Days 227 - 239 USA: New York for Christmas - New York City, NY
New York City, NY
When planning this world trip, the first time and again the second time many years later, we both decided our itinerary must have two 'must dos'. We could go anywhere at anytime as long as Dave got to go to Germany for Oktoberfest and for me, New York for Christmas.
Mum and Dad showed an interest in visiting us at our midway point all those years ago, and now we are here to enjoy our first white Christmas.... Well, I'm unsure if I can say white Christmas. While we were out and about on Christmas Eve last night, three flakes floated down. We looked up at the sky and begged for more. How stupid we must have looked praying to the snow gods on the fancy Madison Avenue.
It was a really memorable Christmas which started perfectly when my brother Chris skyped from Townsville. Following that, we sat around our little Christmas tree decorated in Christmas card decorations that Mum had designed, and opened our tiny little presents wrapped in the envelopes. Of course we were in our onesies that we had shopped at all stores on the East Coast for. I'll never forget the shop assistant's different responses when we would run in and ask if they had onesies: "For children?... oh, for women... yes we do. At least they're not for males... imagine that, full grown males wearing onesies, that would be funny...". We blushed and continued to the female intimate apparel sections. My favourite sight was Dad and Dave trying on many XXL female onesies, particularly in the bra sections. Of course after all the effort that went into these outfits, we had to take the family Christmas card shot. In between the Hallmark-happy-ending-Christmas-cheesy- lovestory-back to back movies on Christmas Day, Dave and Mum cooked up a feast, traditional roast turkey with cranberry sauce, pumpkin pie and my favourite traffic light jelly that Mum's made us ever since we were little. Dad and I of course supervised and sipped away on Christmas drinkies. What made this Christmas so perfect was two things, Mum and Dad coming over to spend it with us and skyping family and friends that were in the forefronts of our minds all day. Although we didn't have our turkey deep fried in dunkin doughnut batter (turdunkin) as many Americans do, and although it didn't actually snow on Christmas Day, it was a perfect Christmas abroad. It was easy, relaxing and sentimental.
Backing up a night to Christmas Eve, we went for a wander around upper Manhattan. The first stop was to the bustling Times Square. From a distance it lights up the sky with the bright lights of the billboards. You hear of these places around the world, but is it what you'd expect? Well it's not a square as such but it is bright with an atmosphere, particularly on Christmas Eve. Similar to Times Square is the Rockefeller Centre, which is also not a square shape as I'd expected, but it didn't disappoint. The famous 25m Christmas tree towers over the ice skating rink with the surrounding trees covered in glittering gold lights sidelined next to the gigantic red bauble Christmas decorations. I've seen the Rockefeller Christmas tree (80 year tradition) on all of the New York based Christmas movies and it felt as if we were standing right inside a set.
Mum has a hand written list stuck to the wall with a list of 'to dos' while we were here. We have a list on the iPad but she insists there's something quite satisfying with ticking things off a list. For it to be effective though, it needed to be used in conjunction with an alarm clock so we didn't get out of bed at morning tea time. After 8 months on the go, it's been very, very difficult to get the energy to leave our full floor New York loft, for any reason. It's freezing (zero degrees or colder) outside and it's warm and cozy inside. It feels like a home environment, with an opportunity to cook vegetables and meat! We can count on one hand the amount of times we've (Daves) had the opportunity to cook since leaving home. Restaurants or takeout just aren't as appealing anymore and seems like a necessity to eat, rather than an enjoyable experience. It was quite evident after wandering the Manhattan streets that there aren't many supermarkets, only organic overpriced delis. A Google search also confirmed this, saying this issue is the 'achilles heel' of the city. The other odd find is their refusal to have any Walmart department stores. This "would bring down their standard and monopolise the little boutiques". Our primary concern with no Walmart is no grocery shop, which had become handy all the way up the East Coast. We did find 'one' alternative. Who would have thought that we would be doing our Christmas food shopping in the grocery section of Harlem's TARGET?
There's potentially three ways to see New York City's islands: by foot, by hop on hop off bus and by sea. We have done all three to ensure we didn't miss anything.
Firstly was the 3 hour harbour cruise. It took us around the main island of Manhattan, to the Statue of Liberty and under the 20 bridges that join the other 4 boroughs, including Bronx, Queens, Staten Island and Brooklyn. It seems as though this city doesn't value waterfront real estate as much as other cities. It's very unkept, dirty and a lot is used for industry and car parks. Overall, a great way to get a perspective of the size of the place.
