparently it is all to do with the Jet stream.  Oh well, we will just have to keep a sense of humour and deal with it as and when.  Roll on the adventure!

136 Final goodbyes and hello America

Saturday 6th April 2013
Today we are meeting up with most of the Hall clan.  Bruce and Lyn are coming down from Wales and are bringing Lyn's sister Wendy and her daughter and son in law, and new baby, and we are bringing, Trula and Jim with Paige and Mikey, Jim's son, Zoe and Wayne and Rosie and Jake. Billy and Sue, who we stayed with in France and who look after our caravan are also coming along. We took over the conservatory in the restaurant and had a very good, if not noisy lunch.  Many goodbyes and good wishes later, the restaurant was restored to normal.

Lyn, Bruce, Sue and Billy

Rosie and Jake

Mikey and Paige

Zoe and Wayne

Ray and 2 more generations of females

Jim, Trulas boyfriend

Karen and the inherited brood

Monday 8th April
Ray picked Liz and Bob and Benjamin up from Stanstead airport in the early hours and came back to bed for a few hours and then we were off on our own, with Wallace to Heathrow.  It all went relatively painlessly and after finishing off the last few things, we had dinner with them and moved into the house, now that the caravan and land rover are ready for storage.

Tuesday 9th April
We hooked up the caravan and I led the way to Billy's where we are storing them for our trip. Ray wanted me leading so that I could warn oncoming drivers of our abnormal load.  It was a very successful operation and we deposited both, and after more goodbyes, we had a couple of other things to finish off.  We had arranged to pop in and see Rosie and Jake at their new flat, but on turning up, it soon became apparent, that my dear husband, had forgotten to tell me, or remember himself, that he had arranged to have a meal with them.  Consequently we were too late to see Liz and Bob to say thank you and goodbye.  We went to bed feeling pretty rotten, considering everything they have done for us.  So once again,  Thank you both and love to Benjamin.

Wednesday 10th April
At 4am, the excitement had finally set in.  We were up and ready to go and did manage a quick goodbye before taking off for Trula's.  We rang her on route to make sure she was up and then with Jim, the four of us headed back to Heathrow.  We booked in and after coffee and goodbyes, Ray and I were on our own and the adventure was about to begin.  We flew with Virgin and the flight was half an hour late taking off.  We left at 10am British time and landed at JFK at 12 midday American time. 

"Dancing Queen", Flight VS003 to new york.

We are 5 hours behind the UK, so we both decided that we would stay up as long as possible to try and recover sooner.  We set off from the airport via the train and after two more changes and a bit of help from some very friendly New Yorkers, we got to our hotel on East 32nd street, the Hotel Grand Union.

A shoe shine shop. Our first taste of America

The tube was actually very clean

 We arrived at 2.30pm and originally thought  we couldn't  book in until 4pm, but there was no problem so we got our room and unpacked.  The hotel is okay, a wee bit tired looking and our view of the Empire State building is very limited unless you stand on the ledge in the bathroom and hang out of the window, however it does have a bath so not all bad.
We decided that we would go straight out and have a wander about.  The sun was shinning and it was very warm.  We went along to see the Madison Square Garden, which Ray was surprised to find was not a garden, but a major venue for big fights etc, so off we went and eventually came to Times Square.  This place was very vibrant and lots of tourists.  We had dinner at Planet Hollywood and then decided to check out the Theater situation.  As we started walking, the wind picked up and the sky grew very dark and heavy and before long we were in the middle of a huge down pour and thunder and lightening storm.  We took cover in a bar and had a couple of Budweiser's and by 8pm, we were both flagging so much, we went back to the hotel, where we both fell asleep within minutes of getting into bed.

Our first glimpse of the Empire State Building

Macy's,  the sign says it all

Just another day in Times Square

"Little Nellie"from and early James Bond film

Thursday 11th April.
4am again, although, US time and we were both wide awake. As I opened my eyes, I felt that my right eye seemed funny, it felt swollen and I was struggling to see with it.  Ray confirmed my diagnosis and then we heard the tell tale sound of buzzing.  Somehow up on the 9th floor, a bloody mosquito had got into our room and decided to eat me.  It had also bitten my right wrist. We spotted it resting on the wall.  Ray dispatched it and it must have had half a pint of my blood in it, which we then had to clean up off the wall, no wonder we could catch it, it had put on so much weight. Anyway, I started my sight seeing of New York, looking particularly fetching and as if I'd been one of the fights at Madison Square. Yeah!

