Birthday bonanza ...Pt 1

Well it is that expensive time of year again ....No not Christmas - I know I am bad at posting but not that bad!!

July is an expensive month for us with 3 birthdays and a wedding anniversary. Anyway first up was my birthday, and as this year I was 30 Rob had a cunning plan, a surprise trip.

For those of you that do not know Rob - he is rubbish at keeping a secret - unless he can tell someone - the problem is that he usually tells me.

All was going well up until he said I would need to pack as we would see a show. I asked if it was Superman (That is not as daft as it sounds - it was released on my birthday!!). This was greeted later on with the statement "I can't believe you thought I was taking you to London to see Superman.........Oh sh1t!"

surprise over I knew what was planned so I got the low down on the trip.

Friday

First Class to London

On to a hotel at Marble Arch

Chill out

Saturday

A tourist thing

Dinner at Roko

Tickets to see stomp in the west end

Sunday

The London eye

Something else tourist like

Boat trip

Home again

Let the adventure begin.............

I look foward to Killing You Soon!

I am Ninja, you are Ninja, we are Ninja toooooo!!!

Yes I have a new top site  - Ask a Ninja

Its simple - you send in a question and the Ninja will answer it for you

You wanna know about Pirates of the Carribean - Ninja will tell you.  Also you should look out for the information on Keira Knightly "She is the more masculine one who looks like Orlando Bloom"

Also why is 3 the magic number - well all I can say is it is to do with mangons - But that is all I can tell you for now............

Old Holiday posts - a summary

OK so I am lazy and know that I am not going to get around to posting the rest of the stuff that I had about our holiday in the states from earlier in the year, so in summary - the Cliff notes version.
Day 4 - In which we see boats and eat nasty food

As you may already know we have a thing about rivers and water in general. You let us find a way to go on the water and we will do it. So Tuesday was the day to be boat-tastic!

Fist off was the Intrepid - the sea air and space museum. It is a military air craft carrier which has been decommissioned and is now a museum showing all kinds of stuff about the Intrepid's role in battle and generally about the evolution of warfare and the various weapons that are used in it. Both below and above deck there are a number of choppers and planes that you can look at as well as how the boat functions (including how the plane catapult).

Next up boat trip and a cruise to see the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island. The statue is smaller than you would think and I was kinda underwhelmed. I think that this is because you see so much of it on the TV and it looks so much bigger the. It was nice to be on the boat - even though it was cold.

Finished off the day with the night tour. Guide this time was stroppy and mumbled and decided that the best thing that he could tell us was the names of the shops. The problem with that was that we could read that part and did not need him to tell us that. The views how ever were so cool and we managed to ignore the guide.

Lunch = papaya dogs = boggin' & cheese on my hat

Dinner = Pizza = nasty = put in bin

Supper = Rays Pizza = Great = Lots of Celebs go there esp would recommend broccoli and chicken

Day 5 - In which we went Jurassic

Dinos - At last off to the Natural History museum. I love Dinosaurs - they are just so intriguing so off we headed to do the one thing that I was really looking forward to. As I already mentioned they have a whole floor of the things - so how pleased was I. When we first went in we went to the mammals hall where Robert announced - "I don't want to look at dead stuffed animals" - It was a Natural History Museum - they tend to specialise in these kinds of things. Anyway we headed off to the dino halls and spent many hours perusing the big beasties - it was top. Also they have a planetarium, it costs a bit extra but you should make the time to go. I have been to the one in London - it both sucked and blowed at the same time. This one was however top. The show was great and you get real value for money.

We finished off with a walk through central park. Due to the time of year there was not a lot going on, other than some squirrels. We finished off with a handsome cab ride where we were taken round by an Irish man who was very nice and informative - and he took a photo for us - All in all very swish.

