New York Blog – January 2016

Our immigration official definitely fits the description of grumpy and we don’t mess with the official organizing the ‘lines’.  She is directing people to the extent that she rebukes them for not stepping the extra 12 inches up to the line.  But we are through Newark Liberty International airport in record time and soon in the back of a yellow taxi cab on our way to the Big Apple, listening to our driver shout obscenities at another driver.  We can see Manhattan in the distance.

Yet another trip?  This is the big one…and the final surprise out of 50.  A trip to see Alfie Boe in Les Miserable on Broadway.  After this one, it’s over!

It was our first time through Newark airport and also the first time we have been to Terminal 2 at Heathrow since it opened in 2014. The 'Queens Terminal'.  They did an excellent job in transforming it to look like Terminal 5.  We are up with the birds to see it before crowds descend.  Caroline reminisces about a time long ago when Tony used to bring her to the old Queens Building where he worked for BA.

On landing we hear that Anthony has passed his driving test.  First time.  Great news.  Oh and Dad can you sort out the insurance please?

We are based in Times Square very close to the theatre for Friday night’s show.  For our first afternoon we do what we always do.  We starting walking blocks.  But we only go two blocks before we get to Dean & Deluca’s.  We go in for some delicious sushi.

   

We walk downtown from 42^nd to 7^th in the search of the Highline walkway only to be told we have walked 7 blocks too far.  The news vendor shakes his head and starts waving his hands in a north westerly direction. I am not sure he speaks English but I get the message. 

We are soaking up the atmosphere in the City so don’t mind too much. We pass Perry Street (Sex in the City) and eventually find the walkway and stroll back up Manhattan through the arty residential tower blocks.  But not before Mrs K miraculously steers us to Warby Parker which is an optician shop in the mould of an Apple shop. She needs new glasses after her test this week so buys 2 pairs which will be glazed and delivered to our hotel in 24 hours at a great price.  Great service.

The walkway is a disused railway line which is above the street level.  It has been a restoration and preservation project which has been done extremely well.  It would be nice to sit up there in the Summer, overlooking the Hudson but in sub-zero temperatures we keep moving.  My chill factor calculator says it feels like minus 10C.

TV news tells us there is a blizzard coming and there is one guy saying there is a chance of 30 inches of snow in NYC.  Surely not.  But that is Saturday, so at least we have Friday.  Looking at the pictures it is hard to believe there is a storm coming.

       

With the time difference and having walked something like 5 miles we fade quickly in the evening so after a quick bite in Applebees (one of our favourites in the US) we retire.  Big day Friday.

     

Part 2

The first thing we do on Saturday morning is to look outside.  Although we are on the 23^rd floor and in a corner room looking down on 42^nd Street we can’t see much.  There is definitely a snow covering but hard to tell if it is a ‘snowmaggedon’.  It could be that our concierge is right and this snow is no big deal, although I am wondering if he is related to Michael Fish.  Our Sunday morning flight has been cancelled and pushed back to Sunday night, which means the red eye for us both as we return to work on Monday. TV is showing terrible conditions on the way. The City is predicted to see 15-20 inches and the gusts are up to 50mph.  I am not sure a carriage ride through Central Park in the falling snow is really going to happen!

Friday was a great day.  We are up really early as expected which gives me time to write part 1 of the blog and we plan our day. We have arranged to meet Caroline's good friend, Jenny. The plan is to meet for breakfast so we pick a deli close to the World Trade Center where we are already booked in for most of the morning. We crawl through traffic and eventually arrive at the “Stage Door Deli” (right underneath the new Freedom Tower) which I am hoping will be a quiet and chic breakfast diner.  Instead we find ourselves in a noisy and rather cramped café for construction workers.  It is bedlam.  There is a counter with countless boards displaying the menu above.  There are no fewer than 15 people behind the counter, serving and cooking, all shouting and whistling instructions.  Completed take away packages are tossed from one end of the counter to the other.  The queueing system is difficult to work out but Mrs K takes charge and is soon hustled to the front of the queue by a few guys in hard hats and massive tool belts.  We order omelettes but get a pile of fried potatoes too.

We spend an hour or so catching up with Jenny who is adjusting to a new life in New Jersey with her family.  It’s her first time in Manhattan since arriving in December.  Jenny I’m sorry I didn’t get a photo of you two outside in front of the Tower.  Next time!

                 

We have an appointment in the 9/11 Memorial Museum.  I am stunned by the scale of this museum which extends 8 stories under street level.  We were here almost exactly 4 years ago and they were still constructing the Museum and the Freedom Tower at One World Trade Center.  I can now see what was taking them so long.  Greg is our guide.  He is one of the most articulate and knowledgeable guides we have ever come across.  The whole Museum is more of a shrine than a museum and a symbol of American victory over the terrorists.  Fourteen years on the horror of that day is still with us and will remain so.  2 billion watched it real time, which is unprecedented.  To be honest we could have spent 2-3 hours there.  The museum of artifacts is vast but after an hour or so we have had enough and move on the 100^th floor observatory at the Freedom Tower which has only been open a few months.  It’s an incredibly fast elevator to the top.  I am feeling a bit dizzy at the top but we stop for a coffee and sandwich to re-charge while we take in the view.

In the evening is the main event, made more special by the fact that Peter and Maria meet us at the theatre.  Peter has arrived from work on Wall St.  Maria has arrived from …. the airport.  Major case of FOMO.  Mrs K and I enjoy a very nice meal in a bistro near the theatre but we all squeeze in a cheeky one in a nearby bar before the show starts.   Alfie is on excellent form.  In fact, it’s an excellent staging with several excellent performances.  Mrs K is moved to tears in parts – so what’s new?

