Well, our time here in New York has come to an end. It has been a blast to get to know Manhattan. It will always be a very special place to me and no matter where I go, I am now and forever will be a Yankees fan (baseball) and a Rangers fan (ice hockey).
So, where to next????? Well, Bryan and I are heading to San Francisco, in particular Silicon Valley. But before we do that we are going back to Sydney to visit family and friends.
I will be keeping a blog of all the things I get up to in Silicon Valley, so if you are interested, check out An Aussie in Silicon Valley.
Thursday, June 14, 2012
Birdland
On one of the last nights we were in New York, Bryan and I headed out to see a movie then onto "Birdland" one of NYC's famous Jazz Supper Clubs.
Famous artists that have performed at "Birdland" are: Charlie Parker, Count Basie, John Coltrane, Dizzy Gillespie, and Miles Davis just to name a few. And with acts like that over the years the club attracted famous celebrities on a nightly basis including Sammy Davis Junior, Gary Cooper, Frank Sinatra, Marilyn Monroe, Marlene Dietrich and Ava Gardner for example.
We saw the "Heath Brothers" and they were amazing. They have played with some of the jazz players listed above.
The setting was fairly intimate and food was pretty good, so if you're into Jazz "Birdland" is definitely a "must see" when visiting New York. I would recommend that you book your ticket in advance to make sure you get a good seat up the front of the club.
Famous artists that have performed at "Birdland" are: Charlie Parker, Count Basie, John Coltrane, Dizzy Gillespie, and Miles Davis just to name a few. And with acts like that over the years the club attracted famous celebrities on a nightly basis including Sammy Davis Junior, Gary Cooper, Frank Sinatra, Marilyn Monroe, Marlene Dietrich and Ava Gardner for example.
We saw the "Heath Brothers" and they were amazing. They have played with some of the jazz players listed above.
The setting was fairly intimate and food was pretty good, so if you're into Jazz "Birdland" is definitely a "must see" when visiting New York. I would recommend that you book your ticket in advance to make sure you get a good seat up the front of the club.
911 Memorial
I had been putting off going to the 911 memorial for several reasons- only recently being open; and not wanting to do it during the week on my own (whilst Bryan was at work); but I knew it was something that I had to do before leaving New York.
As mum was in town, we had done a lot of the tourist attractions that I wrote about earlier in my other posts, the only one left was the 911 Memorial.
To get in to see the memorial you will need a ticket which you get online for free. When booking the ticket you request a time at which you will be entering the memorial, you will not be given access prior to that time. Before arriving at the site make sure you have been to the bathroom because there are no restrooms available and all the bars, fast food restaurants restrict access to their bathrooms if you do not have a receipt from something you have purchased within their store.
The line to enter into the site can be very long, but it does more relatively fast. You will need to go through a full security check just like you do at the airport. Bags, shoes etc go through a scanning machine. Whilst waiting in line to get through the security check the mood around us was very somber and not a lot of chatter was going on.
Nothing can prepare you for the two big waterfalls that flow where the two buildings stood. The names of all the people that died on that day, whether it was here in the twin towers, on the flight that went down in Pennsylvania or at the Pentagon are listed around the two waterfalls. The names were not in alphabetical order, like most memorials, each name was carefully placed next to a colleague or friends name that had also died on that day, so that they were not alone.
I was so moved by the site, at the respect they had shown to such an horrific event. It was not until visiting the site and standing next to these two massive holes in the ground where two skyscrapers once stood could I truly begin to imagine how terrible it must have been that day for the victims and how hard it still must be for those families left behind.
The memorial is not just about the two waterfalls. They have planted lots of trees and the trees that where chosen were ones that were native to the three areas that were hit that day. However there is one special tree. The "Survivor Tree". It was recovered from the rubble at the World Trade Centre site in October 2001, long after recovery workers expected to find anything alive at the site. At the time of its recovery it was 8-feet tall, badly burned, and it had only one living branch. Prior to the attacks, the tree had lived at the World Trade Center site for several decades. In November 2001 it was taken to a nursery and taken care of. Then, in the spring of 2002, the tree had new growth and its caretaker at the Bronx nursery "knew the 'Survivor Tree' would make it.
