statcounter

Thursday, December 3, 2009

Lost in New York City

A typical Little Neck street

I wondered where we'd start once we hit the streets of New York, alone together in this huge city. We caught the train down from Little Neck where we were spending a few nights with a friend and disembarked at Penn Station.

After a hearty, late breakfast in a corner restaurant opposite, we set off looking for Times Square, which went completely out of our heads when we found Macy's. It was a sale day and claustrophobic, so we went back to the fresh air and started looking for the Empire State; Times Square forgotten. We were overwhelmed.


We found the Empire State but didn't go to the top as I wanted to go to the Top of the Rock instead. We had a tiny map on a brochure handed to us on the street and decided to hoof it up Fifth Avenue to the Rockefeller Plaza. Of course the map was way out of scale, so much, much later we finally reached our destination and went to the top. It was a nice day and the view was fantastic. I bought a little shot glass as a souvenir and now have a new hobby! Methinks I won't gather too many as I loathe plane travel. I don't mind five or six hours but when it comes to 22, it's dreadful. It took us 30 hours to get to Rome!


We decided to walk back to Penn Station. I popped in to Sephora and Saks on the way back for a browse. At 4pm we took a wrong turn into 34th Street and I knew we were lost when we ended up on Broadway, so we headed back the way we'd come, back to Fifth. A cab pulled up next to us, we jumped in and arrived safely at Penn Station a few minutes later. By the time we got back to Little Neck, it was dark. We decided that night that we were 'New Yorked out'. We spent a pleasant time at Roosevelt Field Mall, Garden City the next day.

Penn Station

On Friday our friend drove us up to Somerset in New Jersey for the Fly Tying Symposium being held on the weekend. DMJ was the only participant from Australia. Despite the great weather (a lot would think about going fishing), the attendance at the show was excellent.


We stayed on another three days; one spent at Bridgewater Commons Mall, the second at the factory outlets at Newark Airport and the third, making our way back down to NY (in a Lincoln Continental limo!) to fly home the next day.

JFK Airport is over there to the right

We flew out at 6:30pm Thanksgiving Day and arrived in Melbourne on Saturday at 12:30pm, losing Friday somewhere near the International Date Line!! What a long drag; we got to our daughter's place and she said, "Your hair's a bit flat, Mum".


There was 40mm in the rain gauge; we'd had good rains! Fantastic! But the grass was about 1ft long and the weeds in the garden!! So you all know what I've been doing the past few days; washing, mowing and weeding! It's great to be home.

23 comments:

Delwyn said...

Hi Alaine

It sounds like you had a great trip (forgetting the travel part) and also are loving being home...

Happy days

alaine@éclectique said...

Hi Delwyn, I do wish we'd had more time to look around NYC. Always great to get home.

steven said...

delwyn and alaine on the same page!!! long lost ozzy friends . . . .there you are!!!! what a great trip alaine. shot glasses for a collection . . . well why not!!!! have a lovely day. steven

karen said...

There's no place like home!(as she clicks her ruby red slippers) Traveling is great because it always makes me appreciate being back home. Glad you had some fun in NY. Your garden beckons?? hehe Those weeds are rascals...aren't they? Then again dandelion salad is really good! Good to have you back.
Cheers,
karen

alaine@éclectique said...

Hello Steven, yes, well, the shot glasses.. I knew they'd look nice on a window sill with the light shining through and something small to remind us of the trip! Lovely to hear from you!

alaine@éclectique said...

Hello Karen, I had a small trailer full of weeds this morning - most of the grass we mowed was dandelions! We could have made a huge salad but somehow dandelion salad doesn't appeal to me; I don't like the smell of them.

We planted some vegies this morning; green beans (loved the beans in US), apple cucumbers, yellow squash, sweet basil and a combo of pumpkins. The tomatoes had tripled in size in 12 days.

Unknown said...

Hi Alaine,

Things have changed around here! I love your new header and colour scheme. Glad you had a good time in NY. There's just too much to do isn't there? The shot glasses look great, especially the blue ones.

Don't you just hate it when your hair looks a bit flat?!

Susan said...

