...Sunday 13th continued
According to Nausheen a vital part of brunch is a cocktail so Gemma tried a bloody Mary. It wasn’t really to her taste but the food was lovely and we all had a good time. Nausheen is just as much fun as ever and the three of us had barely been in touch since she visited us in England so the afternoon passed quickly. Greenwich is a funny place – the ‘in crowd’ seem very important to the area and general consensus about whether a bar/shop is trendy or not could make or break a small business. Nausheen pointed out a cup cake shop that is very ‘in’ at the moment – there was a queue around the corner… for cupcakes!
We both drank a few beers and when we got back to the room, quite scandalously, we couldn’t seem to move again all night. For the only night that holiday we had room service and went to bed!
Monday 14th April
Despite going to bed late we got up no earlier than normal, managing to leave the hotel by 10.30. That morning we walked along 5th Ave, north, to ‘Museum Mile’. We had decided to have breakfast out, imagining pancakes stacked and drizzled with syrup (or that’s what Gem imagined). But in our eagerness to get a few blocks behind us we found ourselves adjacent with Central Park and with our tummies rumbling. The neighbourhood along Central Park is filled with the elite New Yorkers and fashionista tourists who, apparently, consider café diners and pancakes beneath them. We ended up breakfasting on coffee and tiny pastries at Nespresso – opposite a Giorgio Armani store!
From there it was a short walk to the Güggenheim. Sadly even here the iconic building was under scaffolding! The main exhibition was by a Chinese man neither of us had heard of. We both liked bits of it, especially some sculpture and the modern art bit that featured the general collection. Mostly the exhibition by Cai Guo-Qiang featured the artists fascination with gunpowder and explosions, that was lost on us slightly…
We both drank a few beers and when we got back to the room, quite scandalously, we couldn’t seem to move again all night. For the only night that holiday we had room service and went to bed!
Monday 14th April
Despite going to bed late we got up no earlier than normal, managing to leave the hotel by 10.30. That morning we walked along 5th Ave, north, to ‘Museum Mile’. We had decided to have breakfast out, imagining pancakes stacked and drizzled with syrup (or that’s what Gem imagined). But in our eagerness to get a few blocks behind us we found ourselves adjacent with Central Park and with our tummies rumbling. The neighbourhood along Central Park is filled with the elite New Yorkers and fashionista tourists who, apparently, consider café diners and pancakes beneath them. We ended up breakfasting on coffee and tiny pastries at Nespresso – opposite a Giorgio Armani store!
From there it was a short walk to the Güggenheim. Sadly even here the iconic building was under scaffolding! The main exhibition was by a Chinese man neither of us had heard of. We both liked bits of it, especially some sculpture and the modern art bit that featured the general collection. Mostly the exhibition by Cai Guo-Qiang featured the artists fascination with gunpowder and explosions, that was lost on us slightly…
Afterwards we walked around St Patrick’s cathedral – where the Pope would visit that Friday.
After a very late lunch at 4pm we went back to the room to get ready for the evening we’d both looked forward to probably more than anything: basketball at Madison Square Gardens!
NYC Knicks played the last game of the season against Boston Celtic and despite have seats at the very very back, right at the top, we had a great view. The entertainment aspect is fab, and even though the Knicks lost (91-99) there was no bad atmosphere at all, even walking back home once we were out of the stadium. The Knicks gave out free food and non alcoholic drinks to say thank you to all their fans, (or sorry for having had a poor season depending on how you look at it). There were lots of breaks in play but it was a real laugh. The actor who plays Uncle Junior in the Sopranos got us off to a fun start by singing the national anthem (rather badly actually, but he is in his 70’s so we’ll let him off) and we all had to stand for it, to which we both exchanged glances! Then in each interval there was entertainment. There were the cheerleaders who were amazing; then there was an interview with golfer Trevor Immelman, who had just won the US Masters; and a trampoline act from Quebec, Canada, which was breathtaking; there was also a fantastic audience participation bit when they got 2 guys out of the audience to take part in a dance competition - it had to be seen to be believed! One of the funniest things we saw were the 4 brits on the balcony to our right leading eventually the whole auditorium in a Mexican wave! It was funny because the spectators, apart from that, didn’t really get any atmosphere going at all – not like in football. There was precious little chanting or singing, just DE-FENCE, DE-FENCE, DE-FENCE...! which doesn’t really have the poetry of some of the football chants (although neither was there the industrial language…)
Afterwards we went to the Mean Fiddler bar from 10.30 to about 1am to soak in the atmosphere before returning home to bed.
