Somewhere in Midtown Manhattan

After a week in the US and having stayed in Washington and Manhattan, it was the day we were heading over the river to experience a bit more of Brooklyn, but as seems to always be the case in the heart of New York, there is always something else to do before you leave.

It was sad to leave a room with such an awesome view. Even the legally required tall building water tanks looked pretty from our window.

But we pulled ourselves away, checked out and left our bags to collect later then ventured out to have lunch in Grand Central Terminal. I wasn't impressed with the food at Juniors but I was with the closer look at what is a really grand building. 

We even had a go at whispering in the whispering gallery which was good fun and did our own 'printed off the internet' walking tour.

What wasn't so fun was visiting the public toilets to take a leak. I was met by what can only be described as a naked old dude. The US sure has a major homeless problem, and amongst the business men and tourists were folks who seemingly have to go through the indignity of washing in the sinks of public conveniences. 

Norngirl has a much more detailed report of this half a day if you'd like to know the ins and outs but suffice to say that we fitted plenty into a few hours.

After we'd searched for some hard to find candy for a present, we admired the Chrysler Building a bit as it's Norngirls favourite skyscraper and rather pretty.

The top of it especially as it does tend to hide behind the other buildings somewhat.

Next we had a look around the museum part of the New York Public Library which was full of all sorts of random artefacts from recent history.

After that it was the trek back to the hotel via Bryant Park and it's tall neighbours.

Though we were still to do plenty of subway riding back and fourth, with bags collected and in hand, we set off to the next hotel. Next stop, Brooklyn.

Walking around Washington DC

After an evening of the unexpected on day 1 in Washington DC, day 2 of our visit started off the same way but ended nicely.

So following a good sleep in a bed that didn't bend my spine in strange places (unlike our one at home that does), I woke up as if I'd got up at lunchtime. My body clock likes going to this time zone, it's the only time I can get up at 7.30am and feel like I assume most 'morning' people do *shakes fist at morning people*.

With me wide strangely awake and a little hyper, and Norngirl not so much so (caffeine hadn't yet kicked in), we spent the next half an hour or more stood waiting on a bus. This was getting to be an all too familiar ordeal. Eventually it came and it took us within sight of the route it had taken the night before... only to then be caught in a one way system that circumvented the place we wanted to be. Realising this, we got off at the nearest available stop - by the agricultural department - we wanted to be outside the old Post Office, ah well. So we made our way across the mall and had a look at the Washington Monument.

We knew where we were going but stopped to check the sign for later to see which of the buildings was the museum we were going to. Before we'd chance, we were approached by a guy who was trying to sell free maps (one of which we already had) to tourists. This seemed to be a big thing in Washington DC, there were an awful lot of homeless people and it seems their main source of income is anyone who looks like a tourist. As bad as it feels to say no to someone trying their best to emotionally manipulate you into buying something you don't need nor want, we did say no thanks and got the 'ah you didn't do anything wrong' guilt spiel. I tend not to give money to homeless people. It might sound harsh but in the UK I put money into official charity boxes instead where it might be spent on food and shelter and not on the cigarettes and alcohol that plenty of homeless folks seem to have on their person. At least that way the money can be used constructively to help even if it doesn't address the immediate needs or wants of a person on that individual day.

All that aside, we made our way along the path past another homeless person who was wandering the lawn who shouted something at us, the other few tourists or another homeless guy that was indecipherable that didn't sound friendly. We quickly moved on to find our way to the Old Post Office.

We had planned to go up the tower to take a look but the place was deserted and by the time we found a sign stating which entrance to use, we were already running behind schedule so gave it a miss. Afterall, we didn't want to be towed for idling... in this usually warm winter it just wasn't cold enough for us to stay there for long.

Instead we walked past the FBI building where a very enthusiastic lady from out of state sung the praises of Washington and told us how she'd been up the old post office tower before... at least someone was having a good time in this city!

