Frugal Bastard

The missus decided to go to Chelsea Market this morning. The Boy and I walked past the USS Intrepid and USS Michael Murphy. Noticed the Falun Gong protesters again and finally realised why they were there - they were opposite the consulate of the PRC. We played a total of five games of pool in the sky lounge and The Boy beat me 3-2.




I decided to make a last ditch effort to photograph some of the crazier people in Times Square - topless female guitarist, red Indian and guitarist walking around in undies. Didn't see any of those particular performers. Picked up a free pizza slice from Sbarro which was doing a promotion. Stopped by the Majestic Theater again and then Papaya Dog for a hot dog, french fries and cheese fries.





By the time I arrived at the apartment the new people had arrived. We left at 2:30pm. The missus said that there was an escalator at 7th Ave, for our luggage, although the subway we needed was at 8th Ave. We were one of the first on the bus therefore didn't have much trouble stowing our luggage. Got off at 7th Ave - escalators not working. Heavy bags meant I had to carry both bags down. More stairs to negotiate also. Then we had to walk to 8th Ave anyway. And then negotiate more stairs.

Express train to the airport. Bit of an issue with the seating arrangements. Got in line for security check and realised that they hadn't provided the missus' boarding pass for LA to Sydney. I had to return to the desk to have them print another one. Pretty busy checking in so good thing that we arrived early.

The best part about arriving early is when your flight is delayed because you get to wait at the airport for longer. Strange shopping area as not many prices were marked and they were quite rude when serving you anyway. Left some 20~25 mins late.

Sat next to Mark, an interior designer from Sydney, for the flight to LA. Arrived late and left about 25 mins late. Same plane for the Sydney leg. Sat next to Nancy, a retired 5th grade teacher from Albany, NY, who had done a teacher exchange many years ago. She is a well-travelled lady and was great to talk to. Our family was seated in three different rows so the missus managed a swap so that she could sit next to The Boy. The guy who she swapped with seemed to enjoy chatting with the blonde next to him - both parties probably happy with the deal.


At least half an hour late into Sydney. Luckily I asked a Customs official about the bags because I had asked them to be checked through to Perth. He said that is what was supposed to happen in theory but doesn't actually work. The missus didn't have time to collect her luggage or she would miss her flight. Nearly got in trouble with another Customs or Immigration official for trying to talk with her as she had already passed through immigration and I hadn't. Good thing I grabbed her bag as it was, obviously, one of the last off. Had chocolates and wood to declare and the sniffer dog from Quarantine found the chocs. No probs - and then the missus was waiting for us outside the exit! She had missed her flight, or at least wouldn't have made it, so they changed the flight for her.

Took the luggage to the transfer area - the missus raced ahead without us even though I asked her to wait until I had gotten my boarding pass out. The Boy and I were ushered into a different check-in station, with a shorter processing time most likely due to our flight being earlier, and so I had to drop her baggage off for her. She seemed quite annoyed but said later it wasn't about that.

Waited in the transfer lounge for a bus to drive us to the other terminal. The missus took the next bus. Short wait in Sydney - not much to buy. Quick trip to Melb for The Boy and myself (missus took a direct flight to Perth) - reasonably uneventful. Whilst waiting for the next flight in Melbourne we grabbed a burger meal.

So endeth some 39 hours of slight hell returning from NYC.

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Columbus Day - public holiday. Really? With supposedly all of the shops closed we were prepared for a day when not much could be done. Even asked at the grocery store last night if they were going to be open. The checkout lady said yes but she didn't even know what time the shop opened. Found that a lot with staff in NY - just there doing their job and not caring about the job.

The Boy and I attended the Columbus Day Parade on Fifth Ave which commenced at 11:30. Pity we were situated between 46th and 47th streets as all of the floats entered from 47th St. The parade was meant to start on 44th St so I thought that we had a good spot.

Saw General Raymond T. Odierno who is current Chief of Staff for the US Army, Miss USA, Miss New York, Senator Schumer, few Italian sports cars and a number of marching bands. Some 35,000 people took par, mostly Italian descendants, and I think it was just an excuse for them not to attend work/school. I saw people texting, talking on phones, chewing gum, etc who obviously didn't seem to want to be there.






Strange thing about the parade - not all of the streets were closed down so the parade stopped quite frequently. Kids weren't allowed to stand on the fences surrounding the trees. There was one older lady next to me saying, "Yay" all the time and, "Yay Newark Police. You're the best coz I know what you go through," and "I met you 20 years ago" to a TV star (Diane of All The Children?) loud enough for us to hear but not the star herself. Just wanted to be heard, I guess.

