New York, New York (and New Jersey too)

What a fantastic break we had in New York City last month, with a foray into Jersey City as well!
The icing on the cake was meeting up with my son Alan and his wife Laura, which made our holiday both exciting and emotional.
For our trip we chose to stay in a hotel called the Empire in Upper West Side (but that's another story). The hotel was only 5 minutes walk from Central Park and 10 minutes from a main subway station which linked to everywhere we wanted to go.
Here is a photo of our hotel taken when we were out for an evening stroll:

Hotel Empire 63rd & Broadway

 It was a nice hotel with friendly staff but we did not spend a lot of time in it as we were mostly out exploring New York. We did have our breakfast on the rooftop garden a few times:

Moira waiting for Breakfast

 Early in the morning was the best time to go on the rooftop as it got really hot after that. There was a swimming pool on the roof but we did not use it. When I say a swimming pool I mean one lane of a swimming pool as it was only about five foot wide.
Below is the West Side hotel we really wanted to stay in but it was fully booked by young men:

It's fun to stay here

 When we arrived in NYC the weather was lovely but quite hot and throughout the week it got even hotter, peaking at 94 degF (that's about 34 degC) after which were major storms and downpours and the temperature dropped to a more comfortable 75 degF (24 degC), before starting to rise again.
Here is a photo of our first day in NYC, near Columbus Circle and the temperature on the CNN building was a mere 80 degrees:

Hot in the city

We had the first day in NYC to ourselves but didn't venture too far from the Upper West Side area. Laura and Alan met up with us at the hotel the next morning and after a hearty New York brunch we went exploring.
First up was a short subway ride from Columbus Circle to Midtown to visit Macy's and climb the Empire State Building (we used the lift really, they don't let you climb up it from the outside).
Here is a view of this iconic building from just outside Macy's department store:

No turning back now.

And here are the happy shoppers just about to do battle within Macy's:

Nice sneakers Laura

Needless to say a few items were purchased just to get a Macy's bag and be able to say "I got this in Macy's in New York don't you know!"
I must say I enjoyed the Empire State Building more than I enjoyed Macy's.
We did get to meet King Kong when we were up the top of the Empire State Building:

I wonder if he used the lift?

Needless to say the views from the top of the Empire State Building are tremendous, although there was a bit of a heat haze when we were up there so the photographs are not perfect:

Chrysler Building & 59 Street Bridge (Feeling Groovy)

Brooklyn Bridge

Lower Manhattan & Financial District

Macy's from the Empire State Building

 That was enough excitement for one day, so we went to a bar and had a couple of drinks before heading back to the hotel. After a little rest and a wash and brush up we headed out for a nice, relaxing evening meal and a walk around the local Upper West Side area before Alan & Laura headed home to New Jersey (takes about 45 minutes on the subway).
The next day was very hot as we strolled through Central Park taking in some of the landmarks such as the boating lake and Strawberry Fields (which was crowded with people trying to get a picture of tiled mosaic that says IMAGINE). I couldn't get near it so I took a picture of the strawberries in Strawberry Fields instead:

Strawberry Fields for ever

It's true! strawberries actually grow there. Here are some other photos we took in Central Park:


Nice apartments overlooking the park

Central Park Boating Lake

Moira at the Fountain

American Robin (yes it's a thrush)

New York's Finest

Our plan was to walk to the far side of Central Park and visit the Metropolitan Museum but the park is so huge and it was so hot that we opted for a yellow cab ride to the museum.
The museum is massive and although we were there for a few hours we did not get round all of it. We spent a fair bit of time in the Ancient Egyptian part of the museum as it was really interesting, not sure my photos can do it justice but here are some:

Pharaoh Nuff

Indiana Sharp & the Girlie Hat

You Looking at me?

There were many other interesting artefacts the museum, I particularly liked this Tiffany stained glass window:

Tiffany Window

And also this sculpture, which although quite old seemed to reflect modern times:

The History of Texting

Enough of the nonsense! We had a great time at 'The Met' as it is affectionately known as, however we ran out of time and had to leave before we got locked in.
We again went out for a lovely meal in the evening and made plans for the following day. To give Alan & Laura a break from travelling in to NYC to meet us (and also to meet up with some of Alan's work colleagues) we decided that we would travel over to New Jersey to meet up with them at their apartment in downtown Jersey City.
It wasn't too difficult to get there, a short trip in the New York subway followed by another short trip on the PATH (Port Authority Trans-Hudson) which as you may have guessed is anther subway which runs from Manhattan under the Hudson River to New Jersey.
Alan met us at the PATH station and took us along to the apartment to meet up with Laura:

 

Outside Laura & Alan's Apartment

After a quick tour of their apartment we headed out for a walk down towards the Hudson River.
The waterfront in Jersey City is a brilliant place you not only get views of the historic Railway Terminal, The Jersey canal, the Statue of Liberty and the Colgate Clock but it is undoubtedly the best place to view Lower Manhattan from:

The Colgate Clock

Lower Manhattan from Jersey City Waterfront
(with Freedom Tower rising above the World Trade Center)
 

