Day 4 - New York City

Late night, early start today, and for me, a little emotional too. Emotional, because it marks the first phase our US trip coming to an end and from now on, memories will be slowly overtaken by more checkouts, more moves, and a slowly increasing pace of closure to our holiday. To mark the bittersweet moment, the morning sunrise was beautifully captured by Kat's handy photography skills and gives a great indication of why I love Manhattan so much!

Our first task for the day was packing up our stuff and moving across town to stay in Manhattan. This exercise was quite easy from Queens side, since we just took the subway to Grand Central Station. From Grand Central, things became a little more interesting. First of all, we scaled massive heights from underground via the escalator network and then surfaced on East 42nd Street. We had to walk four blocks east from here, which was a bit disappointing because we were used to the proximity of the subway in the first few days. Shortly after we started our walk in the comparatively balmy weather today, we spotted our hotel, The Tudor Hotel, proudly standing tall ahead of us. Our excitement at what looked like a grand tower overlooking the surrounds was short-lived, when we discovered that the placement of the tower name was strategically designed to look like it was superimposed onto the building behind it, and in fact our hotel was rather a lot smaller than we had first thought! Nonetheless, we arrived on Nelson & Winnie Mandela Corner (I kid you not) and into our hotel.

(RANDOM NEW YORK FACTOID - skip this paragraph if you want to remain stupider than you could be after reading this: the street system is a grid pattern [obviously planned] with "streets" numbered sequentially from lowest in the South to highest in the North, and with an additionally nice tidbit of information in "East" and "West", which relates to the street's relation to Fifth Avenue [longest Avenue in Manhattan]. Avenues run north to south [like lines of longitude] and blocks are WIDER than they are longer, which means walking east to our hotel for four blocks is about double the distance when compared to walking north/south for four blocks)

Check-in was 3pm sharp so we left our baggage with the bell hop since we were about five hours early (RANDOM NEW YORK FACTOID: NY hotels check-in at 3pm, check-out at 10am. Hotels also have to charge an occupancy tax as well as a city tax) - the Tudor has two bell hops, which is something our Holiday Inn didn't even have one of! I felt excited to see what we'd booked through priceline, but would have to wait until the evening.

We confirmed with our concierge (very posh) for broadway tickets, but they would cost $130 each with service fees, so we gave that a skip, but did confirm that we should check out Dyker Heights and that we are also allowed to use the bus with our metro cards "FREE" (you should have seen Kat's facial expression at this point; the realisation that we didn't have to have trekked in MINUS SEVENTEEN CELCIUS yesterday hit her hard\).

We then hit a bus to Pier 83 to do the Circle Line Ferry tour (boarding started 11:30am, tour starts 12:30 and runs for three hours). Bus rides are a lot slower than the subway, but at least we got to see the city some more in some warm comfortable surrounds.

We snagged our ferry tickets early, with the plan to go to USS Intrepid while we waited. This plan flopped because we were told at 10h45 that we'd have to start boarding the ferry at 11h30 which didn't leave enough time to view an aircraft carrier, submarine, and Concorde. Instead, we decided to wait for the ferry and do Broadway that night (which was a good thing because in the end it turned out there was no show on the 31st) and the Intrepid the next day. While waiting in the queue for the ferry, I used a public phone to book broadway tickets. Sadly I forgot the metro code to score $10 discounts on each ticket, but we still managed to score two tickets for $130! Half the price of the concierge! I had a moment where I actually almost cried when I had booked the two tickets and given half of our details (phone number, credit card info, and half of our address) when the phone cut off and the operator sat for about a minute repeatedly saying "hello? Mr. Johnston? Hello? Can you hear me?" and I frantically piled in coin after coin to keep the call alive and hitting a tone button every so often to let the operator know I was still there. After a minute, having used up all of our change, I looked at Kat woefully and announced "that's it, it's over - we're screwed", and just then the operator could hear me again and we finalised the details! Phew :) penultimate show this year and we scored it! Also turns out the coins weren't necessary, the phone was just flaky.

The Circle Line Ferry was a highlight and definitely worth it - our tour guide was sharp, entertaining, and full of useful information. He was also bluntly honest about the poor New York sports results and kind of suggested "we also have a basketball team... they try to play basketball". Kat and I both enjoyed the whole show, although three hours was also just enough time to catch a power nap during the ride. Apart from us having to shoo stupid tourists away from our window view (we picked the corner spot so we had up, side and behind, but the idiots outside kept trying to take our behind spot for photographs, and we had to shoo them away because we only had half a side view because of the wall).

We had a half-island tour because of renovations to a new bridge over to Brooklyn, but we still got our 3 hours worth. I'd have preferred to rather do the 2 hour harbour lights equivalent for that price (and time was growing more precious), but it wouldn't have worked with us going to the Broadway show. Overall, the ferry cruise provided us with wonderful views of the Island and a great restful experience.

We saw the main highlights such as Lady Liberty, the BMW bridges (Brooklyn, Manhattan, and Williamsburg), and the "this would have been World Trade Centre" trivia as well as many other useful facts. In the USA particularly, there's still a very solemn atmosphere surrounding 9/11 and I don't think it's going to change any time soon.

Afterwards, almost exhausted, we hit the bus to Broadway, where we picked up our tickets and had to stick around for the show (time was running tight again). I had to power-consume half a sandwich and bottle of water because we weren't allowed inside with the stuff (and I had paid for it already), and then we entered the legendary RADIO CITY MUSIC HALL.

