Here is the regular Keen family holiday blog. If this is new to you, welcome. If not, stand by for the usual fare.
Excitement is at fever pitch. Christmas has come early in 2011 for the Keens. Presents are exchanged on Christmas Eve morning after a hearty but less obscene breakfast than normal. The only pity is that the dogs are not with us having been dispatched to their minders for the festive season. Archie would have loved rolling around in the wrapping paper but he is about 20 yards away next door with his Mum and Nan. Wendy will take no nonsense. Cosmo is with Ann who is one of his greatest admirers and he will be very happy. Probably not quite as happy as us though as we set off to New York for Christmas week - our first time away from home for Christmas.
The normal timetable of frenetic Xmas preparations has been severely disrupted this year. The traditional Xmas colds and coughs also came early this year but are still lingering. Holly is coughing like a good'un and running a temperature of over 100F and I am very happy that I won't be sitting next to her on the flight. More good news on arrival at Terminal 5. Mr and Mrs K have been moved forward in the cabin - a bit closer to the 'haves' and away from the 'have nots'.
Before boarding we head for Gordon Ramsay's where we are shown to our normal table - well, the same table as last time.
It is an uneventful flight (apart from Sian begging to swap seats with me) and we arrive at Newark on time and fly through immigration. Ray is the most cheerful immigration official we have ever had I think – he almost smiles at one point. At the taxi stand (my attempt to get everyone on the train failed), we have to split into two yellow cabs to get to Manhattan. The girls go first. The boys jump in the second cab and I get the opportunity to say 'follow that taxi' but the girls have sped off without us.
The hotel is close to the Chrysler building and just down the street from Grand Central. We are on the 26th and 37th floors but still surrounded by much taller buildings. It is almost 10pm Christmas Eve and we step out for a walk before bed. We visit Grand Central but even there things are starting to close down - we are turned away from the bar which would give us a great view of the constellations on the ceiling. But we find a drug store across the street and grab coffee and water. My description of who was there running the shop is deemed racist by my kids and therefore that part of the story has been cut - sorry.
Christmas Day
It's Christmas! But it doesn't really feel like it. The streets of Manhattan are strangely quiet as we take the short walk to the Waldorf Astoria where we have booked breakfast. Holly has deteriorated overnight and we realise that a doctor will be required. I am also sneezing and streaming and feeling a bit sorry for myself. Are you feeling sorry for us? No need, the breakfast was amazing. Anthony holds out for 23 seconds after being seated before dashing off to check out the buffet. Our waiter keeps the OJ flowing which is probably just what the doctor will order.
We walk two blocks and visit the Rockefeller ice rink. Then we squeeze into St Patrick’s Cathedral on 5th Avenue for Christmas Mass. Now we find out where all the people went to. It is an awesome (we are in America so I can use that word) experience and Mrs K is complimented on her singing by a guy in the pew in front of us. Holly says it is the only mass she has been to where there are security staff. They do look a bit like CIA and they shadow the priests as they walk to each corner of the church to administer communion.
Back at the hotel we survey our options for medical assistance. The receptionist suggests we visit NYU hospital. But Mrs K prefers more personal service. We call the doctor and he visits Holly in her room - $400 for 15 minutes (kerching!). Who says you can’t get drugs on the street corner in Manhattan?
Let’s hope they do the trick. I will have to make do with Lemsip. We are out to dinner tonight.
A few photos…………………….
St Patrick’s Cathedral
Ice skaters at Rockefeller
Some non-skaters at Rockefeller
Yet another silly hat from Anthony
View from our hotel room looking south down Manhattan
island
(Brooklyn Bridge just visible on the left)
Part 2
As we shuffle round Ellis Island and hear how potential immigrants were
subjected to a medical test before being allowed into the United States, it
seems clear that the Keen family would not have made it in. We are falling like flies. Sian is the next victim which is hardly a
surprise given that she is sharing a room with Holly. She is slightly asthmatic and starts to get
very short of breath. Mrs K whisks her
off to a walk-in clinic near Wall Street where she is put on a nebuliser and is
prescribed with a small mountain of drugs (kerching). Meanwhile the rest of us sit around in
Battery Park wondering if they will get back in time for our midday boat to
Liberty Island. It is very cold but at
least the sun is out.
