New Year in New York

HAPPY NEW YEAR !! It certainly has been a year to remember and we finished it in style. The days after Christmas were sniffly and snotty with Deb’s cold getting heavier and me catching it also, as expected. We were devastated to hear George Michael had died soon followed by Carrie Fisher and Debbie Reynolds. It was all quite shocking. George Michael was a huge part of our music youth and he was one of the true musical geniuses of the 80/90s and beyond.

Macey had a visit to the vet and got her teeth cleaned under anaesthetic. Her two top chewing teeth have fractures and the x-rays confirmed the roots are open and she will need root canal. We prefer that rather than pull them out as they are her main chewing teeth. So she will have to go to a dental specialist to get that soon. I can only imagine the $$ that will be. Poor Macey was bombed out that night and a bit wonky from the anaesthetic. Cricket was lonely all day and wouldn’t settle so they both crashed out in front the TV sound asleep.

 

 The highlight of our New Year week was meeting our wonderful friends from home (J&M) in New York. We were greeted with a massive box of Weetbix and several blocks of Cadbury chocolate. Oh god, we were thrilled – I am humming the tune…Aussie kids, are Weet-bix kids. Carrying a box that size in the suitcase all the way from down under is no mean feat so we were super grateful.

Great coffee, great breakfast !!

We arrived in NY in time for dinner and J&M had selected a fabulous Italian restaurant near the apartment. It was wonderful and the music was clearly a snapshot from my iPod (no, not the Barry Manilow stuff). The next day we headed off to explore the west village of lower Manhattan starting with breakfast at Fred’s Wife Freda. I would have to say it is probably the best breakfast I’ve had since being here. And the coffee was heaven – we had two each. A trendy little joint and I can only dream that my future café will be as bustling as that place.

We walked past the apartment block where Friends was filmed and then stopped by the Sex In the City house. We met a bunch of Australian women there too who provided some comic relief and directions to the nearby Magnolia Bakery which was made famous by Sex in The City who filmed an episode with SJP eating a cupcake out front. Nothing like instant celebrity endorsement. I must find a celebrity to eat something at my café one day…maybe Batman? The place was packed but we got our cupcake and scoffed it like champions.

Friends, live here.

The weather was cold and windy but we strolled outside along The Highline. It would be nice in better weather but we got a few good views and enjoyed chatting and catching up as we strolled along. Batman made an appearance but the wind was making cape control very hard. We wandered through the Chelsea Markets which was chockers !! Incredibly, we found a small shop that sold Australian pies and lamingtons. And yes, I bought a pie which was ok, too runny and too bloody hot to eat on the go but I endured the initial tounge burn and nibbled my way through it.

 

That night we went to the very famous Radio City to watch the Rockettes in their Christmas spectacular. I have always wanted to see the Rockettes so this was huge for me. Some history from wiki for you…

Radio City Music Hall is an entertainment venue located in Rockefeller Centre in New York City. Its nickname is the Showplace of the Nation, and it was for a time the leading tourist destination in the city. Its interior was declared a city landmark in 1978. Many famous entertainers have performed here. For almost a century, the Rockettes have been American icons. They have appeared at Radio City Music Hall in hundreds of stage spectaculars, and have participated in many historic and memorable events—like traveling abroad to entertain the troops and support wartime effort, and performing at the inauguration of the 43rd president of the United States, George W. Bush, in 2001.

The show was simply brilliant and full of glitter, dazzle and Christmas bling. The dancers were perfect and the Rockettes totally shit all over the Moulin Rouge in Paris (I found this pretty disappointing really). My favourite bit was the toy solider fall. They do this very military precision shuffle routine around the floor and finish off with a slow domino fall routine. It was really clever. Just fantastic.

 

 

We stopped by the Rockerfeller Christmas Tree on the walk home. This was another thing I’ve always wanted to see. It was huge and pretty and quite busy even at that hour of night. The ice skating rink was open and it really felt like Christmas. 