Secondly was the hop on hop off bus tour. Unbelievably the tour bus company opted for placing advertising over every inch of the bus's windows, making visibility difficult and photos non existent. Only in America would they charge $60 each for this privilege and then expect you to tip every driver and guide as 'it's their income'. Tipping of 18-20% is not only expected here, it's sometimes automaticity added to the bill. It's slightly understandable as in some states the minimum wage is as low as a few dollars an hour. From a customer's perspective, the price often doesn't reflect this. For example, paying a shuttle company for a service and then 'requesting a tip' for the driver getting you there. It's just a different world than what we know. The city does look after those who are in financial need however. A family on 50k or less can rent certain apartments for $800pm whereas anyone else would pay $4,000pm.
"Odd fact about USA history #90: according to our tour guide, a split decision, with just one vote in it, made English the country's national language, over German. The same goes for the national bird. One vote proclaimed the eagle as the winner over the turkey, which became dinner. "
Our final mode for sightseeing was a free walking tour around Downtown Manhattan, including Wall Street and the World Trade Centre (WTC). Firstly, Wall Street wasn't at all what we had expected. The New York Stock Exchange only operates with traders on the floor for the first and last hours of each day, purely for the TV. The rest of the time, trading operates over computers. After 9/11, most of the main computers have been moved out of Wall Street and to the state of New Jersey to limit the risk, should NYC ever come under attack again. NYC is the world's banking, financial and entertainment capital, so I guess they have to be careful. So much so, any cars driving on Wall Street must drive on to a ramp like barrier with sniffer dogs and undergo a full security check for explosives. The events of September 11 altered the world, but also made the USA far more vigilant. It was a rather surreal feeling in the surrounding sites of that day, as much as it was visiting 'Ground Zero'. A little old church with a graveyard is the island's oldest landmark. Although completely covered in debris at the time, it was used as a shelter for rescue workers. We stood in those grounds today, facing towards the former WTC complex, and took in the effects it would have had on all those around the area at the time. One of the buildings has been rebuilt with the other 4 under construction or not yet built. What's evident, when standing at a distance, was how gigantic these towers would have been. Now, all that can be seen is a huge empty space in the jam-packed skyline. Before the former World Trade Centre (the first one) was even built, once stood an area for Muslims with mosques and markets. The architect that was selected to design the World Trade Centre had previously designed the Sudan airport. He incorporated the same Moslem designs onto the facade of the towers, as he did the airport. We didn't realise this but the WTC first came under 'minor' attack in 1993. Back then, Bin Laden condemned the Muslim designs used in a commercial building and for other symbology reasoning.
Decades later, only memories of an event that changed the world as we knew it remain. An area that was once the WTC, became Ground Zero and is now the 9/11 Memorial. To get in to the grounds requires a number of security checks, but is well worth it. The 9/11 Memorial features two enormous waterfalls surrounding the reflecting pools. Each is about an acre in size. The names of the nearly 3,000 men, women, and children killed in the attacks of September 11, 2001 and February 26, 1993, are inscribed into bronze edging surrounding the 9/11 Memorial’s twin pools, set within the footprints of the original twin towers. More than 400 trees are planted in the plaza and its design conveys a spirit of hope and renewal.