Earlier we had visited
Ground Zero. I was surprised that it is
still pretty much a building site save for the two pools which are on the old
floorplates of the twin towers. The
museum is not yet open and there is not much to look at but it is a sombre
place all the same.
Thankfully Mrs K and Sian
return and we make our way to the ferry.
We have pre-booked which will save us joining the two hour line (sorry
queue). But now it seems that Mrs K is
starting to exhibit the same cold symptoms – runny nose, streaming eyes etc
etc. I am to blame obviously. Holly and Sian discuss who is the favourite
daughter according to amounts spent on their respective treatments. Mr K is still making do with lemsip and prays
the travel insurance is good.
We grab a drink and a bite
to eat on the short ferry ride to see the Statue of Liberty – according to the
audio guide the most recognised symbol in the world. Sian keeps up her record of disgracing
herself at national monuments. In April
at the Chichen Itza in Mexico she fainted.
At Liberty Island she chucks up the hot dog she just ate on the
boat. It is obvious she should chew her
food a bit more thoroughly. There is
quite a mess but fortunately the seagulls are very grateful for the snack and
we move away from the scene of the crime.
Sadly on this occasion Anthony does not get any photos.
So getting back to that
most recognised symbol – more than the crucifix? And what about the American flag? Who writes this stuff?
Sian is now feeling a bit
better and we go on to the next stop – Ellis Island. By now the invalids amongst us (everyone
except the boys) are wilting. There is a
heated discussion to decide who is feeling the most ropey. But we have come all this way so we persevere
with the tour. After an hour or so we
have had enough but Jason is not finished so we find some seats near the exit
and take the weight off. Some time
later, Jason has still not turned up.
Holly and Anthony go off in search but can’t find him. More time elapses and our phone calls go
unanswered. Mrs K starts to get worried
and goes over to see a small group of New York’s finest. “Hello, my son is missing …….but he is grown
up”. “What is he wearing?”. “A black coat and he has spiky hair”. “Ma’am, is he disabled?”. “Well …er…”.
Then Jason appears, grumbling that he has had to cut short his tour.
We tackle the subway to
get back to the hotel. Mrs K has trouble
with a turnstile and as a result has to buy another ticket. But she is not well and after all, not used
to public transport.
I hope you all had a good
Christmas. We enjoyed a spectacular
evening meal at a place called the Water Club which is an old boathouse on the
East River. It is a really fun place and
everyone enjoyed it. The credit card
takes a massive caning – Amex are on the phone the next day.
Some more photos….
My cocktail at ‘The Water Club’
At Ground Zero
The most recognised symbol in the world
View of Freedom Tower on the way back to New York
Part
3
Mick (Alec Baldwin): “So how’s life
in the big city?”
Tess (Melanie Griffith): “It’s busy and fast”
Working Girl (1988)
It is now 8am Wednesday morning – we have an early
start today.
On Monday evening (that was Boxing Day) after
getting back from a tiring day at Liberty and Ellis Islands, we all take a nap
(except for the blog writer of course). We have agreed to try out
Chinatown that evening. At the appointed time Mrs K say she doesn’t feel
up to it, but after some gentle persuasion we set off. The Keen family
always has to travel in two taxis and we agree a drop off point. We have
no idea where we are going to eat. Tiredness and illness mean that
forward planning has gone awry but I am hoping there will be a multitude of
choice. Our main criteria is to find a restaurant which at least looks
busy. We set off along a street with bright neon signs which looks
promising and soon find a place which is pretty full. There is no free table
but while we are waiting and Holly is using the facilities we discover that it
is Vietnamese and not Chinese. On Holly’s return we decide to move
on. No one is feeling adventurous and in any case Holly had been ‘unwell’
in the single toilet at the back of the restaurant. We walk a way further
and, after eliminating a second restaurant which doesn’t accept credit cards,
we eventually come across another place. We read on the door that the New
York Hygiene standard is ‘pending’ but we go in anyway. It is very busy
and there doesn’t seem to be a free table for 6 people. Fortunately the
waiter thinks nothing of asking a couple to move so we can squeeze into the
corner. Our table is right up against the fire exit – the fire safety
standard is probably pending too. It is a quiet meal as Holly is still
feeling ropey and everyone else is exhausted.
