BKDesign handled the Template and Coding for me and did an amazing job.  I’ve always wanted a design that was mine from the very first moment that I set up this site so was never completely happy with my mangled efforts of creating the templates myself, imagine me shuddering right now, or the free templates available since every Tom, John and Jane on the web not so surprisingly has the same templates.  He also handled the coding for the site and fixed up a lot of things for me, including the mapping function, video page and gallery.  While I’ve had those things for awhile they were not working all that well particularly the map thing!

So the Gallery page has been redone and has a new look.  It now incorporates a manual photo gallery as well for those of you who complained that your connections speeds were too low to view the slideshow.

The new mapping function is incorporated into the Journal and also hooked into the Country Category system so in future trips it will map the trip for me as well.  For journal entries that are mapped there will be a link to the map on the left hand side of the Journal entry.  At the moment there are only a few entries mapped from my last trip, mainly to test the system.  The true test will be on the next trip which is to Egypt next year.

Also the Video system has been given a tweak as well.  I will be entering the video’s on the appropriate Journal entries so they will now appear not only on the Video page but also from the Journal and they can be watched from either.  The advantage of it being hooked into the Journal as well is that as the site grows with more content, particularly for my RTW it can be organised easier.  Now I know that’s more my end but hopefully it will make the content easier to find on the views/readers end as well.  A couple more videos will appear in the next month or so from the Thailand trip.  The editing is done its more the music for the background that I have to work on!

So I’m all excited about the new look.  So have a look around and let me know what you think!

We had the two day hopper pass for Disneyland which allowed up to move between the two parks which have separate entries.  The queues were long, the longest being about 75 minutes but they did somehow seem to move fairly fast with the average wait about 25 minutes.

On the second day we took a break from Disneyland and headed out to Universal Studios for the day.  Now that was great fun as well but the most memorable part was during one of the rides the whole carriage shock and the guide commented

‘Its ok folks its just an earthquake.  We get them all the time here its nothing to be concerned about.’

We laughed.  After all we’d been hit with fake fires, people falling from balconies and being shot, flash floods now an earthquake.  What fun!

It wasn’t until later in the day that one of the attendants asked me if the ‘world moved for me earlier’.  I had a very intelligent answer consisting of ‘What....’.  He then explained ‘You know the earthquake we had this morning it was a big one did you feel it?’

My response after a moment of stunned silence “Oh my god, you mean that was real?!”

I immediately told Lou and she had the same reaction.  It certainly caused us some laughter every time we thought of it.  We found out later in the day that our hotel had been evacuated and so had Disneyland and there we we’re thinking a 5.4 earthquake was a part of the ride.

On our last day we ran around in Disneyland and went back to some of our favourite rides before heading back to the hotel to clean up and make our way back to the airport to catch our flight home.  Sigh.  The holiday is over.  I guess I now have to start planing the next one…

Lou did some last minute shopping for those little bits and pieces that people request before we headed into Little Italy for a leisurely lunch.  After lunch we just wandered around without much really on the agenda.  With rain threatening and our time almost up we decided to head back to Lil’s place.

Lil called a car service and we waved good bye and headed back to the airport to fly to Los Angeles.  The airport wasn’t a drama except the plane was delayed.  Of course.  Now this is where Lou’s Qantas Club membership came in handy since we could sit in the Lounge, somewhat more comfortable than wandering around in circles out in the general airport.  We got talking to a couple of other travellers who’s flights were delayed, different carriers, and time seemed to fly past.

Finally a couple of hours after we were meant to depart we finally left New York bound for Los Angeles. 

We pulled into the station and none of us could see Es, we were just about to get up and scurry off the train when we spotted her and she came onto the train with her usual calm radiating.  The rest of the train journey was mostly uneventful.  Eventually we found ourselves on Coney Island.

We wandered down the packed boardwalk listing to the music, looking out to the mostly empty beach, people watching and boy was there people to watch.  It was fascinating to wander the board walk at Coney Island.  There was also the weird.  Like one of the, well I guess you’d call it attractions, called ‘Shoot the Freak’.  I kid you not.

