Visting the Big Apple and the Big Cheese, for the Holidays! December 2010

[disneybarbie]

Thursday 9th December

Due to the jet lag & busy Manhattan streets below us, we both woke up very early! We got up around 7.30am, got ready – and headed out of the hotel, and across the street to Penn Station.

The train station was still quite busy with commuters, so rather than try to navigate the subway for the first time during rush hour, we stopped at a little bakery/deli for breakfast (I think it was called ‘Zavos’) .. Steve had a plain bagel & a green tea, I had a blueberry bagel & a latte.

Really good value, and tasty!

After breakfast, we used one of the self-service machines to buy Metro tickets.. we loaded them with $8 each, and got an extra 15% too! (We also got excited because the machine gave us $1 coins as change… never seen them before!)
We caught a no.1 subway train downtown to South Ferry.
Once out of the station, I straight away saw the Staten Island Ferry terminal… and a ferry had just pulled in.. and it’s free! We walked onto the boat and found some seats near a window… we didn’t sit down for long though as we wanted to stand up and see the view!

Ellis Island

Statue of Liberty

Another passenger kindly offered to take our photo!

Once at Staten Island, we looped right back around and got a ferry back to Manhattan. This time, Steve wanted to stand outside at the front of the boat.. to get some photos with his new camera. I only lasted outside for about a minute.. I honestly think that was the coldest I have ever been in my life!

Once back in the city, we walked up Broadway and through the business district… saw Wall Street, the Chamber of Commerce and the Charging Bull statue.
By this point, we were both really cold… so decided it was time for a Starbucks break!

We were really close to Ground Zero now – so we walked the perimeter of the site. We saw the tribute to the NY Fire Department, and the plans for the new tower & memorial. I found it very moving & couldn’t quite believe that we were standing on the same streets that we’d seen on the news 9 years ago.

The new World Trade Centre being built

The memorial site

Next we went in to the World Financial Centre – didn’t really see much but it was nice to get inside & in the warm again

We walked on to city hall – this was a really pretty little park – with some overly-friendly squirrels!

Looking at the map, we noticed we were close to the Brooklyn Bridge.. so that was up next! We only walked about a third of the way along.. I really liked how the pedestrian walkway is up above the traffic.
It was pretty windy along the bridge.. we saw a lady lose her hat while posing for a photograph!

(sorry for lack of photos.. my hands were too cold to take pics but Steve had his camera out..I will get some to post here soon!)

Back in the city, we headed towards Church Street and Chinatown.

We wandered around the streets, and decided to stop for lunch. We found a lovely little restaurant – we had hot & sour soup, sweet & sour chicken, chilli shrimp, beef & broccoli and rice.. all for $18 + tip!

I wanted to see Little Italy too while we were in the area.. I was surprised how quickly the streets changed from ‘China’ to ‘Italy’ !

We got the subway – but unfortunately, we were on the wrong platform.. so had to come back up to the street, and use another journey on our metro-cards to head back uptown!


continued...

 

[disneybarbie]

After getting off the train at 34th Street, we decided to go see how big the queue was for the Empire State Building..

I’d read in guide books that the line was often hours long – and we overheard some ticket touts say it was a 90 minute wait.. but we thought that wouldn’t be too bad.. and the queue would be inside!
When we got to the building, it turned out to be a 15 minute wait!!
The price was $21 each to the 86th floor, but we decided to pay the extra $15 each to get to the 102nd floor observation deck … and an $8 souvenir map – for my scrapbook!

This was probably one of our favourite things in the whole city! The building is a beautiful design.. and the views….. WOW!!!

(using a ‘fish eye’ effect on my camera!)

Us on the 86th floor..

Madison Square Gardens

Our hotel!

Us on the 102nd floor

After the ESB – we wandered to… Macy’s

It was a really nice store, much less formal than I’d imagined.. we liked the Christmas decorations & old-fashioned wooden escalators!

We went back to our hotel for a rest, couldn’t believe how much we’d seen & done so far that day!
I spoke to my Mum & Dad on Skype.. the hotel had free WiFi which was very convenient & a good speed connection too.

Sunset from our room

We headed back out at about 5pm, and visited Bryant Park – there was an ice skating rink & a Christmas market.

We walked towards Times Square … I really liked this building.. not sure what it was now..