The New Yorrrkers, with their hot 'dWogs', are a unique bunch. They definitely are a culture in themselves, very hip, very cosmopolitan with a mix of 'rough and ready'. NYC is also a city that comes with a lot of hype. This hype is accurate if you're a big city person. After finishing the last of the world's 'Big 5' cities we've decided that the only Big 5 we like, are the kind with 4 legs roaming Africa. Since travelling, little townships are the preference over the bigger cities as they are often more intimate over an impersonal rat race. Summing it up, Dad and I didn't much care for NYC at all and Mum and Dave are more towards the fact it's just a city. What we did agree on, is it'd be a completely different feeling in the spring. Without the snow, winter in New York is cold with brown trees creating a somber mood. The motivation levels are at rock bottom and the desire for a virtual Sunday week has rocketed. Mum and I have used this quiet time in the loft to review some of the earlier blogs, written when we were just starting out in Asia. The things that we use to notice on the street, such as people's characteristics and the small details are becoming far less noticeable, the further in to this trip we go. Blasé maybe. Dad said to me, why don't we stop and look around at the everyday little things and if we did that, we'd probably notice more - regardless of where we are. New York certainly has it's own culture. New York has a diversity in people, where personalities shine through in everyday interactions. The colourful street vendors selling food are our favourite. They're genuine, good people and they're just trying to make a living selling street food like hot dogs and pretzels. Although I don't love the street food offered, we spent the time chatting to them about their lives. The other colourful, super helpful characters were the retail vendors. At random times and places they set up '30 minute' stalls, often consisting of: a few coat hangers on a rack with $20 jackets, boxes with $3 jumpers or handbags spread out on a cloth on the footpath. Unfortunately for us, not all types of street vendors were the good guys. We were scammed at least 4 times over the week. Street salesman selling tickets to shows, NYC passes, hop on hop off buses for example, sold us anything to get their cut. It is an expensive place to have trusted them and then been ripped off. More importantly, those frequent events left a sour taste.
The other observation was the amount of people, everywhere. Only 1.5m live on the island of Manhattan, but a staggering 3.5m are their for work and holidays everyday. We are only seeing NYC through the eyes of the winter holiday season. The city's busiest season. There are too many people. The roads are as busy as India but the locals aren't as courteous. You can tell a lot about a beep of a horn. Both India and NYC have this ongoing irritating sound, yet the sound of a beep can mean different things in different places. Shell we say that here, waiting and patience isn't their strongest point. This is demonstrated by the use of pedestrian and traffic management controlling the chaos, even when they have perfectly good, working traffic lights. The excessive amounts of people everywhere quadruples the prices. A $60 show in West End London for example, costed $400 here on Broadway this week. Queues to get in to most attractions are over 2 hours long with every tourist working their way through NYC's big ticket items. We're not ones to see a place just because it's the 'thing to do'. For this reason we boycotted the underwhelming Empire State Building and couldn't get tickets to climb Statue of Liberty's crown. Blasphemy, coming to NYC and not doing that! We did however, take the advice from friends who said to see New York's skyline from the Rockefeller Centre - that was worth every cent! You can truly get an appreciation for the city's size and layout from up there, not to mention the size of Central Park in comparison to the rest of the island. Dad and I think NYC's most beautiful building is the 5th Avenue Apple store. A masterpiece consisting of a giant glass cube entranceway, a staggering glass staircase and a moving glass cylinder lift.
Another beauty, between the boring brown high rises, is the 830 acres of manmade Central Park. Many cities throughout this world have a 'horse drawn carriage experience'. We saved this experience for Central Park. Firstly, we walked around the park to really see it properly. The overpriced carriage ride, $60 for 15 minutes, doesn't actually go through the park, like you can on foot. In our black carriage with matching horse, along with the other 67 in the park, we took the tour past the famous monuments and sites. It was worth the wait.
It's funny what you picture something to be in your head, but when getting there it's nothing like expected. I had the impression that Broadway was a little street with a half dozen theatres and boutiquey restaurants. Not even ow! It's one of the world's longest streets, stretching all the way from Manhattan Island to Canada. It's not called Broadway the whole way, but it is the same street nonetheless. There are actually only 4 theatres on Broadway itself with 36 more in the surrounding streets of the Broadway Theatre District. Dave loves his musicals. With the money saved by not going to NYC's other big ticket items that weren't of interest, we booked tickets to the Broadway musical, Chicago in the Ambassador theatre. He said he enjoyed it but preferred the movie. Yet again, I slept through. I think he needs another wife for musicals or maybe a musical wife!
