Monday 17 August 2009
Friday 14 August 2009
Day 8 - Bronx Zoo
Today, we braved the Bronx...or the Zoo at least.
Amy and I had no idea where to get off the subway, so we guessed it at 180th East and thankfully, it was a very lucky guess as we were only about a two minute walk from the Zoo.
Bronx Zoo is placed literally in the center of the Bronx, once you were in there it was easy to forget that you were in the middle of a pretty rough built up area, as everywhere you looked there was trees...and animals! Amy's favourite sighting of the day wasn't the girrafes, lemurs, tigers, zebras, rhinos, elephants...it was a chipmunk...
The zoo was packed full of animals, you were never far from one exhibit, my favourite had to be the polar bear. He spent the whole time we were watching him playing with either a log or with a ball, though, he did look lonely.
On the way back we were an hour early at the station, so we found what can only really be described as a sort of street in the station, packed with food stores...and free samples, we made our way up and down taking smoothies, ice cream and pizza. We finally got on the train and returned home to be dragged around by a 5 and 6 year old wanting to play "secret agents"
Amy and I had no idea where to get off the subway, so we guessed it at 180th East and thankfully, it was a very lucky guess as we were only about a two minute walk from the Zoo.
Bronx Zoo is placed literally in the center of the Bronx, once you were in there it was easy to forget that you were in the middle of a pretty rough built up area, as everywhere you looked there was trees...and animals! Amy's favourite sighting of the day wasn't the girrafes, lemurs, tigers, zebras, rhinos, elephants...it was a chipmunk...
The zoo was packed full of animals, you were never far from one exhibit, my favourite had to be the polar bear. He spent the whole time we were watching him playing with either a log or with a ball, though, he did look lonely.
On the way back we were an hour early at the station, so we found what can only really be described as a sort of street in the station, packed with food stores...and free samples, we made our way up and down taking smoothies, ice cream and pizza. We finally got on the train and returned home to be dragged around by a 5 and 6 year old wanting to play "secret agents"
Day 7 - NYC
Today we went into New York City again, this time we aimed to spend a large part of the day in Central Park. We walked there via times Square where we found Hershey's world and M&M world, the latter being more impressive. M&M's world was a 3 story shop packed with M&M sweets and merchandise, Amy got lured into buying a bag of mixed M&M's which you got to dispense you're self, they had all different colours, way more than you get in your normal bag of M&M's. After this we headed up to central park, where we avoided the hundreds of people trying to sell us bike tours, horse and carridge rides etc. We walked round for a while then headed off to find a deli for some lunch. The deli's are great, they do all sorts of sandwich or roll and it's all freshly made, I went for a philli cheesesteak which was amazing.
After Lunch we proceeded along 5th avenue, looking in Abercrombie & Fitch amoungst other shops to avoid the rain. Abercrombie & Fitch felt more like a bar or night club than a shop, the music was so loud you could hardley talk above it, there were seating areas with coffee tables and leather sofas and every employee there seemed to be attractive (well the women at least, but Amy assures me the men were too). We then walked down to Madison Square Park which is in sight of the Flaitron Building, we finally returned to the Station where we managed to catch a train within a couple of seconds of the doors closing...which was then delayed about 15 minutes and the driver insisted on driving as slow as he could.
After Lunch we proceeded along 5th avenue, looking in Abercrombie & Fitch amoungst other shops to avoid the rain. Abercrombie & Fitch felt more like a bar or night club than a shop, the music was so loud you could hardley talk above it, there were seating areas with coffee tables and leather sofas and every employee there seemed to be attractive (well the women at least, but Amy assures me the men were too). We then walked down to Madison Square Park which is in sight of the Flaitron Building, we finally returned to the Station where we managed to catch a train within a couple of seconds of the doors closing...which was then delayed about 15 minutes and the driver insisted on driving as slow as he could.
Thursday 13 August 2009
Day 6
Pool Day!
The temperature reached a soaring 36 degrees today, so we decided it'd be best to lounge around by the pool with books, magazines and iPods.
After Immi finished camp, she joined us around the pool and insisted I swam with her, she's a really excellent swimmer considering she's 5.
We went back to the house where we saw a Groundhog laying on the lawn, then Mel cooked us chicken and home made chips!