We had lunch, I will not go into details since it was average at best.  Still the area, with its Russian influence was fascinating.

On our return we quickly got ready then caught the subway once more, we spent an inordinate amount of time on the subway today but it was well worth it, this time back into Manhattan.  Dinner was a treat from Lil and Es, the food was beautiful.  Still the best part of the night was Mama Mia! 

Now while both Lou and I snickered at the appalling attempt at an Australian accent .. it was honestly that bad you’d think they could find someone who would at least try and get a close approximate to the accent he was trying, very unconvincingly to portray.  Still despite that one annoyance the show was fantastic and I really enjoyed it.  It had us all humming ABBA songs all the way back to Lil’s place after the show.

The only thing I can advise is that if you are in New York and miss out on getting tickets to the 1st, 2nd or 3rd show that you want to see persist and try something else.  You never know you might actually have a great night.  I know we did.

We started walking back rather than take the subway again and stopped in a little cafe in Soho for lunch.  Now it was nice I will give them that but it was the most expensive sandwich I’ve ever had in my life.  We continued walking after lunch this time for sweets at Max’s place.  After all we couldn’t leave New York City without having a chocolate hit one more time.

In the afternoon we re-gathered and decided we’d try and go to see the UN since we’d heard they allow tours through the building.  So off we walked, we decided we needed to walk off the chocolate, and we found the UN.  Walking up we noticed people streaming out of the building and a whole heap of people outside.  In true form for our day the UN as luck would have it decided to hold a fire drill.  So we stood, waited, then waited some more along with a host of others outside.  In the end we gave up.  It was after the time that the last tour normally starts and they were still only letting the workers go back inside.

Not having achieved much we met up with Es and went to see her apartment.  Now its small.  Its very small but as Es says its home and it is right in Manhattan.

Dinner that night was with the whole gang and we firstly went out to have drinks.  Being a Friday it took a little time to find a place that had a table but eventually persistence paid off.  Then dinner after as one does.

So that was the day…

So we were down to our third option, just as well we were in New York and there are so many good shows showing here!

We found the theatre showing Mama Mia!  We’d both heard that the show was good so we thought we’d give it a try.  We finally managed to get tickets not only for us but one for Lil as well to say thank you to her for letting us crash at her place.

So tickets in hand we headed off, although its amazing how much time that churned up!  This time we ended up in Central Park and spent quite a few hours wandering around.  The park is beautiful and certainly easy to spend time in. 
Its hard at times to remember that you’re walking around in the middle of Manhattan.  We also had lunch in the park at Tavern on the Green, at least I think that was what it was called.  Now do not let it fool you.  We thought Tavern as in pub, you know nice setting, average meals, why not.

The meal was superb and the setting is so far away from your average pub its not funny, so are the prices but the setting and food was worth it.  Just expect to pay somewhat more that you might have originally though.

After that we headed to the Rockerfeller centre.  There was a queue as one would expect but it really wasn’t so bad.  The view was amazing although there was a little smog around.  Lou had a few issues with the whole height thing but she coped rather well I thought!

Lil and a fried of hers met up with us after they finished work and then we headed out to the Beer Garden in Queens.  The place was great to spend the evening with a live band playing out in the garden where we managed to score a seat on one of the long wooden benches and tables scattered all over the garden.  We just sat and listened to the band and basically soaked in the atmosphere of the place.  It was a great night.

Wednesday 23 July 2008 - The Train from Niagara back to New York
That trip was mostly uneventful but long with customs being the major annoyance.  While I may have thought that clearing Customs and Immigration at the airport was a bit of a circus I can safely say the train is worse.  While they have less people to get though they certainly seem to take three times as long. 

For some reason they also lock down the dining car so we were sitting there for the better part of 2 hours plus without being able to get any food or drink.  That might have been ok except it was lunch time and there was no warning at all that we would be able to purchase so much as a cup of coffee while we all waited.  At least in the airport once you’ve cleared the checkpoints you can go and get food and something to drink while you wait.  You’re not forced to cool your heels while everyone else in the airport is cleared as well.  It was wet and miserable outside for most of the trip so in a lot of ways was the perfect travel day since we were sitting on a train anyway.

