The Photos From The Helicopter Flight

If this goes to plan - I've never tried it before - a selection of the photos we took on the trip will appear here bundled into a few categories. Hope you like them!

The Helicopter Trip

Photos taken , mostly whilst in flight, of the trip we took around Manhattan.

Somewhere amongst those buildings are the holes left by the World Trade Centres

The heliport - where Tania wished she was at that moment!

A moody shot of what everyone calls the Freedom Tower but is actually No 1 World Trade Centre

When I pressed the shutter the New York Yankee's Stadium was in the middle of the frame. Bumpy ride!

The Financial District

Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island in the background

For me the start of an adventure - for Tania a mobile torture chamber!

Of Fine Dining And Brooklyn Bridge

After a brief rest last night we went out for dinner. Dinner with a difference - no burgers and fries this time.

One of the people I follow on Twitter had recently tweeted about a restaurant in New York that she insisted should be on everyone's "to-do" list. So I booked us in.

Pearl and Ash, in The Bowery. Look it up on the internet and take a look at its decor. Really foxy.

No blow by blow account - and certainly no photos of our dinner - why do people do that?? Truth is the menu contained ingredients that we had never heard of. I felt a bit of a numpty if I'm honest. This place was different. Very, very different. For a start they actually encourage you to have very small amounts. Means you can try more dishes. We did a few.

It's a waste of time telling you what we ate - we weren't sure ourselves. But the food was exquisite. Easily Michelin star standard. With Michelin star prices too - but we counted it as a holiday treat. Because we're worth it!

Not done much today - our last full day in New York. Walked across Brooklyn Bridge and back. We had been told the Manhattan skyline looked impressive from there. We were told right, too.

Liked it so much we went back again at dusk. Not obvious from the photos - our camera seems to be afraid of the dark and made the sky in each picture look much brighter than it actually was. Super, super sight to see, no doubt about that.

Up at three in the morning for a ride to JFK and flight back home. We both feel we've enjoyed New York - plus Pennsylvania - a lot, but - it really is time we got back home, stopped living out of suitcases and, most importantly, got our two little dogs out of the kennels. Two little girls we've missed a lot.

I'll finish up when I'm back with some final thoughts about the trip. Until then . . .

I Don't Take Coffee I Drink Tea My Dear . . .

Time for a few disconnected and random final thoughts on our trip to New York. (Although this was posted after I returned home - and yet appears out of sequence and not as the last posting as intended - all my thoughts here were written actually on my last night in New York.)

I've seen the New York Subway system enough times in movies but seeing it in reality came as something of a shock. I mean, would it be that hard to update it to something like -say - the 1960s. Or even the eighties.

Not long before I came away on holiday I travelled on the London Underground and went on  one of their new trains that has the really wide open connection between the carriages. By contrast the NY trains seem to have been made in the fifties. So old, so tired, and interiors made of cheap and nasty plastic materials.

Oh - and don't start me on the stations. Dark, unattractive, with lines of pillars along the platform edge specially designed to give muggers somewhere to hide. No information system on most of the stations - just stand there and wait patiently, hoping a train might turn up sometime in the foreseeable future.

And so few stations have any obvious access for disabled.

I'd be impressed if they could bring the system into the twentieth century - gobsmacked if they made it into the twenty-first!



Now - my next subject is in no way a criticism, just an observation built on one of Tania's throw-away remarks. Considering just how many times places we went to were being refurbished I can see what Tania was thinking when she said "It seems most of New York is held up by scaffolding!" Not hard to see where she was coming from. So many buildings have covered scaffolding along the walkway - but there is no obvious work being done. You seldom walk more than three blocks without navigating some scaffold structure.

They say the Mafia had/has control of gambling, drugs, etc, but I'm telling you if I was part of that organisation I would press for control of scaffolding!



Hotels, now, and not just American ones. In all hotels I've stayed in they go to some trouble to have the toilet rolls start with a pointed sheet.

Why??

My younger niece studied Tourism and Leisure. I am left wondering whether they devote a week or two to the art of pointed toilet paper. It's so universal there must be world-wide training in it.

(I have been told it's a sign that the place has been cleaned and prepared. So why not just write "All good - pull from here" on the first sheet.)



One of the biggest disappointments to me was the New York people. I mean, they were all so friendly. Really helpful. Unfailingly polite. Genuinely nice people - apart from when they're on the move, then, whether driving or as pedestrians, they become very impatient, moving forwards quickly, and certainly not suffering fools or sluggards gladly.

