central park and flatiron

Saturday 18th October 2014

Today we wanted to spend some time around Central Park and the Downtown area.  We did heaps of walking.  Walked from the hotel up 5th Ave right up till Central Park and then basically walked the full length and breadth of the park.  We ended up walking back to the Downtown area where we went to Madison Square Park and the Flatiron building.

Had some dinner and went back to the hotel to rest our weary legs before going out.  Caught the subway to Brooklyn where we went to a club.  Was a good night, the club was packed by about 12.30 a.m. and we stayed until about 3.  Took us about 1.5 hours to get back though so it was a bit of a late night.

freedom tower from central park

One more full day left in NY and then we are of to South Carolina.

rockefeller building

5th ave towards central park

apple store on 5th ave

central park

lots of street performers etc

rowing lake

jacqueline kennedy onassis reservoir

rockefeller plaza

prisoner van escort through manhattan

chips!!

empire state building

patting the squirrel

cheeky plus!!

flatiron building

lots of city bikes

empire state at night

intrepid sea air and space, highline

Friday 17th October 2014

Today we caught the subway to close by the Intrepid Sea Air and Space Museum.  We have been there before but we wanted to go back as they have the space shuttle Enterprise on display.  Along with a Concorde there is some cool stuff to see.  After that it was just a short walk to the start on the High Line.  That is the old elevated freight railway that has been turned into a park and walkway.  It goes for over 20 city blocks and is very cool.  They have put a lot of time and effort into it and it shows as lots of people go there.  Once through the walk we found a quaint little pub on a side street where we had some drinks and dinner.  Tomorrow we head to the Rockerfeller Centre and Central Park.

 

 

ground zero

Thursday 16th October 2014

Bit of a slow start to the morning loosing 2.5 hours but up and about in time for my first Starbucks this trip!  Walked into Times Square and had a look but it was little bit wet due to persistent rain.  Just enough to be a pain.

Had some lunch in Hard Rock Cafe which was really disappointing to say the least.  Once out from lunch the weather had cleared and it was beautiful now.

wet new york street

times square

 

Got the Subway to World Trade Centre and walked to Ground Zero.  Spent quite a while looking at the reflecting pools and the forest of trees that surrounds them.  It is quite breathtaking to see.  Hard to imagine in 2009 when we were last here that is was still pretty much a large hole in the ground and nothing else.

We entered the 9/11 Memorial Museum and started by watching a short film.  From there we made our way around the museum which took us over 5 hours to complete.  The display is stunning, breathtaking, emotional and really sad.  But gee it makes you proud what the Americans have done to remember the nearly 3000 people who died.  The emergency services personal were amazing on the day and need to be cheered and celebrated for their unbelievable dedication on that horrible Tuesday.  Would have wrecked their morning coffee!

From there it was dinner time and then back to the motel.  Decided to go for a swim and spa to wind down after a massive walk today.




heading to the big apple

Wednesday 15th October 2014

Up this morning at crack o'dawn to make it to the car rental returns in time to get to the airport and catch our flight to New Nork.  All went well and we we had time for about an hour in the Virgin Lounge, whoo hoo.

The flight was long, about 5.5 hours in total.  Once at JFK we still had over an hour of train rides to get to the city.  We are staying on W47th St which is only about 10 minute walk to Times Square.

Didn't do anything other than get some dinner and then try and get some sleep!  We have gone ahead 3 hours in total from LA and that is going to play havoc with the sleeping patterns.

No photos to add for this post.

Tomorrow is time to explore the city.

modern family, santa monica and venice beach

Tuesday 14th October 2014

Today we wanted to check out the filming locations for Modern Family.  We looked up the addresses and head out to the houses.  They were all within a few miles of each other.  We first went to Phil and Claire's house, then to Mitch and Cam's house and lastly to Jay and Gloria's.  I have to say the neighbourhoods that these homes are in are really nice.  They surely are not places that we could afford to live.  From there we drove to Santa Monica and parked the car.  We walked from Santa Monica to Venice Beach Jetty and back!!  Wow what a long way.

Had to check out the muscle beach gym and snap a few pictures.  The guys there don't seem to care, I think they like the attention.

Headed back to the motel and grabbed some Ihop for dinner.  Tonight is our last night in LA, tomorrow we head to New York.

claire and phil's house

 

mitch and cams house

 

jay and gloria's house

 

santa monica pier
end of route 66

 

looking towards malibu

 

walking track between venice
and santa monica

 

santa monica pier

 

muscle beach gym

 

the boys working out

 

venice beach jetty

 

 

wall art at venice beach

six flags magic mountain

Monday 13th October 2014

Today we hit six flags magic mountain.  This is just purely a park full of roller coasters.  It is like the typical Disneyland setup but just for thrill seekers.  We went on two roller coasters in the first few minutes of being there and they were amazing.  However they made us both feel sick.  They were the X2 and the Viper.  They were so fast and so all over the place sending you upside down and spinning around as they went.  The rest of the ones we went on after that were fine.  There are 12 roller coasters in the park and we did all but 2 as they were closed for renovation.  My favourite one was the Superman ride which is almost the same as the Tower of Terror back in the Gold Coast Dreamworld.  Stayed there until 6.00pm which was the park closing time and then headed back to the motel.  Had Applebees for dinner as it is next door to the motel.  Works out that this is the Applebees that we come to every time we have stayed in LA and we are staying next door to it this time.

six flags magic mountain

 

 

 

100mph!!

 

superman

 

green lantern

 

goliath

 

all the coasters from the carpark

la, petersen auto museum and griffith park

Sunday 12th October 2014

Well it was our first full day in LA today as we didn't do much on Saturday after we arrived.  Planned to go to the Petersen Auto Museum today to see some nice cars.  Ended up doing their vault tour which takes you downstairs to see cars they have in storage.  They keep about 300 cars down there that wont fit in the actual museum.  The tour was good and there were some really nice cars.  Just one of the Rolls Royce's we saw was valued at $25 million.

Headed up to the Griffith Park Observatory to look over the city.  The view was great albeit a bit smoggy.  Did about an hour walk around the park up towards the Hollywood sign.  Took in some great views of the city and Hollywood before heading off to meet some friends Lee and Jean who flew over on the same flight as us.  Met them at their motel and drove to the Outback Steakhouse at Glendale.  Had a really nice meal and spent a few hours chatting about what we had all been up to.

Not sure what the plans are for Monday at this point in time.  What I do know is that our laptop is on its last legs and is giving me the proverbial shits.  It keeps freezing up and running slow.  Time for a new computer.

 

 

petersen museum

 



chrysler turbine

 

sports car display

 

50 years of mustang

 

 

barn find mustang
(sat for 40 years undiscovered and unrestored)

 

griffith observatory

 

view from walk