Indiana - The Boys are back together!

Leaving New York was never going to be a fun experience - especially when you have had limited sleep! So Jordan and I checked out of the Washington Jefferson at around 5am and headed to Penn Station, just in time to catch the crowds (all night clubs close at 4am) includes the highly intoxicated and homeless - wow what a sight!







Boarding our train to Ronkonkoma (Long Island) at 6.16am it wasn't long before I was laying down for a quick nap. The flight to Chicago was quite good (apart from the US $50 charge for excess luggage) although Jordan did express interest in pulling down the emergency latch in the emergency isle which did get a few immediate passengers worried.





Parting ways with Jordan at around 11am (as he was heading back home to Campbellsville, Kentucky) I headed towards the exit to catchup with my mischievous younger cousin Tommy. It had only been a week and a half since I last saw him and his older brother Theo but the three of us together - I knew I was going to have an enjoyable 2 days.

With the sun beating down on us, we all headed straight to the "beach" which is actually Lake Michigan to enjoy some interesting sights. Tommy and Theo quickly introduced me to their friends and it wasn't long before we were all playing sports in the sand and relaxing.

At around 5pm after dropping Theo at the house to head to work, Tommy and I headed to his parents house (Tom & Jan) in Hobart, Indiana for dinner (and what a feast it was too)... Heidi (Tommy's younger sister) and her boyfriend arrived and it was quite a gathering with the sun still high in the sky Tom, Jan and I reminisced about the Family Reunion and chatted about a return visit to Australia.

Tommy and Theo live in a place called Gary, Indiana which is actually where Michael Jackson's family home is - although I was told it wouldn't be recommended going to see the MJ house after dark, so after driving the streets of Hobart, Tommy and I headed back for some well earned rest.








Recharging my batteries to approx 11am this morning, I headed downstairs with Tommy to learn about their business sign writing. Active Signs has been trading for over 50 yrs and is one of the major sign companies not only in Indiana but in San Diego also. After showing me how things worked, Tom put me to work helping print the signs for an order.


At around 2pm after a quick stop at the local Westfield "mall" to pick up some more luggage! Tom and I then headed out to his local golf course - I can say local because not only is it just down the road but he is there working on his game almost daily and knows everyone by name. It is a beautiful course with manicured fairways and greens and although it may only have 9 holes (due to a massive flood wiping out the back 9) the fact that you are one of a handful of people playing sure makes up for having to play the same 9 twice.




Tonight the family will be taking me out for dinner which is really nice and later Tommy, Theo their room-mate "Bull" and I will head into Hobart to checkout the local bar scene and also look at an open air band festival - so it should be quite a late night - again!

Tomorrow after a few quick stops, I'll be flying to Cali-fornia (specifically San Diego) yee haa! to catchup with my "energized" cousin Barbra. During the 5/6 days I'll be heading to the 4th July festivities as well as trying my hand at Bikram Yoga which she is a massive fan of.

Alright - Short and sweet I know... update you guys all again soon.

James.

Doing something Crazy - NYC Style

The past few days have been so hectic with Jordan so as it is 2.35am Sunday morning, I've finally found the time to update you all.

Friday 26th June



As I'm certain you all were, Jordan and I were quite shocked to hear the news regarding Michael Jackson on Thursday evening, being in New York City we decided to head on the Subway to Harlem and the Apollo Theatre, the place Michael Jackson first performed and where crowds had gathered to pay their respects and share their stories/memories of the "King of Pop."



As some of my friends are BIG MJ fans, I decided to share my feelings (on my own behalf and theirs) on the makeshift memorial.



Heading back into the heart of New York City, Jordan and I had planned a full day of cultural activities visiting both the Guggenheim Museum and the Metropolitan Museum of Art. The Guggenheim was everything I expected and more. The Museum opened its doors in 1959 so as it is the 50th anniversary, it featured 60 designs from Frank Lloyd Wright (designer of the Guggenheim) - which were great. I found it also interesting to know that Frank Lloyd Wright designed the museum as being salmon pink rather than bone white....?



Spending a couple of hours at the Guggenheim and pushing 3pm, Jordan and I decided to head to the Metropolitan Museum of Art (the Met as it is commonly known). It is a beautifully presented museum and features many different exhibitions for those to enjoy - in particular the Ancient Egyptian History wing.






You could easily spend a day at this museum and after looking at my watch I was surprised to see that we had been roaming the halls for close to 3 hours and there was still exhibitions we hadn't looked at. Oh well.