Later on we met up with Alan's work mates for a small libation at the rooftop bar of the Iron Monkey (as you do) before going out for an evening meal at the Light Horse Tavern. We chose to sit outside in the twilight, but by the time we started our main course we were dining in the dark, and although it tasted terrific I have no idea what it looked like.
Then the storm broke and the thunder & lightning was shortly followed by heavy rain. Laura & Alan headed home and we went down into the PATH station to get the subway back to the hotel. If anybody had told me that one day we would be riding the New York subway around midnight while a thunderstorm raged overhead I would have questioned their sanity............but we did and the great thing was the rain had stopped by the time we got out at the other end we were dry as a bone and unscathed!
The following day we had agreed to have a bit of a lie-in and meet up with Alan & Laura at South Ferry around noon (no not South Queensferry but the bottom of Manhattan Island where you catch the Staten Island Ferry). As it happens they got on the same subway as us so meeting up was easy.
For those in the know the Staten Island Ferry is the best place to see the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island from (and it is also free). You also get good views of lower Manhattan, but not quite as good as those from the Jersey Waterfront:

Lower Manhattan from the Staten Island Ferry

On the Staten Island Ferry

Lady Liberty

 

Ellis Island (first stop for many immigrants)

Both Ellis Island and The Statue of Liberty were closed to visitors as they were under repair following restoration work and the impact of Hurricane Sandy last year.
After a quick scootch around Staten Island harbour we got the next ferry back to Manhattan, a lovely trip and it was all free (a Scotsman's dream).
We headed for a bite to eat at Fraunces Tavern & Museum, although we did not go to the museum (and for those of you of a certain age..........Josie  was not there!!). We did however go to the nearby Museum of the American Indian, which was housed in the magnificent old Custom House (what a building!):

US Custom House (now a museum)

This was a very interesting collection of Native American artefacts housed in magnificent surroundings and I would recommend it to anyone visiting NYC.
After this we headed to Wall Street and I was just about to take some photos of the New York Stock Exchange when the heavens opened, the rain was so heavy we were forced to take shelter in a restaurant/bar just round the corner. We thought we'd better order a drink as we were taking shelter in their premises (and also because Moira offered to pay). As we were surrounded by business types quaffing red wine and comparing portfolios we feared the worse when the rain died off and we had to pay our tab............however it was surprisingly reasonable...........perhaps the market wasn't very bullish that day?
We dodged the showers on our way to the subway and agreed with Alan to meet up with him at his office after he finished work before going over to their apartment for dinner.
As we had most of the next day to ourselves we headed to the Rockefeller Plaza and booked up for the Art Deco architecture tour. I won't bore you too much about the history but the Rockefeller Center is a series of buildings built in the late 1920's/early 1930's by the incredibly rich son of the oil tycoon and industrialist John D Rockefeller. However Junior's wife was the one responsible for kitting all the buildings out in the vogue of the era, art deco. Here are a few examples of the extravagant doorways and statues:

Entrance to the GE Building

Entrance to the British Building

50 Rock Entrance

Atlas

Inside the buildings were stupendously lavish as well, unfortunately my photographs could not do them justice. All I can say is if you are in New York go and take the tour.
The icing on the cake was that you get to go up to the roof of the GE Building or as it is commonly known 'The Top of the Rock'. This building seems to be built for two reasons, firstly to give the best view of Central Park in New York and secondly to block the Empire State Building's view of Central Park.

Prometheus & The Rock

Central Park from the Top of the Rock

The Empire Strikes Back

On the way out of the Rockefeller Plaza I found a little shop which was perhaps hinting at my future career:


My Calling

After a late lunch we made our way down towards the Financial District to meet Alan and visit his office. Although he doesn't work in the Finance sector the office he work in is in one of the World Trade Center Buildings, right next to the new Freedom Tower that is currently being built. And being on the 46th Floor you get some fantastic views of Manhattan and the surround areas out of the office window:

Woolworth Building with Brooklyn Bridge behind

Empire State from Alan's Office Window

The office itself is great inside (especially if you are a techo-freak) with huge digital displays of world maps and data streaming everywhere. Their break-out area even has a full-size pool table:

Evening by the Pool

Unfortunately I got beaten at pool so it was time to leave.
A short subway trip on the PATH and we were once again in downtown Jersey City.

Downtown Jersey City

My lovely daughter-in-law had offered to cook a meal for us on our last evening in New York/New Jersey and when we reached their apartment we were greeted by the tasty aroma of home cooking.
Laura had made us a wonderful roast chicken dinner, complete with roast potatoes, a homemade gravy that was to die for and fresh corn on the cob (grilled on the BBQ which was strategically positioned on the fire escape!!). It was all washed down with some lovely Wisconsin beer (Spotted Cow I think!).
Just when we thought it couldn't get any better Laura went back to the kitchen and whipped up some home-made Strawberry Shortcake which I have to say was absolutely fan-dabby-dozy.
Later that evening with our bellies full and a warm glow inside we bid a fond farewell to Alan & Laura and made our way to the PATH station for our subway(s) back to the hotel.
The next morning we had a hair-raising journey in a yellow cab to JFK and we were on our way home. It was a fantastic trip but we would not have been half as adventurous or had half as much fun if we didn't have Alan & Laura to share it with.

Take Care

Teddy Edward