New York, Day Two

Picture it - you are in New York, one of the most exciting cities in the world and the person you are travelling with wants to go to the Apple Store - yes that is right, the Apple Store! Luckily is was fairly close to the hotel and it allowed me to check out some more of the Village and also see the SoHo (South of Houston Street) area.

After that we headed up to Grand Central Station which was pretty cool - a lovely old building. Peter said last time him and Jules were there some bloke came up to them and gave them a bit of a tour which sounds alright! I had to settle with having Peter for a guide which was better then nothing I guess...

We then headed over to the New York Public Library and quickly poked our head in before heading up to the David Letterman Studios to pick up our tickets for the taping. Taping was due to start at 4, so after picking up the tickets we had about 30 mins to get back to the hotel, get changed, have something to eat and get back up to the studio (yes we could have planned it better). In the end we had to forego eating and we were late back up to the studio, but it worked out okay because they put us at the front of the line!

Like most studios, the inside was smaller then it looks on tele and it was pretty cold. Some bloke came and told some jokes to get us all going before Dave came out to say hello. Today on his show we were lucky enough to see Jennifer Lopez and a tennis player I had not heard of - James Blake. Both guests were entertaining and the entire show was pretty cool (including Dave's lame unfunny jokes). All in all it took about an hour to tape and I think they whittled it down to about 40 mins when they broadcast it.

From there we headed over to Bloomingdales to check it out. I bought a shirt and Peter gloomily walked around the shop (he could have at least pretended to be interested like I was in the Apple Shop), and then over to Macys. Both were fairly average, especially when compared with Harrods or Selfridges, but everything was so much cheaper which made up for it.

We then headed over to a restaurant near Times Square for a late dinner. Here is a tip, if you are not use to eating big meals like me, you do not need to order entrees (starters for those in the UK) or desserts as the main meals are bloody huge! It makes eating out pretty cheap as well. Because all the staff rely on tips, the service in all the restaurants we went to was excellent! Totally unlike here where you can sit around for about 40 mins waiting to get your table cleared or get the chance to ask someone for the bill!



Inside of Grand Central Station.



Street Scenes.



New York Public Library Steps.



Inside of the Library.



Late Show Studio (again!).



Radio City!



I guess space must be at a premium!

New York, Day One

Having started a new job a couple of days ago (more about that in another post), and them having nothing for me to do, I arranged to take a week off. So yesterday I talked to Peter and we booked a trip to New York! Unfortunately Jules could not come with us.

Anyway, we flew out of Birmingham on Continental for a rather uninspiring flight to Newark airport in New York, before catching the train into Penn Station in the city. From here we walked down to our hotel which was in Greenwich Village. After exhaustive searching and worrying when trying to book it, the hotel turned out to be pretty cool. A one bedroom apartment on Bleeker Street, fairly close to a couple of subway stations giving us easy access to the rest of the city.

Anyway, we dumped our bags, freshened up and walked back uptown to Times Square and from there to Central Park. The city (well just Manhattan, cause I did not get to the other parts) is absolutely fantastic. It has a vibe an energy that seems lacking in a lot of other places.

Oh, I forgot to mention, while looking around in Times Square, a woman from the David Letterman Show came over and asked us if we wanted to attend a taping (which of course we did), so we scored tickets to tomorrows show which sounded pretty cool!

After walking around Central Park, we headed back down fifth avenue (past all the posh shops) back to Times Square (which was pretty cool at night). It was about 8:30pm (or 2:30am British Time), so we were both fairly tired, so after grabbing a bite to eat at Applebees (a chain restaurant), we headed back to hotel to get some sleep.



The Flat Iron Building.



Empire State!



Street Scene.



Times Square.



More Times Square.



The Fuzz....



More Times Square.



Late Show!



Central Park.



Central Park.



Central Park.



The Posh Plaza Hotel.



Times Square by night...



All the pretty lights.

Murcia and the Southern Spanish Coast

Another bank holiday here in the UK gave us another excuse for a trip away somewhere! Having been lazy in the planning and being the peak tourist month for Europe, when we booked our tickets a couple of weeks ago our options were limited. In the head we got a pretty good deal to fly to Murcia, a town in the south of Spain, along with accommodation at a hotel at Palmera Beach in Pilar de la Horadada.

Because of prices we were all flying out of Birmingham (where Jules had moved to a couple of weeks ago with Peter to follow soon), so Peter and I caught the train up friday night so we could leave early saturday morning. Our arrival in Spain was interesting to say the least. We must have been the only non-Europeans in the airport and the passport control guy was having great fun just staring at our passports (he did not seem to do anything with them!).

