mybigadventures.com

Wow, its been ages since my last post, although I'm sure that no-one has missed out given that I'm probably the only person visiting this site at the moment. There has been no new progress and no new pictures for the last couple of weeks as I've been a bit busy.

Dani and I have found a pretty nice flat and are due to move in together at the end of the month for the first time :-). We spent about a week looking for somewhere and that was more than enough. The flat seems fantastic though, very new and a nice location. I also found time out this month to get a new job, the company seemed great but I've decided to give it a miss.

This is only a short one again, but will try not to leave it another two weeks!

So it's still the summer and we've been out making the most of it. On Tuesday this week we went on a cruise to Kew. We had a voucher for Christmas for buyagift.com so used it towards the cruise trip and entry to Kew. You can just head down to Westminster pier and pay for the ferry on the day and get your ticket for Kew for the same price but the buyagift combo is great if you don't know about it. We really enjoyed the cruise; it takes a little over an hour and for the first half you get a commentary explaining all the local sights. When you first set off, it goes past the Houses of Parliment offering one of the best views of the structure as you pass under the Westminster Bridge.

Kew was fantastic as ever, I think it's our third visit now. This time we were able to look at, and go in the recently added Hive installation. Its a giant metal structure that "encapsulates the story of the honey bee and the important role of pollination, through an immersive sound and visual experience" (www.kew.org/visit-kew-gardens/explore/attractions/hive). The hive is linked to an actual bee hive and the lights and sounds inside respond to activity from the real bee's. Certainly worth a look if you're visiting.

It was a lovely sumer's day and stayed really warm thoughout our visit. We stayed until closing at 6.30 before heading for dinner at the nearby Ask (we had vouchers). After a very filling meal we opted for a Uber back as it was only going to take 30 minutes over the 1 hour 30 minutes by train. All in all a great day out! Enjoy the photos    

We got up at about 8:30 AM, in preparation for our train at 11:02 AM to New York. We sorted out the rest of our stuff and headed down to breakfast, to take advantage of it before we left. I had fruit and a toasted bagel with cream cheese, and Ben had two chocolatines. We gathered together our stuff and then got a taxi to the station. The taxi driver was very friendly and was chatting eagerly to us, mainly about football. The taxi to the station was about $12, but, as the driver was so friendly, we tipped him quite happily.

We got into the station and went up to the ticket office to enquire about our tickets – we apparently had reserved seats, but we had no idea how to find them! Seemingly, there are five ‘reserved’ coaches, so you just got on and found a seat. Easy. And it actually was! We had to wait at the ‘gate’, like in airports, where we had to wait. A queue quickly started to form by the gate, and then suddenly, we were released onto the platform. We found a seat, hooked onto the free Wi-Fi and off we went! Caught up on some journal, did a bit of Skype-ing, ate the Subway that we bought in the station and, three and half hours later, rolled into Penn Station, New York. Love Amtrak trains!

We were further surprised to find our hotel to be - literally - a few minutes walk from the station. We hadn’t even broken a sweat walking there in the bright sunshine. Result! Checked in and went up to our room. It must be our lucky day as our room with merely metres away from the lift. Perhaps our smallest room so far with just a double bed, but it will do!

And so our New York adventure begins...

We began by walking up 7th Avenue, walking past the Pennsylvania Hotel that Ben and his family stayed in, when they came a few years ago. We popped into Macy’s to have a look around. Unsurprisingly, they are renovating, so it was completely baffling - we had no idea how to get from floor to floor, let alone different departments! Managed to find our way to their gift section after a while and browsed for potential gifts.

Then, we made our way out and carried on up 7th Avenue, crossing onto Broadway. Came out in Times Square and admired the lights and dazzling adverts. Went into Toys “R” Us – they have a ferris wheel just inside the door, with life-size toy cars to ride in – amazing! We then went in a few ‘tat’ shops in search of sew-on badges, but it wasn’t a very successful search. We only found a couple of quite basic ones. In the square itself, we noticed that some staged seating had been set up (facing the New Year’s Eve Ball side of the square) and, at the back, there was an interactive scream for you to pose in front of, but we just sat and people watched from the steps. It was a good point to take photos from, although people did keep standing in the way!

Decided to move on, after a while. Went into Hershey’s, as I wanted to try some of their chocolate. We bought a small selection box, as small bars don’t seem to be their thing, but after the first one, we weren’t convinced about the taste!

Made our way from there to the Rockefeller Centre – it took a bit of finding, despite it being a huge building! When we finally found the building itself, we were at the wrong side! Typical! Found the ticket office and bought the ‘Sun and Stars’ ticket, for $40 per person. This meant that we got to go up twice, once in the day and once at night, over a 24 hour period. As it was nearly 7 PM, we were aiming to see a bit of sun and stars, and then again tomorrow! We had to wait a while for our timed ticket, but once through security, the journey up was really quick. The elevator shaft was lit up, so you could see where you were going, which was pretty exciting.

Once out of the lift, we went up a further two floors and, then, we were at the top. It was spectacular from the top! We could see or miles – Central Park to the North and the Empire State building to the south, with the Statue of Liberty in the distance. We stayed up there until about dusk, so the colours began to soften and everything began to look hazy and ethereal. The views were amazing!

Starting to feel both weary and peckish, we headed down to ground level. We had picked up a coupon for TGI Friday’s (15% off), so we headed in that direction. It was allegedly their ‘grand opening’, but it appeared to be a well-settled restaurant. However, the food was good – we had potato skins with cheese and bacon to share, and then I had a bacon cheeseburger and Ben had chicken and tomato pasta. The service was pretty poor, though, as they tried to bring our mains out before our appetizer and, consequently, our mains sat on a hot plate for a while. We were a bit disgruntled about it so left a minimal tip (the whole tip thing  continues to be both baffling and irritating).

Turned our tired footsteps towards our hotel and turned in, feeling very weary.