Author Topic: Our summer holiday in the USA!  (Read 21387 times)

Offline belbbmfan

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Re: Our summer holiday in the USA!
« Reply #50 on: July 02, 2011, 04:03:31 pm »
hey Mouk, Canada was such a great vacation for us. We have very fond memories too.

We visited Liberty Island today. And although it's probably the most touristy thing you can do in NY, I wouldn't want to have missed this. We had thought about taking the Statten Island ferry because Liberty Island would be too crowded but it was fine. You have to have reserved tickets though (the waiting line for people without was ridiculously long) and go early.

Lady Liberty looked magnificent. It's such an iconic image but there's nothing like seeing the statue for real. Very impressive.

We also visited ground zero and took a look at how the memorial is going to constructed. All four of us were really affected by the visit. The enormity of the huge loss of life that happened there gets to you. People were silent, reading about that day, looking at the images that were on display.  :'(  The tributes are very moving and very well presented. And the new WTC will look good, life goes on.

After that, time for some more shopping (two teenage daughters!) and went to Macy's. It's very easy to get lost there.  :P

Did I already say I love it here?  :D


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Offline Meryl

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Re: Our summer holiday in the USA!
« Reply #51 on: July 03, 2011, 12:52:39 am »
Fabienne, Derek, Ann, Elena and John, thank you for a wonderful evening!  It was perfect.  I'm really sleepy now, but more tomorrow.  Have a great bike ride.  Hope the rain holds off!  :)
Ich bin ein Brokie...

Offline Aloysius J. Gleek

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Re: Our summer holiday in the USA!
« Reply #52 on: July 03, 2011, 01:37:49 am »


Fabienne, Derek, Ann, Elena and John, thank you for a wonderful evening!  It was perfect.  I'm really sleepy now, but more tomorrow.  Have a great bike ride.  Hope the rain holds off!  :)



Fabienne was hoping the bird chirping in the tree immediately over her head (in the restaurant 'Park') would hold off too!   ;D



Oops, though--the weather tomorrow does look a bit dicey--Yike!!

Good luck to our intrepid bicyclists in Central Park!   :o

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Offline Meryl

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Re: Our summer holiday in the USA!
« Reply #53 on: July 03, 2011, 11:01:23 pm »
Fabienne, I hope today's rain and overcast weather didn't affect your doings too much today.  Tomorrow's supposed to be nicer.  8)

Last night was lots of fun.  The girls have shot up from little kids into quite the lovely young ladies.  Our walk on the High Line was beautiful, and there was such a nice breeze.  The Park restaurant is as nice as I remembered it when we were there with Sophia and Debbie.  We ate under trees inhabited by chirping sparrows.  They were so cute!  But we were a bit nervous about you-know-what.  Fortunately, they gave us no "gifts."  ;D

The food was delicious.  I had a dish that consisted of one giant ravioli filled with ricotta and a poached egg, garnished with snap peas and fava beans.  The girls had pizza, and John, Derek and Fabienne had various salads, calamari, octopus and mussels.  My drink was great--Hendricks gin, muddled lemon, cucumber and St. Germaine liqueur.  Yum!  Afterwards Fabienne gifted John and me with bags of beautiful Belgian chocolate and wafers.  Such a sweet thing to do, thank you!  :-*

Before the evening ended, John insisted on kidnapping the Belgians via taxi and taking them to see Bryant Park and the NY Public Library.  He can't bear the thought of people missing out on his favorite spots!  He's a born tour guide.  We finally waved them into a cab at 42nd and Fifth.  Another prime Brokie meet-up accomplished!  8)
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Offline Kelda

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Re: Our summer holiday in the USA!
« Reply #54 on: July 04, 2011, 05:56:09 am »
sounds fun!
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Offline belbbmfan

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Re: Our summer holiday in the USA!
« Reply #55 on: July 04, 2011, 07:33:47 am »
Yes Keld, it was fun!  :D

I love the High Line (and apparently so does the rest of NY, it was very busy op there). The restaurant was great, the kind of place you can sit for hours, eating and drinking and all...

It was great seeing Meryl again and meeting John. I can highly recommend being 'kidnapped by John', like Meryl said he's an excellent tour guide and talks about his city with such enthousiam, you never want to leave.