As mum was in town, we had done a lot of the tourist attractions that I wrote about earlier in my other posts, the only one left was the 911 Memorial.
To get in to see the memorial you will need a ticket which you get online for free. When booking the ticket you request a time at which you will be entering the memorial, you will not be given access prior to that time. Before arriving at the site make sure you have been to the bathroom because there are no restrooms available and all the bars, fast food restaurants restrict access to their bathrooms if you do not have a receipt from something you have purchased within their store.
The line to enter into the site can be very long, but it does more relatively fast. You will need to go through a full security check just like you do at the airport. Bags, shoes etc go through a scanning machine. Whilst waiting in line to get through the security check the mood around us was very somber and not a lot of chatter was going on.
Nothing can prepare you for the two big waterfalls that flow where the two buildings stood. The names of all the people that died on that day, whether it was here in the twin towers, on the flight that went down in Pennsylvania or at the Pentagon are listed around the two waterfalls. The names were not in alphabetical order, like most memorials, each name was carefully placed next to a colleague or friends name that had also died on that day, so that they were not alone.
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| One of the waterfalls |
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| Even unborn babies were not forgotten. |
The memorial is not just about the two waterfalls. They have planted lots of trees and the trees that where chosen were ones that were native to the three areas that were hit that day. However there is one special tree. The "Survivor Tree". It was recovered from the rubble at the World Trade Centre site in October 2001, long after recovery workers expected to find anything alive at the site. At the time of its recovery it was 8-feet tall, badly burned, and it had only one living branch. Prior to the attacks, the tree had lived at the World Trade Center site for several decades. In November 2001 it was taken to a nursery and taken care of. Then, in the spring of 2002, the tree had new growth and its caretaker at the Bronx nursery "knew the 'Survivor Tree' would make it.
Whip It
One day as I was walking from the "Highline" (a park set about the streets on an old abandon rail line) I noticed a tiny sticker on a street light that said "Gotham Girls Roller Derby". It put a smile on my face so I picked up my walking pace so that I could get home, and get online to find out where we could see a real Roller Derby.
I kept it in the back of my mind as something we could do when the weather was "crap", but unfortunately for us, the weather so far in NYC had not been that bad, so it was now my birthday (April 30) and we had still yet to do it. Bryan had asked me in the weeks leading up to my birthday what I had wanted to do I decided "Roller Derby".
So Mum, Bryan and myself headed off to Brooklyn for a night of fun and action supporting our local girls "Manhattan Mayham". Tickets were cheap $19 per adult.
Now if you have seen the movie that Drew Barrymore directed "Whip It", it looks like one big "girly bash'em up fest on roller skates" but there are rules and skill required for the sport.
Summary
The objectives of roller derby are relatively simple. Each team fields a single point scoring skater ("Jammer") whose object is to lap as many opposing skaters as they can.
I kept it in the back of my mind as something we could do when the weather was "crap", but unfortunately for us, the weather so far in NYC had not been that bad, so it was now my birthday (April 30) and we had still yet to do it. Bryan had asked me in the weeks leading up to my birthday what I had wanted to do I decided "Roller Derby".
So Mum, Bryan and myself headed off to Brooklyn for a night of fun and action supporting our local girls "Manhattan Mayham". Tickets were cheap $19 per adult.
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| There are our girls (and the two male coaches) - "Manhattan Mayhem" |
Now if you have seen the movie that Drew Barrymore directed "Whip It", it looks like one big "girly bash'em up fest on roller skates" but there are rules and skill required for the sport.
Summary
The objectives of roller derby are relatively simple. Each team fields a single point scoring skater ("Jammer") whose object is to lap as many opposing skaters as they can.
The remaining skaters who aren't scoring points work both on offense and defense at the same time -- to block the opposing Jammer and to clear a path for their own Jammer.
Rules and Scoring
- Each team fields five players at a time.
- Out of those five players, four are BLOCKERS and one is the JAMMER (point scorer).
- The four blockers from each team line up together and form a PACK, while the two jammers line up 30 feet behind.
