Hiking and Other Saturday Adventures

For sometime I've been nagging Noodles to take me hiking in New York. It took a while for the weather to be nice enough, but this Saturday it was finally there. Grab the gang (Noodles, Potato and me) and I was off on my first hiking adventure in the US.

We met bright and early (ok, 11am) on Saturday morning at the bus terminal and caught the bus up to Alpine, New Jersery. The plan from there was to hike down along the river, back across the George Washington Bridge and subway home.

Stepping off the bus was pretty cool - felt like we were being stranded in the middle of nowhere - if we ignored the highway that we were walking along to get to the trail, of course.

We hit the trail and it was amazing. So green! And fresh air! I love Manhattan but oxygen is pretty great too - guess I haven't realized how much I've missed the stuff.... Outdoors in Manhattan is like indoors anywhere else.

So we hiked along the path happily, with lots of calls of "are we there yet" and Bear Gryllis references. Most important topic of conversation? - "Noodles, do you think we will see a bear?"

We found some very cool ruins as we walked deeper into the woods. We weren't out of celluar service (I mean, we aren't crazy....) so we googled and found out what we were looking at. The garage of a house that was destroyed in "The" war in 1912. Umm.. what war?

It was very magical, reminding me of everything I ever wanted from the world as a kid. This is what I imagined Enid Blyton's Enchanted woods to look like. If only I could find the Magic Faraway Tree!!

As we ventured further along the path we found the shore track so they we were able to walk along the river. We stumbled across a waterfall. It was breathtaking, especially since we were the first people in the history of time to discover it (ignoring the pre-existing hikers.)

We continued, meeting a family of geese...

And even deer...

It was beautiful, it was amazing... "Yuck, a bug just flew in my mouth!"

The total hike was 9 miles which is around 15 kilometers. When we reached the end of the shore line path we walked up three million stairs (can't say the random man at the bottom of the steps didn't warn us..) and back up and over the George Washington Bridge.


Relax kids, we're back in Manhattan.

No energy for showering or dolling up for a Saturday night on the town, it was straight onto the Subway towards Potato's house. So difficult to stay awake.... Even standing... 

We stopped by Bill's Burgers and ordered an extreme volume of burgers, shakes and cupcakes. Ah, this is for three people? Don't judge us, we're making up for lost calories!

We brought the burgers back to Potato's place and ate what was the best meal ever. Then we lied on the couch (to be honest, we made Potato sit on the awkward chair) and watched sitcoms, romantic comedies and Sesame Street. Living the life in NYC... oh yeah.

By eleven o clock Noodles and I mustered up the energy to leave and dragged our sorry selves out of there. It was without a doubt the perfect day, followed by the perfect perfect Saturday Night. Now I am exhausted. Hopefully I can move my muscles tomorrow.... 

Run Away!

It's normally to get hungry at around 10pm right? Of course it is, otherwise there would be no such thing as second dinner. Anyway, one day this week I ducked out for a quick snack around 10pm. As I was walking the one block back to my apartment I could see a man on the other side of the street shouting and running in my direction. He looked crazy, waving his hands about and pulling hair.

Eeekkk! I freaked out and hastened my step - there was no one else about, but I was close to a store. As I rushed towards the shop (and therefore the crazy man) I noticed something that made me stop and laugh at myself.

The man was chasing his dog. He did manage to catch it, leash it and scold it. I was left feeling quite ridiculous!

ANZAC Day...

There are ways of showing Australian Nationalism or having a taste of Australia in NYC... but to be frank, I've never really been too keen (other than in little ways like through language - for example using words like keen without irony.)

Why my lack of interest in all things Aussie - like eating at Australian restaurants... watching Celebrity Australia Rules Football... saying G'day to every second person that walks by? Answer: Nobody (cool) even does that stuff in Australia!

So when ANZAC day rolled around I wasn't jumping up and down to attend the Australian celebrations that were put on here. That's not to say I don't appreciate or respect the meaning of the day, only I don't see the need to celebrate it by "drinking cheap Aussie beer and Jacob's Creek"...