First up for the morning was pancakes with maple syrup, well ok I know that’s not adventurous but hey its breakfast and I decided I should have something that’s Canadian.  That would be the Maple Syrup part…

After breakfast we booked on the Jetboat Tour, which really wasn’t as expensive as we were expecting.  Following directions we walked down to catch the tourist bus that runs up and down the main drag all day long dropping people off at points of interest all day long.  We managed to find that without too much hassle and ended up at the Whirlpool Jet Tours Office in short order.

We left our bags behind.  They warned us we were destined to get wet.  Very wet.  Now we didn’t flinch from that although we could have done the jet boat that has fancy hydraulic covers to keep one dry but we thought that was for the spineless coward types.

They piled us all up onto a bus and we headed off further down the road to the jet boat dock.  They gave us jackets with the reminder that while they would help cut the wind and keep us warmer they would not do a thing to keep us dry.  They then handed us the lifejackets.  Off we went and Lou and I ended up in the very front row of the jet boat.

We headed off down river at a rather sedate pace for a bit before the boat picked up speed then flung around in a 360 degree turn accompanied by cheers from all of us as we then headed up river towards the Devils Hole.  A class 5 rapid.  So far so good.  We were all still in the boat and dry.  I didn’t think the dry part was going to last much longer.

We went past the Devils Hole rapid, powered up then the boat performed another 360 degree turned and powered down river towards the rapid.  We all braced just like we were told, just in time for the first wave of water to hit us square in the face, followed in quick succession by several more as the boat was tossed around as it powered its way through the rapids.  We came out the other side cheering, clapping and hollering for more and yes.  We were all saturated to the bone just as promised.

We made several runs with similar results before continuing up towards the Whirlpool, a class 6 rapid.  Just before getting there the boat powered up and spun around once more, showing off for the people on the viewing platform above and the cable car above us.  We didn’t mind.  It was fun.  Then they took us over for a closer look at the Whirlpool.  They asked if we’d all like to go through it and we all cheered.  Unfortunately there was the little problem of it being a tad illegal so we couldn’t do that.  Sigh.

We headed back down towards Devils Hole for a couple of more runs through.  Our second last ride we were told was called the ‘Burger King because it’s the home of the big whopper’.  The last ride was called ‘Happy Hour - because its all you can drink’ and drink we did!!!

We piled off the boat, all very wet but smiling, laughing and generally in a great mood.  I handed back the rain jacket telling them as I dripped all over the ground that they should get a refund because it was defective and I got a little wet.  They laughed.

We rode back in the bus to the office playing tag with the next group.  Although these were the soft spineless types who didn’t want to get wet.  Had a bit of a chuckle as I heard them complaining that they were going to get wet because the seats were wet on the bus.

We decided to walk for a couple of stops to dry off a little and at least the sun was out so it was warm enough.

In town we tracked down some food for a late lunch then dropped our bags off at the hotel.  Next up on the itinerary was the Maid of the Mist.  They promise that we’ll get wet as well.  Although since we were both already wet it didn’t really worry us I just didn’t want to risk my camera gear getting wet.

Complete with the really long blue plastic rain jacket (it was a shame to have to part with that glorious fashion item - Lou) we climbed onboard securing a place on the rail downstairs since the rails on the upper deck were already claimed.  The Maid of the Mist headed off towards the falls at a rather more sedate pace than the jet boat.  We passed by the American Falls on our way to the Canadian Falls were the Maid of the Mist proceeded to go side on to the falls and get as close in as it could get.  The spray from the falls was strong enough to sting the eyes and yep, we got wet again.  We also had all the water from the upper deck washing down on us as well.  It was an amazing view of the falls though!

Still if you do your hood up really tight and huddle in the middle of the boat you could stay reasonably dry.  But what is the fun of that?