So glad you made it there and back safely! What a trip! Your touring reminded me of a little butterfly flitting here and there! :) The views from Top of the Rock are spectacular!

Bonnie Zieman, M.Ed. said...

I hear Sting singing: ' . . . an Australian in New York . . .'

I love the fourth picture (I think it was the 4th).

Fun to travel, but always, (for me and sounds like you too) a delight to arrive back home.

alaine@éclectique said...

Hi Derrick! You know, at the end of that trip, I couldn't care about the hair, all I wanted was MY bed!

alaine@éclectique said...

Hi Susan, yes, the Top of the Rock was great; at least we got to see all of New York from a distance!

alaine@éclectique said...

Hi Susan, oh, that's interesting, I didn't know there was a song about an Aussie in New York; must hunt around for a listen. Yes, the old saying rings true, 'There's no place like home'.

alaine@éclectique said...

Dear Bonnie, I was still half asleep! Sorry I called you Susan, but it is a lovely name too!

Land of shimp said...

I had to laugh at the hair comment, simply because if the only part of you that look flattened was your hair, you'd done exceptionally well. That's such a long trip.

I used to live on the East Coast and spent a ton of time in NYC. It's such an odd place, so much to do and see, but part of the joy of it, for me at least, was going home. I need more peace in my life than NYC affords!

It sounds like you had a nice, bustling holiday, and then were quite happy to get back home, shot glass in tow, ready for an epic level nap :-)

Alina said...

Hello Alaine, this is my first visit to your Blog. I live quite near NYC (about 15 minutes away) but must confess sometimes years go by and I don't visit. Not my cup of tea. Too crowded, too fast, too much, so I totally understand you were thrilled to return to your garden, even if it was full of weeds :0)

alaine@éclectique said...

Hello Land of Shimp, I seem to recall that your name is Alane as well? Although spelt differently. Welcome back.

When we were away I would wake up about 2am and toss and turn for a couple of hours; probably my body clock out of wack. Now that we're home, I'm sleeping like a baby.

We enjoyed the day in NYC but can only take so much noise and bustle. It was lovely to relax back in Little Neck that evening.

alaine@éclectique said...

Hello Alina and welcome! I suppose for you it's there and so close by if you need it. We've lived in the country for 10 years now and love the peace but we do enjoy a visit to Melbourne once or twice a year, though it's not nearly as busy at NYC.

We're still working on the garden; I've just come in from another morning of 4 hours and my poor bones are aching!

Nancy said...

I love New York, but I always get lost there too. You had a whirlwind trip! Wow! We are on the same page when it comes to air travel. I'm always uneasy - especially over the ocean. One of these days we'll make it your way. Our next big trip is for our 30th anniversary next year and I think we're going to Italy. My first time and I'm so excited. But 30 hours????

alaine@éclectique said...

Hi Nancy, glad we're not the only ones! Oooah, you'll love Italy and the people! My husband has two trips there next year and I'll join him on one of them. I could join him on both but who wants to tag along on a fishing trip!? June is too soon after this one; I need all year to recover! Your flight to the boot will be a lot shorter than mine!

Lyn said...

So we were both breathing the same rare NY air..You certainly arrived at a time for testing yourself..the area you covered is only for the most stalwart..which proves to be all visitors. NY is a great adventure, glad you enjoyed yourself..and remember, you can't really get lost here, always a native to help you out!!

alaine@éclectique said...

Hi Lyn, I believe the air was, indeed, rare for NY this time of year. The day we walked was sunny but there was a chilly breeze.

BTW, spent lots of $$ in Sephora; kept coming across stores everywhere! That place is addictive!

Bonnie Zieman, M.Ed. said...

Alaine: It is Sting's song and the words are actually 'an alien in New York', but I took some poetic blogger license and changed alien to Australian. Oooh oh, I'm an alien, I'm a legal alien, I'm and Englishman in New York . . .

Well- I've clearly mangled the lyrics, no wonder you didn't recognize them. Sorry. :0)

alaine@éclectique said...

Hi Bonnie, yes, thanks for that; I went looking and found the song on YouTube with that old eccentric, Quentin Crisp, 'starring' as the Englishman!! I'd never heard the song before and enjoyed seeing Sting a lot younger!