As I type, my nephew Mackenzie is sitting next to me on the bed trying to unlock an iPhone & my brother is spread across the end of the bed nocking out a few zzz's (sleeping). It's 6.30pm, we've been here round 24 hours and are all well and truly nackered.
I flew Qantas with Harrison (Hazza) & Mackenzie (Mack) and what great little troopers and travelling companions they were. We didn't have a particularly great sleep the night before our flight in Sydney thanks to the alarm clock that went off in the early hours of the morning, but that didn't deter the boys. Not once did they complain to me about anything, they may have complained to each other behind my back, but if that were the case they never let onto me. They were excellent and helpful with me and my luggage situation. I flew premium economy, comfier chairs, more legroom, individual table service etc. The boys were a few rows behind in economy, I went back and checked on them every so often and they were all smiles and happy as Larry.
One thing I had forgotten about is the amount of times you have to show your passports/boarding passes as you navigate a US airport. Talk about frustrating, but it's just something else you have to roll with. We even had a happy cheerful chap as we went through immigration and that is unheard of, normally that are sour, surly and deadpan expressionless, so once again we were lucky.
We collected our luggage, grabbed a cab and headed into our hotel, the Grand Hyatt on East 42nd Street right next to Grand Central Station. One of the political parties (we aren't sure if it was the republicans or the democrats) were having their 'Christmas Do' that night at the Hyatt. The boys and I headed off to grab some dinner close by. Then back to the hotel for a big 'ole sleep. Peter, Susan & Nicholas arrived much later than us, so we organised to see them in the morning. And catch them we did, Peter & Nick came a nocking on our door at 6.30am while we were still sleeping. And so our 1st day in NYC began.
We had a bit of a wander about Grand Central Station, what an impressive beautiful old building (This photo doesn't do it justice, we want to go back at night time and take a photo, it is just magnificent).
From there we headed a few blocks down to 5th Ave. We saw these 2 cool Salvo Army dudes drumming up business for donations. They were ringing their bells, doing a dance with vigour, getting right into the Christmas spirit. Admittedly when we went back past them an hour and a half later, their enthusiasm had wanned and there was half hearted bell ringing going on. Their dancing had turned into a high school side step shuffle, so god knows what they would have been like by their lunch break, leaning on their red tripod taking a rest I reckon.
Along 5th Ave we headed into the beautiful Public Library building, for any of you that are fans of the show/movie Sex and the City, this is where Carrie almost married Big.
Strolled along 5th a bit further and came across this beautiful old department store, I don't even know the name of it (it isn't one of the famous big name department stores us Aussies would be familiar with) but the Christmas window displays were just brilliant.
Then we hot footed it back to the lovely hotel so we could pack up check out.
We then headed to our first apartment, finally it was true and we hadn't been scammed. The apartment actually existed. Peter, Sue & Nick caught the first taxi, Hazza, Mack & myself followed in the second taxi. The apartment is 400, West 25th Street, in Chelsea. We pulled up in front of this lovely modern looking building and thought, this is looking good. I text Peter & Sue, told them that we were in the street and could they come get us. While we were waiting, the boys were pointing at the pretty awful looking building over the road and they boys say "Hey Weezie (that is the nickname my nephews call me) you should take a photo of that old cruddy building over the road" next thing, Peter & Sue come out of said building. The façade is somewhat deceiving. Once we got into the apartment, it is clearly old, but it has been nicely done up, is clean, has some nice touches and is quite inviting. It is small, but that is what you get for New York. None the less we are in, and with all our luggage and stuff about, there is no room to swing a cat or hang our winter coats. We got ourselves settled, hooked our devices up to the Wifi and then headed out for a few hours to explore a bit.
We walked a few blocks up to 7th Ave, grabbed some lunch (at 3pm) then headed to get some pre-paid USA sim cards. Let me tell you, it all happened while we were in the phone shop, a man had fallen over and was having a seizure out on the street just outside the door, no one was really helping. Susan is a health care professional so she went outside and put him into the recovery position, something no one else even tried to do. Next thing we know, NYPD are there, the ambulance comes along and off we all walk. Job done.
We made our way back to the apartment around 5pm, it was pitch dark. We are all nackered. Poor Nick has come down with a cold and his nose is running like a tap, but other than that he says he is feeling fine. We are all tired and as soon as I've posted this, I'm off to nock out the zzz's too.
It is bitterly cold outside (we've not seen any snow fall as yet), so you layer up and dress accordingly. Then when you go inside anywhere and cause of the heating, you break into a sweat like no tomorrow, so the layers get stripped off. I fear that these hot and cold flushes are something that I will be facing in a few years time.
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