After that little adventure we headed back to have a shower and change into dry clothing.  For the evenings activities we intended to stay dry.  We made it into a bar/restaurant just before the skies opened up and it started to rain steadily.  We settled in for dinner and a few drinks people watching until the rain stopped.  Or we hoped it would since neither of us had any more dry clothes.

We finished dinner and the rain also finished which was remarkable timing.  We walked down towards the Sky Wheel but got diverted towards the glow in the dark golf, Lou’s eyes lit up at the prospect of playing, not that she was using delaying tactics at all to avoid a ride on the Skywheel - Lou’s not real good with heights.  It wasn’t dark enough yet for the Sky Wheel so we played a round of glow in the dark golf.  Lou won the first inaugural golf challenge as one would expect.  Still all things considered I didn’t play too badly.

Next up was the Sky Wheel.  We purchased tickets and went for a ride and it provided spectacular views of the Falls.

That was pretty much it for the day.  What fun!

As a result I spent the morning on the train going from Montreal to Quebec City in relative comfort.  I didn’t really notice the time, then again it was only about three hours all up.

On arrival in Quebec City we went to our hotel and left the bags at reception as the room was ready for us yet and headed out into Old Quebec.  Firstly to find some lunch.  We found our way inside the wall without much hassle since our hotel is only about a block or so away from Old Quebec.  On first impressions its an interesting place to walk around and its a pity that we only have the afternoon to have a brief glance around.

That is not because we didn’t have the time but due to the combination of it being peek travel season, Quebec City’s 400th Birthday and Paul McCartney throwing a free concert in town.  As a result we only managed to get a room for one night.

While there were people out on the streets and sitting in the cafe’s there didn’t really seem to be that many people out and about.  That was until we came out from lunch.  There was not room outside or on the ground floor so they took us to the dining room downstairs, it looked like it had originally been a cellar.  When we came out there were people everywhere.  The streets were quite literally packed.  It certainly reminded me of the other reason I generally hate travelling in the peek travel season.  Other than everything being more expensive, accommodation being problematic there are just way to many people.

Still we walked around a bit looking at the buildings and gardens, pausing to watch some of the street entertainers work the crowds.  We ended meandering our way up in Artist Ally where Lou did a spot of haggling and with a little white lie or two managed to swing a deal for a couple of etchings.  (Miss Lou says it was only a ‘slight bending of reality")....

After a few hours we went back to the hotel and were told our room was finally ready so we checked in and went out to check out the room.  The room is quite nice and certainly nicer than the one in Montreal.  Of course its a little more expensive than the one in Montreal.  One advantage of that is we do not have a whole heap of noisy teenagers staying there running up and down, banging on doors, giggling and laughing like a bunch of two year olds.  At least not on our floor.

After spending a little time checking out the room we headed out once more, its not like we really had much time and walked through some of the outer sections and around the outside of the wall.  While walking around the wall we saw a motorcade drive past with police escort.  Didn’t take much to work out who was inside said car as people waved screamed and took photo’s.  Not long after that a familiar sound filtered across Old Quebec so we headed in the general noise of the music that was belting out.  We ended up on a grassed slope that ended in a wall with a rather abrupt drop on the other side along with a couple of hundred people listening to Paul McCartney sing.  The screen at the side of the stage was lit up.  We stood there for a bit listening to what was obviously the sound check for the evenings performance.

We wandered back and settled into a restaurant with a jug of rose between us, that isn’t as bad as it honestly sounds, and people watched until we heard a familiar screaming, clapping saw people surging as far forward as they could, even people in the restaurant who left there meals to go crowding over to the edge with there cameras flashing.  Seems Lou and I were the only ones who stayed put.  Sure enough it was Paul McCartney driving past.  I suddenly understood the motorcade and police escort.  I mean give the man a break, he was just driving past in a car!

Dinner was both good and bad.  The food was spectacular.  The service sucked.  Well actually the two younger waiters were fine.  The head waiter sucked, I do not think we were local, French enough, for him.  Anyway we had the Bouillabaisse Seafood Stew, it was beautiful.  We talked to a local guy on the table next to ours for a bit and it turns out he was in town for the concert.  Also turns out we were lucky to get accommodation since he was intending to sleep at the train station for the night since he could get any.