Getting back to the Washington Jefferson near 7pm, Jordan and I started to get ready to celebrate our last full night in New York. Our first stop being the much loved "House of Brews" for a quick dinner and international beer. From there we headed down to the Lower East side a tip we received from our true New Yorker Concierge - and a dead ringer for Vin Diesel.




Unfortunately given the high consumption of alcohol, my recollection of the nights events are a little scratchy. However, Jordan did happen to tell me that I did introduce myself to a Puerto Rican gang member who happily bought drinks for most of the night. Needless to say though, we both returned home safely. No tattoos.


Saturday 27th June

And so the last day in New York was sadly was upon us, nothing had really been planned - which was fortunate given I woke in the afternoon....

Heading out of the hotel in desperate need of some grease, it was our concierge (again) who provided us with a gem location "Lucky Famous Burgers". This hideaway is a local haunt where its burgers are almost as loud as the buildings colours.











Jordan decided to head out down to Time Square to do a little bit of tourist shopping and see some final sights of New York, while I headed back downtown walking through Chinatown once more, and seeing the sights including Grand Central Station, The Chrysler Building and Waldorf Astoria - the sights I had thought I wouldn't have time to see. My time in New York was sadly drawing to a close.


Catching back up with Jordan around 5pm after a long walk back to the hotel, we (being Seinfield fans) decided to head out to W Broadway and 112th Street which is the home of Tom's Restaurant. Instead of taking a few photos and leaving, Jordan and I sat down and enjoyed a really great meal. While dining, we met with Pete a 60 something Greek man who had worked in the restaurant for over 20 yrs and happily provided us with the story of how the site was chosen by Jerry Seinfield as well as his straight to the point conversation.


At around 7pm we made our was downtown again to catchup with a cousin of Jordan's - Andrea. Andrea was hanging out with her friends at her favourite drinking hole the "Hideaway". Jordan and Andrea had never meet previously, but after a few minutes we were all getting on famously.








We rode back into town with one of Andrea's friends and we said our goodbye's out the front of the New Yorker Hotel where we caught up with my parents who will be also leaving New York tomorrow bound for Australia.


Mum & Dad had just finished enjoying a good meal but thankfully we had arrived as deserts were being ordered...


So it's now a couple of hours before I head out to Ronkonkoma Station in Long Island - it will be a 90 minute train ride and then a 3 hour flight to Chicago to catchup with my "do something crazy" cousin Theo & Tommy for 2-3 days - I'm sure it will be great.

Over the past 5 days, I have had a magnificent time in New York (especially with Jordan). The crazy thing is with everything we have done, we've maybe only seen 15% of what this fantastic city has to offer - I'm sure I'll be back.

James.

The high's & low's of NYC life

Continuing on from last night's blog, I left you all heading out of my 4m x 3m cell primed for a good night at Comic Strip Live, a local comic haunt famous for kick starting the careers of Adam Sandler, Eddie Murphy, Chris Rock & Jerry Seinfield so our expectations were high - and thankfully they didn't disappoint - with 6 comedians having us all in stitches for the 3 hour show.

After a few beers, Jordan and I decided to call it an early night (around 12 midnight) and head back, flagging a cab we jumped in my hand landing on the seat and a NEW iPhone obviously left by the previous customer - a quick moment of SCORE! - came over me and then I rightly decided to wait for the owner to call and promptly return, which they did at around 1am.

So with all good intentions of having an early night it was well after 1.30 by the time I arrived back at the hotel and closed my eyes.

With the alarm going off in my ear I quickly registered that it was now 8am and a full day of activities were planned. My parents were also in New York (preferring to stay away from me at a different hotel?) so around 9.30am Jordan and I walked the 10 blocks to rendezvous with the "rents" and head to the highlight of the day "Liberty Island" & home of the Statue of Liberty.

After paying our fare and enduring the most highly aggressive security screening point I have ever gone through we were on our way, with Jordan and I keen to climb to the crown of the statue - OR SO WE THOUGHT!

The sad thing is, and for those looking to head to NYC, the ticket to climb the statue is different to the Liberty Island admission - and unfortunately the wait to climb is 7 days... so we missed the opportunity. The statue is quite inspiring though and a memory I will cherish for many years.





Moving on, all had been forgotten by the time the ferry reached the South Ferry terminus, with Mum, Jordan and I heading for the two remaining iconic tourist destinations in the immediate area being Wall St and the former site of the World Trade Centre (aka Ground Zero). As we walked towards Wall St we bumped into my dad who had also decided to look at Wall St so the four of us continued on.




