St Patrick's Day

As you can imagine St Patrick's day in NYC would be a pretty big day to party and celebrate! And because it was on a Saturday this year, everyone was getting into it. Regardless of what day it falls on, a march is held going down 5th Avenue from 46th to around 86th st. Over 150,000 people walk in the parade, it's televised and it starts at 11am and does not finish until between 4-5pm. How crazy is that!

American's love doing up their house/apartment to celebrate a holiday event. So I decided to decorate the apartment with Shamrock Balloons and other fun Irish things. There is a great store 15 blocks from our place called Party City and it has everything you could ever imagine (and then some) for celebrating an event. They had some great Irish stuff.

Me, on the way to the St Patrick's Day parade

Bryan - on his way to the parade

  

After doing some research on the event, they said that if you get down passed 66th street you will be able to get up close to the parade. One thing that is different between the NYC parade and the Sydney parade is that there are no floats - it's all people marching, AND it is a competition, a marching competition.

We decided to take the advice about getting passed 66th street and headed for the 70's. We rode the subway and with each stop, more and more people got on wearing green. The atmosphere in the subway car was jolly and fun.

waiting for the train.

We found a great spot between 79th and 80th street, however we were told that due to budget cut back they were only going to 79th street, so we re-positioned ourselves on the corner of 79th street.

The start of the parade.

A School Band

A piper band

Some military personnel

Another High School (Cathedral High School) band - This was an All Girls marching band

Members of the NYC Police walking in the parade.

If you look closely in this picture you will see men in the "morning suits" with top hats and tails a traditional way of dressing in America. If you look back at when JFK was sworn into office you will see that for formal occasions Americans used to wear top had and tails.

The parade was a lot of fun we only stayed for about an hour and then headed down to the Financial District where a whole group of English and Irish Taverns had closed off a lane way and celebrations were going on there. Along the way we saw street vendors selling fun Irish party trinkets to help you get into the party mood.

Street Vendor selling Irish party gear.

Down in the Financial District. At the back of the tavern called "The Dubliner"

Food and Drink was available.

As you can see, the lane way was packed with revelers.

At the back of "Ulysses'" pub.

I am so glad I was able to enjoy St Patrick's Day here in New York. It was a lot of fun.

Seminar - the Broadway play

When I found out that Alan Rickman was going to be staring in a Broadway play I knew I just had to see it. And  he didn't let me down. He was fantastic in his role. The play is called "Seminar" and it is about a famous writer who has since become a famous editor and he offers aspiring writers classes in how to become better writers. But the classes are not your typical "stand in front of the class" seminars. They take place at one of the student's apartments in New York, and every week the group of 5 (4 students and teacher) come together to read each others work and to discuss what is good and/or bad about each piece.

It is a very witty, adult comedy and I loved it from the moment it started.

Another member of the cast was Jeremy O'Connell - you know the fat kid from the movie "Stand By Me". He was really good at playing this over-the-top character.

My First NY Ticker tape parade

American football is divided into two leagues (kind of like when we had the ARL and Super league) and at the end of each football season the two winners from each league face-off at the Superbowl. This year it was the New York Giants vs the New England Patriots. 

The two weeks leading up to the Superbowl were electric in the city, everyone was weighing in who would win. Apparently there is a great rivalry between the Giants and the Patriots, similar to the State of Origin series between NSW and Queensland. So the Friday before the game (held on a Sunday afternoon/evening) I went down to Party City and got a couple of foil balloons in the shape of a football that had New York Giants all over them and I tied them to the TV stand. 

Walking through the city on the way home with these balloons I keep getting people yelling out to me "Go the Giants". It was a lot of fun.

What also happens during the superbowl game is that all the new funny adds are shown by the really big companies, so some people watch the superbowl for the game and others watch it for the adds. We watched it for both. 

Bryan and I decided not to go to one of the many bars that was showing the game, instead we decided to have our own little picnic with yummy goodies at our place. There is nothing better than being able to pause a game when you want to get a drink re-fill or run to the bathroom. 

We had a lot of fun and it was a good game - in the end the New York Giants won - just. But they still won. You could hear people honking their horns and partying on the streets.

The next day it was announced that there would be a ticker tape parade to congratulate the Giants team. It would be held down in the business end of Manhattan, right near the World Trade Centre site, going up Broadway. 

I got there with about 90 minutes to spare before the start of the parade and I could get no where near Broadway. The closest I got was 2 blocks back - that's how many people came. I didn't mind. Everyone was enjoying the morning and it became a bit of a carnival atmosphere.

I saw on one of the news channels that some companies along the route were having paper brought in for the occasion for their staff to throw down onto the parade. 

The crowds of people was crazy.

I love this photo - everyone with their phones in the air seeing and recording the parade.
Welcome to the new way to view a parade!

Members/Staff of the New York Giants and their families. 

Ticker tape falling.

More paper.

The after effects. 

I stayed around for a while after the parade reached City Hall where the team were given the keys to New York city and during that period the street cleaners were already out clearing the paper off the streets. Well Done New York!

One of the cake shops near by decided to ice and decorate a cake whilst the parade was going on. Then they cut it up and gave it out to anyone who wanted a piece.

One of the things I really love about New York City is that you never know what you are going to see or hear when you walk down the next block. I have on many occasions been walking down the street and someone will be walking home from work or wherever it is that they have been and they will be singing out loud. It puts a smile on my face.  Another thing that I love are the number of street dancing crews. Below are some photos of a group of dancers that were performing a few blocks down from where the parade took place.

