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



Nautical but Nice

On the other side of the River Forth from my home town of South Queensferry lies another little town which (rather suprisingly) is called North Queensferry. Although I have stayed in South Queensferry for over thirty years, and we have some perfectly adequate bridges across the Forth, I have only visited North Queensferry a handful of times. A couple of weeks back on a windy but sunny day I decided to visit North Queensferry again, and share my experience with your good selves.
The first thing you notice when you drive down the hill leading into North Queensferry (NQ) is the fact that it also has two large bridges (almost identical to those in my home town of South Queensferry).
There is a long, grey road bridge............


Forth Road Bridge from NQ

...........and there is a huge, red rail bridge:


Forth Rail Bridge from NQ

Tucked under the Road Bridge is a quaint little harbour, and unlike the trim and tidy marina of Port Edgar on the south side of the river this is a harbour with a bit of character.
This is reflected in the boats that were sitting on the pier, hauled out of the water and tucked up sheltering from the worst of the Scottish winter.
There were some beautifully looked after boats, like the wooden hulled example below:

Which appeared to be smiling very smugly when you looked at it from the bow (that's nautical speak for 'the front' if you didn't know):


Smiley Boat

There were a few less glamorous boats as well...........this one called 'Pioneer' looked as though it had a torpedo slung underneath it:


Pioneer with torpedo

I'm not a nautical person so I can't think why you would want to have such a large protrusion at the bottom of you boat.............unless of course it was for ramming other boats.
Maybe that is what happened to poor Blue Moon below:


Blue, Blue Moon

As well as sail boats and power boats there must also be rowing boats at NQ harbour, because there was a little hint at the entrance:


NQ Boat & Sports Club 'Pull Together'

I didn't see any rowing boats however, maybe they were all safely indoors. That anchor doesn't look like it is from a rowing boat, either that or they have very big rowing boats and very big rowers ....................time for a sharp exit.
The bay next to the harbour looks as though it has some history as well, there was evidence of a boating heritage in the large wooden pontoons and the skeletal remains of a wooden hulled boat of many years ago:


Old Wooden Pontoon (with train in background)

 

Remnants of Old Boat in mud of NQ Bay

There were a few birds to see in the bay, however it was very windy and they were quite far away so that is my excuse for the poor quality of my photographs:


Redshank in NQ Bay

Shellduck in NQ Bay

I decided to get out the wind for a little while and drove round to the other side of North Queensferry to the car park under the Rail Bridge. It was very pleasant sitting in the car, in the sun and out of the wind, with the beautiful views across the River Forth to SQ.
After a few minutes warming up I braved the wind again and took a couple of snaps of the Rail Bridge (which you get right underneath and can really appreciate how impressive a structure it is)


Underneath the Arches

Towering above the Rooftops

There wasn't much in the way of wildlife venturing out today and those that did, such as gulls whooshed past at such a rate I couldn't photograph them. I did manage to capture a couple of Magpies who seemed to think they were ostriches and buried their heads in the sand (grass):

Ostrich Magpies

Perhaps they didn't want to be photographed.
There were very few people (other than stupid me) out on this windy day but I did see one brave boat out on the water:


Powerful Tug (with South Queensferry in the background)

The town of North Queensferry looked quite picturesque on this blustery day:


North Queensferry from Rail Bridge car park

On my way out of NQ I took a detour along a little road that runs under the Road Bridge (sorry it is a private road apparently) to see how the next bridge across the Forth was progressing. It's in it's early stages but you can start to see the line of the new bridge now that they have the cassions in place:



Cranes working on the foundations for New Forth Bridge

There is a big debate on what the new bridge should be called and they have narrowed it down to half a dozen names. My money is on Queen Margaret's Crossing as that is where the Queen in Queensferry comes from (she was also Saint Margaret don't you know).
Anyway, whatever they call the new bridge it is going to cross over some very exclusive properties on the south side and on the north side is this lovely little house...........I think it is their private road I am on!!


Nice Little House in NQ

I left North Queensferry and drove a few miles up river to the little village of Limekilns, which also has a nautical feel to it.
In the strong wind the yachts securely anchored in the harbour were bobbing up and down furiously, making that distinctive clanging sound as the rigging cables rattle against the mast (at least I think that's what happens):

Bobbing Yachts in Limekilns Harbour

From the harbour pier you get a good view back down the river towards the Forth Bridges from whence I came:

Bridges from Limekilns Pier

Right on the end of the pier you can also see the remnants of an old flag pole which stood at the end of the pier many years ago.
From the pier you can also look back towards Limekilns and the adjacent village of Charleston:

Limekilns from Boatyard Pier

I quite enjoyed my little trip over to the North side of the river, but I couldn't leave before taking the opportunity to capture this final photograph:

On a Jetty with a Yeti

Sorry, I couldn't resist it............... (It's a Skoda Yeti for those who don't know)

Take Care,

Teddy Edward

Baby Birds

It's been so wintry over the last few months and even though we are now officially into Spring it still feels like Winter.
So I thought I would turn the clock forward a couple of months to late Spring/early Summer and share a few photos (and observations) of some baby birds which will hopefully cheer us all up.
I thought I'd start with a baby bird that most people get a chance to witness even if they are not keen bird watchers...................... that is ducklings, in particular Mallard duckings.

