Subway Adventures

The Subway to Brooklyn - Day 4

Today we rode the infamous subways beneath Manhattan. We rode a couple of trains by accident and had to get off and go back the other way. It's a bit confusing if you don't know which way Up Town, Down Town, Mid Town and Across Town are.

We eventually got the hang of it. We took the subway across to Brooklyn where we walked through a little park and saw our first squirrel. Cute,but too fast for a photo. Then we walked back across the Brooklyn Bridge to Manhattan.

Geoff on the Brooklyn Bridge.

From the Brooklyn Bridge, we took the subway to Grand Central Station. Wow! Now that's opulance! It looks wonderful now, but I can only imagine way back in the 1930s how "grand" it would have seemed.

We walked from Grand Central Station around to the Chrysler building.

Me with that famous clock.

 

The Chrysler Building is one tall statement in concrete and glass!

Then we were off around the corner to the American Museum of Natural History. We never got aroundeven half of the place. It's huge. It's also worth spending a day looking around. We had limited time, so we chose about four different exhibits to visit. I think you'd need a whole day to see the lot. 

 It cost us $35 to get in. They call this a "suggested donation". I wonder what would happen if you "suggested" a different price?

 Next, we were off to the  Empire State Building for a virtual helicopter ride all around and over Manhattan narrated by Kevin Bacon. It was like one of those Disney rides where the seats move and you feel as though you're really flying. Was great.

From there they took us up  - one elevator full at a time - to the 86th floor where the observatory is. So we walked all around the Empire State Building taking various photos.

Inside Empire State Building was all marble and Art Deco opulence.

Outside the Empire State Building.

That was it for our last full day in New York. We bought our GPS Garmin and an internet stick, so I'm all set up to function independently now.

We pick our car up tomorrow and drive out under the Hudson River in the New Jersey tunnel. Fingers crossed.

Manhattan Tours

Day 3

The famous Times Square
 

We went on an organised tour with On Board City Sights. We started out on a bus, swapped to a boat and then back onto the bus again with brief walks around to different sights.

Geoff in front of the New York Stock Exchange building on Wall Street

We started out and finished up just past Times Square. I'd highly recomment this tour. The tour guide was a real dag and really knew his stuff. He made the day fun.

Me with Brooklyn Bridge in the background.

We took the boat trip out to see the Statue of Liberty. It's quite beautiful up close but not as big as you'd think.

The rebuilding continues where the Twin Towers once stood. It's going to be a wonderful sight when it's all completed.

If you look carefully, you'll see a couple of familiar mugs on the big screen on Broadway, near Times Square.

From L.A. to New York

May 2 - Day 2

Well, I must say, the flight from L.A. to New York was the best one yet. We were upgraded to Business Class. Oh yeah, that is the way to fly. We were waited on, had a menue to choose from, had personal DVD players loaded a selection of movies for us to watch. The 5 hour flight seemed very short. It was a pity they wouldn't allow people to use their cameras on board because the view of New York as we slipped below the clouds was spectacular. I guess there are postcards for that sort of thing.

We landed in New York and walked straight out onto the platform where our courtesy bus was waiting to take us to our hotel - the very swish Carleton Hotel on Madison Avenue.

It was too late to do anything that night so we walked around the corner to a little serve-yourself place and selected a nice meal each which we sat and ate there. So far we've found all the food and drinks everywhere around Manhattan are way too expensive. Even a bottle of water 300mls will cost you $6 here. 1ltr is $10. I've developed a liking for their Coka Cola - it tastes different over here. I love their lemonade too. [Note: lemonade as opposed to Sprite - which we call Lemonade.] 

The Empire State Building lit up at night. I took this from the other side of Madison Square Park

 

Closer up now. We walked through Madison Square Park. It's very small but lovely.

We never got to eat here. There were people lined up all the way out onto the sidewalk. The food must have been good.

I'm sure this building with its clock lit up on the Madison Avenue side of Madison Square Park does have a name. I just don't know it. It was pretty, though, so I took a photo.

We're In L.A.

May 1

We finally got the all clear to leave from the doctor at 4pm Monday afternoon. From then on it was rush, rush, rush! On Tuesday morning I threw all my clothes into my case and zipped it up. I was convinced that both our cases were overwieght, but when weighed at Albury we discovered we were both well under the limit. "Oh you're travelling light," the customs people said. Light! I'd hate to lift a heavy case!

No time for cuppas in Albury, we raced off to Sydney where chaos reigns supreme. After asking directions from several staff, we eventually found our way to the International Terminal. From then on it was an endless wait in a line for booking, an endless wait in line through customs, an endless wait in line... Yeah, you get the drift.

Our view from the plane.

The long wing of Flight UA840

 

When we got our boarding passes we discovered we weren't even sitting in the same sectin of the plane. Jeez! Thanks to a very nice young man who changed seats with Geoff, we finally got to sit together.

And sit we did... for nearly 3 hours.  3 hours!! Our plane couldn't take off without a new cargo door strap.

Eventually we lifted off.

A view of Sydney as we last saw it.

 Some iconic views of Sydney harbour as we flew over it and away from Australia at last.

 .

Evening over the

Pacific Ocean.

