Shows, Museums and Memorials

7th Jan 2014 Tues

It goes without saying that everything in NY is still frozen.  We visited the American Museum of Natural History (AMNH) today, and we felt as frozen as the exhibits feel fossilised.

Even though the girls slept in, it was not enough, so everyone slept in the subway on the way there.  The AMNH has an awesome collection of dinosaurs and an excellent astronomy/space centre.

The Space section put on a panoramic show on the Big Bang.  They also has some cool real live space objects like this meteorite.

The dinosaur section had all the original fossils such as T Rex, Triceratops and others.

We saw signs pointing to a Whale exhibition provided by Te Papa, unfortunately this one was closed.  So all we got was this shot of the acknowledgement.

Catherine wanted to visit Central Park, so after AMNH, we crossed the street into Central Park.  Did I mention that everything was frozen?  Well, all the lakes in the park were frozen too.  But no skating allowed.  The poor ducks living there had to lift their legs to defrost after a few steps of walking on the ice.

We were planning to visit the Museum of Modern Art (MOMA) after this, but we ran out of time.  And it was time to send Catherine and Melissa on to dinner and Lion King in Times Square.

The rest of us took off home.  Catherine reported later that evening that Lion King was the best show she has seen.

8th Jan 2014 Wed

We visited the 9/11 memorial this morning at the old Ground Zero, all within a 15 min walk from our apartment.  It is free, but you have to pay $2 booking fee for each ticket.  They do a security metal scan before letting you in.  

The top part of the memorial pool is a waterfall.  Because of the freezing temperature, this feature was not on.  Otherwise, it would be a vertical ice skating rink.

The names of all the poor folks who died in the buildings, the passengers in the planes and the rescue workers were all  stamped into the metal rostrum running the entire square of the two pools.  A rose is placed there on the person's birthday.

Along the exit, there is a souvenir shop.  I saw this book that recognised the doggie heros of 9/11.  

In the afternoon, we went for a belated visit to MOMA.  Again I liked the Impressionist best.  I had trouble recognising some of the exhibits as art.  Still it was a worthwhile visit.  But of the four museums, the Met and AMNH are just head and shoulders above everything else.

Melissa and Tessa were booked to see Book of Mormons on Broadway and the adults were booked for Cuff Me.

Cuff Me is a parody of the book 50 Shades of Gray.  I don't know how the producers got away with it, but the show was in a synagogue!

We had a lovely Italian dinner at this small restaurant on 49th, Cieli, before our shows on 49th and 47th.

Coincidentally, both shows finished at the same time, so we caught up with the girls and went home together.  Again, everyone reported that both shows were great and had us all in stitches.

9th Jan 2014 Thurs

Today was packing day for our flight to San Francisco tomorrow.  Simon took us to Flushing, which is Chinatown in Queens, for yum char.  The food was great, and this place appeared even more busy than Chinatown in Manhattan.

After that WT and Catherine bought some pastries from Paris Bakery for tomorrow's breakfast and flight.

Gaik Kim and Maggie came over with take-out dinner from New Malaysia to save us cooking.  Awesome Malaysian food.  Thanks, guys,for feeding us today.

I did a weigh-in on all the 5 bags and without exception, all were around 55 lbs.  Delta charges $25 per bag, but if the bag was over 51 to 70 lbs, the fee was $100.

So I suggested we started another bag and pay $25 for the bag rather than 5 X $100 for  each extra heavy bag.  We added 2 new check-in bags in NY bringing the total to 6 bags.

10th Jan 2014 Fri

It was raining this morning.  That is a good sign because rain means no ice  Simon picked us up in a couple of vans.  We were in JFK nice and early.  All the flights were on time.   Check-in and bag drop off was done with most efficiently. I am very impressed with JFK.

We'd paid the trolley dispenser $5 for each of the two trolleys.  So Catherine and Tessa went to return the trolleys to get our deposit back.  They returned empty handed after valiantly trying to get money out of the trolley dispenser.  It appears $5 was the rental fee! 

My friend See Hack, whom we are meeting, in San Francisco told us later that this was a recent introduction for all domestic flights, and out-going international flights.  No charge for incoming international flights, presumably to keep everyone unaware so that you get suckered when you leave the country.

The change in temperature between NY and SF was 25C.  It was really pleasant wearing only one layer of clothing.  Trips to the bathroom are no longer like ski-field bathroom trips.

SF traffic was heavy at 5 pm, so it took 1.15 hours for us to get to our apartment in Green Street.  It was a one bedroom apartment in North Beach.  

Tessa and I went out for a walk to get some milk and eggs.  We are in an excellent location.  Right in the middle of Italy and a block from Chinatown.  There are many restaurants, clubs and pubs just around the corner from us, not to mention lots of quirky shops.  