And guess what? Life in the rest of the city was absolutely normal. Well, as normal as NYC gets anyway. Certainly not the public holiday that we were led to believe. Stopped at Papaya Dog for lunch - Philly Cheese steak, fries and drink, cheeseburger with fries and drink and a knishes. Great tasting food for $12 (including tax!)

Got back to the apartment at 1:30, we didn't stay until the conclusion of the parade, and had our lunch. Had a bit of a rest and decided to head to Roosevelt Island. The missus mentioned that the cable car was free with our NY City Pass but I forgot to bring it. Two bus stops into our ride it began to rain. We didn't have umbrellas either. I was to return for the tickets and umbrellas and meet at 3:30 which was 35 mins later. Walked back from Times Square to the apartment and returned - 30 mins round trip. Whilst I was gone the missus found the Hersheys store which had well priced chocolates.

Couple of buses later and we were on 60th St 3rd Ave which was only one avenue away from the cable car. Lo and behold our Metro card was sufficient and my trip wasn't require. Surprise, surprise. Pleasant little ride to the island. Walked around and saw the Blackwell House. Quite new apartments - must be a reasonably nice and quiet place to live.



Growing to like New York. Can't believe that we are leaving tomorrow. Feel like we're just getting used to everything. Caught another bus down 2nd Ave to 34th St. Then the validation process for the Metro card changed, ticket machine was at the bus stop, so we didn't bother validating the ticket. Walked down to 32nd St, start of Korea Town, to look for food. Ate at Woorijip, literally "Our house", and the food was not bad and quite cheap. Nice to have a familiar meal that wasn't dripping with grease.


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Beaut morning to attend the MET - Metropolitan Museum of Art. Made a start with Greek and Roman, then Egyptian, followed by Pacific and some African before making our way upstairs to Chinese, Japanese and Korean. The missus made the move to European artists - some wonderful paintings on display. Artists like Van Gogh ("Van Gogg" I heard him referred to), Monet, Pisarro, Renoir, Coubert, etc. Better than the works on display in London. The MET is a truly well laid out and displayed museum/gallery. Looks like we may have save the best until last.



It was around 3pm when we left. Bought a print from one of the street vendors. About to get on a bus and use our Metro cards when a lady nearby told me reassuringly that we could indeed us our Metro cards on this bus. I couldn't believe that she was talking to me - I hadn't asked her. Then she wasn't aware of where the bus went so I gout out my bus route map and told her. She was, after all, only being helpful. Did I have that much of a lost look on my face?

Some road closures meant that the bus was going to detour so we got off. Walked our way down to 51st St and found Ess-a Bagel - one of the missus' must do places. I had a Reuben Sandwich with pastrami, can't visit NYC without having pastrami can you, and the missus had a salmon with blueberry cream bagel. It was alright, nothing to skite about.


Tired by the time we arrived at the apartment. Even "Speak English" guy greeted us with a "Hi guys". I cooked dinner, missus washed up, and we headed out to the Empire State Building. Thought that umbrellas wouldn't be needed. It started to rain halfway through our bus ride. And it continued to get heavier. Should've taken the umbrellas. I joked that it was so high that maybe it wasn't raining up there. Decided to pop into any of the stores that were open in a bid for it to stop raining and to get some shopping done. Guys trying to upsell tickets to the 102nd floor observatory informed me that the waiting line was one and a half hours long.

We went to Tim Horton's for a coffee that was more water than anything and a honey and lemon tea which was OK. Very slow Internet access. Made a break for it even though it was still raining. No queue at the Empire State Building so we were straight up with our audio guide. The guide itself was very informative - we should've made ESB one of the first places to visit and not the last as it provided a much better understanding of NYC.

I braved the rain for a few pictures. Pretty cold on the 86th floor, 49F not including wind chill factor, but not raining heavily. Not long afterwards it stopped raining and we were all able to enjoy the view although it was still very cold.


Got home close to midnight - very tired.

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Sleep in today. Decided to do the cruise from our City Pass. Discovered that it left at 11:30am about 100m from our apartment - cool. Next door was the USS Intrepid.

We arrived 30 mins before the departure time and only just manged to obtain an upper deck seat. Apparently there were 500 people on board. Great view of the skyline and expert commentary. Right at the commencement of the two hour cruise we were told not to stand anywhere except the bow and not sit on the silver boxes containing the life vests - so guess what the passengers did?


Difficult to get a photo for the first hour but once we turned around on the East River almost no-one took photos and it was so much easier. Great day for it too.