This is over Suva. We could see the islands clearly. But having already spent about 5 hours in the air, my sense of humour evaporated.

The flight was interminable. Unbearable. Excruciating. Indescribable. Why do people actually do this to themselves? Why subject themselves to this unique kind of torture?

The next day dawned eventually - or the same day dawned again. 







We finally caught a glimpse of mountains through the clouds.

My first glimpse of L.A. as we descended through the clouds.

L.A. International Airport - where the big jet engines roar... I was so happy to touch down I could have burst into song! 

Now there's a familiar sight!

  

Oh my God! I could have kissed the ground! Only there was no ground, just a very long walkway, around a corner, down some stairs and then a 2 hour wait to get through Immigration. 

We got through Immigration and Customs with no problems, then we had to wait outside for a transit bus. We were told the wrong information and waited for another 2 hours only to discover that we were waiting in the wrong spot. We could have been on our bus and at our hotel at least an hour or more earlier.

Grrrr! Humour evaporating again.

Add to that the enormous May Day protest about something which will forever remain a mystery to me even though I watched it on several TV channels, and it all added up to us not getting to our hotel until about 4pm.

The whole highlight of the day and the same day again, was that we rang Maia Berens and she and her husband, Bart, came to the hotel to meet us.

We went to a lovely little shopping centre to a health food smorgasbord type shop and selected ourselves a wonderful meal which we all sat and shared as we chatted and laughed.

After years of talking to Maia via Skype, Messenger and anything else that would work, it was wonderful to finally meet in person.

Before we met, we both thought we'd be awkward and not know what to say. No fear of that! I don't think either of us drew breath!

Geoff chatting with the Valet at our hotel.

Geoff, Maia and Bart walking in to buy some healthy take away food.

Our first real meal in America. It was really delicious too.

Geoff and Bart discuss the finer points of what really is where in Australia.

Maia and I chatting away as though we get together often.

It really felt like we were two old friends getting together after a long time away. 

Another of those, "Geoff, just take the bloody picture," moments.

 Bart, Maia and I in L.A.

Right now it is 8.37pm Tuesday evening here and 1.37am Wednesday morning at home. Geoff is already in bed fast asleep while I sit here and blog on. I'm not happy that the shuttle bus is picking us up at 6.45am tomorrow. Breakfast isn't until 7am here, so I guess we'll miss out on that. Jeeez!


Anyway, despite the insanely slow plane flight, the painfully slow waiting in lines, and the delays and mistakes, we've had a really exciting start to our trip.


 

 

Thunderheads & Angels

I really can't resist taking photos of clouds. This evening, I happened to look outside and see these wonderful thunderheads above the storm clouds. I didn't have my camera on me so I snapped a few shots with my phone's camera. What would I do without technology?

Thunderhead lit by the setting sun.

There's rain up there!

 While I was busy taking photos of the thunderheads, a spectacular cloud angel flew overhead. Wow!

 Spectacular Cloud Angel

Energy Orbs in a Storm

I watched the storm approach this evening and took some photos of the amazing colours.

 Storm Clouds

 Watching the Stormlight Change

Then we got caught out in the hay shed when the storm really hit. I took heaps of photos - trying to capture some shots of lightning. I didn't manage to get any lightning bolts, but I did capture heaps of energy orbs. It's so amazing that we were surrounded by them but couldn't see or feel them.

Trying to capture lightning, but caught all these energy orbs instead.

  

So many orbs surrounded us in the hay shed, but we couldn't see them.

I took a photo of Geoff, but I can hardly see him through all the orbs.

Playing in Albury Botanical Gardens

Apart from a few technical sound problems, our performance of Wind in the Willows at the Albury Botanical Gardens was a huge success. We're all hoping for the same response today - without the sound issues.

Director, Lorraine Monshing overseeing the initial set-up in this beautiful gardens.

 The Wild Wood gets set up.

Our  Wonderful  sound technicians proved they can overcome difficult conditions to ensure our audience can hear our show.

We musicians are set up under the lovely Ginko tree.

Even our backstage crew gets into the act.

On the way home, I was treated to this spectacular sunset.

  The sun sinks below the Warby Ranges as I continue along the freeway towards Wangaratta.

 

On With The Show

While all our guests entertained themselves and each other back at Glenloth, I was busy up at Mayday Hills with our first performance of Wind in the Willows.

It wasn't a bad day up there in the gardens, but as we started, it grew colder and colder. I'm not sure about the cast, but we musicians were popsicles. My flute was like a frozen rod of ice. At the very end of the show, I even lost the low notes because the lower end of the flute froze. Now that's cold!

But, as they say, the show must go on, and on it did go to a wonderful audience who loved every minute of it.

Ratty and Mole messing about on the river.

Ratty and mole have a picnic.

The Wild Wild Wood awaits.

My friend Phil Trevor-Hunt with the majestic Mr. Toad of Toad Hall.

For our second performance at Mayday Hills, we set up inside. It was even colder that day so we were all grateful for the warmth of the great indoors.





Our performances went really well and both audiences loved the show. Our next performance of Wind in the Willows is going to be at the Albury Botanical Gardens at the end of this week.

I'm looking forward to it. The weather is supposed to be warmer too, so let us all keep our fingers crossed for that!