day three | new york city

Today we attempted to indulge my passion by visiting Buddy aka The Cake Boss at his bakery in New Jersey.  The bakery's website mentioned that there would be waiting outside the shop and to dress accordingly, so I expected some sort of line up.  You know, like maybe 10 people...nup!

I got us lost of course. We got off the train at the wrong stop and started to walk.  We were on the right street but a long way from where we needed to be.  After we'd walked a bit we decided to catch another train back to where we started and ask some people. How can anyone who lives in New Jersey not have heard about the Cake Boss.  Easily it would seem.  We did find someone who knew who we were talking about and he thought it was hilarious that we were going there and that we were so far from where it was.

Taxi!

Anyway, we get there and the taxi driver pulls up outside this very long line of people and says, that's the line up.  Hmmm.  The line up spanned two blocks!!  We walked to the front of the line, took some photos and left.  I'd have loved to have gone in but I think we were both so over it by the time we got there that it didn't really matter anymore.

We've seen some advertisements on TV for places to eat so we decided to check out Dave's Famous Ribs today.  The food was tasty but there's no way either of us could eat our entire meal.  You know I can eat so that's saying something! J

I don't think these photos really do the amount of food justice. Glen asked if anyone actually ever finishes a 12 rack of ribs (he got 6 and couldn't get through them) and the waitress assured us they do!

Still no Denny's.  

Mechelle

day two | new york city

Today we woke up early again for breakfast and saw a lady and her husband who were on the cruise with us yesterday.  Not only were they on the cruise but she had actually come over to us and asked if her husband could put his wheelchair next to us so he could see the Empire State Building.  Small world.

After breakfast we walked to the Rockefeller Centre passing Radio City Music Hall on our way.  Before we even got anywhere near the escalators to the viewing floors we had to go through security similar to that of an airport.  The view is pretty amazing but today was quite hazy so the photos aren't that spectacular.  I don't know if its a common thing in NYC because you don't really notice it when you're walking the streets but perhaps we'd never get better ones anyway.

After the Rockefeller Centre we headed to Saint Patrick's Cathedral. Quite an impressive church but too hard to get photos that do it justice. We had a man begging for money when we were there and it didn't seem right to say no especially when he was very curious what the words on Glen's shirt meant!  

From here it was down to the UN. It was quite disappointing actually.  I remember coming here when I was on exchange and have visions of all the flags and the building but today it was all fenced off (maybe a product of our times) and it looked dirty.  The building looked like it had been gutted and I don't know, we just weren't impressed at all.  We passed Trump Tower on the way though.  

Ok, now it was time to tackle the Subway.  And in a big way I might add - we started at Grand Central Station.  Very very busy, very very confusing.  The information men weren't that much help either but we found our way, got on a train and managed to get ourselves to City Hall without incident.  Nothing notable happened either.  Disappointing! 

City Hall was nice but there were either protests going on or election campaigning so we couldn't get close.  There is a pretty park out the front where we sat to rest our weary legs and I saw my first squirrel of the trip.  Now that was notable and exciting!

From here we walked around the corner to the WTC site. Its really hard to imagine what it was like from what's left. They're not rebuilding on the exact site out of respect for the victims but are building seven new towers surrounding it.  There were street sellers there flogging off 'souvenir' booklets and of course we got sucked in to not one but THREE.  But we got a great deal, all three for $20 bucks...how could we refuse right!! I'm sure we got ripped off but anyway, hopefully some of the money makes it to the right place. Anyway, there's a photo in one of the books of people walking away from the towers after they collapsed and there's a fence in that photo.  The fence is of a church cemetery right across the road from where we were so it was good to put that into perspective.

Back on the Subway home before we walked back into Times Square for lunch.  Planet Hollywood for burgers and half chickens.

Mechelle

day one | new york city

Today was pretty quiet.  I spent most of it in bed with a migraine so we didn't get moving until about 3pm.  Quite possibly we were a bit jetlagged as well because neither of us really slept that much last night. 

We walked down to Pier 83 to catch the Circle Line Harbour Lights Tour.  It was an interesting walk. It seems that all that horn beeping you see in movies is actually the way it is.  As soon as the lights turn green, they're on the horn. They don't seem to stay within the lines of the road and they just park wherever and however.  Pedestrians aren't really given the right of way and even if you have the walk light and you're on a crossing, a car will turn right in front and ON TOP of you if it wants to get around the corner.  The pedestrians are obviously used to it because they'll walk out into the street when they're not supposed to and just dodge cars.  

Its amazing how hard it is to get used to not doing things on the left hand side.  We just automatically walked on the left until we got sick of dodging people and realised they do things differently here.  I even started to walk down the left hand side escalator until I realised it was coming up, not going down.  Just little things you don't even think about.

The Harbour Lights tour lasts for two hours and does a semi circle lap around Manhattan towards the Statue of Liberty. The commentary was good but we couldn't hear much because we managed to sit right above the engines!  And, we had read somewhere that sitting one side of the boat was better than the other.  We decided it was the right hand side and raced on to secure a seat. Sadly we now think it was the left.  Oh well.

When we were walking onto the ship a group of staff were being briefed about something.  We're not sure what it was but suspect they were sales staff.  We saw this sign on a door near where they were. Sales Tips. Please take note of number 4.  This sign was in full view of everyone lining up to take the cruise.