- The skater wearing the star on her helmet is the jammer. The skater wearing the stripe on her helmet is called the PIVOT. The pivot is the pack leader and defensive play caller, similar to football's middle linebacker position.
- On the first whistle (1 short blast), the pack begins moving. On the second whistle (2 short blasts), the jammers take off.
- On the first lap, the jammers earn no points, but the first jammer to legally pass each blocker on the opposing team and clear the pack is called LEAD JAMMER. You can tell if a skater is the Lead Jammer by looking at her designated jammer ref. He will point to the jammer and hold up an “L”. The Lead Jammer reserves the right to strategically end the jam before the two minutes are completed by repeatedly gesturing with her hands on her hips. If both jammers commit fouls on their first lap, there is no Lead Jammer in that jam and it will run for the full 2 minutes.
- Jammers lose Lead Jammer status if they are sent to the penalty box during the jam.
- After a jammer completes her initial lap, she scores 1 point for each opposing skater she passes.
- Jammers automatically score points against opposing skaters serving in the penalty box.
- Jammer referees hold up fingers at the conclusion of each lap for points just earned.
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| Manhattan Mayhem coming on to the rink. |
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| Our opposing team "The Bronx Gridlock" coming onto the rink. |
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| A "jam" - A two minute play |
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| Some of the girls from the "Bronx Gridlock" team take a tumble. |
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| Our girls celebrating their win at the end of the night. |
When we were reading through the Derby program before the derby began we were amazed at the different types of women that were competing in the sport - lawyers through to artists, but what was great were their derby names for example, "Puss n Glutes", "Sexy Sladie", "Fisti Cuffs".
By the end of the night, my throat had gone hoarse from shouting out encouragement to the team. All three of us laughed and really enjoyed the tournament.
After we left the derby we had all worked up an appetite so we walked up "Juniors". A famous Brooklyn diner, known for their cheese cake. And let me just say the cheesecake was really yummy. It was a great way to end a day of celebrating my birthday.
Our Getaway to the Bahamas
We needed a relaxing holiday, so we decided to go on a cruise. I did not realise how stressful "just living" in New York can be. Your brain is never able to turn "off". There is always something that is distracting, whether it is sirens at 3am in the morning or the mayhem of people when you simply want to walk down the street to buy a few groceries.
We so enjoyed our last cruise on Royal Caribbean that we decided to go with them again. We picked Oasis of the Seas, the largest cruise liner in the world. When we read about the cruise liner it sounded great but I quietly thought to myself "yeah, yeah.....all this marketing hype, how good can it really be??" Little did I know. I will get back to the ship later. The cruise route we selected sailed out of Fort Laudadale in Florida, went to St Thomas (one of the main islands that make up the US Virgin Islands) then onto St Maarten (West Indies) then finally to Nassau (the Bahamas) and on the seventh day back to Fort Lauderdale.
The flight down to Fort Lauderdale took three hours from LaGuardia airport. Because you could board the boat from midday, we decided to head down the Fort Luderdale the day before so we could get on the boat as early as possible. We booked a hotel room down near the shipping terminal which is located in the marina section of For Lauderdale because it turned out that it was really pretty.
After we had checked in, we immediately wanted to explore Fort Luderdale. The Hotel Concierge suggested that we take a water taxi into town. And I am so glad we did. It was such a great way to see the area. The houses were huge!!!
One of the stops along the water taxi route was at a pirate themed bar/restaurant so we decided to stop there and have an early dinner. It was a lot of fun.
By the time we left the pirate restaurant it was dark, but that did not stop us. We got back on the water taxi and headed to "downtown" Fort Lauderdale. It was so nice and pretty. The main drag was decked out in fairy lights. Live music and the wonderful aroma of food came wafting out the restaurants as we walked by. There were art galleries, ice-cream parlors all alive with people enjoying the lovely warm evening.
After we had a yummy dessert and walked the rest of the strip we decided to head back to our hotel. It was getting late and we didn't want to be tired for the start of our cruise.
The day of the cruise had finally arrived. Yes....you guessed it, all morning while I was getting ready I was humming the "Love Boat" theme. Kind of embarrassing, I know but I didn't realise how excited I was until then.
