CANBERRA TO NEW YORK: August Update

I am done! August is blogged. it was a busy, wonderful month full of activities with friends, vistors and lovely hot days. A fitting end to our last summer in NY.

S0, here are some memories of our month.

Our Temporary Pennsylvania friends came to visit for a couple of days, we spent a day in NYC and a day visiting the PX and picnicing at Stoney Point. Stoney Point is an historic military location and there was a blacksmith, canon demonstration and colonial history musuem. Another lovely day and some nice Hudson River Views.

What do Army brats do when they get together?....

.....Have nerf, will battle

NYC:

Five of us in Grand Central, I am not sure if we have ever taken a photo of all 5 of us here, despite the many times we have been there, usually rushing for a train.

Wall street bull. I think our boys enjoyed being in hundred's of photos but I am not sure the tourists enjoyed having them in their photos.

Street Art!

We took the subway down town to Battery Point, collected our prebooked ferry tickets, and boarded for our trip out to Liberty Island. Gorgeous day for a ferry ride on NY Harbour.

Traveling on the Subway.

Recently, our children decided they wanted to watch Crododile Dundee, so of course we joined them (I did the ironing). Even after all this time it is still a pretty good story, Paul Hogan got an oscar nod for the script apparently. Any way, I mention this now because Sue takes Mick to the Top of the Rock in the movie for a view of NYC. Although they don't mention it, we knew. That is one of the great things about living in NY, you get to see loads of places on movies that you have been too.

Any way, enough dribbling (can you tell I am going to miss it here?) - Here are the photos.

A day spent at Rye Play Land with friends. Love this place, it is so retro and much fun for all. Another hot day, I was happy to keep doing hte flume ride for a bit of a cool down.

This looks like a tame ride, until it really gets going and it is fast and high.

J and her friend CR.

The 'Super Flyer Something Ride' It is a bit like being superman, and the boys LOVED this one.

W did this ride a few times and was the only one in our group who gave it a try, it did take him a few hours to get up the courage to try and then I could not get him off again. It shoots you up into the air really fast.

Children and friends.

Me and my lovely chidlren.

One day my friend NP found out that we had never been to China Town, it turns out that she is somewhat of an expert on the place and offered to be our guide. So off we went, what a great day. NP took us to a Chinese Market (shop with just about everything you can imagine) and I found a set of 5 tea cups. Very rare to find things in sets of 5 and at a great price too. Also bought some Ginseng, goji berries and dried lon gan to make tea. Interesting stuff. We have lots of it - wonder if it will make it through customs.

We wondered around to find an Apothacary that another friend's school uses (Oriental Medicine School in NYC) which was pretty interesting then to lunch at NP's favourite restaurant, Wo Hop. After a nice lunch I carried home enough food for another two meals, my arms killed me but it was too good to throw away.

These jars said 'China Town' to me almost more than the signs and buildings....dried sea cucumber, I am sure it is delicious.

Street views.

The Chinese Apothacary, not much like the pharmacies we are used to.

Goods in the 'supermarket', I did not recognise anything here.

Chinese buildings apear suddenly amongst the western architechture.

Children outside the restaurant.

Children inside the restaurant.

Mummies who lunch....with their children at the end of the table.

A while ago I signed up to this thing called 'Groupon'. They offer a daily discount for all sorts of things, spa treatments, food, drinks, tours etc and I have used it twice so far. The first was to buy tickets to the King Tut Exhibit at half price, quite a saving and even cheaper than their group rate (without the hasstle of organising a group). The second time was for a 2 hour sail around NY harbour on a Schooner The Pioneer. It was so good, sailing on NY Harbour, I have to say one of the highlights of our time here.

We also had access to the South Street Sea Port Museum and their moored ships. It was a glorious day so instead of being inside the museum we spent our time on the ship...sorry can't remember its name, but it was from about 1900 and was a transport vessel. Lots of fun.

My boys.

Me and the South Street Sea port.

J and the South Street Sea Port

The Boat? not the one we sailed on of coruse, the moored one with all the activities.

D and M.

The view across the East River to Brooklyn...see the three story freeway....I have driven on that!!

They had boat making activities where you made the boat, then checked to see if it would float.

There was an hilarious magician who kept the kids entertained for a while.

Finally on our way.

D and children helping with the ropes....and unfortunately the last photo since the battery went flat at that instant.

We were lucky enough to recieve a visit from our 'temporary DC' friends, all of us enjoying our friend fix.

The children

And, the grown ups.

D and I met in the city for dinner and a preview screening of Bran Nui Dai. We took ourselves around the corner from the Theatre in Chelsea to a Thai restaurant which was yummy, then back for the movie. The American Australian Association had organised the screening and invited all Aussies in NY to come along. It was a great movie, I might be telling you something you already know, but for us it was exciting to see an Australian Movie in NYC before any one else.

I was lucky enough to spend the day in NYC with my friend SMM and her sister Pen, we started at the Gugenheim, walked through Central Park where we had a delicious sandwich in a cafe for lunch, wondered down 5th Avenue and stopped off in Tiffanies, continued to the Empire State Building where we caught a cab the rest of the way down town to see Blue Man Group, then back uptown to dinner on Restaurant Row at my favourite (ok so I only know about 5) restaurant Tramonti, then a drink at the View.

Our first stop is the Gugenheim museum of art. We were not interested in the art just the building a famous Frank Lloyd Wright design. It is quite impressive and so not like any other building.

Some of the more stunning Egyptian art in the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

A little more Frank Lloyd Wright, seems we just can't get enough, or get away! This time though we could actually take a photo of this recreated room from one of his famous houses. He designed everything including rugs, furniture and artwork....he would even design you a dress to go with the house.

A nice spot for a little rest, I gave a $1 to a little old fellow playing his one man band, he was really quite bad but I felt sorry for him.

Me and SMM having a little sit down at the Bethesda Fountain (have you seen enchanted?)

Lots of skin out today at the Sheep Meadow. Pen's only comment (she works in health promotion) was - I hope they are wearing sun screen!

Amid the hustle and bustle of Central Park is this spot named for John Lennon's song.

Then just a litte further on is the memorial itself.

A NY site - Taxi's as far as you can see.

Empire State Building from Below.

And, from inside the foyer.

This church places a ribbon on their fence for everyone killed in Iraq/Afganistan both US and Nationals.

The Flat Iron Building - famous NY building.

We thought this was a novel way of getting around the space and car problem in NYC.

Drinks at the View - revolving restaurant in the Mariot on Times Square.

And, finally, on the very last day of the month (2 days before flying to San Fransisco) we spent the day in Little Italy.

They were getting ready for an Italian Festival.

Our children and friends walking down the street - it was a pretty hot day again.

Ah, this is what we have come for. I bought a really nice Salami, unfortunately forgot to take it with us to San Fransisco and although still delicious a month later, if was more like jerky than salami...very chewy.

We also wanted to seesome of the original buildings that Little Italy is famous for. They are moslty not more than 6 stories high because there were no elelvators when they were built. We liked the original fire escapes. - Just like the movies.