Monday, November 13, 2006
Those Little Town Blues
Was 
New York ready for the Forster hicks to hit town? Were we ready for the action at the Big Apple? You bet! Another early morning escape from Waterloo down to Buffalo this time to catch a plane to Newark airport, New York. We knew we would have trouble getting over the border so built in an extra hour on the trip to allow for collection of visas and the usual drilling by the border police then to the airport. We caught a shuttle bus into town and arrived at Grand Central station which was next door to our lodgings for the weekend, the Grand Hyatt, Park Avenue, New York. Saturday was our first day in NY and we dropped off our luggage and headed for the subway. A days unlimited travel on subway and buses costs $7 so we got a pass each and headed for downtown Manhatten. First stop was The Brooklyn Bridge.
It was a cold but clear sunny day so we walked all the way across the bridge taking photos and taking in the sights and sounds of the most famous city in the world. On the other side of the bridge we jumped back onto the subway, changed lines under the city somewhere and emerged at Ground Zero. This site is constantly changing and now looks like any construction site in any city in the world. 
There is a memorial photo wall with pictures of remnants of the disaster, and the fire station that was closest has been relocated next to the site for the pu
blic to view, and we were fortunate to say hi to 2 policemen who were at 911 on that day and Alex got her picture taken with them. But the most poignant moment for me was when we travelled via subway under the site passing through the station (which was closed and boarded up). The train went over some really bad track for a few seconds which was terribly noisy and squeeky, then as we passed through the closed subway station, everything went earilly quiet, like we were gliding on clouds on a moonlit night (hope you like my attempt at metaphor), then back to more squeeky, bumpy track.
Back on the subway we decided to head further south in search of the ferry to the Statue of Liberty. We checked out various options but decided to do more exploring elsewhere in the city and do the statue tomorrow. Time for a browse around the numerous trinket stalls and then on the subway back to Times Square. We arrived at Times Square late in the afternoon and were in awe of the lights, traffic (mostly yellow cabs), busy people including tourists and the multitude of ads including the many shows in the area. Of course the Lion King ad took a prominant position above the street.
We didn't realise until hitting Times Square that the Lion King we booked was at the Minskoff Theatre which is slap bang dab in the middle of the whole shibang! Time then to check out some street rappers who quickly entertained the tourists before being chased off by the NYPD. Finally walked back to our hotel, a 15 minute sight sensation as darkness fell. I can't remember much of the rest of the day only that we foraged for some food and hit the sack as we had been up since 4am that morning.
A free brecky at the hotel overlooking Park Avenue then off to do more exploring. We worked out that even wit
h public transport to get us around we did about 25kms of walking each day. On to the subway via Grand Central Station and down to lower Manhatten and onto the Statten Island Ferry. This is a free ferry ride to the island and back and just so happens to pass past the Statue of Liberty on its way. Even though a closer inspection would have been neat our time was limited and we were satisfied with a good look from the ferry and a good look at the city skyline from Statten Island. Back uptown now to Central Park. More s
hopping for touristy stuff including T-shirts, fridge magnets etc then to the park to discover that the New York City marathon was being held today. Thousands of people, street bands performing on each corner, police all over the place and plenty of excitment. It was fun to watch the runners coming home preceded by a cavalcade of police vehicles, sirens blazing, putting on a big show. Our walk through Central park was great. We came across an ice skating rink, hot dog stalls, buskers, people walking the dog and even some Aussies. We jumped on the city bus to go down 5th Avenue only to get off one stop later because Jenny saw a particularly interesting bag on display in the many street stalls. It turned out to be a false alarm but it gave Alex and I the opportunity to try some NY tucker in the form of a NY Hot Dog (for muah) and a NY Cheese Pretzel for Alex. Quite frankly, I liked the value and flavour of the hot dog in Toronto better.
