Just Having Fun

There hasn't been much to report in the last few days, we've been running around East and Westside Manhattan looking for a place to rent before Deb starts work soon. The story of the apartment search is a pretty boring one, but we've seen nice places, horrible places, plenty in between. So many so that we've started to lose count of them, they're all melding into one monstrous all-consuming thing from the abyss that is the NY rental market. This isn't particularly unique to Manhattan. If you've ever been on any apartment search yourself, I'm sure you know what I mean.

Everything in New York is more audacious, the people, the pets, even the wildlife. While Deb was busy talking to another broker about our cause, I hear a chirping in my ear and turn to see a little sparrow hopping around the skeleton of a little tree. It was only about a metre away from my head. This would be pretty boring to most of you, but I got some nice photos of it. As the Sydney born and raised boy that I am, I found it fascinating, becuase the only wildlife that ever gets near you is a seagull, and only if you're holding a chip.

I found it most funny that in a city so commercialised, animals are still so hospitable. It was after all in my first visit to NY where squirrels would play in Central Park at a similar distance to you, happily posing for photos (that's what I like to think they were doing anyway).

At the time we were up at one hundred and something-th street, and Deb pointed out that the diner that they so often used as a backdrop for Seinfeld scenes was up here. With time to spare, and having a metro nearby, we headed up, using it as a chance to explore the area as well.

 Well, here I am! I didn't go in, but it was nice just to go there after all those years growing up with American TV.

What did we have for lunch instead? Well, I can't tell you, I just have to show you.

Excuse the slightly deranged look. The cheese had already gone to my head. It was delightfully crispy, and with the relatively sensible portion of cheese on top (for the surface area), not actually that oily. The only downer was the tinned mushroom, but hey, it's cheap for a reason. We had ONE piece between the two of us, with a bottled drink to wash it all down. And it cost less than $8. How many ways can I say I love thee NYC.

After the lunch that filled our dietary requirement of guilt, we visited a few craigslist appointments to net ourselves some cheap homewares/furniture. Who would have thought we would run into fellow Australians.
From Sydney.
From near where Deb grew up
and where I went to school...
It really is a small small world. We got to talking as it looked like they had already worked their way into a bottle of wine. They made it seem like they were heading back just for Bondi. As we left their apartment with a shelf and a clippy light, we were very jealous indeed.

No matter, then it was off to meet Hilda at Eolos for dinner, a lovely, rustic and intimate little place specialising in Sicilian food, or so the menu seemed to indicate.

 

Deb is here looking wistfully at me, wondering what she's done to turn me into such a glutton, especially after my showing at lunch.

The decor of this place was just so thoughtful. One could easily pass time just noticing all the curios scattered around the walls, and pillars. And as their lights wound down for the night, we ventured out into the cold, and called it a night.

So long... Sydneysiders!

So my day to day recounting doesn't really work... because realistically, not everyday is that interesting. I'll do my best to bring you the fun and interesting bits from our adventures, or when significant events occur.

So fast forward a frantic month and now we've packed up as much as we can, sold off the rest and found ourselves headed for New York!

Claude, (that's the name we've given my Clio) is actually quite a useful mover, belying his diminuitive stature.

 This picture is him loaded up about a day before we leave. Moving some of our possessions back to my mum and dad's place.
He's still for sale if you're interested /shameless plug.

So then came the day that we were due to fly out for New York. We tried to pack light but Deb insisted on trying to take one more souvenir with us.

As you can see it was a little case of wishful thinking there. But Deb had really wanted to visit the duckie before we left and we had a little time before our flight, so why the hell not?

Because of all our big luggage, my side of the family couldn't come with us in the car, but they made the trip to come see us off all the same.

Thus began our journey on the plane. Here we are looking all travel chic, bright and cheery.

We were flying China Airways via Taiwan and also Osaka. All up about 27 hours in transit, with 4 hours worth of stop-over on top of that... not an enjoyable experience, but not one we'll be repeating anytime soon... so we survived it.