We returned briefly to the room to dump some gear then I went out once more and headed into Old Quebec to explore some more since it was still light outside.  I finally found the main gate that we’d managed to somehow miss all day.  People were everywhere all heading in pretty much the same direction.  Towards the concert.  I was a little curious as to how many people were now packing the ground since the people had been telling us all day that they were expecting a couple of hundred thousand people to show.

I got there and managed to wind my way through the mob to a fairly good position.  I could see the top half of the stage, taller people could see the stage, or at least I think they could since quite a few of them were using binoculars.  Still being short I just looked at the massive screens to either side or the stage.  The local acts were on when I got there so I had a bit of a wait but the atmosphere was amazing. 

The Paul McCartney came on and people went crazy.  He cam on stage, interacted with the crowd speaking a few words in French.  Some how I think his French is no better than Miss Lou’s, a few more words than I can speak but at least they can not say he did not try.  He even made a joke of it telling them he would be speaking English and the translation would be on the screens in French for those that needed it.  Then remarking that he thought that they could probably understand him anyway.  They all laughed, he had them although I think he had them from the second he walked on stage.  He launched into one song after another that the crowd loved.  Or at least the part of the crowd that I could see did.  The concert was amazing and the man certainly knows how to play his audience.

So only half a day in Quebec but on the other side a free Paul McCartney concert.

Michael and Melody picked us up and took us up to Park du Mont-Royal The park is beautiful and offers great lookouts over Montreal.  The weather decided to co-operate and it turned out to be a spectacular day.  We spent a couple of hours wandering around the park going to various lookouts some requiring more work to get to than others before heading off to the Musee D’Archeologie Pointe-A-Calliere which housed some of the original foundations from when Montreal was first settled. 

The afternoon was pretty much over, Michael and Melody took us back to there house for dinner.  It was a great way to spend the early evening eating and chatting with the family before heading out to see the fireworks display prepared by an Australian Team apparently.

That was the end of our day and Michael drove us back to our hotel.  We said good bye and thanked him since this was also pretty much the end of our time in Montreal as we leave first up in the morning to head to Quebec City.

That passed without much hassle although we were delayed for about 1.5 hours by Canadian Customs so were late getting into Montreal.  Someone ended up being hauled off the train with their baggage and they were not allowed back on so perhaps we have them to thank for the delay.

Still Michael met us at the train station and took us to his place for a drink and to meet the family, Melody, Luc and Danniel before taking us to our hotel for the night.

Our first day in Montreal we spent mostly in Old Montreal.  It was overcast and threatening rain off and on all day so we tended to stay close to areas where we knew we could get indoors quickly if we needed to.

We took a Caleach ride around Old Montreal, originally we were going to just walk around but the rain halted that idea.  Still it was nice.  Our horses name was Captain Bob.  Our driver was entertaining and knowledgeable about Montreal and Old Montreal in particular.  Or maybe he just spun a good tale, either way it was a pleasant way to spend a half hour while it rained outside our carriage we managed to stay day and see some of the Old City.

After the carriage ride we went into the Basilica Notre-Dame.  While I really am not into the whole church thing, mostly due to seeing we seemed like one church and cathedral after another all though Europe it was interesting.  Mainly due to the paintings on the walls which told the story of Montreal rather than the history of the church so that was a refreshing change.  They also have a massive pipe organ that started playing while we were in there.  It added to the atmosphere.

During a pause in the rain we wandered down to the Old Port area for a walk.  We nearly ended up in a maze that they have in an old warehouse, the child inside us both peeking out thinking it might be fun.  we ended up deciding not to but only because we didn’t think we had time before we were due to meet Michael and Melody for dinner.  So we continued our leisurely walk to where we’d agreed to meet up. 

We were a little early so went looking for the so called ‘underground city’.  We didn’t find it so ended up in a coffee shop.  Lou walked around the corner in what we though was just a large coffee shop and sure enough there was the mall.... oh well.