The next day was New Years Eve. We planned an easy day as we had a long party night ahead. We went up the Rockerfeller Tower (Top of The Rock) to enjoy the view of New York city. It is a superb view. I recommend both Empire and The Rock – they both offer unique views. We also visited another good coffee spot called Little Collins. I’ve been here before, it’s owned by two NZ and Aussie guys. It was busy as always but we squeezed in to enjoy a good shot of caffeine. Given it was NY Eve there was a very strong police presence by the NYPD with officers on each street corner – note there are lots of streets corners. They had been there since morning and as the afternoon passed, the streets began closing in preparation for the Times Square Ball Drop that night. It was quite frustrating as they were blocking cross streets so we had trouble getting from one side of the city to the other.

As much as seeing the ball drop in Times Square is exciting to see, it is very cold, cramped and lacks toilets. So it was not practical for a bunch of old birds like us. Instead we opted for the more civilized option of a dinner cruise on the Hudson River. We had a table next to the window so we had nice views of the city lights. It was a great night, lots of dancing and singing and mostly good music - quite a few George Michael hits which was awesome. All the boats stopped near the Statue of Liberty on midnight to count the seconds to midnight and watch the fireworks. We were very proud to say that Sydney NYE fireworks shit all over New York. It was a bit of an anti climax really, but at least there were fireworks. It is like comparing a candle flame to the Batmobile rocket engine flames. Absolutely no comparison – yay for Sydney.

 

 

The boat docked about 1am and it was freezing cold. It started to rain and snow as we walked to catch an Uber. We took the ‘scenic’ way home thanks to Deb getting her East and West Streets mixed up – resulting in us taking about 35 mins instead of 10mins to get home. The Uber guy was a good sport and listened to us being nutbags as we face-time’d our good friends at home (J&J) – hopefully they enjoyed the New York views we gave them from our car window!! Eventually we made it home but not before a stop for pepperoni pizza for one hungry person. It was a fantastic night and you can’t really beat NYE in New York city with wonderful friends.

Unfortunately we only had a few hours sleep before we woke early to get the train back to Washington. I think we all dozed on the way home except Deb who enjoyed taking photos of us asleep with our mouths open.

Back to DC......We took J&M to the famous Cheesecake Factory for dinner – the biggest menu in the world I think and the biggest selection of cheesecakes. It’s always a good feed. We may well have enjoyed a night on the lounge or early night to bed but instead, we headed out to the ice hockey to see the Washington Capitals (Caps) play the Ottawa Senators. I’ve not seen the Caps play yet and one of the girls had not seen an ice hockey game at all. This was my third game and I enjoy the hockey (not as much as baseball though). I bought my Caps beanie and we enjoyed watching a good night of biff, chants and bias that comes with home games. The Caps won which was good and I look forward to seeing more games this season.

J&M only had one day to explore Washington and sadly, the weather was not kind to them. It was cold and rainy. After a late’ish breakfast and start, we booked on a segway tour to show them the key sights of DC. It was pretty cold and we were rugged up heavily trying to stay dry. Thankfully there were no stacks and I managed to stay upright (unlike my previous Segway crash in Richmond, Virginia). It was disappointing weather but at least we got to see something without walking for hours.

It was nice to come home to a warm house, over excited dogs and a home cooked meal. I always love having family and friends stay and enjoy a meal at our table. I’m strange I know but it’s kinda like a family thing for me. It has been a fantastic week with J&M. We are praying they don’t catch our dreadful colds as they are heading off to Florida to do the Dopey Challenge = Disney World Marathon challenge including a 5k, 10k, half and full marathon over 4 days. Very fit chicks indeed and we wish them great weather, strong legs and a fun time in the days ahead.

Deb and I return to work now and I have 3 weeks left before I become a lady of leisure again. We are both tired after the week of adventure but we wouldn’t have it any other way. Welcome to 2017. We are going to make this another cracker year of fun, adventure and silly Batman antics as we continue on our journey to touch foot in all 50 states.

Here's a few other pics from the week. Cricket is on squirrel watch - he likes to sit and patrol for squirrels. One is the Statue of Liberty on NY Eve and the other is me enjoying a fabulous coffee at Little Collins.