We went into a bar for a drink but it was sooo busy, no where to sit or stand! So we kept walking and stopped at a Burger King Whopper café for something to eat… I usually never eat fastfood so Steve was excited we were eating there! We both had chicken sandwiches.
It was very very cold, and the jet lag was once again making us sleepy – so we headed back down to 34th street, we walked though Macy’s to warm up.. and I saw these, and had to buy them for our Christmas tree!

Back at the hotel, Steve had hoped he’d find an NFL game on to watch – but couldn’t find the ESPN channel.. so instead we watched some of Prep & Landing on abc, and then most of the movie ‘Cocktail’ (Tom Cruise).. it was a bit of a random thing to watch, but we quite enjoyed it!
Fast asleep by 10pm.. ready for another exciting day of NYC tomorrow!

 

[PRmamiDEdos]

I love Bryant Park. Go during the summer one year. It's really cool how everyone just lays out on the grass and eats lunch.

 

[Where'sPiglet?]

Nice update! I enjoyed your thoughts and all the pictures!

I think the building you liked near Bryant Park is a Bank of America building that was built sometime around 2006-2007 or so. Hopefully someone knows for sure what it is.

I liked your description of the squirrels in the park by City Hall. NYC squirrels are some sort of species unto themselves. I had one follow me out of a park and down the street once. I had to turn around and yell at it after it followed me for a half a block, all the while feeling quite foolish for yelling at a squirrel on a busy street!

I love the old wooden escalators in Macy's too!

 

[Stefy]

Loving your NYC TR, looks like you got alot done and had a fantastic time. The NYC Vinyl is so cool, a defo must have

 

[SOUTHERNtinkerBELLE]

I can't believe how much you guys have seen in just two days! You really keep moving! All of your pictures are wonderful!

 

[Sweet Pea UK]

I'm all caught up here now too!

It is so spooky that I was in NY exactly the same time as you 10 years ago and stayed at the same hotel (although it has been renovated since then!) It meant I was there for the 20th Anniversary of John Lennons death - weird!!! It was also absolutely freezing when we were there too! When I look back on my photos - I look blue!!!

I am loving re-living your trip with you!!

Sara xx

 

[TanzUnited99]

Love the updates! Sounds like you had a great time in New York and managed to do soo much in a short amount of time

Looking forward to reading more.
TanzUnited99

 

[exwdwcm]

Great update, love all of your photos- they are simply beautiful. so glad you splurged for the top of the empire state building, that looks amazing! and you got some great deals on breakfast and lunch too.

makes me really want to take a NYC trip now! I've only been once on business and all i saw was the hotel and convention center, i didn't have time to do much else and was by myself.

love the bears you got at Macy's too, so adorable!

 

[disneybarbie]

I love Bryant Park. Go during the summer one year. It's really cool how everyone just lays out on the grass and eats lunch.

It was really nice there.. I'd love to go back to the city when it's a bit warmer too!

Nice update! I enjoyed your thoughts and all the pictures!

I think the building you liked near Bryant Park is a Bank of America building that was built sometime around 2006-2007 or so. Hopefully someone knows for sure what it is.

I liked your description of the squirrels in the park by City Hall. NYC squirrels are some sort of species unto themselves. I had one follow me out of a park and down the street once. I had to turn around and yell at it after it followed me for a half a block, all the while feeling quite foolish for yelling at a squirrel on a busy street!

I love the old wooden escalators in Macy's too!

about the Squirrel!! ... I think you're right about the Bank Of America building.. I wasn't sure if it was that or a MET Life building

Loving your NYC TR, looks like you got alot done and had a fantastic time. The NYC Vinyl is so cool, a defo must have

Thank you Stefy! Another day of NYC to go.. then we'll get to Disney!

I can't believe how much you guys have seen in just two days! You really keep moving! All of your pictures are wonderful!

hehe we had to keep moving so we didn't freeze in the cold! ... we do get lots done when we go on city breaks... love being able to walk everywhere & Manhattan was so easy to get around!

ps.. 23 weeks today fellow-bride-to-be!!

I'm all caught up here now too!

It is so spooky that I was in NY exactly the same time as you 10 years ago and stayed at the same hotel (although it has been renovated since then!) It meant I was there for the 20th Anniversary of John Lennons death - weird!!! It was also absolutely freezing when we were there too! When I look back on my photos - I look blue!!!