But surley there is a way to embrace Australia without having to be part of this nonsense? The answer came from an unexpected source. My token American, Noodles (who has taken to telling people she is Australian anyway, so power to her.)

Noodle's found out that Australian band An Horse was playing at the Knitting Factory in Williamsburg, Brooklyn and easily convinced me to join her (Williamsburg on a weeknight? This is going to be fantastic.)

It was a long wait for the band... their set did not start until 10pm and we were feeling a bit like Cinderellas given it was a week night. The proceeding bands were average, but the very cool, very androgynous crowd kept us entertained.

It was worth the wait, An Horse was fantastic! I feel like I'm a better person for having seen the set. At the same time a worse person for not knowing of them before.

Absolutely loved it - you can easily see why Australian bands in general have a great reputation here. And I admit to a shiver of Australian pride when this banter occurred on stage:

Lead Singer: We are streaming live around the world
Drummer: Where are the cameras?
Lead singer:  Hidden, like on that show...where the cameras are hidden... whats it called???
Audience: Hidden Cameras!
Lead Singer: Sorry, I'm Australian, we only have four channels. There are more, but you have to pay. And who would pay for TV when we have the internet?

Happy Easter!!

OK so Easter in NY means missing out on three public holidays back in Australia. No big deal... I was told the reason why there is no time off here for Easter is because religious holidays (excluding Christmas) are not celebrated with public holidays in the US. Fair enough... but Easter is a religious holiday?? That's news... I thought it was about candy and bunnies.. So much to learn.

This all means not much celebration for Easter... and that's probably a good thing because it would be hard to compete with my usual Easter of chocolate and movies... and hot cross buns...

So, Sunday morning, after I had finished mourning the lack of hot cross buns in this town (to be honest, I am still mourning, but I've managed to pull myself together), E, Pants, Noodles and I headed to Brooklyn for brunch because "Williamsburg, like M&Ms is always a solid choice". Add Noodles new game and it was going to be brilliant. (The game is a Hipster version of Where is Wally. You get points for spotting a hipster and making an ironic statement about them. Double points if they are riding a single speed bike, ironic TShirt etc)

The point of the trip was to check out Fatty Cue's, a place recommended in Time Out magazine. I had the French toast and it was beyond amazing. Yum Yum Yummmm!

After eating we wandered through Williamsburg (spotting hipsters like there was no tomorrow...) The weather was amazingly warm. People were in TShirts and shorts... and rightfully so. It was hot. If I dared complain I would.

We headed towards the flee market - a pretty cool place. Lots of interesting and unique pieces available.

Exhausted and way over dressed for the weather we headed back to Manhattan. Noodles and I spent the afternoon in the sun, people watching at Union Square. This was the most fun I have had just hanging out and observing people.

Union Square is one of my favourite places in Manhattan (probably second after Soho) which makes sense because it attracts some crazy people. See below some of the hula hoopers... jugglers... magicians...

There were a lot of people out enjoying the sun. After we had been there for a while a group of street performers set up and started playing. They were quite cool and talented. A couple of little girls in their Sunday best started dancing, their Easter Egg baskets in hand.

 

The band attracted an even larger crowd and everyone was clapping and cheering. There  was one creepy looking man who reminded me of this guy from Dennis the Menace:

So Noodles and I sat on the stairs of Union Square, laughing and keeping one eye on Creepy Guy... then something funny happened. A random guy started to try and chat us up. At Union Square. On the steps! He even had moves, including a magic trick where he turned a two dollar bill into two ones.. Umm interesting??

Noodles told him we were both from Australia... which he believed, despite Noodles standard US accent. So we were kind of ignoring him when one of the street performers we were watching pulled out a David Bowie style ball and started spinning it in his hands.