11th Jan 2014 Saturday

I woke up at my usual time (7 am) to buy our city passes from Alcatraz Cruises on Pier 33.  If you buy the City pass from Alcatraz cruises, you may swap one of the boat cruises in the pass for the Alcatraz Cruise, which was what I did.  The pass also included a 7-day Muni bus and cable car ticket. This is a significant saving because a single bus trip is $2, and the well known SF cable car is $6, not to mention the convenience.  Only trick is to make sure the girls carry this on them all the time.

The walk from Green St. to Pier 33 took me over Telegraph Hill (highest point in SF City), past Coit Tower (best panoramic view of City, but closed for renovation).  Then down a long flight of stairs to the Embrocadero.  I think the bus pass is going to come in handy because I don't fancy this walk back on an empty stomach.

Bought the pass, booked our Alcatraz cruise for Monday, and Google Map helped me catch the bus back to North Beach.  The girls were just getting up at 9am when I got back.

While waiting for See Hack and Han to pick us up, I took everyone for a walk to Little Italy, Chinatown and up to Telegraph Hill.

Han and See Hack arrived in their 7 seater Lexus SUV, it was a perfect fit.  He took us through a few fancy suburbs and the Golden Gate park, ending up at the Golden Gate visitor centre.

After lunch, we went to Stanford University.  We had a good look around the large and beautiful campus.  If you imagine an ideal showcase university campus, then you are imagining the Stanford campus.  

Then it was time to hit the University shop for some merchandise.  This Uni shop puts all the shops on Lambton Quay and Willis Street to shame.  Books, clothes, computers, Kate Spade laptop bags and iPhone cases, cafe are all there.

Then it was off to CostCo.  A huge wholesale quantity sized variety store.  Everything here is oversized, and on per unit basis, cheap.  I bought some excellent Argentinian and German wine and prosciutto for local consumption.

Catherine asked me to show her where the suitcases were in CostCo, and she bought a 28-in spinner suit case.  This is not a good sign and a shopping OD early warning.  Other clues to this were questions like where is the Westfield mall, and when are we going to Union Square.

Melissa has heard so much about WalMart but never been to one, so it was WalMart next.  More things were bought here, mainly chocolate.

Then See Hack took us for an excellent meal at Romano Macaroni Grill, where their elder son Sean joined us for dinner.  We had a really good Mendoza Melbec, and I also tasted their excellent house chianti.  The quantities were again too much for us, but take-out containers were readily available.

After a cup of tea at Han and See Hack's lovely house, and a few songs on his super hifi system, it was time to take the BART (Bay Area Rapid Transport, nothing to do with our friend from Springfield) train home.  It was late and even with google map we had trouble finding the bus stop on Market St. for the last leg back to North Beach.  We did in the end with some help from a passer-by and WT asking around.  Melissa forgot her bus pass, but we entered the rearmost door, so we avoided paying the $2, this time.

Guggenheim and Metropolitan Museums

5th Jan 2014 Sun

We still had 4 museums to visit on our NY Citypass.  First on the list was the Guggenheim Museum, not to be confused with the one in Bilbao.  This one designed by Frank Lloyd Wright, and the Bilbao one by Frank Gehry.  Both named after Solomon R Guggenheim, art collector.  Like the one in Bilbao, the building was more impressive than the exhibits, though I did enjoy the impressionist sections featuring Cezanne, Monet, and Picasso amongst others.  

The interior is a spiral walkway and branching annexes along the way, the featuring artist is on display along the spiral wall.  This time it was a guy called Christopher Wool.  

I would say his art looks like graffiti on canvas.

WT wanted me to take a shot of this piece of his work, because we have done 2 out of 3.  The kids can read, mom!

I got slightly bored and while waiting for the others to catch-up, I decided to look for more interesting art work, and these kinky boots (which is also a Broadway show) seems to fit.

Everyone gave the exhibition their full attention and we made it to the top.

Next it was a walk down 5th Ave, along Museum Row to the Metropolitan Museum of Art.  This part of the 5th has a whole bunch of museums.  It was lunch time, and Catherine lead the way to the cafeteria in the basement of the Met.  We covered (meaning ignored) a lot of art in very short time on the way to the cafe.

Catherine mistakenly thought that the child's meal of chicken tender and fries she saw in front of the queue was an adult size meal.  So she ordered 2 meals, for Melissa and herself.  Turns out these were twice the size of the child's meal she saw and looked like enough food to feed a small African village.  American chicken tenders are like a side of chicken in size, and chef miscounted, giving Melissa 7 instead of 5 pieces and Catherine only got 6 pieces.

Tessa and I, after finishing our normal-sized plate of pasta, had to help.  But there were still left-overs even after we valiantly tried using a non-surgical stomach extension procedure to accommodate 4 meals in one sitting.

The chef made the above model of the museum frontage from sugar (in between cooking large meals).

The Met is the largest museum I have ever been to.  They have everything, Greek, Roman, Egyptian, American, European, Asia and Pasifika.  Almost sounds like a food court. It has 2 restaurants and a bar (not including the cafe) that I saw.  