But - apart from when on the move they turned out to be really nice people.

I was really expecting them to be rude, sarcastic and aggressive. Imagine my sense of disappointment that they were so, so nice!

And here's a thing for you to ponder. For our trip to Pittsburgh we put our large cases in Left Luggage at Penn Station and travelled light. Made sense.

When we got back to New York we went to claim our cases back. Gave the fella behind the counter our ticket and off he went to retrieve them. That's when we noticed a beaker full of dollar notes on the counter - their collection of tips. I don't know how many times we saw the counter unattended over the days we went there - it was more than a few - but that beaker just sat right on the front edge of the counter. How long do you think that would last before being pinched in the UK??



Have to confess we have been lucky with the weather here. Just one really wet and windy day in New York. And that was when we were in Pittsburgh! For us it has been pretty much warm and mostly sunny the whole way.



Finally, my last thought as I get ready to leave the United States is a major concern that I will be charged for excess weight on my return flight. You see, I will be bringing back a very much larger tummy with me. Too many pancakes with bacon and maple syrup. Or large burgers. Or sunny-side up eggs. And those things they call biscuits and we would call scones.

Lightship near Pier 17 - perfect for a certain poser!

So long New York. We enjoyed coming to see you, loved your fiendishly tall buildings - favourite has to be the beautiful Chrysler Building, it's gorgeous - and loved your people. Loved the challenge of mastering your creaking, ancient subway system in a perverse way. New York is really special.

But we won't be back. Simply, there are other places to see and we don't have enough years of life left to see them all.

But we will remember your city for years to come.

I don't take coffee, I take tea my dear
I like my toast done on one side
You can hear it in my accent when I talk
I'm an Englishman in New York

Whoa-oh, I'm an alien, I'm a legal alien
I'm an Englishman in New York . . . . .

Drove my Chevy to the levee . . .

Well - not a levee really, if I'm to be totally honest with you. It was a lake. A big lake. In fact a mahassive lake.

Lake Erie.

Remember we had a spare day in Pittsburgh. You see, there's nothing bad about Pittsburgh. It's just not the kind of city you would spend any time in. So we hired ourselves a car. A Chevy.

I knew a levee involved water of some kind and figured Lake Erie would have enough of it to fill our needs for the title of this nonsense.

We bought a map of Pennsylvania especially for the trip, opened it up and realised it was gonna be useful for knowing which way was north but not much else. Sat-nav saved the day.

Just meandered off in the direction of the town called Erie - didn't know there was one - and then tried to find a road that ran alongside the lake itself. I think we tried every single road heading east before we eventually found the right one but - my, oh my - was it worth it! Absolutely gorgeous houses in stunning countryside with the lake appearing in the background from time to time.

Given enough time we stumbled upon a little side road that ran down to the shore. Tania was in seventh heaven and came over all David Bailey. I don't want to spoil you all so one will have to do y'all!

Lake Erie

We may as well have been at the seaside for all we knew - just a massive expanse of water led to the horizon. But - I knew that, most unexpectedly, I had seen one of the Great Lakes. Never in my plans for life, never gave it one second's thought to be honest, but to be that close. It just had to be done.

Having said that, Pennsylvania was never top of my list of places to go and see. Glad we did, though. Beautiful rolling countryside and, as it's fall here - autumn to those of us who speak proper English - the scenery was greatly enhanced with the golden hues of the trees.

We flew in a prop plane back to Newark. Tania hated it. 'Nuff said.

For reasons I now don't understand I booked us into a hotel in Brooklyn for our return to Noo Yoik. For sure Brooklyn ain't Manhattan. Manhattan is really lacking in ever-present grafitti, seediness and menace to compete with Brooklyn.

Arrived at our hotel after a Yellow Cab ride from Penn Station. And - at this point I owe an apology to the guy I accused of giving us a terror ride from JFK that first night. They all drive like that here. A tight grip and tight buttocks are essential for being driven around New York, believe me.

Receptionist at hotel had worrying frown on her face as she tried to check us in. Turns out our booking had been cancelled. Not by us it hadn't. And the hotel was fully booked without us. First hiccup of the whole trip but not what you need when stood there with four suitcases and not much in the way of alternatives.

A phone call to Germany, an apology jointly from the hotel and the booking agents that there had been an admin error and then - guess what? The fully booked hotel had a room for us for three nights. How fully booked was that??