The flight was quite pleasant, plenty of space with modern amenities, which was great for the price because we paid a similarly for the United Airways flight for far less comfort.
 
The food wasn't that nice on the first leg, very bland, on the other legs it got better, the fruit was very tasty. Service was so so, but they skimped heavily on the snacks and drinks. You get about one drink option for the whole flight with no other choice but water or chinese tea the rest.

At our stop off at Taiwan there was an "interesting" art display, describing ethereal inhabitants of the Taiwan airport called "No Mens".

Here you see me doing my best impression.

 The rest of the trip is pretty much a non-event. We were a little confused in Taiwan when our flight was described to go through Osaka, we must have forgotten that part of the itinerary. But it was dispatched with typical Japanese efficiency, until we got to the gate we were told to go to. At which point we were prompted that the plane was moved to another one for boarding, which was weird because up until the first gate there were plenty of signs posted to tell us where we were supposed to board.



So fast forward a few better airline meals, and inaudible english PA announcements, we arrived at New York, to -9 degree weather. At least it was sunny? Coming from 30+ degree Sydney averages it was a pretty hard pill to swallow.

We eventually made it up to our temporary home for the month, thanks go to Dawen and his brother Alvin for giving us a lift. In the door... and we promptly fainted.

So right now we're lounging on the couch, with the heater blaring. Planning for the days ahead.
So long Sydney! We'll see you soon.

Day 2, in Brooklyn

Monday was quite a busy day for us, we woke up to a pair of warm raisin chocolate bagels courtesy of our innkeeper. They were even wrapped up in a tea towel for us so they would stay warm.

Deb unfortunately doesn't like raisins, so when we figured out what we were doing for the day we went and grabbed her what is probably the winteriest food we could find. Soup.

 

Hale and Hearty are a franchise over here, so they're everywhere. This one was a Broccoli and Cheddar. A little on the salty side, but it was a nice texture that did end up hitting that cold spot we both had. One would think places like these could do very well in Sydney in the winter months. A simple expansion of the menu could tide them over for the summer months too. But alas, diversity is not one of Sydney's strong suits.

A big reason for us picking a bed and breakfast to stay at for the first couple of days was to try to immerse ourselves in the surroundings of the neighbourhoods we shortlisted from cursory research, so after breakfast we had a wander up the seaside of Brooklyn to breathe in the surroundings.

 

You can see it was a beautiful day for a walk, something we hadn't done as a couple for a long time. All along the seaside was Brooklyn Park, albeit mostly under construction. But the posters billed around the construction depict a very special place, forecasting a blend of National Park type preservation mixed with Public Social Space vibe. Plenty of playgrounds for the kids, sports fields including Handball and Volleyball courts, and plenty of benches along the way for those treading the slower pace. It will be a nice place to visit when it's all done and the covers are off, but it still seems like they have abit of work ahead.

We headed north towards the Brooklyn Bridge as we had engagements later in the afternoon in the city, made a crossing towards Manhattan together as I had done the opposite journey on my lonesome the first time we visited New York. To say it was quite a tourist attraction would be selling it short, because the few people you could tell were New Yorkers were those out for a morning jog or cycle, madly tinkling bells and honking horns at the sightseeing aliens who happened to stray into the fast lane or bike path. Who could blame them... cultural ignorance of outsiders in a new land (of both the endemic and alien population) raises pulses in Sydney too. 

Here you see the view out towards the Manhattan from the Brooklyn Bridge.

 

After we crossed the bridge we had a little time to while away before we were due to meet our rental agent, showing us around the upper east side. When we did meet up it was quickly decided that we quite liked the apartments that he had showed us but the neighbourhood was just a little too bland for us. More on this later. With knowledge reserves slowly being topped up, and it being about dinner time after the scramble around the upper east side, we stopped into one of Deb's favourite haunts for Pizza, Lombardi's.

We had the Bruschetta, which was huuuge compared to Sydney sizes.

And a small pie (that's pizza to you and me) with our choice of toppings, being panchetta (or was it proschutto...), sweet italian sausage, and roasted red capsicum. We concluded that the sign of the best pizza is one where you could just snack on the crust, the toppings are just the icing on the cake.