Noodles was pretty impressed and said to me "OH wow, check out that guy's David Bowie Ball!" To this, our new friend ripped open his back pack and pulled out... an identical ball! Then he ran down and joined in with the performers.

Of course, Noodle's made the call of the moment "Where is Ashton? Are we being punked??"

We later spotted our admirer pulling the magic trick on another poor girl. Noodles wanted to go over and say "Jason, Mum said you had to be home by four!" But by the time she had convinced me he had disappeared.

We managed to spot him playing chess with one of the old men that hang out at the Square. See my stalker picture of our magic trick playing, David Bowie Ball carrying friend below.

This was all very hilarious, but at some point we needed to move on. Plus the creepy, Dennis the Menace guy had found some hoons with a football and they were getting quite rough. There were a few near misses of football to face. Defiantly time to go, this was not the way we wanted to die! (Cue scene where Noodles and I walk in front of a cab... Lets leave out the details to save embarrassment)

We headed uptown, stopping when we spotted an Easter egg at Madison Square Park. It must have been to high up for the children to see.

Surprise, surprise... all this talk of candy was making me hungry. One last stop at the famous Magnolia Bakery before home time. This meant tackling Times Square (argh.... nightmare!) But totally worth it for the cupcakes.

I begrudge you all in Australia with the long weekend off! Back to work tomorrow, so I better get some sleep.

<Insert dreams..> I assume I will dream about the Easter bunny cruising in Williamsburg when he is attacked by Creepy Guy who has caught the subway over from Union Square. The Easter bunny will jump on his single speed bike to try and escape, but he will struggle to pedal fast enough. But don't worry, a group of hipsters will attack Creepy Guy with snide and ironic remarks about his appearance... "You're so mainstream, you copied your look from a popular children's movie." The bunny will use the time when Creepy Guy is crying to make his getaway. Then they'll all have vegan chick pea sandwiches in a fair trade coffee shop and laugh about the whole adventure.

Happy Easter to all.

Are you going to the Party?

Just got home on a Friday night - and the party at my building was bigger than the party I came from! There was a queue to get in and everybody seemed very dressed up. Everyone seemed super pumped... "Are you going to the party?" Umm No... I live here!

I asked the doorman what was going on and he said they were hosting an event for the Tribecca Film Festival and that I had just missed Orlanda Bloom who was upstairs. He then proceeded to explain to me who Orlando Bloom is... "He is this really famous actor..."  Ummm yes, we know about Orlando Bloom in Australia! 

Arlene's Grocery

Friday night the plan was to go and see Noodle's cousin's band (The Morning Code) play at Arlene's grocery. First stop was dinner (no Hipster dress code this night). It was warm out so we opted for the Shake Shake (famous New York burgers) at Madison Square Park... outside. Mistake... the burgers and shakes were amazing... but it wasn't that warm that we should have been eating out doors. Nice setting though, in the park, fairy lights. Everyone (me included) was complaining about the cold though.

It was so cold that on our way to Arlene's Grocery we had to stop off at Duane Reade (pharmacy) and warm up. Then again at Starbucks. Potato had his first ever Starbucks coffee:

Needless to say it took us a while to get to our destination. But we got there just in time, the first band was finishing and Morning Code was setting up. We squeezed our way to the front.

Fanastic band - definatley worth braving the cold for! Very cool stuff.

Philadelphia, PA

On Saturday Pants, E, R and I took the plunge and made our first trip out of NY since starting the project. We woke up bright and early and jumped on a Mega Bus to Philly. Its a short bus ride, only two hours... I used the opportunity to catch up on some missed sleep. 

On arrival our first stop was unanimous - Lunch... and when in Philly you can't go past a Cheese Steak. The obvious choice was in South Philly where the two most famous Cheese Steak places reside - on opposite sides of the road. 

To get to South Philly was an adventure... we were warned by locals that the best Cheese Steak places are in a bad part of town. Furthermore its difficult to get in and out. This wasn't going to stop us... especially not with our resident foodie, R, and the worlds best tour guide Pants. Pant's was all over it and had us on a local bus which dropped us right where we needed to be. 