Today - Sunday - Tania achieved one of her dreams she never thought might come true. We made it to Coney Island. She was so taken with it she came over all American and had over-easy eggs and corned beef hash for breakfast when we got there.

The fairground at Coney has appeared in a few films and it felt cool to walk around a film set. We spotted one ride that we just had to go on. The Soarin' Eagle. So on it we went. And ended up screaming like a pair of girls. And both timidly suggesting one ride was enough. A couple of Margheritas settled the frayed nerves, no problem.

On the pier - or boardwalk - I spotted a bicycle the likes of which I have never seen before. It looked very old. And very rusty. Anyone seen one of these before??

I asked the old, black guy sat on the bench if it was his and if he knew about it. It wasn't and he didn't. But he did offer to sell it to me!!

A weird bike

The bells! The bells!!

Time I guess to tell you a bit about our hotel. We opted for the Affinia hotel in Manhattan because, although a tad expensive it seemed to offer a suite. Sure enough we got a very large room with a little kitchen in one corner, two queen beds, a large bathroom and more than enough storage space. It was directly opposite Madison Square Gardens and just a few blocks away from Times Square - which, for the uninitiated is not a square at all! Just a road junction really. A road junction with lots of bright lights and adverts.

But most definitely not a square.

Anyway, back to the hotel. What they didn't mention was that next door was a fire station. And the street it was in was a one-way street. Past our hotel. Or - past our window to be more exact. You would be surprised just how many times those things were called out - with a wailing siren as far as the intersection - crossroads to you and me - and then a proper honking horn type siren from that point on.

Three to four times a night on average.

And opposite that fire station was the Catholic church which provided the thoughtful aid of giving not just the street but the whole effing neighbourhood an alarm call at effing seven o'clock every effing morning with their effing church bells.

On top of that our room had one of those air-condition units which sits in a window. And lets all the noise through. As did the windows which didn't quite fully close.

Other than that it was a great hotel.

Tonight we have finally found the solution to the incessant noise every night. We've flown to Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania! Amazingly our hotel here is within the airport but we can sit and watch planes land on the runway just a couple of hundred yards from us with no noise at all. Bliss!

This has come at some personal cost, though, to poor Tania. As I've already said she is no fan of flying. The flight here was in a Bombardier 400, which, if you check it out is a propellor jobbie. We were just reaching the height where it levelled out when I looked across at Tania and saw she was wiping the tears away. Turns out she was really scared from the moment we left the ground. She won't thank me for sharing that with you, I know. But I have to acknowledge the lady is prepared to go through real torment to make this holiday what we want it to be. And she has to do it again on Saturday to get back to New York.

Since I last wrote my birthday continued with an evening at the theatre to see Jersey Boys - or Joyzee Boyz as they say here! Great, great show. Good story and brilliant songs. The actor who played Frankie Valli had the voice off to a tee. And now I know where the great songs came from - who actually wrote them.

Recommend that show absolutely - an excellent night out.

Next morning, against our previous decisions, we decided to go to yet another art gallery. Two of the three had been disappointing thus far so we thought a gallery of modern American art ought to fit the bill just nicely.

"Have you come to see any particular artist?" asked the girl at the desk.

"Roy Lichtenstein" said Tania,

"Andy Warhol" said I.

"Oh! Neither of those are on display at the moment - but we have other great artists - Edward Hopper, etc."

The jinx continues.

Well - having arrived in Pittsburgh and a bit earlier than expected we shot off to see the Andy Warhol Museum this afternoon. And - guess what?? They did have Warhol's on display. Who'd have thought it? Some I've already seen, some were new to me. Visiting there was the original starting point for this trip which was my third attempt to get here. Nice to have finally made it.

Here's a Warhol painting the museum didn't have!

All of that has given us a free day tomorrow. Tempted to hire a car and drive off into the countryside. What we saw as we were flying in looked really cool, really autumnal.

Be a shame to waste a day wouldn't it?

You told me again you preferred handsome men . . .

Tania is my hero!

Seriously and absolutely, the lady is a legend and a hero in my world. Let me explain. This whole trip has been arranged with Tania's help. The whole time we have both been aware of one small fact. She hates flying. I mean hates it.

Tania in her time has upset an aircraft full of people with one of her panic attacks whilst flying - before my time I have to say. She has taken a course to help her cope with it. She knows all of the stats about how safe it is. But she really does not like doing it.