Tuesday
morning we have a late start to give everyone a chance to recover. Jason
makes a rule that after breakfast there should be no further discussion of ailments
– just suck it up and get on with it or stay in the hotel room. It’s
alright for him! But it seems to do the trick as everyone starts to
improve a bit, though Holly is still coughing badly – it’s the sort of cough
that turns heads in restaurants.
I
have a rule that we shouldn’t go to a restaurant or coffee shop which we could
go to in the UK. But I make an exception for Pret a Manger which is right
opposite the hotel and the oatmeal is delicious.
This
is our day of culture at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Again we have
pre-booked but on asking the man on the door we are told that we will need to
join one of the two lines, both of which stretch back at least 100
metres. Outraged, Mrs K tries to merge into the queue but the kids are
embarrassed and drag her to the end of the line. The museum is absolutely
vast with hundreds of rooms and thousands of exhibits so we arrange to meet in
2 hours and go our separate ways. Sadly the costume rooms which Holly has
been looking forward to seeing is closed and the American section which
features the American Woman in Paris (which we have a copy of in our hallway)
is also closed.
Our
next stop is Tiffany’s on 5th Avenue. Our taxi driver has
never heard of the shop (London cabbies we love you) but I remember where it is
and due to slow traffic we jump out and walk the last few blocks. The
girls are waiting for us. Inside the store we take the express elevator
to the 3 rd floor because Holly is after a silver charm and
necklace. None of the items of jewellery on display have prices, which is
of obvious concern to me, but Holly has researched it thoroughly and knows what
she wants and how much it will cost. She tries to create the impression
for the sales assistant that she doesn’t need to know the price but that
illusion is spoilt by every other member of her family looking over her
shoulder and saying things like “How much is that?” and “How can she afford
that?”. The assistant asks “And how will you be paying for this today?”
. The answer is “Mum?”. Happy Christmas Holly.
On
our way down in the elevator, Mrs K asks the attendant Denzel where he would
recommend we go for a coffee. He says that if we want to do it style we
should visit Junior’s on 45 th Street. He doesn’t recommend
Trump Towers next door and having had a quick look we all decide that he was
right not to – tacky. We are now walking down 5 th Avenue and
soaking up some real atmosphere. Unfortunately we are also soaking up a
lot of New York’s rain. It is coming down really hard – just what we
need. Getting to 45 th street is going to be too far in these
conditions and all the kids have a different opinion about what we should do –
it gets a bit tetchy. Even an umbrella salesman on the street gets
annoyed when a woman gets choosy about colour umbrella she wants. “Come
on lady, I haven’t got time for this!”. Despite the rain, the streets are
absolutely packed with shoppers, walking six abreast down the sidewalks.
We eventually find somewhere to have a coffee and a snack but then struggle to
get a taxi and end up trudging all the way back to the hotel on foot – all a
bit damp by the time we get there.
We
are off to 42nd St West to see a show and meet an hour before it
starts in the hotel lobby. The theatre is no more than 2 miles away but
the rain is beating down even harder now and there is a line of people outside
the hotel waiting for a cab. We are all under cover and set back form the
road while the hotel porter is out in the road getting lashed with torrential
rain trying to persuade cabs to stop – he earns a small tip. At one point
Mrs K has to fight off a woman who tries to jump the line and steal our cab –
these people who try to push in! I ask our taxi driver if he knows the Al
Hirschfeld theatre. “No”. I give him the address and he doesn’t say
another word for 40 minutes until we are a block away from our destination when
he suggests we get out and walk. We get there first – the other 3 arrive
10 minutes later having had to walk 3 blocks in the pouring rain. After
depositing wet coats we are in our seats 3 minutes before the curtain
rises. We see “How to succeed in business without really trying” starring
Daniel Radcliffe and he is surprisingly good, getting roars from the over
enthusiastic audience. It is a fun show.