Day 6 In which we went to see George and Rob got the flu

Long bus trip through New Jersey on the I95 to get to Washington. There was not a lot of interest to see really - other than some concreat, but our tour guide (Joshi) gave us a run down on the history of the United States - which was cool and interesting so the time passed relatively quiickly. Rob slept as he had the flu

Stop 1: Memorial Park - Saw the memorials for Korean War (very cleaver idea and kind of Spooky), Vietnam War (very sad and moving - you can have no comprehension of its scope and size until you see it in person), Lincoln memorial (just like on planet of the Apes - minus the apes of course), Washington Memorial (was kind of dull - just a big spike really) and the spot where Martin Luther King did his I have a dream speech. Rob did his I have a cold speech. Not as cool as the original. I would have liked longer but we were on a time limit and had to head back to the bus

Stop 2: The White House: Went to visit George 'Dubbyah', but they do not let anyone in without applications (probably in triplicate) and loads of other hullabaloo - so we looked at the building from the outside and were very polite to the large angry men with guns. Actually the place was a bit of a let down - not nearly as impressive as you may think. Got 5 minutes here until we had to move. if there is anyone going into, or out of the white house then they clear the area for 30 minutes before and after. There was someone going in this time - so off we went - only to find out that it was Randy Couture. I cant believe we missed him!

Stop 3: The Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum - Where they have the Apollo Lunar lander (well the one that they did not take) and loads of cool stuff donated by Astronauts - like the suits they wore. Kind of cool really - though it was really hot in there. Also turned out that just after we left - randy Couture turned up - damn it!. Like ships passing in the night and all that

Stop 4: Capitol Building This is where they make all the decisions - "On the hill". Again you do not get to go in but you can take some cool 'graphs. Also you can take shots back along to monument park. This time we almost missed the bus - but managed to catch up - I think that they would have waited but you can never be sure (They make my love of schedules look like armature hour)

Day 7: In which we go Blue Thunder and have a marvel-lous time

Ok so day 7 was chopper trip day. It was very blue thunder. If you are ever in New York - pay the extra and go on this. It is the best way to see the sites - Including Yankee Stadium - it was so swish. Also we paid a somewhat expensive trip to visit the boys and girls at Midtown comics, This resulted in much spending and many cool graphic novels being purchased. "Snickerty Snick"

Day 8: In which we were tired and Rob Still had the flu and we walked like Egyptians

We decided to go all cultural for our last but 1 day and went to the Met to go look at what they had on show. The Met has a strange thing where you can choose whether or not to pay, and if you do you can choose how much to pay. A strange idea but you know what - almost everyone chose to pay the recommended amount or more. Just a case of showing you what happens if you put faith in people.

Rob was miserable - so after a trip to the armoury and the shop for last minute gifts we headed back to the hotel - still no sign of DD

Day 9: In which we wind our weary way home

Last day (well bit of day) before we had to head off. We checked out, paid our $1 charge for a phone call and then took to wondering. We then went off to Madame Tusaudes. I have always wanted to go to this kind of place so off we went. You know a lot of the statues were indiscernible and you had to rely on the name tags. We also forgot the camera, but were too tired to care. Then it was time to meet up with Psycho Driver and head to the plane station. More to the point (a) we had the set of 2 seats by the window and we would get more breakfast on the plane back to Glasgow

Time to go home ....time to go home.......Bobby and Jenny say time to go home

Boy and Bunnys US Adventure - Cest Finis

Day 3 – Let the bus tours begin

For day 3 we had planned on going on some of the bus tours that are available – I was anxious to go to the Natural History museum but most of the museums are shut on a Monday so we decided that the bus tour would be a good idea.

The grey line bus company offers a number of tours, but by far the best value is the all loops ticket which is $49 each but includes all4 of the tours that are offered and is valid for 2 days. While this sounds expensive it is one of the best ways to see round New York, and learn about the history of each area.

Following the previous days large cooked breakfast we had decided that we should have something a little lighter and stopped off for some oatmeal before heading out to brave the cold. The oatmeal was great and warmed us up nicely. There are lots of small places to go for breakfast around Times Square. If you are there you should stop in at some of these smaller places as the food is often great.