The building itself is within Central Park along 5th Ave.  So you could see the park from the back part of the building.  Sunday closing was 5.30 pm, so we were ushered out at 5.15pm.  There was no chance of seeing all the exhibits, but we made a good effort.  And WT didn't have time to browse and buy anything from the museum shop even though 50% discount signs beckoned.

We took a walk into Central Park after this.  It was icy and slippery.

Snow ploughs made mini snow hills on the side of the roads.

6th Jan 2014 Mon

The only planned activity today was for Tessa, Melissa and Catherine to go to  Woodbury Commons Premium Outlet shopping about 80 km north of Manhattan.  It was raining and snowed a little.  They took a shuttle bus tour which, after all the pick-ups, took 2 hours to get there.  They shopped till 5 and returned to Chinatown where I met them and took the subway home.

Proof of purchases for the day.

WT and I didn't have any plans, nor did we want to spend all day at the Premium Outlet.  So we wandered around Lower Manhattan and bought a couple extra suitcases to accommodate all current and future purchases.

Snow and Slush

3rd Jan 2014 Fri

Six inches of snow fell overnight, and we woke up to the sound of snow ploughs clearing the foot paths.  No one was keen to go out because it was bitterly cold.  The temperature was -6C.  

Since I broke my iPhone, it has been a hassle taking photos with my proper camera and transferring it to my iPad to blog.  So I decided to brave the snow and cold to find a solution around this issue.  There is large electronic store in mid town 34th St and Ninth - B&H.  

A subway ride to Penn Station and a couple of blocks west and there was B&H.  It sells mainly cameras, both still and video, and a little audio equipment as well.  There are two levels and it looked like they stock every camera type.  

The sales people sit behind a whole row of counters and they are supposed to be experts and can answer any questions you may have.  So I went up to one and asked him how I could transfer my photos from camera to iPad without using a PC.

He said the Eye-Fi memory card might work and looked-up my camera model on his PC for compatibility.    This memory card is able to wifi photos from camera to iPad.  It was compatible, and so it was $49 including tax for a 8GB wifi memory card.  The item was sent downstairs with a conveyor system where you pay and pick-up your purchase.

I came home to find that WT and Catherine had purchased tickets to go to the Jersey Boys show in Broadway tonight.  It was from the half price tix for tonight at $85 each.

Jersey Boys is a musical about Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons, a blue collar quartet from Jersey.  Even Tessa and Melissa enjoyed the "old" songs such as Sherry, Big Girls Don't Cry, Walk like a Man, Can't take my eyes off you and Oh what a night.  

The snow was thick, slushy and temperature cold - about minus 12 C - as we subwayed, slipped and slide all the way to the August Wilson theatre.  It was a fantastic show and well worth the trek.

4th Jan 2014 Sat

I bought tickets to a comedy show called How 2 B a New Yorker at Planet Hollywood.  Tickets were $40.  It included a buffet pasta lunch in a small theatre within the Planet Hollywood restaurant.  Catherine also bought tickets to the Lion King for herself and Melissa for Tuesday night.  This show was more expensive at $135 discounted, the rest of us weren't so keen to go.

Tessa and Melissa had an early trip to Times Square to meet with Melissa's classmate who is on an exchange.  They wandered  around Times Square and went to the zoo in Central Park.  Only the penguins were out and about.  Even the polar bears stayed in-doors.  They said.

Gaik Sim joined us for the show so the four of us fitted around this tiny table with our lunch.  We had 30 mins to eat lunch before the show started.

I said to Catherine you don't get lunch with Lion King.  One of the opening lines of the show was "You don't get lunch at Lion King".

The two actors had us in stiches and welcomed audience interactions.  When they found out we were the only visitors, there was a bit of improvisation using NZ.  Unlike other shows, they encouraged us (tongue in cheek I think) to leave our phones on to take important calls and messages.  But no sexting, they said, which is the act of sending pictures of your private parts by text - invented by NY Congressman Anthony Weiner.  I guess the picture itself could be called sexfie, you know like selfie except at a more micro level.

Mid way through WT got pulled up on stage to learn how to be a New Yorker.  So they dressed her up a bit to look like one.  Asked her to guess a kenish and pronounce E Houston St.  And how to say Geddoudahere.  Houston is pronounced "House" ston not the normal "Hews" ston.  So in Appllo 13 it would have been "We have a problem House ston"

Tessa and Melissa met up with us after the show at Planet.  Melissa's boots were getting soggy walking in the snow slush.  So she went off gum boot shopping with Gaik Sim and Catherine.

WT, Tessa and I walked down to the Rockerfeller  Plaza, checked out the Nintendo shop, looked at the skating rink and big Xmas tree.  And then took the subway home.

Catherine, for dinner, had cooked up assam laksa noodle.  Simon, WT's brother brought roast chicken and lobster to finish off another wonderful day in NY.