New York ready for the Forster hicks to hit town? Were we ready for the action at the Big Apple? You bet! Another early morning escape from Waterloo down to Buffalo this time to catch a plane to Newark airport, New York. We knew we would have trouble getting over the border so built in an extra hour on the trip to allow for collection of visas and the usual drilling by the border police then to the airport. We caught a shuttle bus into town and arrived at Grand Central station which was next door to our lodgings for the weekend, the Grand Hyatt, Park Avenue, New York. Saturday was our first day in NY and we dropped off our luggage and headed for the subway. A days unlimited travel on subway and buses costs $7 so we got a pass each and headed for downtown Manhatten. First stop was The Brooklyn Bridge.
It was a cold but clear sunny day so we walked all the way across the bridge taking photos and taking in the sights and sounds of the most famous city in the world. On the other side of the bridge we jumped back onto the subway, changed lines under the city somewhere and emerged at Ground Zero. This site is constantly changing and now looks like any construction site in any city in the world. 
There is a memorial photo wall with pictures of remnants of the disaster, and the fire station that was closest has been relocated next to the site for the pu
blic to view, and we were fortunate to say hi to 2 policemen who were at 911 on that day and Alex got her picture taken with them. But the most poignant moment for me was when we travelled via subway under the site passing through the station (which was closed and boarded up). The train went over some really bad track for a few seconds which was terribly noisy and squeeky, then as we passed through the closed subway station, everything went earilly quiet, like we were gliding on clouds on a moonlit night (hope you like my attempt at metaphor), then back to more squeeky, bumpy track.Back on the subway we decided to head further south in search of the ferry to the Statue of Liberty. We checked out various options but decided to do more exploring elsewhere in the city and do the statue tomorrow. Time for a browse around the numerous trinket stalls and then on the subway back to Times Square. We arrived at Times Square late in the afternoon and were in awe of the lights, traffic (mostly yellow cabs), busy people including tourists and the multitude of ads including the many shows in the area. Of course the Lion King ad took a prominant position above the street.
We didn't realise until hitting Times Square that the Lion King we booked was at the Minskoff Theatre which is slap bang dab in the middle of the whole shibang! Time then to check out some street rappers who quickly entertained the tourists before being chased off by the NYPD. Finally walked back to our hotel, a 15 minute sight sensation as darkness fell. I can't remember much of the rest of the day only that we foraged for some food and hit the sack as we had been up since 4am that morning.A free brecky at the hotel overlooking Park Avenue then off to do more exploring. We worked out that even wit
h public transport to get us around we did about 25kms of walking each day. On to the subway via Grand Central Station and down to lower Manhatten and onto the Statten Island Ferry. This is a free ferry ride to the island and back and just so happens to pass past the Statue of Liberty on its way. Even though a closer inspection would have been neat our time was limited and we were satisfied with a good look from the ferry and a good look at the city skyline from Statten Island. Back uptown now to Central Park. More s
hopping for touristy stuff including T-shirts, fridge magnets etc then to the park to discover that the New York City marathon was being held today. Thousands of people, street bands performing on each corner, police all over the place and plenty of excitment. It was fun to watch the runners coming home preceded by a cavalcade of police vehicles, sirens blazing, putting on a big show. Our walk through Central park was great. We came across an ice skating rink, hot dog stalls, buskers, people walking the dog and even some Aussies. We jumped on the city bus to go down 5th Avenue only to get off one stop later because Jenny saw a particularly interesting bag on display in the many street stalls. It turned out to be a false alarm but it gave Alex and I the opportunity to try some NY tucker in the form of a NY Hot Dog (for muah) and a NY Cheese Pretzel for Alex. Quite frankly, I liked the value and flavour of the hot dog in Toronto better.So downtown via 5th Ave we went, past Gucci etc, getting off at the Empire State Building. We decided to do this later tonight so went in to see how long a wait it was and suss out the situation generally. Then back on the subway to "Lidlidaly" (Little Italy for those who don't understand NY lingo). This area is full of 18th century buildings, lots of charm, tons of interesting restaurants and the usual splash of tourist traps.