So riding down on the elevators to check out of our hotel room I was in this happy zen state thinking about the peacefulness of sitting out on our cabin's balcony watching the ocean as we sailed through the water, when, the elevators doors opened and what greeted us was the crazy mayhem of adults hyped up on coffee, energized children screaming and running around with excitement and suit cases strewn all across the lobby floor creating an obstacle course that only experienced suitcase drivers could handle! Clearly we were not the only people in the hotel that were going on a cruise today.
Finally after some successful suitcase manuvers we made to the check out desk, paid our bill and got a cab to take us to the shipping terminal. There were three cruise liners leaving Fort Lauderdale today, all I could think of was, if this is how crazy it is in one hotel lobby what is the check-in going to be like. Fortunately, each cruise vessel has their own check in terminal, but don't forget we had picked the biggest ship. So as you can imagine I was revving myself up for more crazy noise and mayhem as six thousand guests trampled each other to get on board and "hoover" down as much food as they could, from the buffet restaurant.
But to my surprise it was all very easy and effortless. Royal Carriebean how the check-in process down to a fine art. Except for one minor issue with me leaving my green card (little plastic identity card like our drivers licence) back in New York - whoops sorry Bryan for causing you stress about whether I would get back into the US at the end of the trip - we were on board the ship and "ooooo'ing" and "aaaahhh'ing" at what we were seeing.
Some basics about the ship. It holds up to 6000 guests and over 2000 staff. There are six pools, 20 restaurants, 14 guest floors, an ice rink, a park (yes a real one), a full size carousel and an outdoor high level diving platform that is used for shows a 0.6km undisturbed running track (it's on its own floor) and a prominard with lots of shops including a Coach handbag store.
On the first night the cast did "Hairspray" - it was fantastic. They had specific cast members for each of the different performance events for example, there were dancers, singers, ice-skaters, divers, acrobats. We went to a different show every night and each one was really good. We went to a comedy show and the two comedians were really funny. Another night we saw a cabaret singer and he got us up from our seats dancing. We also saw an ice-skating show that was all about the different stories of Hans Christian Andersen and one afternoon we saw a high diving aquatic acrobatic show which was a lot of fun. All in all the ship kept us constantly entertained.
The First Stop - St Thomas (US Virgin Island)
With many of the stops that you make on the cruise the goal of the locals is to get you to buy, buy, buy gemstones, watches, jewelry, clothes and other tourist crap. And yes, my goal was to make sure I got my snow globes from each of the stops.
Anyway, St Thomas was very pretty. One thing that was interesting was that even though it belonged to the US the cars drove on the left hand side of the road. And it didn't matter whether your car was a left hand drive or a right hand drive both were allowed on the road.
Second Stop - St Maarten/St Martin
The next day we stopped at St Maarten. This tiny little island is divided into two countries, St Maarten (Dutch occupied) and St Martin (French occupied). The boat pulled into St Maarten and we boarded a tiny little speed boat to take us to the main shopping area.
We didn't do a tour of the island, we decided to just spend the day checking out the different stores. We both regretted our choice.
We so enjoyed our last cruise on Royal Caribbean that we decided to go with them again. We picked Oasis of the Seas, the largest cruise liner in the world. When we read about the cruise liner it sounded great but I quietly thought to myself "yeah, yeah.....all this marketing hype, how good can it really be??" Little did I know. I will get back to the ship later. The cruise route we selected sailed out of Fort Laudadale in Florida, went to St Thomas (one of the main islands that make up the US Virgin Islands) then onto St Maarten (West Indies) then finally to Nassau (the Bahamas) and on the seventh day back to Fort Lauderdale.
The flight down to Fort Lauderdale took three hours from LaGuardia airport. Because you could board the boat from midday, we decided to head down the Fort Luderdale the day before so we could get on the boat as early as possible. We booked a hotel room down near the shipping terminal which is located in the marina section of For Lauderdale because it turned out that it was really pretty.