Of course the only way to get to New York in the time we had was to fly here. To be fair she was very good on the flight over. Quiet. A touch pensive. But mostly relaxed and just got on with it.

I've not helped her cause any by arranging flights to Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania and back that will be on small propeller planes. Not titchy Cessna's but small planes of about eighty seats. With no jet engines. Just those propeller thingies whizzing around. She is not looking forward to those flights at all - but she is resigned to getting them done so that we can go on our little mission to Pittsburgh.

So then, just how brave was Tania to arrange a flight around Manhattan on a helicopter. For both of us. There are no words to describe just how much she hates the things. Hates them.

Tania gets ready to sh*t herself!

As we got ready for take-off the pilot - a man so devoid of any personality I wondered if he was part of the machine - advised it was a good day for flying - but a bit bumpy.

A bit!!

We flew forwards a few meters, sideways for a few, down for a little dip, sideways and then back roughly in the direction we were facing. Choppy, choppy, choppy!

I tried to take some photos but as I lined a shot up the copter would suddenly shift or drop and I'd get a shot of the inside of the machine.

Freedom Tower from the choppy chopper!

And all the while this little lady sat beside me, very white, very still, clearly very scared but never said a word. Her grip on my leg grew tighter - it was a tourniquet by the time we landed - but she suffered in a determined silence. 

Her sigh of relief as we touched down easily drowned out the sound of the engine and rotors.

She wanted me to have a special birthday present - paid way too many hundreds of dollars for it so we didn't have to share the chopper ride with anyone - and went through torture to achieve that end.

Tania is my hero!

Our mission to avoid doing the tourist thing continues. We visited the Flatiron building - not as tall in reality as the photos make it look - and went to the Guggenheim Museum. That was one of the key reasons for this trip. I've seen so many photos of the gallery that has pretty near all its pictures hanging in a circular descending walkway - designed in the '50s by renowned architect Frank Lloyd Wright. How thrilled was I to discover the circular walkway has been taken out of use whilst a new exhibition is put into place and just a few of the paintings were on display in random side galleries! Bah!

Today I had a birthday lunch at the Hard Rock café in Times Square.

Did I not already mention it's my birthday today??

What's that you say?

Oh - thank you very much!

Another little trip we took, this one genuinely not on everyone's tourist route was to the Chelsea Hotel, more properly called Hotel Chelsea.

For me something of a pilgrimage, this trip. Chelsea Hotel has seen many, many famous people from the "arts" stay there. Dylan Thomas was there towards the end of his life and it is where Arthur C Clarke wrote 2001 - A Space Odyssey. There is a plaque outside which commemorates this fact and includes as the final line "I'm sorry, Dave. I can't do that"

The list of celebrities who have stayed there is endless but I guess its notoriety now stems from being the place Sid Vicious murdered his girlfriend.

But my fascination goes way back beyond that to the seventies. One of my favourite Leonard Cohen songs has always been Chelsea Hotel #2. It was a song about a brief liaison he had with the tragic figure that was Janis Joplin. I couldn't be in New York and not take time out to visit the place. Of course, it was shut for refurbishment but, never mind. I got to make my little pilgrimage.

And if you're in any way curious about the title of this piece then thanks to Leonard Cohen all will now become clearer.

I remember you well in the Chelsea Hotel

You were famous, your heart was a legend

You told me again you preferred handsome men

but for me you would make an exception

And clenching your fist for the ones like us

who are oppressed by the figures of beauty

you fixed yourself, you said, "Well never mind

we are ugly but we have the music."

Thoughts from Noo Yoik!

As I said in the previous post we are determined to keep away from the usual tourist things people do. Hence we've been up the Rockefeller Centre to the Top of the Rock - well worth the view but my oh my - the queues! Six queues between entering the building and getting on the elevator (That's like a lift type thing!) Six!

Posers being taken for a ride!

Oh! And we've done the horse and buggy ride through Central Park - driver was Irish and had plenty to say, but to be fair he told us loads of really useful stuff. I now know where Diana Ross lives . . .

And - err - we've been to see Brooklyn Bridge plus the Dakota Building where John Lennon was shot and Strawberry Fields in Central Park. Ah! And Ground Zero too! But - other than that we've avoided the tourist thing . . .

On that white knuckle ride from the airport to our hotel we passed a Lobster Restaurant in Seventh Avenue. Tania said she really fancied eating there one night so we did on Saturday. I've never had lobster before but thought I'd give it a go after all Tania had told me about it. Only one word can adequately describe the taste sensation we had. And that word is shite. Tania got her meal knocked off the bill - apparently lobster is not supposed to be very tough and rubbery.