All of the grey line tour buses are the double deckers with the op floor open to the elements. This is by far the best place to sit as it means you get a good unobstructed view of everything as you go. The first tour we decided to take was Uptown. We had a great guide called Paul and a driver called Jean who took us around the uptown areas and talked about the various sites as we passed. It is strange to think that once upon a time New York was all trees.

Uptown

Paul was great at telling various stories about what had happened in the different areas of uptown as well as sharing general New York info with everyone. Apparently Broadway is the only street in the whole of New York that runs diagonally. It was originally a deer track that the Native Indians used to hunt on. On this tour we got our first view of Central Park. The park is man made from the positioning of the trees to the hills that are there – which is a bit odd. It is also one of the few places that you will find a lot of green space in New York.

On the uptown tour you will also pass the building where John Lennon was shot. It is right next to the park and is where John and Yoko staged their love in. Yoko apparently still lives in the building, though she has a different apartment. From the building you can see the imagine peace garden which was built as a memorial to John Lennon following a donation being made by Yoko.

How Much!!

One thing that was astounding is the price to real estate uptown. For a 1 bedroom apartment near central park the starting prices are about £3,000,000.00. Oh and if you are interested – it is cash only!

On the journey was passed the Natural History museum and trump towers so we now at least know where to head when we look to go there later in the week. The uptown tour covers a lot of areas, including Grants tomb and you can get off at any of the stops to spend some time there. We also got our first real view of New Jersey – The Garden State. According to Paul the only reason it is called this is because the oil and petrochemical refinery state would not fit on the licence plates of the cars. New Jersey has a lot going for it through if for no other reason that Orange County Choppers and Jay and Silent Bobs secret stash (though Paul did not mention them)

One thing we had not counted on was just how cold we would get on the tour. Before getting on the bus we had bought some tea from a Starbucks, and were really grateful for it as on the top of the bus, when you took into account wind chill it must have been about -4.

in order to warm up a bit at the end of the uptown tour we went and had more tea (it was starting to look like most of the spending money would go to Starbucks at this rate) and then made the decision that the purchasing of a scarf and a hat would be in order to survive the next tour.

Following the successful purchase of additional warm clothes we went for a walk along 9^th avenue. 9^th is a really good place to go if you are looking for something to eat. They have all kinds of food at reasonable prices. Today we went for burritos which were huge but warmed us up and got us ready for the next tour – next stop down town.

Downtown

New bus, new guide and new driver. This tour took the same format as uptown but for me it was not as interesting. A lot of it went through the shopping areas and I was not as impressed with it though the guide made it as interesting as he could, His favourite line was – have you seen film X, well then you will recognize this from it. I have to say that it was quite interesting but there is only so much that you can take. The downtown tour takes you through/past Ground Zero, and this was a but odd. They have started re-building now but you can still see the blast damage on a lot of the surrounding buildings. One thing that I found odd was the fact that there were a lot people there taking photos- that did not seem right to me. There was however one nice story that we told to us.

As you go through the ground zero area, heading towards Wall Street – you will see all of these building that are battered and scared. Right in the middle of it all is a small church. It is not a remarkable looking building but it has some nice stained glass windows and you will know it when you see it. On September 11^th when the towers fell almost all of the buildings in the blast radius were damaged structurally and had all the windows blown out. When the dust settled this we church stood in the middle of all the desolation and there was not a mark on it. All of the windows were intact and the walls/roof etc were just as they had always been – strange but true.

Eventually we made our way back to the hotel to warm up before doing anything else. While sitting on the top deck of the buses gives you great views it is not the warmest place to sit. The evening was taken up with a trip to the pictures to see Ultra violet – a new scifi vampire film that is out. It was mindless pap – but a good way to pass the time and the picture house had the worlds most comfortable seats which has to be a good thing.