 

The City of Brotherly Love

To keep things interesting I decided I needed to go on a day trip -  to "Philadelphia". Philly is only a two hour coach ride from Manhattan. I looked at the different possible options to get to Philly (Amtrak train or coach) and decided the coach would be much cheaper. In fact the return trip by coach was a third of the price of the train ($36 coach ride vs $100 train).

In New York City there are lots of different coach companies that do express trips to the various states near NYC, and they are cheap. The coaches are nice and clean, and the seats are roomy, so the two hours on the coach went really fast. In fact, for someone who normally can't sleep whilst travelling, I caught a few z's.

The coach dropped me off at Philly's 30th Train Station (Philly's version of Grand Central Station), and where I wanted to go was to where it all started. I wanted to get to the "Old City". So I needed to take a subway downtown. The subway in Philadelphia still uses tokens so you need to make sure that you have the right money on you to buy the tokens as the machines do not give any change.

Once in the "old city" the first place I stopped in at was the Visitor's Centre to work out "my game plan" for the day. This centre was amazing. They had several theatres that showed historical documentaries about Philadelphia, they had the National Parks information bureau kiosk where you could ask all types of questions about what to see, and where to go. They had a hotel concierge so if you needed to book accommodation there was someone who could recommend where to stay based on budget and what to you wanted to see, and there were several little kiosks where you could buy food and drink.

With my game plan in check I headed out of the Visitor's Centre and directly across the road to my first stop - the presidential home of 1st (George Washington) and 2nd president (John Adams) of the United States.

You may be asking yourself, "I thought the President lived in Washington"? Well, what you may not realise is that "certain political figures" wanted Philadelphia to be the political capital of the US, however other political figures wanted New York to be the capital. (I have a funny feeling that Philly had the "Melbourne" complex to the New York "Sydney" complex way back in the late 1700's....hehehe). So what was eventually agreed upon was that a separate area (Washing DC) would be created however in the interim Philadelphia would be used.

Getting back to the President's residence......it is no longer standing today, however what they have done is created a facade of the house where you can walk through it reading all about the type of people George Washington and John Adams were, and you can even look down a closed in area to view the structural remains of the original house.

The open facade of the type of house that the first and second president of the United States lived in.

The structural remains of the actual house.

Next, I went to see the "Liberty Bell". What is the "Liberty Bell" famous for I hear you ask? The Liberty Bell rang out from the tower of Independence Hall to tell the citizens of Philadelphia to come and hear the first public reading of the Declaration of Independence. The Bell achieved its iconic status when abolitionists adopted the Bell as a symbol for the movement (anti slavery movement). In fact, it was the abolitionists who gave it the name "Liberty Bell" in reference to its inscription. It was previously named the "State House bell".

The Liberty Bell.

"Yours Truly" with the Liberty Bell.  

Next, I went onto Independence Hall where the Declaration of Independence was created and signed. It took Thomas Jefferson approximately 14 days to write. He had help from Benjamin Franklin (the inventor of the  the lightning rod, bi-focals and the first lending library. He was also a modern day Minster for Foreign Affairs), John Adams (the 2nd President of the United States), Roger Sherman (American Lawyer/Politician and the first mayor of New Haven, Connecticut ) and Robert Livingston (American Lawyer/Politician and a diplomat from New York).

Independence Hall

The original inkwell used to signed the Declaration of Independence.

The room where the Declaration of Independence was signed and where the first President (George Washington) resided over government. The brown wooden chair facing the group of desks (directly under the chandelier) is the original chair that George Washington sat in.

Now, prior to the Declaration of Independence and the revolutionary war, the US was governed by the British system, so across from this famous hall is the official law court.

From Independence Hall I walked a couple of blocks down to Betsy Ross' house. Betsy was the lady that made the very first American flag. Betsy was a dressmaker, and when George Washington asked her to make it she had to do it in her bedroom at night because the rebels were still fighting the British, and if a British solider walked by her shop and saw her working on the flag she would have been shot for treason against the British Empire.

The room where she supposedly made the flag

Betsy and her husbands grave.

Betsy along with her third husband (the other two died) are buried in the garden at her house.

When going to her house I recommend that you take the audio tour. It only costs $6.00 and is well worth it. You learn fun trivial things like, the reasons behind why the flag has 5 pointed stars.... the answer - it was easier for Betsy to cut out and make a five pointed star as opposed to a six. 

Also scattered throughout the house are fun facts to read about but you have to look out for them. For instance, why were the ceilings so low in houses back then.......are you thinking, well," because people we not so tall back then (due to lack of nutrition)", nope. In fact, it is said that George Washington stood just over 6 feet tall. The reason is because it cost a lot to heat and warm a room so they made them smaller.

After Betsy's house I then went on to find Benjamin Franklin's grave. Now the cemetery is only open certain times of the day, if, it is a sunny day. If it is a wet day, or it has been raining the day before the cemetery will not be open. 

Unfortunately it was not open the day I was there but, you can still see his grave. He is buried right on the edge of the cemetery.

Benjamin Franklin's grave.

There is a strange tradition that when you pass his grave to throw a penny onto it and it is meant to bring the penny tosser luck. The custom relates to the cliche attributed to Franklin and in his "Poor Richards Alamac" -  "A penny saved: is a penny earned".  

My last and final stop was Hard Rock - I couldn't go to a cool rockin' city like Philadelphia (musicians to come out of Philly are: Patty LaBelle, Taylor Swift, Pink, Will Smith, Chubby Checker, Billie Holiday) without heading to it's Hard Rock. I had my usual burger and then headed back up to 30th Train Station to get the coach back to Manhattan.

Inside Hard Rock

I love this photo - the modern "Amtrack" building and the old 30th Stree Station.
I just love the contrast in Architecture.