The temperature reached a soaring 36 degrees today, so we decided it'd be best to lounge around by the pool with books, magazines and iPods.
After Immi finished camp, she joined us around the pool and insisted I swam with her, she's a really excellent swimmer considering she's 5.
We went back to the house where we saw a Groundhog laying on the lawn, then Mel cooked us chicken and home made chips!
Day 5
Day 5 was a nice relaxed day, NYC then Philli in 2 consecutive days is bloody tiring, it's pretty odd to think how many miles we must have walked.
First stop of the day was Target, it's basically a massive version of Woolworths which doubles as a bit of a supermarket, next we went to the supermarket as Amy and I would be cooking dinner (lol). After shoppng at wegmans, and having a chinese there (which was actually really good, and we ate out of the little cardboard boxes you always see on TV) we headed off to the Freehold Mall. After the Mall it was Immi's swim team try out!
First stop of the day was Target, it's basically a massive version of Woolworths which doubles as a bit of a supermarket, next we went to the supermarket as Amy and I would be cooking dinner (lol). After shoppng at wegmans, and having a chinese there (which was actually really good, and we ate out of the little cardboard boxes you always see on TV) we headed off to the Freehold Mall. After the Mall it was Immi's swim team try out!
Sunday 9 August 2009
Day 4
Today we went into Philidelphia whilst Mel, Brian and Immi went to a star trek exhibit at the Franklin Institute Museum. We spent the majority of our time hunting for an indoor market, however this was totally unsuccessful...untill later on. We ended up looking round "The Gallery" which was a huge shopping mall. We came back and spent a few hours in the Pool with Immi where she showed off her water borne skills.
In Philly I was really impressed by a giant guitar as the sign for Hard Rock Cafe. Realising now, I need to take WAY more photographs!
In Philly I was really impressed by a giant guitar as the sign for Hard Rock Cafe. Realising now, I need to take WAY more photographs!
Day 3
New York New York! Today, Amy and I ventured into the Big Apple, the first port of call was Times Square, straight away we decided to go into Toys'r'us which made me feel like a little kid again, inside the store there is a ferris wheel, a huge anamatronic T-Rex and a massive barbie dolls house...I think Amy wanted to move in there. Next we walked to a deli, aptley named "Manhattan Deli" and grabbed some lunch which we ate in Central Park, I went for the classic - Pastrami on rye.
Next, we went to visit FAO Shwartz, where Amy and I were amazed at the "Create you're own" Muppet factory...as you can see amy was shocked!
We then walked down to Canal street, where many people tried to sell us fake handbags or stolen ipods, or in this case, 'Obama condoms' for the "erection election campaign".
We finished the day with a cab ride back to the station and then went to see Dave and Nikki for a BBW, all in all, a tiring yet amazing day.
Next, we went to visit FAO Shwartz, where Amy and I were amazed at the "Create you're own" Muppet factory...as you can see amy was shocked!We then walked down to Canal street, where many people tried to sell us fake handbags or stolen ipods, or in this case, 'Obama condoms' for the "erection election campaign".
We finished the day with a cab ride back to the station and then went to see Dave and Nikki for a BBW, all in all, a tiring yet amazing day.
Friday 7 August 2009
Day 2
Day two!
Got over jet lag pretty quick I think! Got up at 6am, played on the Nintendo Wii and learned that my Wii age was 28. We went down to the basement and played a few rounds of pool, then Amy learnt how to use the coffee machine...no doubt a lot more coffee beans will be needed!
Next we went to see Harry Potter in 3D and enjoyed a fizzy ice drink and a VERY large popcorn, we then went to pick Immi up from her summer camp, followed by Cold Stones ice cream, thinking that medium would be a reasonable size portion, Immi then had her swimming lesson where she showed off her swimming skills! Have to say I was very impressed, we're going back to about 50ft away from the ice cream place for a meal!
Thursday 6 August 2009
Day one!
Today started at about 1:30am...and it's still going now!
Everything has gone really smoothly, got to Heathrow and checked in dead on 7am, dropped the bags off and then through security, all went without a hitch. The only downside to the whole day was going without the inflight entertainment screens for 3 hours but decided to get a photo out of the window of the plane:
Anyway must dash, Immi's summoning me... and I've got to hide from a stalker mother ;)
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