After we had checked in, we immediately wanted to explore Fort Luderdale. The Hotel Concierge suggested that we take a water taxi into town. And I am so glad we did. It was such a great way to see the area. The houses were huge!!!
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| The water taxi we took to get in to town. |
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| Both the above and below images are some of the houses that were dotted along the marina shoreline. |
One of the stops along the water taxi route was at a pirate themed bar/restaurant so we decided to stop there and have an early dinner. It was a lot of fun.
By the time we left the pirate restaurant it was dark, but that did not stop us. We got back on the water taxi and headed to "downtown" Fort Lauderdale. It was so nice and pretty. The main drag was decked out in fairy lights. Live music and the wonderful aroma of food came wafting out the restaurants as we walked by. There were art galleries, ice-cream parlors all alive with people enjoying the lovely warm evening.
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| Downtown Fort Lauderdale. |
The day of the cruise had finally arrived. Yes....you guessed it, all morning while I was getting ready I was humming the "Love Boat" theme. Kind of embarrassing, I know but I didn't realise how excited I was until then.
So riding down on the elevators to check out of our hotel room I was in this happy zen state thinking about the peacefulness of sitting out on our cabin's balcony watching the ocean as we sailed through the water, when, the elevators doors opened and what greeted us was the crazy mayhem of adults hyped up on coffee, energized children screaming and running around with excitement and suit cases strewn all across the lobby floor creating an obstacle course that only experienced suitcase drivers could handle! Clearly we were not the only people in the hotel that were going on a cruise today.
Finally after some successful suitcase manuvers we made to the check out desk, paid our bill and got a cab to take us to the shipping terminal. There were three cruise liners leaving Fort Lauderdale today, all I could think of was, if this is how crazy it is in one hotel lobby what is the check-in going to be like. Fortunately, each cruise vessel has their own check in terminal, but don't forget we had picked the biggest ship. So as you can imagine I was revving myself up for more crazy noise and mayhem as six thousand guests trampled each other to get on board and "hoover" down as much food as they could, from the buffet restaurant.
But to my surprise it was all very easy and effortless. Royal Carriebean how the check-in process down to a fine art. Except for one minor issue with me leaving my green card (little plastic identity card like our drivers licence) back in New York - whoops sorry Bryan for causing you stress about whether I would get back into the US at the end of the trip - we were on board the ship and "ooooo'ing" and "aaaahhh'ing" at what we were seeing.
Some basics about the ship. It holds up to 6000 guests and over 2000 staff. There are six pools, 20 restaurants, 14 guest floors, an ice rink, a park (yes a real one), a full size carousel and an outdoor high level diving platform that is used for shows a 0.6km undisturbed running track (it's on its own floor) and a prominard with lots of shops including a Coach handbag store.
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| The pool in the adult area (children under 16 could not be in this area) of the boat. |
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| Little running lakes are snaked throughout the Adult area of the boat. |
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| Looking down onto the park. Notice the balconies. These were known as "Interior Balcony Rooms". They did not have views of the ocean, instead they had views of the park instead. |
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| Looking down to the Aqua Theatre. |
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| The 9 hole miniature golf course |
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| The casino. It was big. |
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| The Comedy Room. |
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| The Jazz Club. |
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| The main Promenard |
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| The English Pub. |
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| Looking down on the main promenard. |
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| The carousel. |
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| The Boardwalk where there was the Carousel, 50's Diner, Surf Shack Restaurant and the Aqua Theatre as well other shops. |
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| The Aqua Theatre. |
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| Johnny Rocket's 50's Diner |
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| This boat has a Crows Nest where the captain of the ship can stand in. It has a glass floor. The captain can then easily steer the boat next to the dock with ease. |
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| The Park on the boat was called "Central Park". |
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| Central Park |
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| Another view of Central Park. In Central Park there were restaurants, shops, an Art Gallery, bars. |
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| Entrance to Central Park |
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| Another view of Central Park. |
On the first night the cast did "Hairspray" - it was fantastic. They had specific cast members for each of the different performance events for example, there were dancers, singers, ice-skaters, divers, acrobats. We went to a different show every night and each one was really good. We went to a comedy show and the two comedians were really funny. Another night we saw a cabaret singer and he got us up from our seats dancing. We also saw an ice-skating show that was all about the different stories of Hans Christian Andersen and one afternoon we saw a high diving aquatic acrobatic show which was a lot of fun. All in all the ship kept us constantly entertained.