We finally got through and picked up the hire car (a Peugeot 206) and headed in the direction we thought that Pilar de la Horadada was. The change in temperature between Spain and sunny Birmingham was amazing. It was hot, similar to summer weather in Wollongong (very muggy). Anyway, Jules was driving, with Peter giving directions. Not having a map, however, made the journey interesting, but we eventually made it.

Our room was not ready yet, so we dumped our bags and headed into the small town to look around and grab some lunch. The entire place seemed to be a resort for Spaniards instead of any other Europeans, so our pasty white skin stood out. We grabbed some groceries for the next few days and headed back to the hotel to check in, and have a swim. The pool was lovely and it was nice to finally get into some water. Even though the beach was just a couple of hundred metres away, it was too hot and the pool was a lot closer so it won out. It was also siesta time, so we had it to ourselves.

After a swim and a lie in the shade, we headed back up to the room for a beer or two, some snacks and general lazing about. The balcony gave us a good view of the beach, so it was nice to just sit out there and read. Unlike other trips, this one was about relaxing, rather then trying to see everything a city had to offer. Anyway, while we were sitting there Jules said is that a person masturbating down there (near some houses). She was right, so it was time to head inside for a while.

After a bit of a snooze we headed back into town for dinner. It was now about 9:30pm, so it was just starting to get busy. We had pizza and a couple of drinks and then headed back to the hotel.

For the next two days we did much the same, although Peter got quite badly sun burnt. One of the nights we decided to drive into Alicante (about 70kms away), which seemed like a nice city and worth a return visit. Another of the days we headed into Murcia proper, which was just another town, although it had a lovely square where were stopped for a nice drink. Our mysterious masturbator even made repeat appearances!

The final day we checked out of the hotel and drove around the area to look around. We eventually made it to Cartagena, an old Roman town, which was interesting, although only took about two hours to walk around. It was hot and most of the shops had closed for siesta, and Peter was whinging about his sunburn, so we ended up leaving early and tried to find a cinema or something. In the end we went bowling before heading back to the airport for our return flight.

All in all it was a good relaxing weekend. The Spanish lifestyle certainly appeals. Afternoon siestas are fantastic ideas. It seems that everyone else thinks that was as well with thousands upon thousands of houses being built in the area. I think they may have a problem in a few years with so many new residents (from all over Europe) and major water problems....




The view from our balcony.



Night view.



Inventive advertising!



Murcia.



More Murcia.



Even more Murcia.



Last of Murcia.



Mar Menor resorts...



Enclosed beach.



Cartagena.



Cartagena.



Cartagena.



Cartagena.



Cartagena.



Cartagena.



Cartagena.



Cartagena.



Cartagena.



Cartagena.



Cartagena.



Cartagena.

Isle of Wight (Again...)

With the lovely summer weather upon us (yes the sun does shine over here...) we thought it was time to head back over and see what the Isle of Wight had to offer. You may remember the last time we went over that it was a pretty grim and dire place. This time, instead of Ryde, we caught the car ferry from Southampton to Cowes.

On the way over we got a pretty good view of the Solent (the name of the water that separates Southampton from the Isle) and got to see all the container ships entering and exiting the port. The trip took about 60 minutes and although it was a little chilly, it was still quite lovely sitting outside.

Once we arrived Peter scuttled my plan for a quick coffee break so we headed straight to Osborne House, which was used by Queen Victoria during her reign as a country house. Like most country houses this place was lavishly decorated and had some nice gardens but, as you probably realise from my previous postings, was not really a place I would like to live in. Nonetheless it was quite pleasant to walk around the gardens and we even got a chance to sit and have a nice cup of coffee (thanks Peter!).

From here we basically drove around the Island (which is a lot bigger then it seems) trying to find places to eat lunch. It seemed like the entire mainland had taken advantage of the nice weather to head over as all the nice pubs were chockers. We ended up stopping at an awful pub (in a nice village though) for something resembling lunch.

We then headed around to the chalk downland ridge, which was on the very western part of the Island. Here there was an old artillery battery and something known as the Needles. They were like the 12 (or is it 9 now?) apostles along the Great Ocean Road in Australia, but no where near as good. It was also difficult to take photos of them, so you will have to settle from one I prepared earlier here.

This took far longer then we thought so Jules had to do some extreme driving to get us back to the ferry terminal in time for our departure. Luckily we made it with about five minutes to spare (luckily they dont make you arrive 30 mins before hand like at airports) and we sat back to enjoy the relaxing trip back.



Southampton Docks and, in particular, SCT.



Osbore House.



More House.



and even more...



Outlying Swiss Cottage on the grounds of the house.



If you go out into the woods today you are in for a big surprise....



Last of the house.



Chalk Downland Ridge.



More Chalk Downland Ridge.



Even more Chalk Downland Ridge.



A cruise ship leaving Southampton as we were returning....