That afternoon we caught an M11 bus to Chelsea, 14th St 9th Ave, and visited the markets. Quite a few nice little shops set up in an old biscuit factory. Bought a brownie, a 2lb live lobster for US$36 that they cooked right there and then - very messy old probably not worth it. Lobsters were US$14.95/lb plus tax.


Bought some fruit and veg and they tried to rip me off by pretending not to be able to count. I even told them the change I was expecting and the girl tried to tell me that's what she was telling me! The missus has had a lot of trouble with people adding tax and not giving her correct change - now it was my turn. Not happy.

Walked around Chelsea for a bit - some interesting buildings in the area. The Boy was feeling quite sick and didn't finish his dinner. Had some medicine later.



After the run-in with the desk clerk/porter the other night an interesting thing happened today. We passed him to go through the service entrance but as we entered the lift area he popped his head in and dropped some groceries off for one of the residents - didn't say a word to us.

Checked the Net for how to get to La Guardia airport - no subway connection. Have to get to 125th St and catch an M60 bus. The Website said it took about 40 mins from midtown and a little longer from the western side of the city.

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Started the day off with brekkie before venturing to the Port Authority, then the building next door, to check out the tickets for tomorrow's adventure to Six Flags. Can't buy the tickets until tomorrow but at least I know where to buy them from.

Caught the subway, right train (local) this time, up to Central Park at the American Museum of Natural History (AMNH) exit on 81st St again. The place was crowded with joggers and much to our chagrin the centre area was closed to the public as a concert was taking place that evening. Got up to Jackie Onassis Lake for a look before heading back. Belvedere Castle, one of the highlights of the park, was closed to the public. Found a beautiful section of the park, nearby Oak Bridge, that was very easy on the eye. Bought a jumbo pretzel to share between all of us before walking through the Strawberry Fields section that Yoko Ono paid for as a tribute to John Lennon.


Time for lunch at Shake Shack, behind AMNH, and just managed to get a seat. Really busy after we ordered. Food was so much better, and cheaper, than in the museum yesterday.

Caught a bus down to 44th Street, just near the Majestic Theater, and collected our Phantom of the Opera tickets. Had an hour to kill so we went through the souvenir shops and Toys 'R Us - well laid out store and very entertaining. Twenty minutes before the musical started the queue was enormous. Must've been 80~100m long and three people deep. Got inside very quickly though as everybody had their tickets already. Sat next to an older couple from California, who'd never attended a Broadway musical, and spoke about solar power, Obama, NYC prices and the subway. Interesting conversation. The husband, who lived in Queens and New Jersey until he was 10, told me that they'd spent $65 on a salad and sandwich at Lusardi's and didn't recommend paying that much. Dressed in a suit and tie I don't think that it hurt him though. He showed The Boy a magic trick with two silver dollars so he knew how to handle kids.


The Phantom of the Opera was absolutely magical. The singing was strong, the music powerful, the storyline tear jerking and the costumes marvellous. Fabulous production. Not including the 15 minutes intermission we were treated to a 2 hr performance that was worth every penny.

Too early to head back to the apartment so we journeyed to the Rockefeller Plaza - Top of the Rock Observation Deck. Some pretty good viewing up there from the three levels but rather too many juveniles in attendance.



Couldn't believe the traffic along 42nd Street on the way back. Walking, which we did, was quicker than the bus. And the human traffic was almost crushing too. Did some grocery shopping before dinner.

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Whilst having breakfast the rain came in and it made the skyline disappear. Spotted my first nude person in the apartments opposite - it's only taken a day and a half.

Out and about around 10am. It was still raining. Not pleasant. Became quite heavy just before the bus arrived. Got to the subway station OK and caught an A train. Unfortunately it was an express and not the local and so we ended up at 125th St instead of 81st St as planned. Not ideal. My fault. Was a little surprised that the subway exit had an entrance to the American Museum of Natural History. Two lines for tickets with a very loud security guard, a woman, barking at people. Some wimpy, useless schmuck from the museum's staff, whom I asked about the New York City Pass, gave me a bum steer and so we waited in line longer than necessary. Finally obtained our tickets around 11:15. Just in time for the movie about stars - not bad. And I learnt a few things.




Decided to take a 12:15 guided tour with Karl Zydney. So glad that we did - it was very informative and gave us a quick look around the museum at the major points - stuff you wouldn't hear about otherwise, as well. It lasted nearly an hour and a half meaning it was time to buy an extremely overpriced lunch from the food court at the lower level. We spent nearly 50 bucks on not much - without drinks!