Next we found civilisation as we walked past Ford's Theatre. Norngirl was amazed that I didn't know the reference as to why it was an infamous location, ah well, I knew a matter of seconds afterwards that it was the theatre where Abe Lincoln was assassinated in 1865.

The streets were still quiet but we soon discovered the population of Washington DC appeared to be having brunch. So we joined them and had brunch.

It was a quick brunch though for our itinerary had us down to be at the Verizon Centre to watch the Boston Bruins Vs Washington Capitals. I'll be putting together a separate post on our 3 hockey games from the trip (so I'll put a link here once I post it near the end) but for now, here is the cool inside of the Verizon Centre, a cool place to watch hockey!

Finally having found something happy to do we were in better spirits and walked down the hill to the mall where we saw a few more sights along the way.

Sights like this place that I can't find the name of and that I didn't know what I was looking at at the time...

And the Capitol Building... from this angle, nestled in a construction site.

Our destination was the Smithsonian Institution National Air and Space Museum, the one with this big piece of modern art outside it that reminded me of the road system in this city.

And here is me taking a photo of the national mall through the reflection of it in the windows of the museum.

The National Air and Space Museum was awesome, I especially liked the space exhibits. I could have stayed in there the best part of the day but we only had a couple of hours until it closed. From seeing yourself through a live thermal heat camera to a simulation of a NASA moon landing there was plenty to see and do.

There seems to be something about ice hockey and museums that makes for a fun day - like our awesome day in 2010.

After leaving the museum it was getting on a bit and the sun was starting to set.

The evenings entertainment for us was a monuments by moonlight trolley bus tour but to get to Union station we had 2 buses to catch - we waited for 5 minutes before opting to walk it to just catch the 2nd of the two buses and we walked up to Chinatown. Hard to miss Chinatown in Washington DC, the start of it looks like this:

In that time, our bus didn't pass us so it was a good choice. It wasn't such a good choice to leave that bus stop after 10 minutes and walk to the station. Our bus went past us about half way. Ah well, at least we knew we'd get there on time + the place looked pretty in the twilight of a cloudy dusk and into the dark of the late evening, so walking, although bad for Norngirls hip, was a nice way to see the city a bit more.

Anyway, before too long, there we were at Union Station and in time for our tour with time to grab some food in the station's food court.

Washington had grown on me a little but there was still much to see that day, albeit in the dark... on the Monuments By Moonlight Tour...

End of April - A quick flash back

So back at the end of April and it was plenty of trips to the gym and walking past St Anne's Catherdal, sometimes the view was better than others and this was one of the better occasions on the 19th.

Soon after, my new camera arrived and with it the chance to take a picture of the restraunt that was called Hooligan the first time we visited it. It is now called Made in Belfast Cathedral Quarter. The fish finger sandwich was relegated to the lunch menu and I really wasn't impressed with the veg curry I had on another visit (portions had shrunken too) but we did try the other Made in Belfast before the Irish Cup final in may and liked that one a lot so will give the MID Cathedral Quarter another chance to impress again another time.

On the 21st there was time for some photos of St Anne's Square as I got playing with my camera's new fancy features some more on another trip to the gym.

On the 22nd the Victoria Square cut out people were reminding me I needed to buy stuff for our holiday in May... like sun cream and some new swim shorts. Though I didn't buy anything from this particular shopping centre in the end. Garments shouldn't cost more than cameras, that's all I'm saying.

The plants on the window sill were still enjoying the warm days and gave me some chance to see what the macro ability of the magical picture device was like.

Then on the 23rd, Crusaders played at Seaview for the last home game of the season and with a 3-1 victory over Portadown secured 2nd place in the league.

This is the last game Seaview would look like this with the terracing at each end of the pitch for construction work was already well under way to remove the terracing and put in place 2 new stands and facilities. Good times!

That Sunday on the 24th, the sun was still out and in our garden of Dandelions, the local wildlife was at work pollenating the pretty army of weeds. Little did they know Norngirl was going to soon put a bottle of herbicide to work... muwhahahahahahahahaha.