 

Best follow mum

 

The water looks cold and deep!!

Everybody present and correct

Some of these young waterfowl can be born quite a bit away from the water, Mallards for example have been known to nest in trees a few hundred yards from the nearest water. So Mallard ducklings can spend their early days on dry land before heading to the safety of the water.
This is not the case for all waterfowl............Coots for example nest very near to the water's edge and even sometimes on small rafts of vegetation. Their young (I'll call them cootlings) have to be able to take to the water within a day or two of being born, hence why the look like little blobs of fluff, making them very buoyant:


Coot and cootlings

Being fluffy might help them float but it makes them very difficult to photograph, especially using autofocus.
Another water-borne youngster you may be familiar with has in the past been described as ugly (no we are not talking Herons, in which case I would not argue) I'm talking about the ugly duckling itself..........the cygnet. Here is a pretty big cygnet which is starting to show all the poise and grace of an adult but still retains the grey feathers and dark coloured beak of a juvenile:

Mute Swan Cygnet on Union Canal

This photo was taken in the Winter on a frozen canal, so not exactly an early summer youngster, which gives you an idea how long some of these larger birds take to reach maturity.
Moving on to dry land and concentrating on smaller birds which have a relatively short lifespan, and the chicks have to grow up fast.
We'll start with everyone's favourite the unmistakably cute Blue Tit. Here is a recently fledged (i.e. left the nest) youngster crying out to be fed:

Feed me!!

You can clearly see its bright orange 'gape' which acts as a target for the parents when stuffing caterpillars in their beaks in the dark of the nest hole (or box). They also pull back their wings and flutter them in a pitiful way and it seems that this begging works as the parent came along with a mouthful of insects for the hungry chick:

Yum Yum!!

Blue Tit chicks are much more lemony and greyer than the adults, who are by this time looking very bedraggled having to constantly find food to feed their hungry brood which could be as much as a dozen chicks.
Here is another youngster, see if you can guess what bird it is:

Who Am I??

I am sure you all knew it was another garden favourite.............
...........a juvenile Robin. It will be another few months before it gets its distinctive red breast but the shape of the bird, its beak and the way it hops about lets you know it is definitely a Robin.
I have had people saying to me "I saw a female Robin" and when I asked how they knew it was a female they said "it didn't have a red breast". Chances are it was most likely a juvenile, as you all know adult female Robins look just like their male counterparts.
Here are another couple of fledglings which have some of the colouring but not quite full adult plumage:

Young Greenfinch

Young Goldfinch

The young Goldfinch has the bright yellow wing bars but lacks the black head, white nape and red face that makes the adult so distinctive. It is however cute (if you like that sort of thing!)
As you may see from the above photographs and those below young birds are not very wary are are therefore extremely vulnerable:


Young Starling on a bench

Young Sparrows sunbathing
 

This obviously leaves them exposed to predation.
The most prolific killer of young birds is of course the domestic cat, they are relatively easy pickings for them, especially if they are on the ground. Whether they are on the ground, on roof-tops or on exposed branches of a tree there is another predator which times the birth of their young to match the abundance of young blue tits, goldfinch, sparrow, etc..................the aptly named Sparrowhawk:

Sparrowhawk

This one was visiting my neighbour's garden looking for some nice tit-bits to eat.
I've also had them in my garden, going by the evidence I found.............a pile of feathers an a neatly removed greenfinch beak!
So small baby birds beware!!
Some larger baby birds may well be save from Sparrowhawks, but they also have to be careful as there are plenty of other predators out there, Peregrine Falcons and Goshawks to name but two.
That is why some birds (in particular sea birds) like to nest in colonies either on high cliffs or islands out at sea. On Inchcolm Island in the Firth of Forth you can see lots of sea birds nest on the island and the surrounding rocks. Birds such as Puffins, Heron Gulls, Guillemots, Cormorants, etc all like to nest in places like this.
Here is a Herring Gull chick I photographed on Inchcolm Island:

Herring Gull Chick

In all honesty it may be a Lesser Black-backed Gull, I can't tell the difference when they are this young. Whether it's a cute chick or not is open to debate.
I'll leave you with one or two pictures of one of my favourite baby birds.
I had the privilege of working for Friends of Kailzie Wildlife in the Scottish Borders not too long ago and had an opportunity to attend the 'ringing' of the Osprey chicks which they monitor using high definition cameras and feature in their wildlife centre. These are wild birds which fly to West Africa every Autumn and return in the Spring to the same nest to lay their eggs.
Just before the young Osprey are about to fledge they are brought down from the nest on top of a very high tree and given lovely ankle bracelets to identify them by. Remember these 'chicks' are only about six weeks old, but have been fed by the parents on a high protein diet of fish, fish and fish. So if you want the kids to grow up nice and strong you know what to feed them.............
I hope you enjoy the photos as much as I enjoyed the experience:

Osprey Chick Posing

You lookin' at me?

Me with some chicks

So watch out for those baby birds when the Springtime finally arrives

Take care

Teddyedward