Day 15 - North Conway, White Mountains

We are in a townhouse which has a common wall with a neighbour.  Our bedroom is next to their main bedroom and they have a baby.  Steve was woken at 3:45am and then we both woke for the day (with the baby) at 5:47am.  Julian slept until 7:15am.  I am not going to make any further comment.

As we didn't have water (and therefore no showers), we were all up very quickly and had a good laze around before leaving the house at 9am.  There is another LL Bean outlet store here (even though this is really a small town) so we went there to find some waterproof overpants for Julian. There was so much stuff in this store but nothing we needed/wanted.

Our plan was to drive 30mins to a short walk at Crawford Notch which is in the White Moutain Forest Park.  Julian decided to take a napjust before we arrived so we changed our plans.

We drove further into the Park around to Franconia which was about when Julian woke.  They had an old iron smelter there so we looked at that and then had a short explore along the river.

We had lunch here in a small cafe which was excellent - no photo as we were too hungry.  We then took the scenic route back to another walk that I had found which was to Ripley Falls.  It was only a 2mile return trip (3.2km) so we thought Julian could handle a large part of it.  We hadn't figured the terrain into our calculations, but Julian was determined and walked a large chunk of the way there.  He didn't mind (too much) being carried most of the return journey.

 Nice part of the track.  Julian is sporting his new jacket.

Not so nice!

And this was what we were walking to.  It was pretty spectacular with LOTS of water!

We had to cross an operational railway line with minimal warning  (It reminded me of the movie Stand By Me.).  This shot is of the boys looking back up the river and it shows that it was sunny and not raining!!!

We then drove home (and it started to rain as forecast).  This waterfall was on the side of the road - and no I have not increased the green saturation.  It really was that green.  I can imagine how awesome this would look in Autumn when the leaves are changing.

Julian was trying hard not to fall asleep in the car and Steve managed to put him down when we got home.  As I type, we are enjoying a couple of the local brews, both Pale Ales, whilst Julian sleeps.  I really wish Australia would relax the tax laws to allow micro breweries to be viable!


Later:
Julian had a good rest and was ready for dinner when he woke.  After he ate we headed back to the Moat Mountain brewery for dinner.  It has a long walk up the side of a verandah and before we reached the door one of the waitresses had already come out to meet us.  Julian had charmed their socks off the night before and the woman was thrilled to see him again.  For dinner, Steve had the Hickory crusted pork (with mashed potato and pumpkin) and I had the Texas Brisket (on white toast bread with mashed potato and coleslaw).  No idea what happened to the photo of it!  Once again the meals were massive and very tasty.

We went home and bathed Julian (he was happy about this too) and then put him to bed.  I now braved driving on the right side of the road for the first time.  There was another outlet mall here, called Settlers Village, so I went there for some quality shopping BY MYSELF.  It is way too hurried with Steve and Julian in Tow.

The plan was to go for me only, but the first shop I saw was Osh Kosh.
Osh Kosh - Kids gear, bought a reversible jacket and shoes for Julian - 70% off the jacket!
Banana Republic - nearly the same stock as I saw at Clinton Crossing, so didn't buy anything;
Coach - handbags, wallets - excellent prices but didn't have a wallet that I liked and I definitely don't need another handbag;
Carters (recommended by Ali) - Childrens clothes, 40% store wide minimum, bought longsleeve tops for Julian for $4each!
Gap - bought a hoodie for Julian, Long and lean jeans for me - in AU$130, in US stores $70, at US Gap outlets $45 but on sale so got them for $31!
Old Navy - 3 long sleeve shirts for $17.50 each - can't make them for that!

I am so sick of shopping!  This was definitely the last shop especially since the bags are full!  The outlet prices are so much better than anything in Australia and the fit (for me) is perfect.  Also it will be many years before I am back (not like Steve) so I have definitely made the most of it.

Day 7 - New York Rockefeller, MOMA

No need for an alarm as Julian woke us up at 5am!  So we had no problem getting out of the apartment before 8:30am.  We caught the subway again (I think we have been on every line!) and got off at the Rockefeller centre to see the "Top of the Rock".  We had planned to do this instead of going up the Empire State building for this reason:

You can see the Empire State building from the Rockefeller centre.  And where is Julian?

