NYC Highlights, Post 2: Madame Tussaud's, NY Public Library, Rockefeller Centre

On Wednesday (Christmas Eve), we went to Madame Tussaud's Wax Museum in Times Square. We had all purchased 7-day New York Passes, which included entry to about 50 attractions plus various discounts - definitely recommend getting these if you're ever sightseeing in NYC!

Well, Madame Tussaud's was very interesting! The wax figures were very realistic (although they look a bit shiny when photographed with a flash), and they were scattered throughout the galleries in various poses, with people wandering amongst them and posing for pictures... so you'd sort of go around staring at people to see if they moved! And trying not to stand still for too long as otherwise people might start trying to work out which famous person you were... :)



Here are some photos of us with the various famous people we met...



The same day, Ben and I happened across the New York Public Library while the girls were shopping nearby. As far as libraries go, this one would be pretty hard to beat - very very impressive! It was the setting of "The Day After Tomorrow". The front entrance is guarded by two lion statues (one of which Ben went "lion surfing" on later that night after Susie suggested it would make a good photo...). The third photo below is of the entrance foyer!

The bottom floor or two have a lot of important/ valuable/ old documents on display. We didn't look at most of them, but one prominently featured item (behind glass) was book 5 of JK Rowling's original 7 handwritten and illustrated copies of "The Tales of Beedle The Bard"! The third floor housed reading rooms lined with two levels of reference books and filled with computer desks. And we later realised that this library wasn't even for fiction books/ novels - they were in a separate building down the street!!



That evening, as well as going to some cute markets and seeing some amazing department store Christmas window displays (more to come about these), we went to Rockefeller Centre. This is a commercial centre consisting of landmarks including the 70-storey GE Building, Radio City Music Hall, and the famous Rockefeller Centre ice skating rink. You can see part of the rink in the fifth photo below. The other photos show some of the beautiful Christmas decorations in the area. It was gorgeous but extremely crowded! We even heard a cheer go up from the crowd and found out that a guy had just proposed to his girlfriend (and been accepted) under the tree. :)



Anyway, that's enough for now - all of this (plus more I've yet to write about) happened on our first full day in New York, so there is a lot more to come!! Goodnight!

NYC Highlights, Post 1: Times Square

Well - New York, New Yorrrrk! It's hard to know where to begin - it's already our second last night here! We arrived on Tuesday 23rd and will be flying to Seattle on Tuesday 30th. We're here with Susie B and Lisa B, staying in a youth hostel in upper west Manhattan. It's great to see Susie again and to meet Lisa! I've decided to do a few posts of the highlights rather than a day by day account, although knowing me there'll probably end up being just as many! :)

I thought I would make the first post about Times Square, because Susie said (and we agree) that it took walking out out of the subway station and into Times Square to really bring home the fact that we are in New York! I don't really know how to describe Times Square in a simple phrase - Wikipedia calls it a "major intersection", which seems like a massive understatement!! However, it does add that it is "at the junction of Broadway and Seventh Avenue and stretching from West 42nd to West 47th Streets, [and] ...consists of the blocks between Sixth and Eighth Avenues from east to west, and West 40th and West 53rd Streets from south to north, making up the western part of the commercial area of Midtown Manhattan"!!! So yeah, a pretty major "intersection"!!!!

Times Square at first glance (and second and third) is overwhelming to the senses - particularly the eyes and ears! It is a street filled with cars, yellow taxis, sirens, blaring horns, and absurd crowds of people, and everywhere you look are unbelievably enormous moving/flashing/scrolling digital signs and neon lights on very tall buildings. Even the signs for MacDonald's and the Subway station were flashing and digital, and the Police Dept was neon! Some of the digital signs are multiple storeys high, and one above the other... most of them are advertisements, and some we saw tonight were "make 2009 your time to quit smoking", with a live feed showing pictures of people on the street who had just pledged to quit smoking in the last few minutes! Today we were handed cards inviting us to text a new year message or email a photo to be shown on the screens too - and to bring along our "distasteful, embarrassing or downright depressing memories from 2008" (i.e. on paper) to take part in a mass shredding!

Along the streets are cafes, theatres with all the Broadway musicals and plays, attractions such as Madame Tussaud's and Ripley's Believe It Or Not, souvenir shops including Planet Hollywood, clothes shops, grocery stores, pharmacies, banks, etc etc. Click here to see a [somewhat dark and fuzzy] video of Times Square - try to imagine the real thing. :) And below are a bunch of photos taken on various days or nights when we were in Times Square - although there's no way they can capture the actual feeling of overload and awe (and packed sidewalks) experienced in real life!! Today we were given free promotional boxes of chocolates on the street - the new M&M Premiums, which are delicious!



Another thing we did today was to discover the Charmin toileting experience...! On the street were some staff members, including one dressed in a furry toilet costume, encouraging the crowds to take the elevator upstairs into the building, which we did. At the top was a line-up in the midst of a festive Charmin-toilet-paper-themed playground, with a Charmin theme song playing, and staff members hyping the crowd up with whoops and spontaneous dancing. A guy with a microphone was at the head of the line, and he would send each person forward in turn as other staff members communicated that a particular cubicle number was ready for use. There were at least 18 cubicles so the wait wasn't long! Inside the cubicles were a few labelled types of Charmin toilet paper to choose from, as well as a cheerful decorating theme. In the second photo below, you can see a bit of the festive atmosphere in the background. Only in New York!!!!



Anyway, that's an introduction to New York for you. :) More about our sightseeing in subsequent entries. And in case I don't post again before then - Happy New Year!!

USA road trip, Post 5: Gingerbread houses

After our second day of sightseeing in Washington DC on Monday, we went around to Peter and Marissa's house again for an evening of... gingerbread house decorating!! We had dinner and then got stuck into it...

All of the necessary items - gingerbread walls and roof, two gingerbread people, a tree, the plastic base plate, a few colours of frosting, and lots of different candy to decorate with - came as a kit that only cost $5 from Costco! Peter and Marissa had a different kit to make a fancy tree, but the rest of us made houses - one by Liesl and Ken, one by Ben and I, and one by Tess (who had to leave early as she had baby Madison with her). Here are some photos of the various stages...

The structural work (note the upside-down windows on ours - half of the roof later went on upside-down too... not sure Ben should be studying engineering?!!):



The design and decorating stage:



The finishing touches (note Ken's awesome melted snowman - a great new career for an upright snowman that wouldn't behave!):



The end results:


It was so much fun!! And afterwards, Ben and Ken played Rook against Marissa and Liesl until it was rather late (and the girls won). Thanks to Peter and Marissa for being the hosts, and thanks to all who were there for a very enjoyable night!