Almost everything in Manhattan that has a legend has sheer oppulence and grandeur attached to it. RCMH is no different. From the ten metre tall crystal Christmas tree, to refined marble decor, this place looked fantastic, even with its rather uninspiring name.

We decided to watch the Radio City Christmas Spectacular for a few reasons; firstly, I wanted to enjoy as much seasonal stuff as possible, and secondly, the tickets (at $60 each) were about one quarter of the price for Wicked and an eighth for Billy Elliott!!

Since we're doing the whole seasonal thing, we bought ourselves an orange juice (Minute Maid) and a tub of popcorn for $12 or so to go with the whole experience. I expected some quality US flavour for the popcorn, but it was about the same as the local bags from the street vendors for around R8. Mine cost R64 in the US. Damn I was scammed. At least I got a "Santa Claus" bucket for the popcorn, which I am determined to bring home, even though it's almost the size of Kat's head (worst case scenario she's putting it on and we're boarding our homeward bound flight as Mr. Johnston and Mrs. Claus - R64? I'm bringing it home and showing it off!!).

We ascended to the third mezzanine level and entered as the show started. Unlike our local Playhouse Company, it would appear you can come and go as you please in Broadway - well, at least for this show. We were ushered to our seats by a fancy dressed usher and sat down to enjoy the show.

If I had to sum up Broadway shows in one word I'd say "magical". I'm sorry, I'm not a great poet so I don't have words in my vocabulary like "surreal", "euphoric", "spectacular", or "kaleidoscopic". In fact, if I had to use a more descriptive word, I'd say "ITWASFREAKINGAMAZINGLYAWESOMEANDIWOULDDOITAGAINFORTHATPRICEOHMYGOSHITWASPHENOMENAL", but I'll settle for "magical", since Kat approves.

The 3D parts were so great that we all ah'ed in unison. People reached out to grab things in mid-air, and we were simply mesmerised by the music and effects. We had a Santa Claus story, coupled with a child-friendly (you know what I mean) Nutcracker Suite ballet, tempered with the Nativity story.

Afterwards, we both agreed the R1000 show was worth every cent, and we would definitely do it again. You've simply GOT TO do Broadway when you're in New York - scrape together the cash because it is worth it!! The popcorn was disappointing and I'd give that just one star. Avoid it. Also, a friendly BROADWAY TIP: the nosebleed seats aren't bad at all so scoring the cheap seats isn't a problem, but you MUST try go direct for the tickets, and keep your eyes open for promotions, and write the codes down!! One more interesting tidbit about the show we saw; there were REAL camels and other animals on stage! Craziness!!

From the show we went home to regroup (I'd phoned Waters Edge to delay our dinner to 830pm) before going out to dinner (we had decided earlier in the month to celebrate our anniversary in New York).

Dressed to the nines (as far as one could be on travel clothes), we took the subway to Queens and strolled along to our restaurant. I forgave the ignorant locals for mistaking us for someone important, based on our outfits (what am I saying? We ARE important), and we made it for dinner almost on time :)

The dinner was also delightful. We were treated like royalty, and given a lovely window seat overlooking the Manhattan skyline (check out watersedgenyc.com for pictures of the evening skyline). I dreamed of this opportunity for months and finally we had the privilege of experiencing it for ourselves. The only pity was that we were pretty tired by then. Nonetheless, we enjoyed our meals! The waiters were very friendly and spoke to us about FIFA 2010 and were amazed we scored tickets to Brazil / Portugal for a mere $15 each.

Kat decided to opt for a starter despite my advice and protests, and went for crispy fried oysters ($16) as a starter, and a pork chop mains ($28). I decided to rebel and took the $36 lamb. We had a bottle of water (little did we know it would cost $10) and some complimentary olive bread. The oysters came, Kat nibbled a bit, grimaced, stuck out her tongue, and said she didn't want any more. R130's worth of starters on our anniversary dinner that she wasn't going to finish? Not likely! I insisted she finish what she'd ordered, and in a noble show of compassion, I agreed to eat three of the five oysters that I didn't want in the first place.

Three oysters down and my head began to spin. Woohoo. I felt a bit queezy and held on for the entreés. Kat felt a bit guilty and held on for the vomeé.

Our mains were succulent and delicious. For the South African price of R500 for two main meals it wasn't worth it, but as a meal goes, if price weren't relevant, it was delightful. Obviously we paid a premium for our view, and the restaurant wasn't full despite the comparatively well priced meals and the view. I'd definitely recommend to others, or come back when I've hit my first million (which is ten years overdue).

One thing we've learnt is that New Yorkers tend to be a lot more ... Um ... Forward. The people sitting behind us were orally exchanging voice boxes for ages, and the people next to us were a unique mix of plastic surgery barbie in her hundreds (botox supreme!) and her boyfriend lecturing one of their (don't know who's the parent) daughters about how not to give the public impression you're sleeping with someone.

After dinner we were advised against going to Brooklyn late at night so we cut our evening shot (at 10:30pm) and headed home for a much-deserved rest.

Lovely day! Looking forward with anticipation to our last day in NYC. So sad to almost be over :(

On another note, thanks to our many adoring fans and their quiet notes of encouragement. It definitely feels more rewarding and personal when it feels like we're writing for others to read.

Have a good night (actually, you have already, since you're all from the future... So we'll catch up later :))!

TUDOR HOTEL PICTURES... Home for the rest of 2009!