The 24th was also know as Easter Sunday and as such we headed to visit the family and Norngirl's sister made this awesome cake of a bloody nosed Easter rabbit.

There was still time before the end of the month for the trip out on Easter Monday to Tollymore Forest Park and Newcastle as well as another walk around the Cave Hill on the 30th.

The Brooklyn Bridge

Am I alone in this? I don't know about everyone else but I always find it quite surreal to go somewhere that I've seen so often but never physically visited. The Brooklyn Bridge was one of those places.

The bridge itself must be up there as one of the most pictured bridges in the world. It has been featured in many TV shows, numerous movies, books and magazines and beyond this, it even has a song or two in its honour! Thankfully, we were lucky enough to have made it there in real life to experience it for ourselves. We had planned into our trip to take a wee walk across the East River and on our 6th day in New York, we had our chance. After some breakfast that morning we ventured to the edge of Brooklyn. We came above ground at High St subway station before crossing the leafy Cadman Plaza and climbing the stairs onto the pedestrian on-ramp of the Brooklyn Bridge. The bridge itself is elegant with its towers built in a Gothic style. In front of us as we looked forwards was a long expanse of path with splendid arches on the horizon.

The pedestrianised walkway (or the Brooklyn Bridge Promenade), runs above the 6 lanes of traffic (3 lanes each way) on the lower deck and is itself split into two lanes, one for pedestrians and the other for cyclists. Free to roam, there was even quite a view to take in on either side of the on-ramp. To the North of us was the Manhattan Bridge.

To the side of us at the start of the bridge were buildings which anywhere else would be buildings of note, however across the East River at the other side of the bridge, buildings twice their height or more stood tall awaiting our arrival.

We walked at a gentle incline until the cables of this suspension bridge caught us in their web, leading us past scenes you'll likely have come across before and passed us through its first arches.

I'm unsure if they are usually there but at the time we were crossing the bridge, on its east end there were construction/restoration like protective sheets and metal barriers each side of the promenade, though these disappeared further along. When walking on the path it's certainly best to stick to the left and on the pedestrian side because the cyclists sneak up on you at some speed.

The view was hazy but still quite spectacular of the Manhattan skyline, especially from the focal points around the limestone and granite towers.

At these points there were also plaques commemorating the structure and also boards describing the buildings which seem to huddle to fill the horizon of the financial district of Manhattan.

In the distance, as with almost everywhere in NYC, the Empire State Building could be seen. This time though it was souvenir sized, though I'm sure on a clear day it would make a picture postcard scene.

At the towers of the bridge you can look down at the traffic below and at the end of the bridge, peer back at angles you're unlikely to see in a film or in a magazine.

The bridge also seemed a handy perch for the local wildlife such as these starlings.

On the downward slope to exit the bridge, we came across a group of people who were making the most of a photographic opportunity to look like victims at a crime scene which made us laugh. Then the buildings in front of us really started to loom. It's hard not to look up when you're presented with this sort of view but thankfully we didn't get mowed down by any speed-happy cyclists and could take in the towering skyline once more.

Out in the river there was a boat circling another, at first I thought it might be a drugs bust like in the movies but as it was it seemed to just be someone having some fun as they zoomed off afterwards.

By the end, the initial surreal feeling (which was somewhat like going on set of a TV show) subsided. It was a nice walk for us and the bridge is quite a sight even in the age of massive steel structures like the Humber Bridge in Yorkshire (which has shared the honour of world's longest suspension bridge at one time in its history). The views from the walkway are worth the trip alone and the bridge itself is quite an amazing construction given the date it was built (back in the 1880s). The best thing about walking or cycling it too is that it is totally free. Like the Staten Island ferry and Central Park, I'd go so far as to say it is a must if you have some time to spare. It's certainly 45 minutes that will stay long in my memory.