New York People!!!!

Well our journey to America didn’t get off to an especially great start.  Rightly so they were pretty strict on searching bags when we got on the plane and they made Justin drink out of Leo’s Lightning McQueen bottle to make sure it was just water.  We flew Continental Airlines for the 7.5 hour flight and although it was one of the shortest flights on our trip we found it quite hard because this airline wasn’t very child friendly.  First of all they put us in the row in front of the exit seats which means these are the only seats that don’t recline (pretty hard to cradle a sleeping child sitting up straight), they didn’t have any spare seats so we had Spencer or Leo on our knee the whole time.  This is a gamble we took when buying the seats so I guess we can’t complain about that.  When I asked for a child seat belt for Spencer the response was a brisk “Honey those things cut babies in half and we like our babies in one piece….if something happens just grab her and hold her” (!!!!)….then the captain came on line and told us that although there was a smell of petrol at the back of the plane this was normal for this type of engine and it would dissipate in time.  Our kids didn’t get any kids meals delivered so two adult meals were shared 4 ways and we weren’t allowed to let our kids walk in the aisles to stretch their legs “Honey you need to keep your kids down by your feet”……”Lady, there is no room by our feet have you seen the length of my husbands legs??” 

Needless to say it was an uncomfortable and long flight which was topped off by the smell of burning about 30 minutes before we landed.  The cabin crew went crazy, running up and down the aisles sniffing and then leaning over passengers to peer out at the wings and engines.  Now everyone (including us) were starting to panic.  I looked out the window and saw New York City, it was a beautiful sight and I thought to myself “It took my 35 years to get here and the plane is going down”.  Poor Spencer and Leo had the life squeezed out of them and by the time several different crew members had given the people behind us their responsibility list of to do’s if we needed to exit the plane I was beside myself.  The pilot got the plane down so fast that almost everyone was moaning with pressure in their ears but I have never been so glad to feel those wheels touch down and for once we didn’t wait until everyone else was off the plane before we made our move, we were elbowing our way out with the best of them.

Two jetlagged babies

It cost $5 to use an airport trolley in Newark Airport so our first $10 bucks flew out the window that way and we were finger printed and photographed on the way in.  Our plan to make sure the kids slept through the night backfired miserably.  We let them sleep UK time 10pm-12am (5pm – 7pm USA time) and woke them up for “dinner” then let them sleep again from 2am UK time (9pm USA time).  Well,  Spencer was up at 1am USA time and Leo at 3am. 

So we faced our day in NYC on a scarcely banked 4 hours sleep but that wasn’t going to stop us.  We caught our hotel shuttle back to the airport, then the Air Train to New Jersey Transit and then the train into Penn Station which delivered us to 37^th Street NYC.  It was everything you think it would be coming up out of that station…the noise, the sirens, the taxis hooting, the heat, the masses of people and the vibe.  At this stage we still only had one pushchair so our first mission was to buy another one because I had to carry Leo up and down those hot blocks…it was about 35-37 Celsius.  We walked up to 42^nd Street and found Toys R Us where we upgraded both kids to a reclining pushchair (stroller).  Toys R Us are right in the middle of Times Square and hold the Guinness record for the largest toy store in the world in both size and products.  They had a full sized ferris wheel in the store and a life sized moving T-Rex that blew the kids minds.  Leo was in heaven.  How could we be in the largest toy store in the world and not buy the kids something?  Leo is now the proud owner of a talking Harrison chugger and Spencer loves her hot pink musical mouse on wheels.  Toys are so cheap here,  nothing much over $15 where in NZ the same would cost over $40.

Leo outside Penn Station

Times Square

Outside Central Park

Inside Central Park

They have roads in Central Park!



C'mon People!

From Times Square we walked up to Central Park (both kids fell asleep in their mobile homes) which was beautiful, very green, lush and spacious.  Lots of horse and carriages, people running, walking and cycling.  We saw our first baseball game and bought our first hot dogs while the kids snoozed.  Just down from the Trump Tower there is a little café area where you can buy a beer and wine for $2.50 each!  When the kids woke up we had a great picnic and thoroughly enjoyed ourselves.  On the way out of the park we saw a genuine Fight Club, two black guys trying to kill eachother with their fists for fun with a crowd of their mates watching. Needless to say we didn’t hang around to see who won.  

Next on our list was the ferry to Staten Island.  This ferry is free and takes you right past the Statue of Liberty so we chose to do this instead of the Ellis Island tour.  To get there from Central park we had to take the Subway and unlike London it is very kid friendly with street level elevators at almost every stop.  The heat underground was hideous and just when we thought we were about to pass out we jumped on the train and found it had air conditioning which was a really pleasant surprise. It takes about 20 minutes to get to South Port where the ferry leaves from.  I was expecting a small ferry, perhaps like the Sydney Harbour ones but this was huge….we travelled on the John F Kennedy across to Staten Island, it was a beautiful day so we had wonderful views of Lady Liberty and NYC disappearing behind us.  You have to get off the ferry to get back on to it so we disembarked, had a little look around on the harbour and hopped back on because we wanted to get back to walk across the Brooklyn Bridge. 

Miss Liberty on Ellis Island

Backstreets of NYC

View of city from Staten Island

Walking Brooklyn Bridge - they have lanes

Walking from South Port to the Brooklyn Bridge was nice, back streets of New York with lots of characters and things to see.  We passed Wall Street and saw Ground Zero from a distance, they are building something quite near it in place of the Trade Centre buildings.  Now I knew I was never going to pull off a “sex in the city” cosmopolitan look but I was hoping for “urban chic fit mummy” (as much as you can in ¾ pants, single and trainers) and I thought I was doing well until I caught sight of myself in a shop window with my bum pushed out, shoulders hunched over the pushchair handles, sunglasses slipping off my nose and hair plastered to my head.  It was fair sizzling by the time we reached the bridge and by now our feet were throbbing and we were both chafing in places I don’t want to mention.  The bridge was magnificent and gives you brilliant views of the city without having to pay to get up the Empire or visit the Rockerfeller Centre. 

Daddy and Leo with NYC behind them

The queue for Grimaldi's!

As close to Grimaldi's as we got

Cal and Kelv had recommended that we take the kids to a Pizza restaurant called Grimaldi’s it’s not far from the end of the bridge although when you have been walking all day pushing prams it feels it!  We found it after asking for directions and were really bummed to see a big notice on the door staying “No strollers inside thank you”…..if this wasn’t enough there was a huge line outside the door which I thought must be for a bus or something but when I asked;  they were all waiting for pizza!  Seriously, the line was half a block at least…..so after cursing Cal and Kelv (who were so obviously on a kid-free holiday when they visited ;o) )….we kept walking. 



Ignazio's

On the next corner we found Ignazio’s Sicilian Pizzaria and didn’t look back.  What lovely pizza and wine and a hell of a lot of iced water.  When we had finished our fill we caught the subway back to Penn Station and made our way home from there.  We arrived home at 8pm, the kids were asleep by 8.30pm and we followed closely behind by 9pm.  What a great day!  A 12 hour whirlwind tour of the Big Apple and I must say we found the Americans VERY helpful and kind.  From asking directions, to needing hot water for bottles, to help on the subway system and buying the pushchairs everyone seemed to go out of their way to give us a hand. 

Spencer enjoying her pizza

Groovy traffic cop

The NZ dollar is doing pretty well here at the moment and set to get better especially if Obama can’t sort the debt ceiling issue that is all the news here.  Next we pick up the hire car and head up to New York State to see Niagara…..wish us luck!