Finally headed back to The Grand Hyatt for a spruce up and back onto the subway for a look at the Empire 
State Building and NY at sunset and night time, then of course to
The Lion King. What a great night this was. Even though we were very anxious waiting in line for ages to get up the Empire State (thanks Glenn) we made it with time to spare before heading to our show. The pictures speak for themselves. It was a great sight. Back in Times Square again but with a different atmosphere. Night time with heaps more people about, going to shows (like we were) and thousands of yellow cabs. The Lion King was indescribable. I liked the opening scene best, Alex and Jenny had particular favourite scenes also but the whole show was spectacular.
Another day, another free breakfast and time to have alook at the Rockafeller Centre and a stroll down 5th Avenue and take in the sights of NY on a weekday (Its Monday now) before heading home. I don't want to describe the nightmare we had at Newark Airport when we realised that the gazillion tourists that came to NY to partake in the marathon activities and festivities were also heading home. Needless to say it wasn't much fun, but thanks to Jenny's determination and persistance, we caught our flight back to Buffalo.
Saturday, November 04, 2006
Halloween
Halloween is a huge affair over here. The Canadians spend heaps of time planning the event starting with decorating their houses and businesses then collecting pumpkins from various pumpkin farms about the district. You can get pumpkins from just about anywhere, and they are all the yellow ones you see in the movies. They sell them in supermarkets, garden centres, roadside stalls, fuel stops, off the back of a truck, markets along the side of the road, everywhere there are pumpkins. Pumpkins, Pumpkins Pumpkins. Pumpkin paradise! We ran across a pumpkin patch when the olds were visiting but waited until Alex was with us to do the pumpkin foraging. The family deal is to visit one of these farms and hand pick your pumpkin(s) from the field they are growing in. The less adventurous can select from the mountains of pumpkins stacked or lined up beside the pumpkin shed. They also had a variety of other pumpkins (besides the yellow Halloween variety), squash and gourds for sale. They even had a 'Queensland Blue' all the way form Australia but obviously grown in the short Canadian season as it was a fraction of the size of the blues in Aus.
Once having selected our pumpkins (we chose three different sized beauties) they were placed on display, uncarved on the front steps for all to see and recognise that our house was available for trick or treating on 'the night'. Finally the day to carve the pumpkin (they then become 'Jack-O-Lanterns') arrived so off we toddled to Marj & Bills for some expert guided tuition by the Pumpkin Carving King of Canada, Bill, otherwise known as Bill the wise, or Bill the majestic or Bill who knows all about pumpkins. Bill of course had a number of examples already laid out for us to admire and ogle over, and two or three raw specimens for demonstration. So th
e carving began in earnest, firstly removing the top in a very scientific and precise manner, with a little bit of artistic flair thrown in, then the fun job of removing by any means possible, the mushy, slimy innards of the pumpkin. Bill of course had a variety of implements on board at our disposal but nothing could beat a good ol dig with the hands. Our only setback was the fact that the pumpkins had been left on the 
front porch since purchase, which was a good for pumpkin preservation as the daily outside temp was at fridge temperature or below, but it was bloody cold digging into icy pumpkin mush. Finally with a bit of planning and guidance from Bill the wise we carved our treasures and toasted to a successful carve before taking the jacks home. They stayed outside on the porch except for the day I took mine into work and the day before Halloween which is devil's night and you may find your Jack smashed all over the road.Halloween night turned out to be great fun with all the neighbourhood kiddies knocking on the door saying 'trick or treat'. The littlies started off first accompanied by mums and dads then the teens came through in small groups all exceptionally well behaved and having a wonderful time. They particularly enjoyed knocking on the Aussies door to listen to our accents. Alex also joined in on the fun after answering the door a few times and went off with a friend, dressed as a blue M&M, and came back with her own bag of treats. And, as magically as the day the Halloween paraphenalia appeared, they all disappeared to be replaced by Christmas stuff.