Day 2 – Part 3 – The Zoo at last

Having survived the subway adventure and Mad Eddie we had managed to make it to the Zoo and I was most excited. I have always loved zoo's. Getting to see all the cool animals always makes me feelkind of peacefull,. So far the only wildlife we had seen was a couple of birds and some cool black squirels. I was really looking forward to seeing the sand cats and the Gorillas as they were something that I had not seen before.

The Bronx Zoo is catagrised into areas (Jungle World, Congo forest etc) and in each area you can see the animals that you would find in these habitats. I really liked the layout and the animals all had huge enclosures to live in. In Jungle world we saw the coolest animal ever – a tree kangeroo – it rocked (this site has more info on them http://home.iprimus.com.au/readman/lumh.htm).

One of the things you don't always appreciate is how big hunters manage to sneak up on their prey. You can look at a 200lb lion and think – man there is no way that could sneak up on anyone – look at the size of it. Rob found out just how quiet the big cats can be in jungle world. We were looking at an ants nest – having watched some monkeys for a while and I had been looking at 2 black panthers that were behind us. Rob had not seen them and you should have seen him jump when I pointed them out. All you could really see was two pairs of large yellow eyes that staired out at you. Even though they were behind a glass wall and I knew that they were there it is still somewhat daunting to look into the eyes of something that knows it can eat you. While you marvel at their grace and beauty you can see just ho lethal they really are.

There is plenty to see at the zoo – though it is very quiet in the winter months, and we eventually made it to the Congo rain forest where the Gorillas are housed . We took our time wondering through and wondered whether we would see the Gorillas a t all as a lot of the monkeys seemed to be staying inside out of the cold.

I had prepared myself for disappointment – but was overjoyed when we came to the viewing area and realised there had to be gorillas out because of all the people. We made our way up and when we got to the front we were amazed at what we saw. Not one Gorilla – but a whole family group complete with 6 week old baby. It was breathtaking. You could see the intelligence in their eyes as you stood at watched. I was mesmerised. It was like watching any family – the kids were playing and causing havoc. Mum and Dad were looking after the baby and everyone seemed content One of the older siblings came over to play with the very curious baby who was trying to touch everything and held it hand. Once she was sure that there would be no repercussions she picked up baby – hugged it tight and turned her back on everyone to have someone on one sibling time. It was awesome – just like you see on TV and not something that I will ever forget.

We spent the next few hours wondering round the zoo. There were so many cool things to see – not least of which was the small spider monkey hugging a small dear that shared its enclosure. The zoo shuts early in the winter so we headed off at 4.30 to go get the subway home.

Impromptu stops

Having made our way back to the subway station and admired the very urban landscape we had planned to head back to the hotel to warm up but then we noticed that the last stop for the train we had caught was Grand Central Station. We had always planned to go and see the station in real life having seen it in all of the movies and figured this was as good a time as any.

The journey was uneventful and we were quite excited. We talked about what we had seen at the zoo and the untouchables which has a seen in the station.

Coming off the tube we were quite excited – even the shops are quite grand and we made our way to the main concourse looking for the steps where Andy Garcia walked and the large clock he looked at. I had been warned before we left that it was not as big as you would think but even that did not prepare me for how small it was. It is still an amazing train concourse and you are still stunned but I was utterly gutted to see that the stairs and the clock have long since been replaced. You know it is still an impressive building but some of that was lost in the disappointment that is was not the way we had hoped – damn it Hollywood lied!

We took our time wondering back to the hotel – getting our bearings and looking at the sights. One thing that becomes clear very quickly is that New York goes up a long way. You are always surrounded by really high buildings and when ever you look up you feel a bit claustrophobic, as if the buildings are falling in – it is a very odd experience.

Night had fallen by the time we got back to Times Square so we stopped off to take some photos of the amazing lights and then had an amazing diner at La Prima Donna – a lovely Italian restaurant just off the Square. The food was great and we realised that this was the first “Posh� restaurant dinner that we have ever had together. Quite a day of firsts really