I am loving re-living your trip with you!!

Sara xx

Hi Sara, thank you for reading! .. that is soo spooky about our trips to NYC!! .. I think looking at our photos, it doesn't look cold - just beautifully sunny, it's hard to capture the freezing temperatures hehe

Love the updates! Sounds like you had a great time in New York and managed to do soo much in a short amount of time

Looking forward to reading more.
TanzUnited99

Thank you! we did get so much done, I was worried that 2.5 days wouldn't be anywhere near enough time in NYC, but we got around alot of the landmarks we wanted to see

Great update, love all of your photos- they are simply beautiful. so glad you splurged for the top of the empire state building, that looks amazing! and you got some great deals on breakfast and lunch too.

makes me really want to take a NYC trip now! I've only been once on business and all i saw was the hotel and convention center, i didn't have time to do much else and was by myself.

love the bears you got at Macy's too, so adorable!

Thank you! yes we decided we'd have to go to the top of the ESB, first time to the city! I'd definitely recommend a trip to NYC, it's our favourite city now (shhh.. don't tell London! )

When I bought those Macy's bears... the shop assistant asked if they were for a Christmas tree... she said she'd never had a tree at home I felt really bad for her!



I've managed to catch a nasty cold virus from Steve this weekend.. hibernating at home today, so I'm hoping to do another update!



Emma x

 

[Daddy_of_Princesses]

Caught up and subbing. Sounds like you go alot done in New York.

 

[disneybarbie]

Caught up and subbing. Sounds like you go alot done in New York.

Hi! Thanks for reading... next update on its way

Emma

 

[disneybarbie]

Friday 10th December

We woke up early again this morning, always takes a few days to adjust to the time zone!
Once up & ready to go – we headed out to Penn Station, and took the subway to Lexington Avenue.

Unfortunately, I’d slightly misread the map and we weren’t as close to where we wanted to go as I’d thought… so we stopped for some breakfast at Europa Café – tea & Danish for Steve, latte & muffin for me – we noticed at this café (and at most places we went to in NYC) that every menu item had calorie content listed next to it.. I hadn’t seen this before, think it’s a good idea.. even if a little scary to see just how many calories in certain foods!!

After eating, we walked up Madison Avenue ..

turned right into 59th Street … and to…

Bloomingdale’s!

We knew about this store mostly from the tv series Friends (“My Mom calls it Bloooomies!”) so we were excited to go in.. it was very posh & trendy, reminded me of Harvey Nichols & Selfridges in London.

I bought some Estee Lauder makeup as a Christmas present for Steve’s sister, then we wandered around all the different levels.. really liked the holidays section.

After Bloomies, we walked along 60th Street to Central Park.

We wandered by the zoo

And to about halfway up the park (couldn’t believe just how big it was!)

There was a saxophonist playing in a square, it was really nice to listen to!

We headed west and stopped at a lovely little café for a hot chocolate & treat

We headed south again, out of the park – and stopped to watch something being filmed!

Loved the wheelbarrows filled with snow!

Didn’t see anyone famous, but it was fun to see.

We walked out to Columbus Circle, and down Broadway towards Times Square… had to keep popping in to shops to get warm again!

This made us quote the Muppets 3D pre-show…

(That is NOT Mickey Mouse!) hehe.

Next, we got a subway to Canal Street so that we could explore SoHo a bit. I was amazed how different the streets & buildlings were in this part of the city.. sorry, not many photos, hands got very cold again.

We stopped at a bar/restaurant called Fenelli’s for lunch – it was heaving with people, but we only had to wait 5 minutes for a table, I loved how close all the tables were.. it was obviously very popular!
I had chilli & steve had a club sandwich and extra onion rings… there was so much food, we were so full up when we left!

We walked back to the subway, and got a train to 34th Street – headed back to the hotel for a rest.


The plan for the evening had been to meet up with our friends Jenny (MrsDisneyB2B) and Vinnie.. we met with them in July 2009 in WDW – and since they’ve had a little baby!!
We were going to head over to Brooklyn to see them, but unfortunately Jenny had flu and was too ill to see us… it was a shame, would have been lovely to meet them again – never mind, next time we visit the city we’ll see them!

After a nap, we got ready to go out again. We stopped in the hotel gift shop for some souvenirs – ‘I heart NY’ tshirt for Steve’s sister & a postcard for my Nan (she loves getting postcards from all over the world!).