Tuesday 15th April
Even though we had planned to not visit the art galleries consecutively Gemma somehow convinced us to go to the Met (Metropolitan Museum of Art). In an effort to save our legs and catch up after a late start (we had brunch first) we got a cab up towards the gallery. It is absolutely massive. There is absolutely no way you can see everything. You can’t even see everything in one section without getting lost. We saw modern art and plenty of classics, early photography and post modern photographic art, ancient sculpture, 17th century furniture and modern sculpture like Damien Hurst’s shark in formaldehyde.
After a very late lunch at 4pm we went back to the room to get ready for the evening we’d both looked forward to probably more than anything: basketball at Madison Square Gardens!
NYC Knicks played the last game of the season against Boston Celtic and despite have seats at the very very back, right at the top, we had a great view. The entertainment aspect is fab, and even though the Knicks lost (91-99) there was no bad atmosphere at all, even walking back home once we were out of the stadium. The Knicks gave out free food and non alcoholic drinks to say thank you to all their fans, (or sorry for having had a poor season depending on how you look at it). There were lots of breaks in play but it was a real laugh. The actor who plays Uncle Junior in the Sopranos got us off to a fun start by singing the national anthem (rather badly actually, but he is in his 70’s so we’ll let him off) and we all had to stand for it, to which we both exchanged glances! Then in each interval there was entertainment. There were the cheerleaders who were amazing; then there was an interview with golfer Trevor Immelman, who had just won the US Masters; and a trampoline act from Quebec, Canada, which was breathtaking; there was also a fantastic audience participation bit when they got 2 guys out of the audience to take part in a dance competition - it had to be seen to be believed! One of the funniest things we saw were the 4 brits on the balcony to our right leading eventually the whole auditorium in a Mexican wave! It was funny because the spectators, apart from that, didn’t really get any atmosphere going at all – not like in football. There was precious little chanting or singing, just DE-FENCE, DE-FENCE, DE-FENCE...! which doesn’t really have the poetry of some of the football chants (although neither was there the industrial language…)
Afterwards we went to the Mean Fiddler bar from 10.30 to about 1am to soak in the atmosphere before returning home to bed.
Tuesday 15th April
Even though we had planned to not visit the art galleries consecutively Gemma somehow convinced us to go to the Met (Metropolitan Museum of Art). In an effort to save our legs and catch up after a late start (we had brunch first) we got a cab up towards the gallery. It is absolutely massive. There is absolutely no way you can see everything. You can’t even see everything in one section without getting lost. We saw modern art and plenty of classics, early photography and post modern photographic art, ancient sculpture, 17th century furniture and modern sculpture like Damien Hurst’s shark in formaldehyde.
We saw Manet, Warhol, Liechtenstein, Van Gogh, Cezanne, Gauguin and Gemma a bit fruitlessly dragged us around trying to find El Greco. The modern bit was particularly good. We walked for about 4 hours until we could physically barely hold ourselves up any longer then we went and sat on the steps outside to eat a hotdog in the sunshine before walking back into Central Park. We were sat on the grass, absentmindedly watching the rich kids playing their nannies up when Alex grabbed his glasses and then the camera. Right in front of us was James Gandolfini (Tony Soprano) playing with his kids and their dog.
That evening we weren’t able to walk too far so we went for a Chinese not far from our hotel then walked our 2 favourite pubs nearby: The Mean Fiddler and Irish Rogue until 1am. Fun!
Wednesday 16th April
We walked to our favourite diner for pancakes with syrup and coffee before walking north to Columbus Circle and the Time Warner Centre. Our plan was to indulge in some frivolous tourist stuff after the culture of the last 2 days. We got souvenirs and en route passed by the Ed Sullivan Theatre on broadway and applied for tickets to see the Late Show the next day. We did a bit of window shopping, followed by actual shopping in Time Warner then walked to Rockerfeller Plaza to see the underground mall but it wasn’t really worth bothering. Afterwards we went to H&M and shopped there, then grabbed a take away lunch which we took home to eat. Our plan for the evening was to see live jazz if possible at a place called Birdland, in Hells Kitchen. We hadn’t booked tickets but when we turned up for the first session we got seats and we liked it so much we stayed for a second session and eat there. Alex treated us and it was absolutely brilliant. The music (the night was Bossa Brazil themed around Brazilian music), was provided by a Brazilian Bossa Nova band. The trio band was led by Grammy Award winning master Pianist/Composer/ Producer, Cesar Camargo Mariano and the amazing singer was vocalist/guitarist/composer, Joao Bosco. We liked the band until the singer came on, then we loved them! We ate southern style food and soaked up the atmosphere, then returned home feeling very spoiled and very sad that the next day was our last.