Our options were Geno's or Pat's. They looked the same. Geno's? Why not. 

The Cheese Steaks were pretty amazing - although the next day my stomach disagreed... We sat outside in the sun and ate. It was magnificent. We all agreed that evidence of the bad neighborhood could be seen in some of the stickers on Geno's walls - This is America, Speak English... and... If you can read thank a teacher, if you can read in English thank a Marine. (This is where I had to try so hard to hold back from saying 'I miss Manhattan....' and clicking my heels three times)  

No matter, to distract me from these stickers there was always more food. After gorging on Cheese steaks E summed up the meal nicely with: "So, that's what we came for...worth the two hour drive R?" Hmm YES..So, can we go now?? Not quite... only nine hours till the Mega Bus home...

We managed to catch the local bus back to the main part of town (thanks again to Pants) and decided to check out the sights.... (8.5 hours to go). Frightened by the queue for the liberty bell, we skipped it, and checked out some of the other independence stuff. We spent a while in the gift shop and I got a photo with everything that said July 4. Pant's bought a book - Rules on Civility by George Washington. George Washington wrote the book when he was only 14 and it includes points like


1st Every Action done in Company, ought to be with Some Sign of Respect, to those that are Present.

2d When in Company, put not your Hands to any Part of the Body, not usualy Discovered.

3d Shew Nothing to your Freind that may affright him. 


Brilliant! Kept us entertained for the rest of the day.

We wandered through Franklin Square park and enjoyed the warm weather and quietness of the city. I really enjoyed seeing all of the flowers in bloom! I'm really enjoying seeing Spring... the snow has melted and flowers are blooming. Daffodils and pansies and tulips. It's gorgeous.

We wanted to go and see Love Park and it's famous love sign. Best method of transport there? The Subway... We spent a while looking for the station, then R caved and asked somebody. It was exactly where we were standing. As in, "See the stairs that we are standing at? Walk down them". Oh, how embarrassing. 

We made it to the Love Sign in one piece (and now we can say we caught the Subway in Philly). The sign itself was a little disappointing... ("wow" I hear you say, "did she just criticize a world famous sight?") The thing is... and this is hard for me to admit out loud... there is a bigger better love sign in New York... argh... I'm turning into such a snob! It's just true.

I did have fun in the park though, watching skateboarders attempt tricks and kids play. With still 6 hours to go we decided to walk. And we walked and walked until we'd seen as much as we could see. 

Dinner was fantastic! R picked Tinto. The head chef is on the US Iron Chef and the food was impressive. Tapas style dinning. Loads of tasty options. For more check out R's blog. 

So that wrapped up Philly... or so we thought. Mega Bus is cheap for a reason and we ended up waiting nearly an hour in the cold. As we waited I thought I realized why Philly is known as the city of brotherly love - R was awesome enough to organize our adventure to Philly and I brotherly loved him. I soon found out that this is completely wrong. Philly is called the city of brotherly love because:

When you have been standing in the cold bus queue for one hour and R starts arguing with you about some nonsense to do with cars the only thing that can keep you from going insane is to repeatedly chant"Brotherly Love, Brotherly Love..."

When we finally got on the bus we were front row, second story... oh yeah... cruising in style (ignore the giant $1 panted on the side of the bus). In no time we were driving back into good old New York City. Thousands of Taxis, lights, traffic, noise, people... its good to be home. 

So, R, where are you taking us next??

Brooklyn Bowl

Friday night at Brooklyn Bowl... Email invite I sent out read

Plan for tonight - http://www.brooklynbowl.com/

61 Wythe Avenue in Williamsburg

Dress code: Hipster (obviously)

And of course Noodles enforced...

Friday, Friday, gotta get down on Friday….

Don’t forget that the hipster dress code is MANDATORY.

So, hipster outfits on we headed over to Williamsburg, Brooklyn to try out the Brooklyn Bowl. Expectations were high ...