The sun was going down & the temperature was already dropping.. in fact, there was a few flakes of snow in the air!!
So we got the subway to Times Square (50th Street), and wandered to the Rockefeller Centre.

(there were quite a lot of Navy men around Times Square on this night.. it reminded me of an SATC episode!)

Lovely to see the tree again – it’s so impressive!

We stopped at a Baja Fresh for a bite to eat (taco for Steve, salad for me) –

then wandered back to the hotel. It was only 8.30pm, but we decided to pack the suitcases & have an early night.. because … tomorrow…


We’re going to Disney World!!

 

[Daddy_of_Princesses]

I'm guessing Mickey wasn't that impressive. We went to a place in town for Halloween that had characters for the kids. We were less than impressed. Minnie Mouse looked horrible, like she was addicted to crack or something. Same with Elmo and Barney. They had Cinderella, but she was portrayed by an Asian lady. Really, an Asian Cinderella, why not have her be Mulan for crying out loud.

woohoo on heading to Disney.

Updating to inlcude pictures of bad characters.

Bad Barney

He is red and furry, but not really Elmo.

Minnie? Really?

No pic of Asian Cinderella, I do have some standards and the kids had no interest.

 

[disneybarbie]

hehe yes those are just like the characters we saw around Rockefeller & Times Square! ... we overheard Elmo & Cookie Monster talking one day.. and Mickey & Minnie were waaay too tall

I'd rather see the real Mouse in WDW!

 

[Where'sPiglet?]

Unfortunately, I’d slightly misread the map and we weren’t as close to where we wanted to go as I’d thought… so we stopped for some breakfast at Europa Café – tea & Danish for Steve, latte & muffin for me – we noticed at this café (and at most places we went to in NYC) that every menu item had calorie content listed next to it.. I hadn’t seen this before, think it’s a good idea.. even if a little scary to see just how many calories in certain foods!!

The calorie count thing is a city law they introduced a few years back. It applies to chain restaurants that have more than 10 locations in the city (or something like that). I believe the calorie numbers have to be in the same font size as the price. I have heard rumors that this may be going nationwide sometime in the near future.

I've seen those knock off characters around NYC and some other places too. They are so ridiculous!

Thanks for another update with great photos! It sounds like you had a nice visit to NYC. Too bad your friend was sick and you didn't get to see her.

 

[PRmamiDEdos]

Friday 10th December

every menu item had calorie content listed next to it.. I hadn’t seen this before, think it’s a good idea.. even if a little scary to see just how many calories in certain foods!!

I HATE that they do this. I seriously makes me want to starve myself.

Next, we got a subway to Canal Street so that we could explore SoHo a bit. I was amazed how different the streets & buildlings were in this part of the city.

I love downtown. I used to work in SoHo and LOVED it. Everything is so different there.

Minnie Mouse looked horrible, like she was addicted to crack or something.

Your pictures made me

DH sees Minnie's on crack in Bklyn everyday. LOL

The calorie count thing is a city law they introduced a few years back. It applies to chain restaurants that have more than 10 locations in the city (or something like that). I believe the calorie numbers have to be in the same font size as the price. I have heard rumors that this may be going nationwide sometime in the near future.

I've seen those knock off characters around NYC and some other places too. They are so ridiculous!

I'll say it again. I really hate the calorie count thing. It takes me hours to figure out what I want to eat b/c I can't get over the amount of calories in everything.

 

[Swalphin]

Emma,
Great update you did so much in NYC. With all of the walking you did not need to worry about calories in anything you ate. I do think it is a great idea to have that information listed, I would like them to list fat grams as well, hope they do that nationwide. Can't wait for your WDW post, I think I mentioned we were there the same dates as you! Have a great weekend.

 

[SOUTHERNtinkerBELLE]

A knock-off Mickey?!

The tree in Rockefeller Center is so beautiful! I am so jealous that you got to go to NYC during the holidays - that has always been such a dream of mine. It seems like it would be even more magical and exciting then.

I'm so excited you're about to head off to Disney!

 

[TanzUnited99]

Sounds like you had a great time roaming around Bloomingdales. Would love the idea of a calories list in the UK food eateries but not when I'm on holiday!

Looking forward to your Disney World updates
TanzUnited99