Thursday 17th April
Our last proper day! We walked leisurely along Broadway, looking at souvenirs, gift shopping and we eat at the pizzeria next to the Ed Sullivan theatre. Then we picked up our tickets to see the show. There seemed to be a lot of waiting around, and we were a bit nervous because we didn’t know whether it was a bit of a waste of our precious last day, but it was fab! The build up was expertly done, by the time David Letterman came on stage we were all revved up and ready for a good time. The show was great, the live music provided by the house band was brilliant, guests were ok (Kelly Lee Ripa and environmentalist, John Ordendorff), then the Black Keys played and they were pretty good. All in all we left feeling pretty good and excited.
To see an excerpt: www.youtube.com/watch?v=DYLZcnoyl8w
That evening we weren’t able to walk too far so we went for a Chinese not far from our hotel then walked our 2 favourite pubs nearby: The Mean Fiddler and Irish Rogue until 1am. Fun!
Wednesday 16th April
We walked to our favourite diner for pancakes with syrup and coffee before walking north to Columbus Circle and the Time Warner Centre. Our plan was to indulge in some frivolous tourist stuff after the culture of the last 2 days. We got souvenirs and en route passed by the Ed Sullivan Theatre on broadway and applied for tickets to see the Late Show the next day. We did a bit of window shopping, followed by actual shopping in Time Warner then walked to Rockerfeller Plaza to see the underground mall but it wasn’t really worth bothering. Afterwards we went to H&M and shopped there, then grabbed a take away lunch which we took home to eat. Our plan for the evening was to see live jazz if possible at a place called Birdland, in Hells Kitchen. We hadn’t booked tickets but when we turned up for the first session we got seats and we liked it so much we stayed for a second session and eat there. Alex treated us and it was absolutely brilliant. The music (the night was Bossa Brazil themed around Brazilian music), was provided by a Brazilian Bossa Nova band. The trio band was led by Grammy Award winning master Pianist/Composer/ Producer, Cesar Camargo Mariano and the amazing singer was vocalist/guitarist/composer, Joao Bosco. We liked the band until the singer came on, then we loved them! We ate southern style food and soaked up the atmosphere, then returned home feeling very spoiled and very sad that the next day was our last.
Thursday 17th April
Our last proper day! We walked leisurely along Broadway, looking at souvenirs, gift shopping and we eat at the pizzeria next to the Ed Sullivan theatre. Then we picked up our tickets to see the show. There seemed to be a lot of waiting around, and we were a bit nervous because we didn’t know whether it was a bit of a waste of our precious last day, but it was fab! The build up was expertly done, by the time David Letterman came on stage we were all revved up and ready for a good time. The show was great, the live music provided by the house band was brilliant, guests were ok (Kelly Lee Ripa and environmentalist, John Ordendorff), then the Black Keys played and they were pretty good. All in all we left feeling pretty good and excited.
To see an excerpt: www.youtube.com/watch?v=DYLZcnoyl8w
For the last night we had a bit of a wild one. We started at The Mean Fiddler before getting a cab to Greenwich Village where we met Nausheen for sushi at a bar called Bond St. Nausheen chose because we didn’t know what to pick. Nausheen introduced Gemma to lychee cocktails and we chatted until her friends arrived. The friends were stock brokers on Wall St and were heading over to an exclusive club later that night so we went along for the ride. Nausheen had work the next day but bless her, always the party queen, she stayed out with us until something like 2am. The Box is so exclusive your name has to be on the list, no matter how much money you offer them. It’s a burlesque club, quite risqué, but very artfully done. The stock brokers had their own table and bottles of vodka and champagne there to drink freely and there were some friendly people and some snobs as you’d expect. Being there, the two of us, was weird and amazing! It was purely thanks to Nausheen that we experienced such a different world. Everyone there obviously saw a very different world to us normally. (Gemma: I felt more at ease with the toilet attendant who was very friendly that I did with most of the stock brokers! There was one from London, he was polite to a point but I don’t think he was interesting in sharing thoughts or experiences just in measuring us up.) We danced and giggled, Gemma and Nausheen danced, and suddenly it was 4am and we dragged ourselves away from quite possibly one of our most fun nights ever.
Friday 18th April
The journey home started badly when we awoke feeling exceptionally stiff, tired, queasy and generally delicate! However by a small miracle we managed to pack all of our goodies into the little rucksacks we’d arrived with, sip a small bit of coffee and drag ourselves up to Central Park for a dose in the sun. The children were all out playing baseball, the mums pushed their prams, the sun shone… After a few hours we eat one last hotdog and wandered back to pick up our bags. In one last indulgence we had ordered a car and travelled in limousine style to the airport feeling a good 70% more human than we had when we awoke!