You should see the other guy

Our first trip was to the chemist for some allergy tablets and then breakfast.  Back at the room, Ray sorted out ordering our motorcycle jackets, which we decided to buy over here because they are about £200 cheaper and once that was done, we jumped on a sight seeing bus, called "the big yellow taxi" and took in the attractions and atmosphere of New York.  We got off at Central Park and considered getting a horse and carriage around the park, but settled for a walk instead.  We visited the zoo, but were disappointed to find that Alec, Melman, Gloria and Marti were still on the missing list, probably still in Madagascar.  (For some of you they are they stars of the animated film, Madagascar who all escaped from Central Park Zoo).  We had hot dogs from a proper New York vendor and then jumped back on the bus.  We stayed on it this time until we reached Battery Park which is where we could see the Statue of Liberty from.  The park itself, is under going major renovation, as is a lot of the city, so not only was it cold and grey, it was also a little bit shabby.  I had visited it with my Mum back in 1998 and it was lovely then.  We passed Ground Zero,and once again there are major works going on there, but that is not a bad thing.    I had also been here with my Mum, then the Towers were still there, and I returned once again  6 months after they fell. That time, all around were photo's of, and verses to those that had lost their lives.  Now it is completely different with a lot of construction going on.

Taxi anyone ?

Central Park

One of the residents that did not escape to Madagascar

Traffic can be a bitch

The Times Square Clock for the New Year celegrations

Battery Park, looking seriously battered

The replacement for the Twin Towers at ground Zero

At about 5pm we returned to our room.  As I write this, Ray is having a wee snooze and I am about to wage war on another mosquito.  We haven't decided yet whether to go out and see the City by night or have an early night and start again early tomorrow.

135 Final Prep for the Americas and a trip to Scotland.

Our stay with Bob and Liz has been very enjoyable and we are extremely grateful for their company and hospitality but that is soon to come to an end with our departure for foreign lands. They have now departed for a 2 week diving holiday in Sharm El Sheik, Egypt.

Just at the back of Bob & Lizs place is a forest with this lot roaming free.

Karen got her hand in helping Liz with the lambing.

And the duck (bright yellow beak) was such a pest that Liz bought it two mates to stop it becoming a dog.

We had a 10 day visit to Scotland to see Karens relatives and indulge in Enids (Karen's aunt) 80th birthday party. Tim, now known affectionately as "Fluffy Fingers" for his superb culinary skills,  had made her a very nice birthday cake.

Enids 80th Birthday cake, courtesy of Fluffy Fingers, Tim

Happy Birthday Enid.

The party, John, Phillipa, Calum, Tim, Enid, Ray, Karen, Margo, Sandy, Amy, Susan and Gordon.

And the ladies together. Susan, Phillipa, Enid, Margo, Amy and Karen.

We had a very relaxing time staying with Margot and Sandy (well Karen did, I was my usually flapping self, stressing over the America trip admin) but in all fairness we were made very welcome and despite the cold weather we thoroughly enjoyed the visit. Then it was all off again and back to Bob & Lizs for the final preparations.

Bob & Liz will be back in the early hours of Monday morning and I will collect them from Stansted Airport. I will then have a few hours sleep and it's off to Heathrow with Wallace for his flight. Ten its back to move the caravan to its storage place at Billys so that will be a manic day for us.

In the mean time, we are finally getting our act together but with only 3 days till the bike ships we are still struggling with some things. The rear shock absorber has not arrived yet and If it does not get here by tomorrow morning we will have to go without it.

We have finally sorted out our camping gear and are now looking at ways to strap it all on the bike. There's a lot !!!

We are going to be very busy over the next few days. We need to wax-wash Gromit the Landrover and the caravan. They will be stored for nearly a year and need some sort of protection from the weather. The trouble is that it is freezing cold and the last thing we want to do is mess around with cold water.

Our wheel-less caravan. To stop the pikeys from nicking it whilst we were in Scotland. We have had a few obvious "Recces" where they came around looking to sell (stolen ?) tools and the caravan was blatantly eyed up.

 The admin we have had to do for this trip has been a pain in the butt, however it is finally done (well almost) and hopefully today will finalise a lot of these loose ends and crap jobs.