Finally we met up with Michael and Melody and wandered through the Street Festival that was just kicking off before settling for Mexican for diner.  All of us girls ordered a cocktail, Michael ordered a beer but at least it was a Corona!  Lou’s drink was a sangria.  The waiter put down a large jug with a straw in it and for that split second Lou’s eyes widened in surprise, until he then put down a glass as well.

The restaurants were full and there were people everywhere with musicians, performers and dancers scattered the length of the road that had been closed for the festival.  It was fascinating and kind of fun walking through the crowds.

We went for a walk around the area with Michael pointing out the buildings of interest and some of the history behind them, turns out he is a bit of a history buff then the sky opened up once more and it poured. 

We got a little wet but it was fun.

It was relaxing sitting, people watching.  There were children of all age groups, even the adult variety playing, running in and out of the water, getting soaking wet while they were at it.  We watched with some bemusement the line for our trip getting longer and longer.  We were both on the same page on that one.  Why the heck would we want to stand out there for an hour when we could sit in the cafe, sip a glass of white wine and nibble on the lunch we’d ordered?  The cue was all the way back to where we were sitting and they still had about 30 minutes to wait.  We started joking about just moving our chairs and table complete with umbrella forward to join the cue.

We waited until there was only a handful of people left then paid our bill and wandered over to board.  Strangely enough we still managed to get on board.  We had to wait for the boat to leave the dock but then we were allowed to go stand out front on the deck.  Since we didn’t have seats that was what we did.  We perched ourselves on some makeshift seats and had a great view.  Amazing since all those people who waited in line for an hour to get on board kept rushing out to where we were, jostling for position to get photos.  Some of them seemed to think we should move for them.  Rude of me I know but we didn’t move.  They wanted the seats inside, well they got them.  We didn’t have seats inside but had no problems with sitting out on the deck, so we were staying put.

The cruise was for the most part relaxing with our attention drawn to points of interest by a fairly continuos dialogue describing everything around us.

At the end of the cruise we headed back to Lil’s place getting supplies on the way so we could get ready for the picnic this evening.  We were going to the free concert on the great lawn in Central Park by the New York Philharmonic Orchestra.  We got everything prepared since Lil had to stay back at work so was running a little late.  Still she made it back changed and we were headed out once more.

We arrived at Central Park with the masses heading into the park.  Some of Lil’s friends were there early and saved a spot.  We eventually found them although it wasn’t easy with hundreds of thousands of people all either sitting or heading into the same point.  Still we eventually found them and set up the picnic.

It was a perfect night and the concert was fantastic They started off with Tchaikovsky’s Piano Concerto No. 1 in B-flat minor, Op.23.  Next up was Beethoven’s Symphony No. 4 in B-flat major, Op. 60 followed by Sibelius’s Finlandia, Op. 26, No.7.  They finished off the night by playing the William Tell Overture, followed by fireworks.

After the concert we wound our way back through the park and headed towards the subway.  We made a slight detour and went to see the Apple Flagship Store in New York.  Its pretty amazing.  The entrance is a giant glass cube with a glowing apple symbol with escalators leading down to the store.  Its apparently open 24 hours a day.  We’ll be going back there when we get back to New York but this time so that Lou can get herself an iPod.

After the slight detour we made it to the train and back home.  It was a fantastic night and well worth the effort.

The accommodation really wasn’t that hard to find which was good although I was a little surprised since the comedy festival is on in Montreal at the moment.  Next we booked the train leg to Quebec City.  Now the train tickets were not that hard to find which was good.  The unfortunate part came next.  We really should have checked the accommodation before hand.  We went through about 3 different hotel sites and all the entries in the Montreal Guide.  While we finally found accommodation it was the last place we tried with only two left in the book.  Even so they only had one room and it was only available for one night and its a top end hotel so really expensive.

All the other places said the same thing.  No sorry, its the Paul McCartney concert...’

Turns out we’re staying in the ‘Presidential Suit’ although while I’m expecting a nice room I’m really not expecting it to be too much since while its expensive its not like we’re spending thousands of dollars.