He fell asleep soon after we got off the subway, he was smashed!

 The Empire State building again.

Central Park - Southern end.  This gives you an idea of how far we had to walk yesterday - the Museum of Natural History is just under halfway up the park!

Since we were too early for MOMA we went to Starbucks for hot chocolate (still haven't braved a coffee) and we ate sneckally cherry danishes we bought at Au bon pain. Julian nibbled a bagel.

Then we walked to MOMA and it was brilliant!  It all started with us walking up to the end of the queue outside and the security just letting us through and then using the NY pass and not having to queue for a ticket :) There was one floor of my favourites - Miro, Monet, Mondrian, Mondigliani, Calder and it goes on.

 MOMA architecture

Joan Miro

 Joan Miro

 Calder

 Mondrian

Continued next post

Day 6 - New York Central Park and Guggenheim

So after the Natural History Museum we transversed Central Park - not the easiest as nothing is sign posted.  We ended up 10 blocks south of where we started but on the other side of the park.

 We came across this lovely lake and fountain in the park.

And then we walked up the side of Central Park again, this time past the MET and finally to the Guggenheim. Unfortunately they were in between exhibits and they were repairing the walkway, so there was reduced admission.

Inside the Guggenheim showing the ramps around the outside of the dome.

 Happy family.

 Unfortunately this museum was also VERY disappointing :(  There was only a very small gallery of impressionist painting and the rest was really crap modern art.  So, so sad about this.  I saw an exhibition in Dunedin from this museum and it was brilliant.  Maybe you can only see the good paintings when they are on tour?!

We left the Upper East Side and walked to Lexington ave subway and headed homeward to Union Square. 

 This is the view looking up 5th avenue from 16th st, just by Union square.  Note the Empire State building in the centre.

I finally got the opportunity to go to Anthropologie clothing store but I didn't buy a thing.  It was good to just have a look and it really is expensive - $80 for a print singlet with a crochet neckline!

It was 4:30pm so we headed to Rite Aid again for milk and beer and this is where Julian finally fell asleep!  He slept until 6pm in the pram, so we feed him and went out for our dinner.  We had been searching on Yelp (nyc city guide) and found a place called Corner Bistro which sold burgers, so we went there.  I wouldn't call it a bistro, more a pub.

We had burgers, fries and Brooklyn Lager for dinner.  Then we took the long way home as it is a lovely evening here.  It is now 10:15pm and Julian still doesn't want to sleep.  Maybe he will be sorted with this timezone change in a couple of weeks!!

So once again didn't get to MOMA but it is second on the list for tomorrow after the Top of the Rock (viewing platform in the Rockefeller centre).

Day 6 - New York Natural History Museum

Slept in due once again to a wakeful night so we only made it out of the door at 11am!  We walked to the subway and we caught the train that normally should have dropped us right outside the American Museum of Natural History - not today. 

 We ended up having to walk 20blocks up Central Park and this was the view when we arrived (all hot and sticky!).

 Inside the Hall of African animals in front of a herd of Elephants

 Lots of stuffed animals, killed a long time ago.

Our mate T-Rex.  Steve is standing beside a head to give you some idea of scale.

All in all we were really looking forward to visiting this museum and unfortunately it wasn't as good as it could have been.  The dinosaur skeletons were really the highlight!  Paying $9.50 for a ham and cheese sandwich was not :(  Sidenote - everyone else in the canteen was eating pizza and chips.

Day 5 - New york Battery park, SOHO, NOHO

We gave Julian a Jif peanut butter sandwich for lunch - Jif being the brand of Peanut butter :) - and headed to Battery park to give his little legs a stretch.

 Julian playing with the squirrels.

 Julian walking the pram with Dad.

From Battery park we headed uptown to Ground Zero (along with everyone else) which is only a short walk.

 Ground zero with the new Freedom tower.  We weren't organised enough to get passes to the memorial.

We did go to Century 21 department store next to ground zero hunting for bargins.  Unfortunately I didn't have any luck but there was heaps of clothing for Julian so I stocked up, including buying 2 pairs of shoes at 1/2 price.