After lunch went to have a closer look at some of the exhibits that we have passed by briefly beforehand only to find that they had inexplicably been closed. Areas we saw included - Theodore Roosevelt Rotunda, Akeley Hall of African Mammals, Hall of Biodiversity, Milstein Hall of Ocean Life, North American Forests, Grand Gallery (65ft native American canoe), Northwest Coast Indians, Spitzer Hall of Human Origins, Ross Hall of Meteorites, Guggenheim Hall of Minerals, Mexico and Central America, South American Peoples, Vertebrate Origins, Cullman Hall of the Universe and Saurischian Dinosaurs. Still so much to see and we left just before 5pm. Took a walk down Columbus Ave to look at the shops. As soon as we caught a bus it started pelting down. Not for long though.

A day well spent - the displays within the museum are brilliant although there isn't as much hands-on for the kids as the museums in Britain offer. Made spaghetti bolognese for dinner.

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Spent 50 minuets this morning writing my diary as I had two days to catch up on. Then it was down to breakfast for the final time. Last bit of packing and the missus and I went to the tube station to preload our Oyster cards to the trip out to Heathrow but it appeared to be a bit pricey. Mr Rees suggested topping up at the newsagent, which we did, but I was confused why extra money was put into the card rather than being able to purchase a specific 1-6 zones ride. Never mind.

Luggage was a bit heavy going down the stairs at the tube - I'm sure that the missus and The Boy would've struggled later by themselves as they were taking a later, direct flight to New York. No surprises on the tube and I was able to access the Internet in some places. Returned my Oyster card for the remaining funds and deposit.

To my surprise the fat people who had mysteriously disappeared in London made their reappearance at Heathrow. Iceland Air checked bags, including carry on, for weights. Haven't experienced that before. For some reason one of my bags caused suspicion and was swabbed for a test. No issue found though. Only about 30 minutes to check in. Was unable to call the missus - maybe she was already on the tub as she called me not too much later. Iceland Air don't use the most comfortable lounges at Heathrow.


Boarded without any troubles - sat next to a couple from Baltimore. For much of the flight a weird shadow with a circular rainbow was visible. Only soft drinks, waters, juices and tea or coffee were served for free on board so I didn't have a meal. Read the paper and caught a few zeds. Wasn't paying US$6 for headphones. Iceland, from above, almost looks like another planet. Fairly desolate landscape.


Lots of Americans at Keflavik Airport in Reykjavik. Surprising number of connecting flights to North America. Prices for everything in Iceland were dear. An American woman paid US$8 for a drink, a 300ml bottle - perhaps alcoholic, and was none too pleased. When she asked why it was so dear the response was a simple, "It's Iceland." No wonder many items for purchase had no marked price. Might have been cheaper to eat on the plane. The airport itself was busy. Another jet landed just after us and a C130 Hercules was close behind. I hadn't expected this.

No waiting lounge inside the gate at the airport. No announcement to start boarding. No proper queueing either. Bit of a dog's breakfast really.

People on the flight to NYC were strange. Almost nobody closes the lavatory door. The Dutch couple next to me greeted me and then didn't say another word to me for the rest of the flight. The husband cleared his throat every five minutes and even stretched out his legs pushing his feet firmly against the seats in front of him. He broke out into song every now and again. And he slumps in his seat. Not the sort of travelling companion that I enjoy. There were a great many Icelanders on the flight which surprised me as it appeared to be only Yanks at the airport.


At the immigration point, the missus, who had arrived a bit earlier than me, spotted me. But she didn't bother to point this out to the lady who was directing people to particular immigration officers. When I arrived at the front of the queue she was still dealing with her immigration officer so I managed to get in that particular line by pointing out that my wife was there. "Oh, you should be with her," said the lady directing us. She thought that we need to be processed together. Not that she was aware we had come on different flights and so actually should be processed separately. Good thing I did too as the officer wanted to know the address I would be staying at and I said that my wife, whom he'd just processed, had that. He grabbed a crumpled piece of paper out of the bin which had our apartment's address on it. Boy, did I do the right thing by getting in this immigration officer's line.

Ended up having to wait an extra 20 minutes or so for my luggage and so we went through Customs separately anyway. The missus bought something to obtain some change so that she could call the person in charge of the apartment we were booked to stay in. Calling using a credit card was unsuccessful. Contact finally made and we grabbed an Airtrain to meet up with the metro on A line. Waited about 20 minutes for the train then we were on our way. Approximately 45 minutes to get to 42nd Street. Then we had some faffing around to do as the apartment is supposed to be residential and not rental so we had to basically sneak into the building. Not a bad view from level 23. Went out to purchase a subway later as it was around 3:30 to 4am London time and I was hungry.


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Photo Album Vol IV (Final)