D, B and Q Christmas/New Year Round the World Trip!: New York

New York - The Snowy Big Apple

Our last stop was New York City. We got a chance to see many of the much anticipated sights.
We stayed at Bubba and Bean initially, on Lexington and 102nd Street. Not a posh part of town, but well located for subway rides and walks to Central Park. Later, after the blizzard hit, we moved to the Times Square area and the Radio City Apartments, which were nicer than expected and close to Q's work. My friend Katrina Ferguson, a stage actor and photographer, joined us for several days. We visited the UN where our mutual friend Sarah Bradley works and we went to see the terrific musical 'Something Rotten' on Broadway.
The first three days were full on with Q and the helm as we walked all over Manhattan seeing the sights. Central Park, Staten Island Ferry, the Statue of Liberty and the Intrepid; Battery City Park and the new Star Wars movie; museums and art galleries, Lego shops and Star Wars Costume exhibitions. Never a dull moment!
As always New York was a mix of the familiar and the exciting. Times Square was exhaustingly busy. and it was nice to chill out in our apartments. Catching up with old friends and colleagues was a real highlight.
Along with Iceland, Declan decided that New York was his favourite holiday experience.

Squirrels in Central Park and the Metropolitan Museum of Art.
From Declan:
Central Park is really big. It has at least five playgrounds, all of which are unique. I played in three of them, including the "Ancient Playground" which was outside the Metropolitan Museum of Art. It was set out to be like ruins, but actually it was sturdy and in summer there were fountains which would squirt water really high in the air to cool you off but in winter the snow would gather and slide down the slide.

The Statue of Liberty from the Staten Island Ferry:

The Intrepid Air and Space Museum:

Declan had researched some great playgrounds. The best were these ones with bronze play sculptures by Tom Otterness such as this reclining giant on the Westside:

We paid a visit to 435 W 119th St - where B and Q lived for five years (25 years ago but it looks just the same!)

We had the second largest snowstorm in New York City History. But that didn't stop us getting out an and about!

Declan and I (Bea) took New Jersey transit to Montclair to catch up with Robert Whitehill, his wife Mary and their lovely 6 year old son Beau. I had worked with Robert at L'Artisan Parfumeur 25 years ago. He's now a writer of terrific thrillers; The Ben Blackshaw series, that begins with Deadrise. The boys played in the heavy snow, smuggling a sausage from our diner brunch to use as a snowman's nose! Katrina joined us from her home in Morristown which is 20 minutes away.