For years, our plan was to be in Times Square for New Year's Eve. When it came to deciding, now that we were actually here, it was questionable whether or not to attend. That's because we didn't realise what was involved. We decided however, that it was a once in a lifetime experience. At 11am (yes, that's in the morning) we set out for Times Square. I was dressed in: a hat, ear muffs, merino singlet, 2 thermal tops, wooly jumper, 2 jackets, stockings, thermal pants, trousers, mittens and boots. Before arriving into the madness we had to stop off for two all important things: lunch and toilet. That wouldn't be possible again for over 13 hours! We were told to arrive at around lunchtime to get a good spot. We found ourselves getting herded into Times Square and in through the barricades for a NYPD search and explosive check. We were thankful that this check happened to everyone before getting placed in a pen. Once that pen, of a few hundred people, was full they shut the gates and started filling up the next one. From I2 pm until 12am, it was a battle of the strongest. If you left, you couldn't get back in. The issue with that was dehydration. Most people wouldn't have had anything to drink for over 24 hours, in fear of needing to go to the toilet. Between 12pm and 6pm, we became friendly with our pen buddies, people we were squished against. My first attempt at conversation was to a girl from Oklahoma. l said to her she was from the same state as Hanson, you know Mmmbop? She blankly looked at me and said "I'm only 17, I don't know who that is". Gobsmacked, I responded, "back in my day, they were the coolest band". (Dave shrunk out of sight in embarrassment). She was just too young and I was sounding just too old. She ended up leaving by 6pm as she couldn't handle the cold. They just don't make them like they used to! We needed new 'pen friends' otherwise it was to be a long night ahead. We met 2 Aussies, a South African and a New Yorker who had been coming to Time Square for 25 years! (They, by the way, knew who Hanson was). At 6pm we had talked about everything we possibly could. It was a long time to be standing in one place. Pizza was delivered to those who wanted to pay $20 for a margarita but the highlight of that long wait was it SNOWING! Even if it wasn't much, it was magical.
At 6pm, the party had finally begun. Over the next 6 hours, on the hour, fireworks marked a countdown to how many hours before the clock struck midnight. To pass the time, free stuff was handed out to every single, freezing cold, person there. We all got a hat, balloon and streamers as well as Nivea lip products and Spider-Man gloves (main sponsors). Singers performed every hour including Blondie, Macklemore and Miley Cyrus. That moment that we had all been waiting for had come and we were in the prime location to see it. The Times Square ball began to drop as we all started the count down to 2014 and to the midnight kiss. When the clock struck midnight, the fireworks and music began and the one ton of confetti fell. It was a once in a lifetime experience (meaning we don't have the patience to do it again). It was well and truly worth the 12 hour lead up. I'd like to say that the midnight kiss was the reason I missed the ball drop but it was because I was recording the excitement. Getting home wasn't as bad as expected. Crowd controlling one million people on to the subways worked. We were home an hour later, out of the minus three degree temperatures and in bed with a Coke. Not surprisingly, Coke had the biggest advertising billboard and taunted us for over the 12 hours.
This was the fantastic, epic New Year's Eve of 2014.
On the second to last night in NYC, our flight was cancelled for the following day, the same day as we were to say goodbye to Mum and Dad. When that morning came, to farewell them a safe journey for their upcoming Canadian train trip, the tears started. Then, after 2 months by our side, Mum and Dad were gone. Fortunately, as soon as the backpacks were on, our mojo returned. We were ready to get back in to this and continue the last 4 months of our adventures. We had taken these last few weeks in NYC with Mum and Dad as a break from 8 months on the road. It was indescribable how much it meant to me that they had came to visit us and to take the time for a quality holiday together. In the last two months we've cruised, road tripped and relaxed NYC style together. Our standout moments were when it started to snow in Amish country, cruising, driving through Maine, Niagara Falls, Christmas Day and NYE Times Square. My personal favourites weren't what we saw but the little things like dancing with Dad to Caribbean music on the ship's deck and morning coffees with Mum in bed.
I remember the first moment we saw them in Fort Lauderdale, like it was yesterday but today it was sad to see them leave. Nine hours after saying goodbye and checking in to our new hotel for the night, we find out their flight is also cancelled and they are staying just down the road from us. The odds of all of those elements aligning was pretty unbelievable. Shortly after, we were hugging again, followed by smiles and wine. We had one of the best nights on this trip. Mum and Dad took us out to an outstanding restaurant and stocked our bellies up with 4 months worth or meat and vegetables. It certainly bet the jam sams we were going to have in our tiny 1.7 x 1.7m hotel box that evening. We came to NYC for a white Christmas but with only a few flakes received, we were left rather disappointed. On our 'second chance' night, it snowed so much, they called it a blizzard. We would say it snowed enough to make everything a foot deep but wouldn't say it justified closing down the ice skating rink in Central Park. The four of us walked around the park and marvelled in its beauty. The white topping made every scene magical and ended our holiday on a high. There were no tears this time or leaving on sad moments. I'll miss them but am ready to get back to it with Dave and live these last four months up, just like we had done over the first eight.