Unfortunately due to the lack of accommodation that means we only have the one day in Quebec City as we are leaving on the train the next day for Niagara Falls.  We spend two days there, mainly due to arriving late so not being able to see the falls and the train for New York leaves early the next day.

By the time we booked all that it was after 2 pm.  Still we headed into town briefly.  Firstly we picked up my sunglasses which I’d managed to leave at the roof top party the first night.  After that we went looking for a DVD that Lou’s dad wanted her to pick up.  Unfortunately no one seemed to have it in stock.

Next I went hunting for the lens I wanted.  The first store tried to hustle me.  Really not going to happen.  They worked out I was Australian and then comment about how expensive the lens was in Australia.  They then gave me a price for the lens that while under the Australian price was well above what I know it costs in the US.  I’m not entirely silly I did do some research before heading into the stores so I knew roughly what it would cost.

They finally came down in price when it was obvious I was going to walk but then tried to swap out the canon lens I was after for the sigma lens.  I walked.

The next store I went to was, well professional in there approach and a start contrast to the firsts con artists.  B&H is a great shop.  A very dangerous shop.  I could really spend a fortune in that shop.  I went upstairs and then had to stand in a cue to get to the counter.  Kind of strange but seems to work really well.  Finally my number was up.  The price of the the lens was actually a little lower than the lowest price I’d seen online.  There was a special on canon lens the sales assistant told me.  So I promptly brought the lens.  I’m now the proud owner of a 70 - 300 IS DO USM lens.

As for the first store well imagine me flipping them a rude finger sign.  I guess I had the last laugh on that one since there dishonesty lost them a sale.

We wandered out and around the corner to the subway.  I mean that quite literally.  Its less than 20m away. Handy really.  We proceeded on our second subway ride heading back into Manhattan for the day.

We were a little early so started walking around/though China Town with its road side stalls selling everything from watches to fresh produce, the English Language dimmed into the background hum to be overtaken by Cantonese.  As we wound our way though Lil pointed out the otherwise featureless building which was the school where she was sent as a child once a week to learn Cantonese.  Although she insists that it didn’t really take and that she didn’t manage to learn much at all.

Shortly we found ourselves queued up outside the place where we were having Dim Sum along with our ‘number’ and everyone else waiting to get in.  Es joined us in the waiting game and took over listening to the man who came out to frequently to usher groups into the restaurant.

It was finally our turn after about a thirty minute wait and we ended up in the far corner.  The food when we snagged it was tasty.  It was just getting our hands on it which was a little bit problematic as quite often the waiters trays would be empty before they got halfway down the room.  We found ourselves looking over to one table not far from us who knew the owner.  It was amazing how much ended up on that table.  At one point one of the waiters just turned walked over to our table, took the bottle of soy sauce and deposited it on the other table.  He didn’t say a word to us, didn’t even ask us if we were using it.  Sigh.

Still we managed to get enough food to stuff ourselves but I’m left between thinking the food was great but the service was crap.  It all seems to be about location in a place like that but that is similar in most of those style restaurants, at least the ones I’ve been to.

After stuffing ourselves we went for a walk once more and ended up in Little Italy, with its green, red and white flags fluttering in the breeze and row upon row of Italian restaurants.  It occurred to me that for a city that prides itself of being a unique, one of a kind in the world that they spend an inordinate amount of time and effort copying everyone else.

We then wandered around Soho with all its shops.  At one point Es just up and bolted across the street.  She didn’t say anything she just bolted.  Wondering what it was she spied we all followed.  She ended up at a roadside cart giving out free M&M Ice Creams.  All the girls indulged.  I declined.  Not because I was being good just because I’m really not that fond of ice cream.  It must have been good though with all the ‘happy noises’ coming from them.