The First Stop - St Thomas (US Virgin Island)
With many of the stops that you make on the cruise the goal of the locals is to get you to buy, buy, buy gemstones, watches, jewelry, clothes and other tourist crap. And yes, my goal was to make sure I got my snow globes from each of the stops.
Anyway, St Thomas was very pretty. One thing that was interesting was that even though it belonged to the US the cars drove on the left hand side of the road. And it didn't matter whether your car was a left hand drive or a right hand drive both were allowed on the road.
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| Main Square. Notice how all the windows and doors have shutters to protect them during the hurricane season. |
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| All the buildings were painted lovely bright colours. |
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| We did a tour of the island and this is a picture of Bryan from one of the lookout spots. |
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| The Disney cruise and another cruise line were also in port the day we were there. |
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| This photo was taken at one of the beaches on the island. |
The next day we stopped at St Maarten. This tiny little island is divided into two countries, St Maarten (Dutch occupied) and St Martin (French occupied). The boat pulled into St Maarten and we boarded a tiny little speed boat to take us to the main shopping area.
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| Check out the size of our boat (left) next to a normal size cruising ship (right) |
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| We were on the speed boat heading towards the main part of town when I took this photo. |
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| One of the many pretty buildings on the island. |
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| The main shopping strip. |
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| Yes, there was a Hard Rock there and yes, we had lunch there! |
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| A Woman selling bags and hats on the boardwalk. |
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| The beach, people swimming and sun bathing and the boats in the distance. |
Final Stop - Nassau (The Bahamas)
Located on Nassau is a new holiday complex called "Atlantis Resort". The resort has a lot to offer. Not only is it a hotel (with amazing water slides) and casino, it also features 11 exhibit lagoons featuring more than 50,000 sea animals. This is the largest marine habitat in the world, outside of Nature itself. From piranhas to sea turtles and predators, you can spend a full day enjoying the marine displays. As visitors to the complex we would have to buy a ticket to check this attraction out, but even if we wanted to, we were on a tour so we could not stop. From what I have read there are lots of things to do in the resort besides swimming and sitting next to the pool. It is a popular get-away destination for families.
Overall, the cruise was extremely relaxing and very much worth the money. By the time the end of cruise came I was dreading going back to New York. I didn't realise how stressed I was when I was in New York until I realised I didn't want to go back to the noise and the constant "hussle and bussle" that is Manhattan. But we did, and within two days I was back to loving New York City again.
The Bahamas is still part of the British Commonwealth and they are very proud of that fact. Because we chose poorly at St Marten (not doing a tour) we decided that we would definitely do a local tour of Nassau and we stopped at several of their major sites.
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| Me at the port entrance to Nassau. It was a wooden sculpture that you could stand behind, pop your head through for a tourist photo. |
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| Fort Fincastle - it was built in 1793 by the British to protect the island. |
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| Inside Fort Fincastle. |
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| From the top of Fort Fincastle you had a great view of all the different cruise boats that were docked in the harbour. |
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| The Queens Staircase - carved out the rock by the locals. Each step represents one year of Queen Victoria's life . Built in 1793 it is considered one of the best outdoor staircases in the world. |
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| The bottom of the Queens staircase. An escape route was carved out of the rock so that if the British were invaded they could use this route to run straight down to their ships. |
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| Driving to the "Atlantis Resort" |
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| The Entrance to the resort |
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| Entrance to the resort |
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| Looking back onto Paradise Island (another island that makes up the Bahamas) |
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| Inside the casino - a beautiful glass chandelier |
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| One of the many lagoons which make up the "Atlantis" resort. |
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| Another view of the same lagoon. |
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| One of the many walks and private beaches of Atlantis. |
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| Inside the casino again - another beautiful glass chandelier. |
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| Who are those two happy and relaxed people?? |
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| Outside the main entrance to the "Atlantis Resort". |
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