NYC, 1st July
New York City in the Summer! We caught the red eye (via Seattle as all flights from Alaska do) giving us three nights and five days in NYC.
We booked into a lovely hotel, The Benjamin, on the same block as and very similar to, the Waldorf Astoria. It was something special. We checked in then started the surprisingly difficult job of getting passport photos acceptable to international standards. We did a massive walking tour of the West Side from the hotel to the consulate. NYC is brilliant for walking. So much to see! So much to watch!
Luckily we called into the embassy to check our photos. On the third attempt, they were suitable! Then back to the Consulate for the very scary interviews, signing of documents etcetera. It really was quite scary.
We were then free to hit the city for a few days (until the passports arrived from Washington). First stop – Times Square for theatre tickets. We got tickets to Avenue Q (Hilarious) and Wicked (Brilliant). Both on Broadway and both so good. Second stop – the tourist buses. We did the Downtown Loop (Soho, The Village, Battery Point, Ground Zero, Grand Central ….).
Time was also spent in Central Park. We tackled the subway and Sarah became a subway queen. Well, apart from one incident that resulted in broken sunnies and bruised shins due to a failed jump of the turnstyles. We made it to Broadway and then went and saw all the sights in Times Square at night. Even the Police station and the Subway station were lit up with neon lights. Back to the hotel to collapse and get ready for another NYC Day.
July 2nd – after hitting Starbucks we were back to the tourist buses. This time, Brooklyn, with a native who spoke fluent Brooklynese – with a great accent. He drank ‘Kowfee’!
We learnt some great stuff. Manhattan has 198 Starbucks,18 petrol stations and only 2 open car parks. fire alarm goes off in NYC every 3 seconds. We saw girls in bikinis sunbathing on the steps of the Brooklyn Town Hall and were told the story about the building of the Brooklyn Bridge, including the story of how Jessie the Elephant (and 23 pachyderm friends) proved that the Brooklyn Bridge was indeed safe and would not plummet into the river. We then toured Uptown (Harlem, Guggenheim, Juilliard).
A quick rush back to the Consulate to collect the emergency passports and we were no longer aliens. We were again Australian tourists.
A visit to Central Park gave us our most terrifying American experience. The bikes we hired had no brakes and the front wheel nearly came off one. And of course we found this out on a narrow, downhill roadway. We survived, returned the bikes then walked. Central Park is even better in Summer. Baseball games, cafes and people everywhere. A sketch artist did a great drawing of Sarah. It was cool watching people look from Sarah to the drawing and back with raised eyebrows.
3rd July – Our final day in NYC was spent wandering the streets and power shopping. Sarah totally enjoyed the six floors of Old Navy. Raina liked Macy’s. We went back with very full bags. We flew back to Alaska, stumbled into the B&B and crashed. Our days in NYC were brilliant. Gotta love it!
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