Then
we sprint back along 42nd street towards Times Square to ‘Juniors’,
as recommended by Denzel. We wait about 20 minutes for a table but it is
well worth the wait. Michael Bloomberg, Evander Holyfield and a host of
other celebs have eaten here in the past. Carlton looks after us and
everyone (except me) samples the cheesecake. Junior’s claims to be the
cheesecake capital of the world.
Thanks
for your good wishes. We are all now well on the mend and really enjoying
ourselves.
Part 4
Wednesday is a bit of a blur. It is designated a shopping day. The only
interesting part of this is that we are hiring a car and driving about an hour
out of the city to a place called Woodbury Common which according to Mrs K is heaven
on earth. The first part of the day is fine i.e. the driving bit. We arrive at the outlet centre and find about
200 clothes shops, a tiny Starbucks and a Sony shop. It is all outside and even
though it is supposed to be about 5C, there is an icy wind blowing and it feels
more like -5C. Anthony and I check out
the Sony shop and then discover the Starbucks is full of other suffering males
- we can barely get in the door and this is the only place with Wifi. What are
we going to do for the next 4 hours? We get in the car and find another shopping
area not too far down the freeway. There is a Best Buy (the Curry's of
the US) where we can at least look at some electronic gadgets and kill some
time. Anthony is after a new laptop but a normal one will not do. It
needs to be super powered to help him play computer games (I mean study hard
for his A levels).
The shoppers are at least
partly satisfied. Some shops have queues
outside and even Mrs K is not that desperate. The next priority is to find a
Cheesecake factory restaurant on the way back to New York. Fortunately we paid
extra for a satnav and it guides us to another huge shopping complex. At
the restaurant, we set out to order light starters in order to leave room for
the dessert but needless to say it all goes horribly wrong and we have to order
the cheesecake and giant wedge of carrot cake to go. Before we leave however there is just enough
time for Jason to take the plunge in the Apple store and buy an iPad. From
there we go to the Best Buy and Anthony gets his laptop. It is the sort of
machine that could have a starring role in a Bond movie. The villain would be
using it to launch missiles or perhaps send the New York traffic system into
chaos. All that remains is the drive
back to NYC and an appointment with a carrot cake - which I hardly make a dent
in before falling asleep.
Thursday is Jason’s day. We cross into
another state at the end of the street when we visit the United Nations. We have booked a guided tour which includes
a look at the Security Council and the General Assembly as well as some
education on what the UN is all about. We learn it is 80%
economic/social/development and hear that if just 0.2% of the planet’s arms
budget was diverted to feeding children, we could eliminate child hunger
globally. We are all feeling pangs of
guilt thinking about the previous night’s cheesecake and Mrs K is welling
up. Fortunately the tour comes to a
close and the Keen family dive into the gift shop.
The Security council Lobby
of the Chrysler building
We criss-cross town taking
a few minutes to look at the lobby of the Chrysler building and then on to the
Empire State building but the queue is around the block and we are told it will
take 3 hours to get to the top so we decide to defer the visit and head up to
the New York City Library where we have booked a tour. The tour guide arrives but she is a short
woman with a small voice and this library is busy and noisy. We quickly drop out of the tour and do our
own version.
From there it is a hairy
taxi ride down to South Street Ferry Port where we see the Brooklyn Bridge and
have another coffee break. In the
evening we eat at a jazz restaurant called Garage in Greenwich Village. The plan is to do a late night visit to the
Empire State building but again, everyone is too tired so we decide to head
back.
Anthony
thought this was funny (see the sign)………….
………….and
yet more sunglasses for Holly
Today (Friday) has been a wrap up kind of day. The girls did their last gasp shopping and
the boys played pool and I finally got to see Tintin at the movies near Times
Square. New York is working itself into
a frenzy for the New Year and the City is absolutely packed with people. We will be in the air on our way back for the
chimes of dear old Big Ben so Happy New Year to everyone and thanks for reading
and sharing in our holiday.
The
Keens