    

When we exit the theater the snow has started.  Luckily we are just two blocks back to the hotel.  But unfortunately I head off in the wrong direction and it turns out being more like 6 blocks.  Mrs K is not amused.

Watching TV on Saturday morning, we now have a state of emergency in New York and New Jersey but breakfast is calling so we will venture down to the street and see how bad it actually is.  Will report back.

Snow report

We have been outside.  Taking a cab looked very dangerous as we saw a few cars driving around at crazy speeds and lots stuck in snow almost a foot deep. We took the subway but even there the service was getting sporadic.  It is now officially a state of emergency to the extent that drivers can be arrested for driving their cars. And now we hear that people are not allowed out on the street after 4pm local time.  They are expecting about 20 inches in Manhattan which makes it one of the top 5 worst snowstorms ever.  Earlier we tried to book a show and arrived at the theatre to be told it was cancelled.  It turns out that all shows have been cancelled.  Night off for Alfie.  Even the cinema which is nicely situated in our building has closed.  So we are stuck with Scrabble and Netflix for the rest of the day.  We are taking the mayor’s advice and hunkering down in our hotel room, tucked up in bed with coffee and cake and loving the 24x7 snow coverage on Channel 4. 

    

        

Part 3

On Saturday evening we were stranded in our hotel room and at the mercy of Westin’s room service, but not until Mrs K had abandoned all discipline and made a move for the minibar.

On Sunday morning it’s literally the calm after the storm.  We got to within 0.1 of an inch of the record snow fall in Central Park ever.  Nearly 30 inches at Newark and more at JFK which explains why our flight has been cancelled for a 2^nd time.  We now fly out on Monday evening (we hope) which means we have an extra 36 hours here. 

There is a massive clean-up operation in progress and the New York sanitation department (that’s what they call it here) are out in force.  There are roads and pavements to clear and cars to dig out.  We head down to Soho for breakfast with Peter and Maria at Bubby’s which has legendary ‘biscuits’. 

From there we head back up to Central Park where it seems all the kids in Manhattan are out with their sleds.  It is below zero but the sky is blue and the sun is out.  Not a breath of wind.  Idyllic.  We reach the famous Boat House in the middle of Central Park and miraculously secure prime real estate at the cocktail bar.  We are looking out over the frozen lake and Arsenal vs Chelsea is on the TV (Blues win 1-0).  Needless to say we spend some time there and the bartender becomes Mrs K’s friend after she tries a drink that he says will warm her up.  It certainly raised the volume.

             

This is the nice side of the disruption but the City is still struggling to get moving again by Monday morning.  Some of the trains tracks are still covered in snow and some New York streets have not seen a snow plough.  So many cars are buried under drifts.  Last night we ventured out to see another show (The Color Purple).  It is only 1 block away but to get there we have to cross 2 streets which means stepping off the kerb into about a foot deep of slush and in places just icy water.  It is still around freezing here so I am not sure how quickly the mountains of snow piled up are going to melt.

This morning has been some last minute shopping and errands before we head off to what we expect to be chaos at the airport.

Thanks for reading.  Until the next trip.

Journey home

There is a final chapter here which needs to be told, partly to mention things I forgot but also to let you know that we made it back safely.  For those interested I made another short collection of video clips, mainly of the snow in Central Park.

I forgot to mention that when we went see Color Purple they insisted that everyone queued outside even if they had their tickets.  This meant that the audience had to dodge the ice falling off the building, some of it from a long way up.  But while there we see Al Pacino coming out of the theater next door and fight through a small crowd into a waiting car.  He is appearing in “China Doll” in the theater next door but I am not sure why he is leaving rather than arriving.

Also on Sunday we visited Tiffany’s on 5^th Avenue.  We are initially turned away from the entrance by three burly security men all dressed in in long black overcoats.  We are directed to the side entrance where there is just one security guy.  As we head towards the revolving door he shouts “watch out!”.  A lump of ice the size of your hand slaps onto the pavement.  It sounded like it came from a long way up. He is obviously an ice spotter.  You don’t want to be hit by one of those.  We get out of there without any major damage to ourselves or my credit card.

On Monday afternoon we have a car to take us to the airport.  Our driver reminds me a bit of Al Pacino.  We have booked a limo but this one was manufactured sometime in the 80’s I think and is held together in places with black tape. We are told to arrive early and have allowed plenty of time for any traffic or weather related hold ups.

At the gate there is a delay because a plane is stuck on the ice.  I had envisaged that the airport would be totally clear by now but the volume of snow means that the clean-up operation is still ongoing and planes are taxiing around on sheet ice.  They are using massive snow melting machines which I have never seen before.  The drama unfolds right in front of us.  The flight to Hong Kong has taken 2 hours so far but the passengers have only travelled 50m. 

   

The next 8 hours is a bit of a blur but it consists of a long series of delays to our flight time, never more than an hour at a time, and confusing gate changes. After 4 hours we receive a $10 food voucher which we can spend at any restaurant which have smart iPads to order from.  $10 will just about buy you a beer.  There are a series of announcements which either tell us nothing or we can’t hear.  We finally get on the plane just after midnight (6 hours late) but then there is a 2 hour process to get the wings de-iced (twice) and wait for a take-off slot.  We take off about 2am.

We finally arrive home on Tuesday mid-afternoon.  The whole experience was a bit of an adventure and the snow didn’t spoil our visit but the journey back was a bit of a drag.

Signing off.