Wall St is definitely not how i imagined it, in fact it is nothing more than a small lane connecting two streets, but as it home to the NY Stock Exchange it was definitely worth checking out. After spending about half and hour wandering around taking photos and listening to the tour guides, we decided to head for the Ground Zero site less than a 5 minute walk.











The is currently some heavy construction occurring on the site as they are looking to resurrect the buildings (at half height), including two memorial pools on the foundations of where the two towers once stood, so photos were pretty hard to get but we did wander into the memorial museum which surprisingly stirred up quite a bit of emotion for me as it told the harrowing stories of those trapped in the planes & buildings as well as footage of the firemen/police who entered the building and never returned.



















It was now pushing 2 maybe 3pm and with my stomach sending me echos Jordan, Dad and I found a little pizza place to sit and enjoy a "traditional" New York Pizza, it was quite entertaining to try and balance the 1/4 pizza slice. After lunch we said our goodbyes to Dad and headed for Chinatown & Little Italy which we found after walking in circles for a few blocks.


It really is like stepping into another part of the world when you walk down the side streets and away from the traffic, you could easily be forgiven for believing you were in another part of the world.


After doing a little shopping in Chinatown and coffee in Little Italy we found the subway held our breath and headed home.


It's now approaching 8.30pm, and we are planning to head out to the local bar next to the hotel cleverly titled the "House of Brew's" I've spoken about this place before but I am nowhere near being able to finalise my sampling of their 80+ beers.

Plans for tomorrow include (depending on when I get up)... Guggenheim Museum, the Metropolitan Museum of Art and MoMA - time for a little bit of culture.

So before I head out I wanted to update you all.

Have a great day, I'm thinking of you!

James.

The Big Apple & its hidden treasures

After partying well into the night/early morning with Jordan I really wasn't surprised when we were woken by the maid wanting to clean our dishevelled room - it was 11 am!

We slowly started to wake and reminisce on what a great night we had both had but we had vowed to make our first full day even better. Heading out around 12 noon to commence seeing the local sights, we first caught up with Patty, a family friend who helped us out with some local knowledge on where to eat, where to go etc.


Walking along 8th street, I spotted in the distance the Ed Sullivan Theatre, a historic building and the location for the filming of the Late Show with David Letterman - one of my personal favourites. Patty, gave us a "secret" number to call to try and get tickets, but as they tape the shows Mon thru Thurs we may not get a chance - but fingers crossed.





After a late breakfast/lunch we continued west along Manhattan Island and as the rain started to fall we hit Central Park, we walked through the park for quite a while just soaking (no pun intended) in the fantastic photo opportunities and calmness the park offers given its location so close to the hustle & bustle of New York City life.




Feeling energetic, I decided to go for a quick run (one of my goals during the NYC leg of my trip) which I can happily say I've now completed.


We continued through the park and came across the famous Central Park Carousel which has been in operation for many decades - seizing on the opportunity it wasn't long before I was atop a carved wooden horse laughing like an idiot.


We headed for the westside exit which was also the location of Strawberry Fields (dedicated to the past beatle John Lennon) we listened to a tribute presented by a 5 strong John Lennon devotes paid our respects and headed for the subway.





Riding the subway is really what you've heard - and what you'd expect.... it's dirty, dodgy and above all risky..... but it is cheap and both Jordan and I didn't really want to walk the 20+ blocks back to our next destination the Rockefeller Plaza.

The Plaza is pretty cool, but unfortunately given it is summer over here at the moment, both the ice skating ring and famous Christmas Tree was nowhere in sight. We did however walk around the plaza and read some of the plaques dedicated to John D Rockefeller Jr.




It was now approaching 6pm and we still wanted to have something to eat before we headed out to the Comedy Club tonight where we will hopefully see Flight of the Concordes and Chris Rock. As we headed back to the Washington Jefferson (our shoebox of a hotel room maybe 4m X 3m) we decided to grab some Mexican (I have a great appetite for it now for some reason) and sat at the front window watching the world pass by.

We didn't have to wait long as Jordan alerted me to a man running along the road being chased by 3 other men. As they crossed our path the man being chased dropped what appeared to be a wallet!? It turned out we had just witnessed a mugging (or part thereof - what a welcome to NYC!).

It's now 7.45pm and we are heading out to Comic Strip Live which starts in 45 minutes or so, it shouldn't be a late night though (hopefully) as tomorrow will see me meet up with my parents to climb the Statue of Liberty and visit Ground Zero and Wall Street.

James.