“blows our minds… one of the most incredible places on Earth” -Rolling Stone

The basic concept of Brooklyn Bowl is food, drinks, ten pin bowling and live music - all mushed up together. The combination works fantastically. E, Pants, Noodles, SF and I arrived starving. We gave our names to the restaurant then grabbed a drink and waited while watching the band and checking out the place. Definitely not your typical retro bowling alley. The place was brooding with a dark, funky style. Loved it!

The food was fantastic - although I shouldn't have ordered what turned out to be the world's most healthiest sandwich. Too many vegetables!! (I just heard my mother groaning all the way from Australia). Whilst eating and chatting (or should I say shouting) we could hear the band playing - brilliant atmosphere.

Afterwards we headed down to the dance floor and enjoyed. (Noodles and E spent a good amount of time laughing at me dance, I'm sure. Geeeez, just because I think the beat sounds the same in every song doesn't make me a bad dancer...)

The bowling lanes are set up over looking the music and dance area. Its pretty cool. There were also lots of big screens playing... images of science... like planets and stuff. I knew it! Hipsters really are all science nerds!! 

The band was fantastic... and it was long before we knew the words to all the songs "Oooooh .. Ooooh.. Ooooh." Plus it all ended well when the drummer (finally) put his shirt back ON. When the band wrapped up the music kept going. It was entertaining watching some of the patrons dance around like mad people. Also, Pants can really, really dance. A highlight was one girl introducing herself to the lead guitarist to which he replied "Hi X, I'm Tiger." Tiger? Seriously?

Our hipster themed dress up worked - Noodles looked especially cool in her marOOOn tights and ironic hipster tshirt. We fit in. Just don't tell anyone that on Friday afternoon Noodles and I did the What sort of Hipster Are you? test and both scored You are not a hipster... Damn. Doesn't mean we didn't enjoy the funky vibe at Brooklyn Bowl. Anyway I preferred Noodle's quiz: 

Noodles : Wearing a bow tie is very preppy, but do even preppy guys think its too much?

Me : Trick question... its cool for hipsters because it is ironic!

Noodles: Correct - and only a hipster would know that .

Taking Time to Lunch

So this evening Bolt, in Sydney, made the mistake of asking me what I have been eating for lunch (could it possibly rival Sydney's Buritto Tuesday??) Fantastic chance to tell her about the most magical place in the world... the Cafeteria.... Anyway, this is what I wrote to her:

It's just awesome! You have all these stations and they have different flavours each day. And there is this angry sandwhich lady who yells at people.. and you can get serve yourself starbucks... and you go up to the man at the station you want... and you say "I WANT EVERYTHING!!! Except the ONION!"
 and they make it for u right there and you queue up with your tray. And if you order a turkey sandwhich the lady tries to put like 5 inches of turkey.  And they have cookies and soup. And then you take your tray out to this room and you sit at the cool table... (its easy to be the cool table... you simply be the only table in the room who doesn't look suicidal.) Then the next day R says he wishes he could sit at the cool table with you and you say NO. Then you change your mind and say YES because he is a Cafeteria guru. And he knows about all the different foods there and can give you a play by play of what is available each day.

My favourite quote of the day was from a fellow Cafeteria fan... "I wish I could go to the markets on Thursday, but I can't, because I'd miss Pad Thai day at the Cafeteria." She is right there - its not worth missing. You can even have scallions - which seems to be some sort of a chive...

An important note: There are extacly three other people in the world who actually think the cafeteria is magic. Everyone else hates it. Everyone else is wrong.... obviously.

Spring in the Big Apple

From: http://i.imgur.com/zb5eD.jpg

Gossip Girl

On Saturday afternoon E, Pants and I went on the Gossip Girl tour. We admit it was geeky, so lets ust keep it between ourselves - we just had to see the city the way it was meant to be seen - through the eyes of our favourite Upper East Siders.... Right??