We hit my favourite store, the Apple Store in Soho.  There was a cue stretching from the door to around the corner.  All those people lined up to get there hands on the latest offering from Apple, the new 3G iPhone.  Now do not get me wrong I’d love to get one but unfortunately I have about 1 1/2 years left on my current phone contract.  Pity really since not only do they look great but they are also cheaper here.  A great deal cheaper.  We went in and I was very restrained restricting myself to the universal plug adaptors.  Turns out the US adaptor I brought with me only allowed for two pin Aust plugs to be utilised.  My laptop plug has the typical three which meant I could not recharge my laptop.  I found the adaptors after a little wander.  I was tempted to stay in the store, they had a lecture going on Leopard that had just started but the others would have been bored silly and I didn’t have my laptop with me anyway.  Oh well, another time.

After that we wandered through the East Village where we stopped for a coffee and a spot of people watching while we were at it.  Eventually we ended up in Union Square.  People were lounging around, a drummer was drumming out a beat with a loan break dancer out front.  People where preaching to the masses… (er not really but they were trying to...).  Artists lined the outer edges with their wares.  It was an interesting place to sit.

Later in the day we wandered through Chelsea towards Hells Kitchen and stopped in a bar for a cocktail before heading off to Lil’s sisters apartment then wandered through Hells Kitchen as we went off to dinner.  Dinner was superb and so was the view looking over the corner of Central Park as we had a table by the window.  It was a pleasant way to end the day

It was an early morning departure with my alarm going off at 0515 hours.  Just enough time to stumble out of bed, change, pack the last few things like toiletries into my bag and get in the car to go to the airport.  The city was fog bound.  Just what we needed.  What with strike action by the Qantas Technicians causing flight delays we really didn’t need the weather to chime in and help with fog as well.

The radio cheerfully announced that it was 0 degrees.  I really didn’t need them to tell me that I knew it was cold.  There was that moment as we travelled that fog bound road that I breathed a sigh of relief.  One moment we couldn’t see more than 5m from the car clearly.  The next the fog was gone and there was the airport in a patch of clear ground and sky with a ring of fog surrounding it.

There was the usual stuff at the airport. The one that sticks in my mind was one lady that was running with her bag saying ‘Get out of my way’ as she barged past managing to hit me with her bag while she was at it.  Why the heck can’t people be on time to airports?  Its not a hard concept.  Still we went through all the formalities and ended up in the Qantas Club Lounge.  For wonder of wonders our plane departed on time.

We arrived in Sydney without incident and transferred to the International Terminal making our way to the Qantas Club Lounge once more.  It had quite a few people in it.  An understatement.  It was packed.  Although the reason was made clear when an announcement was made regarding further delays in several flights, a few chuckles and groans could be heard across the lounge.  Once more we were lucky however since our plane managed to depart on time.

So here I am.  Its 4 hours into the flight.  The laughter and chatter has died down.  People are trying to sleep even though its only 1430 hours our time.  Others are using computer, reading watching the video on demand system or writing.  I was reading up until a few moments ago then I finished my book.  Sigh.  Only 8 hours and 55 minutes to LA....

We had to go through Immigration and Customs on arrival in LA.  That turns out to be somewhat of a circus.  Not the cueing and passing slowly through the various checkpoints part.  That happens everywhere.  The Americans do not seem to have a concept of what ‘In Transit’ actually means.  They insisted that we were still in transit and that once clear of customs our bags would go straight back onto the plane that we wouldn’t have to recheck them etc.  Fine.  That part worked except they then proceeded to push us out into the Departures Hall where we had to jostle and make our way from one side to the other upstairs cue once more along with every other tom dick and harry at the airport and go through all the security check in bullshit yet again.

We got through all that with very little time to spare before we had to board our plane once more to continue on our way to New York.

Lil and her brother picked us up at the airport and drove us to lil’s place.  We just sat and chatted for some time and drank our first cosmo - Lou’s first attempt at making one then headed into Manhattan where we spent the night at a roof top party.  It was a lot of fun with a spectacular view over the river and that side of Manhattan.  The city lit up as night fell and when we all quietened down we could hear the beat of the drums from the Bon Jovi concert in Central Park.

What a way to spend my first night, at a Roof Top party in Manhattan, New York City!