When we were leaving the ship, we saw this sign on the inside of the snack bar that was on the ship.  That is, and I need to make this very clear, this was directed at the staff working behind the counter.  I know the quality of the photo isn't great so if you can't read it, it says - smoking and spitting prohibited. SPITTING. Slightly concerning that they need to be told!! 

On the way home we walked through Times Square. It was packed!  And it was very bright.

I was impressed that AT&T were open till 11.30pm and that they gave me a $25 credit on my phone because their website sold me something I can't use in the US.  I know that's what they should have done but it was nice that it happened so easily.  Telcos of Australia, please take note!

Still haven't found a Denny's.  What a shame!

Mechelle

we have landed

Oh. My. God. What a long day. Considering we started it at around 4.30am on Tuesday 14th June and 32 hours later its only 10.30pm on the same day... We haven't had much sleep, 20 minutes here, an hour there, but probably no more than 4 hours in total since we left home.

The day started with some minor panic. Our pre-booked car arrived late because he was on Oakey Flat Road at Morayfield instead of Narangba.  Now, I understand that Oakey Flat Road covers about four suburbs but wouldn't you at least start in the suburb where the people lived?  Anyway, that wasn't too bad until he tells us he has to go back to Redcliffe to pick up another passenger (he just came from there!) and then of course we hit peak hour traffic.  Check in closes 90 minutes before departure.  We got there with about 20 minutes to spare and didn't get to the gate until about 5 minutes before boarding.  No freebies in Qantas club for us!

I had two 'random' drug tests including pat downs in Brisbane.  Glen had a bit of a issue with his underarm deodorant but otherwise no dramas with security.

We both had pretty good seats on the flight to LA. We were in the second last row of the plane so they were 2 seats together. Its a bit bumpier down there and very noisy but not having to worry about people beside you was good. Both of our seats were a bit dodgy though and we often found ourselves reclining even though we didn't press the recline button. I'm sure the people behind us were impressed with that.  Food was good and more than enough to keep us from being hungry.

Security in LA was as expected.  We had to do a changeover to our NY connection and because we were running late it was rush rush. They're very organised though and have express lanes for connecting flights.  Fingerprints were taken of both our hands - four fingers together, then thumb. They take a photo of you which after 13 hours on a flight, I'm sure was definitely mug shot worthy.  The customs guy did tell me that we couldn't take Tim Tams into the US.  He was joking but I was devastated for a minute there.  Once we cleared customs it was through another screening point.  Even though this was a domestic flight we had to show passports and be scanned again. We clearly looked a bit dodgy.  Both of us were 'randomly' chosen for full body scans.  Nothing too much of a problem, just standing with your hands in the air (like you just don't care - ha! < - - sorry if you're a bit too old for that joke but right now without any sleep I find it hilarious).  Then we had to walk for 2 kms to our flight.  Another 4 hours 45 of sitting down but we probably got the most sleep on this flight.

Glen jinxed us at NY and suggested that our bags would be the last ones off the plane and they pretty much were.  We had pre-booked a transfer to the hotel and after calling them to let them know we were there, they arrived about 20 minutes later (despite the nice man on the phone telling me it would be 5 minutes).  A guy turns up asking for Mechelley and then asks if we wouldn't mind waiting another 5 minutes or so while he eats.  Sure we say, why not we say?!?!?!  So he takes us to the car and then sits and eats what was possibly the most disgusting looking (think heated up PAL), terrible smelling food I've ever witnessed. Glen and I was just laughing to ourselves in the back.  Once he takes off he's all over the road, eating two slices of bread, reading text messages, answering his mobile, putting on his seatbelt 2kms after we'd left.  Oh that's right and I didn't have a seatbelt at all.  He was nice enough though, showed us his gym, asked us a bit about Australia and showed us where he hangs out in NYC!!

The hotel is great.  Thanks to Kirsty for her tip about using Trip Advisor.  This one was the highest ranked that we could afford and its more than adequate.  Big room, very clean, lovely staff, free breakfast, free wifi (are you listening NBN) and really close to pretty much everything.  We went for a walk tonight to grab some dinner and ended up with McDonald's and Starbucks because its not like you can get that at home!!!

Mechelle

truth dare and blog it

Don't let the name of this blog mislead you.  It is in no way intended to highlight things that happen 'only in America'.  Rather, it is intended to keep our families informed of our movements on our 5 week holiday in the US.

While I was trying to come up with a name for the blog I remembered some challenges that were put to me by work mates when they found out I was planning a trip to the US.  

Did you know that there are only five place names in the US that are spelled with an apostrophe?  Challenge number one was to get a photo at one of these five places.  Martha's Vineyard will be the closest we get but I doubt we'll actually get close enough to get a photo, though a directional road sign might be do-able.

Whilst we are going to Niagara Falls, it is highly unlikely that either of us will be riding over it in a barrel.  That, was challenge number two.

Denny's has recently released a limited time only maple bacon sundae.  An ice cream sundae with bacon on it. I kid you not!  Challenge number three is to eat one of these sundaes.  I'm secretly hoping the limited time runs out before I find a Denny's.  So in honour of something that can surely happen only in America, the name of this blog was found.

After today's temperatures in Brisbane I can't wait to get on that plane and head to the northern hemisphere where hopefully the weather is a little more civilised.

We'll be trying to check in at least every couple of days once we're there!

Mechelle & Glen