The tour started at the Plaza hotel where Serena lives. We jumped on a bus (oh how very Upper Class of us) and got set to tour Manhattan from the Upper East side down to NYU and the Village. Actually I learnt that the character who plays Eric Van DerWoodsen often hangs out in the area of the Village where I thought I saw him - he is studying at NYU.

We visited the GG school (actually filmed at two sights, a museum and a church). We also saw all of the character's favourite bars and clubs (all very exclusive of course!) Again, it amazes me how some of the best places in NY look like scungy garages from the outside!

I loved how emotional the tour guide was! "Does everyone remember Georgina? I hate her! I hate her... I call her Whore-Gina!!" and "Chuck and Blair forever - whoooooo hooo! I love Eva... but I feel so guilty all the time"

There were lots of GG facts and we learnt alot about how and where the show is filmed. Also learnt how to find out when and where it is filming... Looks like my new career as a New York Groupie is going to go well. Also got to watch heaps of GG clips with breaks for (window) shopping at Blair's favourite stores. We even got to stop at the place where all of Blair's headbands are from. But everybody knows - headbands are so high school.....

An interesting fact (well interesting depending on who you are) is that Ed Westwick's Chuck was supposed to dissappear after he tried to take advantage of Jenny on the rootop in the first season - however his character was so popular they asked him to return as a main cast memember. (That's right Dad - everybody loves Chuck!)

Just secretly, since coming to NY my all time worst character, Dan Humphrey, has become one of my most adored. This makes the whole "Hey there Upper East Siders" thing less fun to say... but I'm going to go there anyway... So here I go with a recount of my GG experience...

Hey there Upper East Siders

Gossip Girl here. Your one and only source into the scandalous lives of Manhattan's elite. There is nothing that I like more than a Saturday afternoon in Manhattan. Brunch at the Palace Hotel and you'll never guess who was spotted waiting outside? Dan Humphrey. Could it be that he has fallen for the hotel's favourite it girl, Serena Van Derwoodsen. Can't believe the love of his life has returned. If only she knew who he was. 

N and B seen hot and heavy in the halls of the Palace Hotel. Sparks were flying for sure. What about S? Careful N, Lonley Boy is waiting to pick up the pieces.

Word on the street is with her big brother off chasing S poor Little J has nobody to watch out for her. My sources tell me she was seen dumping yoghurt on B's head outside Constance Billard School. B should know by now, yoghurt on your Prada is so last season.

Spotted at her Upper East Side apartment - B scheming an attack. Careful Little J, B doesn't get mad - she gets even.

Some might call this a fustercluck, but on the Upper East Side, we call it Saturday afternoon. Who am I? That's one secret I'll never tell.

You know you love me.

xoxo

Gossip Girl



NBC Tour

Last week myself and the crew (minus a few) took the NBC studio tour. I was looking forward to it,  but it was a bit of a let down. I mean, it was cool to see the history of NBC documentary before the actual tour began. It was also a bit of fun to see the Paige's in their suits. I watch a lot of TV - some might say too much... but I don't watch any of the shows whose studios we saw (Dr. OZ et al) It was really cool to see the Saturday Night Live tour. I also enjoyed learning about some of the filming techniques that are used. I think it would have been better if my expectations were not so high. I'm a fan of a lot of NBC shows, however I enjoyed spending time in the NBC store a lot more than I enjoyed the tour. Still worthwhile, but not the best time I've had in New York.

Good to be Home

My Dad has a joke I love that he tells when we are in the car returning home from the city. He sighs audibly when we cross the Tom Ugly bridge back into the Sutherland Shire, then we laugh and say "Phew, good to be back in the Shire."

Today I went to Jersey (more on this later) and as we drove over the bridge and back into Manhattan I sighed and thought to myself "Phew, good to be back in the city."

Looks like you can take the girl away from the Shire, but you can't change her nature.... How depressing. Anyway... I better be off to buy a "What up 212?!" bumper sticker.