 

Once again I find myself having to commend the waiters for their polite, inoffensive demeanour. Some of them happily singing along to the background music while working in what most of us would consider one of the more difficult industries to work in. 

Holding our bellies, we ambled off to our lodging, and promptly turned in for the night. Unknowing of the what the weather had in store for us the next day.

Leaving on a jet plane, one week 'til we'll be back again...

It all started with an innocent promise to be able to spend at least part of our lives in a foreign city, the city in particular being New York. One hopeful application, and a Hurricane Sandy later, we find ourselves here, in New York, waking up as if I needed to go to work back in Sydney, as it's nearly 6am here but with the slight distance problem in between.

Our adventure started with one United Airways flight to our stopover at San Francisco. The comfort levels on this trip were so old fashioned, you could almost call it medieval (torture), there's just enough space to fit a human in between the seats, if the situation were to come with any sort of warning label it would read: "Must be professional gymnast to sleep comfortably."

It did come with some pretty pictures and a creepy guy staring at our iPad while we whiled away the hours though (18 of them...)

In the morning flight out,

In the afternoon,

So having arrived at San Francisco with our exhaustion levels sufficiently filled, we had a "not so long that it would be convenient to exit the airport but long enough that by just sitting there you'd feel like you're wasting your time" stopover, so a quick search on the free SFO wi fi revealed a nice little diner in the city to go visit.

Our search led us to St. Francis Fountain; with its welcoming little outdoor area,

Menu complete with silly names for menu items,

To absolutely retro themed decor, that's a movie theatre peg board they used for the ice-cream menu.

There was even a retro-themed candy stand behind us that I forgot to take a picture of with original "Indiana Jones, Raiders of the Lost Ark" Bubble Gum, among other themes that would be more familiar to a child of the 70's and 80's

Hip is the best word to describe it, the ambient music wouldn't get recommended to you unless by a friend with a "counter culture" bent, and the waiter/resses all looking like they're off to the skate park straight after work; including one particularly geek-chic guy with "Awesome; 300ZX" retro americana T Shirt. They treated their retro theme as an inspiration rather than something they cheesily pander to, which helps you to appreciate rather than be annoyed at.

The wait staff all had that laid back inoffensively polite demeanour that Sydney's staff always get wrong; instead translating it to "Must be nice, must be nice" through gritted teeth.

Oh, the food was nice too, simple, tasty, filling. There isn't much more that you'd want. 

Hot cakes with crispy crispy bacon, and a BLT that is also crispy crispy with Mac and Cheese.

Along with the spoon you'll need for that Milkshake...

It was just glee inducing from the fact that it contains actual crushed up Oreo cookie complete with cream, rather than that Oreo Cookie in a bag you get served up everywhere else. It was very sweet though, an extra splash of milk would have suited my taste a little better. Just don't forget that spoon and treat it more as a dessert rather than a drink. You won't be as confused and enjoy it more.

So after all the flying we arrived at New York on Sunday morning with a short wait for our oversleeping New Yorker friend who sleepily whisked us off to hot showers (it was single digit degrees with massive wind chill) breakfast dumplings, and shopping.

Yesterday was abit of a blur to me as we were both so tired, but all jokes aside, I don't think we said thanks enough to our friend, his relative and her friend all of who's shopping day I think we comprehensively ruined with our arrival. So, sorry, and thanks to all of you.

With our friend's help (and the patience of his guests), we arrived at our lodging for the night, just before the host was due to go out. Owned by a lovely lady who's obviously dedicated a lot of time to making the place cozy, we were immediately made very welcome and settled in. She bid us goodnight for the night and we proceeded to turn the place into the mess that was more fitting of us. Finally at the heady time of about 630, we lay down for some long overdue rest... on a bed... with soooooo much room.

 The hustle and bustle is why I'm awake, (it really didn't let up the whole night), the excessive jet lag doesn't help either. But now, in this unfamiliar place, I'm looking forward to this change of scenery and change of pace that awaits us.