Thank you both for a wonderful evening. :-*  :D

The cycling tour was cancelled due to the rain, so we went to the Metropolitan Museum of Art instaid. We spent a lot of time in the Egyptian section, which is amazing. A stunning collection, Anna took pictures of everything she liked (lots!  :D). I'm glad I didn't miss this.

After a rest back at the hotel, we walked over the Brooklyn Bridge (yes, in the rain  :laugh:), took more pictures and then headed to Chinatown to stroll around for a bit.
The girls were saying how strange it was to see so many adds only in chinese, no english. You don't really hear much english on the street either, except for the guy who was trying to sell us a footrub ('foot massage, 10 dollars for two'  ;D) We kindly declined, he was no Cassie Cartright.

We'll do the cycling tour today instead of yesterday. The weather looks much better.

Off to have breakfast, eggs sunny side up and blueberry pancakes, hmmmm

And tonight, it's Macy's fourth of July fireworks!  :D
'We're supposed to guard the sheep, not eat 'em'

Offline Meryl

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Re: Our summer holiday in the USA!
« Reply #56 on: July 04, 2011, 10:23:36 am »
The cycling tour was cancelled due to the rain, so we went to the Metropolitan Museum of Art instaid. We spent a lot of time in the Egyptian section, which is amazing. A stunning collection, Anna took pictures of everything she liked (lots!  :D). I'm glad I didn't miss this.

I'm sorry about the tour being cancelled, but if it meant that you saw the Met, it was a good thing!  And as long as you're doing the biking today, all is well.  8)

Quote
You don't really hear much english on the street either, except for the guy who was trying to sell us a footrub ('foot massage, 10 dollars for two'  ;D) We kindly declined, he was no Cassie Cartright.

 :laugh:

Quote
And tonight, it's Macy's fourth of July fireworks!  :D

Yeehaw!  :D
Ich bin ein Brokie...

Offline David In Indy

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Re: Our summer holiday in the USA!
« Reply #57 on: July 08, 2011, 11:07:16 pm »
I am glad you and your family are having so much fun, Fabienne! Enjoy the rest of your vacation, sweetie! And please keep us posted! I love reading these travel logs. 8) 8)
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Offline belbbmfan

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Re: Our summer holiday in the USA!
« Reply #58 on: July 10, 2011, 06:33:50 pm »
*resurfaces*

thanks David. We're in New Paltz, in the Hudson Valley, in a gorgeous b&b which has a computer. Yay! (even if it's a teeny one)

The bike ride in New York was great fun, we cycled through Central Park and Harlem, saw Bill Clinton's office and the Apollo Theater. We had some soul food for lunch in a small Harlem restaurant, the fried chicken was so good. The bikes were very good and the guides kept us all very safe (although it was the fourth of July, not much traffic on the roads). They even gave me a nice pink riding helmet! Lovely  :D

After dinner we went to Times Square to check if the billboard really are as big as we know them from the tv. Yes they are.It's a madhouse there. After that we joined the rest of the city to go see the fireworks. What can you say? Thank you Macy's for putting on such a terrific show. It was amazing. :D
Too bad we couldn't get a cab afterwards, we walked from 46th street to our hotel on 75th. :o I really could have done with that chinese guy's footrub then.  ;D

We were sorry to leave New York. We loved it!

'We're supposed to guard the sheep, not eat 'em'

Offline Aloysius J. Gleek

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Re: Our summer holiday in the USA!
« Reply #59 on: July 10, 2011, 07:08:16 pm »

Hey, Fabienne, I'm glad you are all having a wonderful trip!



We had some soul food for lunch in a small Harlem restaurant, the fried chicken was so good.



Ooo! Where did you go? Did you go to eat at the Red Rooster? Please let us know (New Yorkers always want to know where.   :)  )



After dinner we went to Times Square to check if the billboard really are as big as we know them from the tv. Yes they are. It's a madhouse there.



Yup. Guilty as charged.   ::)



Too bad we couldn't get a cab afterwards, we walked from 46th street to our hotel on 75th.



Seriously, we walk a lot. (Some of us, anyway.) Shoes are key!    ;)



We were sorry to leave New York. We loved it!



We are so glad you came and visited! Come back soon!   8)


"Tu doives entendre je t'aime."
(and you know who I am...)


Cowboy Curtis (Laurence Fishburne)
and Pee-wee in the 1990 episode
"Camping Out"