The New Yorkers are so pleased to have us amongst them that they celebrate by ringing church bells every morning at seven. You can imagine just how thrilled we are to be woken up like that - what with the jet lag and all!

I was watching the news and weather on telly yesterday morning. In Chicago there were warnings of thunder storms with large hail stones. In the Mid-West they have deep snowfalls with motorists trapped.  In New York they warned of unseasonably muggy weather - I'd settle for that. And in Alabama they were awaiting a tropical storm. That's a whole year's worth of UK weather in one forecast.

The High Line

For those of you who haven't been to New York since 2009 I offer you, out of the goodness of my heart, a little tip. Be sure next time to walk the High Line. Over on the west side of Manhattan it used to be a freight railroad track that ran above the streets. When it got to the point of demolishing it the locals kicked off and asked for it to be preserved - and that's what they've done. It's a long yet narrow garden - still with the old railway lines left in place in some parts - a great walk and a fabulous opportunity to see parts of New York from a different perspective. Absolutely recommended. When I get back to the UK and my trusty laptop I will put some photos on here of it - pop back and have a look and see for yourself.

Tania posing above 23rd St

Today - Sunday where I am - I was taken for a surprise birthday present this morning. Alas there are some things we have no control over and that includes the weather. A low cloud - very, very low cloud - hung over New York all day. And that is why we couldn't do our romantic helicopter ride around the city. We are going to look at the weather as soon as we wake up each morning - the first time it's clear we will be zooming down to the Heliport at South Street and taking to the skies. Brave, brave gesture by Tania - she is no fan of flying at the best of times and most certainly is no fan of helicopters. Watch this space for further news . . .

And my last thought in this little diatribe. I am only a bit surprised that you can shop for clothes in New York until eleven at night - I hadn't really expected it to be quite so late. I'm not at all surprised that the city never seems to sleep. But I never expected rush hour traffic on Sundays! Solid, man. Absolutely gridlocked.

The Road To Hell

Our trip started in some style - a chauffeur driven Mercedes to the airport. Sounds flash, I know, and trust me, I don't say it in any way as a boast. The reason for mentioning it will become apparent. And, for what it's worth the limo cost us ten pounds more than we would have paid for a taxi. No brainer really . . .

Anyway, this guy turns up, all suited and booted and drives us sedately to the airport. About fifteen hours later we eventually got to walk out of JFK airport in New York to look for a taxi. The queue was huge. I mean HUGE! Some guy comes up, starts hustling. "You guys wanna taxi??"

"Err - yes - I guess we do."

"Where are you guys going?"

"Manhattan - Seventh and Thirty-first. How much?" Almost sounded like a native, didn't I??

"Sixty dollars," says he.

We'd been told to expect seventy to eighty dollars with a Yellow Taxi, so, again, a no-brainer.

Off we go in this four-wheel-drive jobby.

Fast.

Very, very fast.

A proper white knuckle ride. Tania leans across and whispers, "I didn't really come all this way to die!"

Scariest ride I ever had - rush hour traffic in New York and we were reaching seventy as we crossed intersections and ran through traffic lights. Our driver managed to gridlock one junction and got into a New York style slanging match with the driver of a pick-up truck. To be fair though they did share the abuse equally between them! Seems you have to show good manners when you abuse someone out here . . .

I have never in my life been so glad to see a full-on traffic jam. Fifteen miles an hour never felt so good.

A life of extremes, huh? Chauffer driven bliss to start the day, taxi driven nutter to end it.

We decided not to do the typical tourist thing out here - it is so naff, isn't it!

Today we have seen the Empire State Building, the Chrysler Building, Times Square and are now waiting to go up the Rockefeller Building.

Like I said, we don't plan to do the tourist thing . . .

I've got one beef with New York already. I guessed the days of the Yellow cabs being those Checker cars had long gone so was assuming they would use big Fords or Chevrolets. I can see the sense in them using the Prius thing 'cause it's hybrid. But using a Ford Focus for f**k sake! That's not a New York cab - that's a car for shopping in. Tell you, man, there is no way I am hailing a Focus down. No Way!!

My tablet thingie seems to have ingested a virus, can't get it to fire up at all. Means I have to write this on the hotel computer at about ten dollars a shot and - more importantly cannot add the photos I wanted to. Maybe I'll figure something out.