From there we decided to walk uptown and then Julian fell asleep in the pram, so we kept on walking.  Did I say it was about 90% humidity and 28degC?

 No idea what this building was but it was pretty!

 Streetscape looking along a cross street from Broadway SOHO (SOHO - South of Houston (St); NOHO - North of Houston).

Lunch was at a small cafe in SOHO which had excellent panini.  No photos as Julian woke soon after we arrived and I forgot about taking any.

The sidewalks were packed in SOHO and then it thinned out heading north.  We did manage some more shopping:
Madewell - trendy and expensive store, more like a boutique but is a smaller brand offshoot of a larger store (J. Crew), didn't buy anything;
Ann Taylor LOFT - (Ali's recommendation) maybe like Sussan crossed with Sportscraft, bought plenty including a "Final sale"pair of jeans down from $70 to $5!  Love the sales!


Then we walked the final bit home via the Food Emporium, our local grocery store where we bought Honey Maid graham crackers, Kashi granola and rainbow Goldfish.  They also had puffed corn, which I had to buy because Julian was missing them in his snack cup (which is currently loaded with Cheerios and goldfish).  Then we came home for a beer on the deck out back.

For dinner we went to Chipotle Mexican Grill for burritos (recommended by Ilana and just around the corner from us).  They were good but I forgot the camera, so no pictures.  It was just dripping with rain as we left home and it started to bucket down soon after we started eating.  Thankfully it had stopped by the time we headed home.

Tomorrow we are thinking of having another go at finding the MOMA.

Day 4 - New York Met and 5th Avenue

After another wakeful night, we all woke at 10am.  The plan had been to catch the 12pm cruise around Manhattan but we just couldn't make the 11:30am cutoff.  So we decided on going to FAO Schwarz toy store and the Museum of Modern Art.   Thankfully it wasn't raining.

We took the subway to Times Square again and then took another train up to the station on the corner of 5th Ave and 59th St.

 This is the view straight off the subway - I can see why people would spend millions to look at this place!  I wish there was smell-o-vision as there was a strong smell of horses just here too.  Perhaps 20 horse drawn carriages were lined up - and no we didn't go for a ride.

 We went to FAO Schwarz toy store instead and boy it was awesome.  The plan was to buy Julian a Teddy and we achieved that within seconds of entering the store.  They had cool dinosaurs (he HAD to have one of those) and some really cool reptile soft toys, which I wasn't going to buy.  This place is seriously awesome but it was a drain on the wallet and really how many life-size stuffed pony's does a boy need?

Julian crawling (he had been running on it) on the piano as made famous on the Tom Hanks movie Big.

 

This was near the door - there was another section devoted entirely to soft wild animals including a wall of snakes!

 So what do you do for lunch near Central park - sidewalk Hotdogs, then head to the park to eat them!

 Then we all walked to what we thought was MOMA but turned out to be the MET.  Nevermind.  We had a tired screaming toddler who refused to sleep in the pram (see photo below to see what I mean).  The view from the top of the gallery was worth the heartache (not so the Durers we saw inside which were very dull and disappointing).

Do we look tired?  We were all squinting as it was very bright up there (Julian was screaming!).  Notice the blue sky? and it was warm and humid too.

 Outside the MET looking north up 5th Ave.

 5th Avenue, by Bergdorf Goodmans - very expensive department store which we didn't go into :)

 Only in America - note the designer handbag.  You can't see the bright green tie or that he was well over 2m tall!

 At the Rockefeller centre - we didn't go up to "The Top of the Rock".  This is where we left Julians drink bottle :(

 Late afternoon snack of soup (3 lentil with chili).

Tired family shot at Times Square, not bucketing down this time.

A lot of shopping was done:
FAO Schwarz - toys (enough said!);
GAP - clothes for Julian;
Uniglo - Japanese clothes shop, flagship store on 5th Ave was MASSIVE, T-shirts/polo for Steve,  Top/scarf for Claire, could have bought more but couldn't be bothered trying it on!;

Subway home and Julian in bed by 8pm - long may he sleep!
Helicopter flight tomorrow at 10:15am - will be a struggle to get there if the past few nights sleep-ins are anything to go by!