Sights, Sites & More!

What can I say? I love this city! I love how green it is, with every inch of free space teeming with plants and parks. From rooftops to canopies to the tiny park across from the hotel with a waterfall drowning out the sounds of the city. It is truly a remarkable city.

Day one saw a trip to the newly opened High Line which was gorgeous. A beautiful reclaimation of space that is already visibly seeing the surrounding areas clean up.

Walking through Chelsea it was great to see the different buildings and the variations in their architecture.

It was a reasonably clear day so it was off to the Staten Island Ferry for my first glimpse of the Statue of Liberty. The tours up to the crown have sold out till September but it was nice to see her from the water.

A quick trip down to Wall Street to check out the Stock Exchange and it was time to see my first show on Broadway which was The Little Mermaid which was fun.

Since then I've seen West Side Story which I can only describe as amazing and 9 to 5 which I really enjoyed against my expectations.

Spotted my first squirrel in NY yesterday and had many failed attempts to capture this on film. Made up for this by going to a camera/electronics/cd store to browse. Came out lightly with only two CDs.

Have also discovered that mixed drinks are much stronger over here. Will bear that in mind for the next time I'm out.

Toured Radio City Music Hall and was blown away by the architecture, the detail that went into the restoration and the stage lifts and just the whole place was pretty incredible. Again, there are many photos.

I spent the evening exploring Times Square, trying to become familiar with the theatres, their locations and what was playing where. Not sure how successful that was... Walked along until I caught my first glimpse of Central Park where I took a mini bike-cab tour of the western side of the park. I was hoping to get a ticket to the final Shakespeare in the Park performance but it was not to be.

Tomorrow the crazy run of museums begins!

Vegas Baby!

It's amazing how much we rely on the internet nowadays... Four nights in Vegas largely without internet gave the illusion of freedom from the everyday and holiday mode kicked in!

Arrived in Vegas on 5th July at around 10:30pm (local time) and headed straight to TI to drop off bags before heading for a quick look at the Strip. As is tradition, ice cream must be eaten upon arrival in a new location. Cue Ben & Jerry's. Watched a couple of the short shows at the Lake of Dreams at the Wynn before watching the Sirens of TI from across the road.


Black out curtains are wonderful things. Slept in on the 6th before heading out for the first attempt to make it down the Strip. Managed to get most of the way down the strip but had a slow, snap happy, start with the Venetian before moving on to see the Wynn, Palazzo, Bellagio (fountains), Paris, Miracle Mile Shops (skip the fountain shows), Coca Cola World, MGM Grand (cute lioness asleep at the top of a waterfall, didn't take a photo for some reason). Took many photos of umbrellas (Palazzo) and hot air balloons (Bellagio). Saw my first Cirque show, Mystère at TI and loved it. Straight off to the next show, La Reve at the Wynn. What can I say, I do love a good water show and it was stunning.

Day 2 in Vegas started the day with the breakfast buffet at TI then headed off down the Strip again doing the interior of some of the aforementioned casinos. More balloon photos. Was impressed by the curved escalators in Caesar's Forum Shops. More umbrella photos. Had around exterior of Paris & around New York, New York. Must be time to see a show right? Zumanity was very pretty!

Day 3 booked an express tour to Hoover Dam. "Won" $1.50 from the vending machine I bought snacks from. Many photos at the Dam. Then took a helicopter flight over Hoover Dam and boy was it windy up there! Back at the Strip was M&M happy at M&M's World before having another look at MGM Grand, New York, New York and making it down for a quick look at Excalibur, Luxor and Mandalay Bay before hightailing it back to Luxor to see Believe which was um... yeah. Then off to MGM Grand to see Ka which was AMAZING! When in Vegas how do you not play slots at least once? Managed to come out a whole $7 (give or take a few cents) on top. Decided to cash out while I was ahead. Ha!

9th July was a travel day. Check out at noon off to the airport to head to NY where I am at the moment. Loved Vegas but am very excited to be in NY as is demonstrated by my waking up at 6:30am having gone to sleep at 3:30am. Wee!

Signing off now to go see the city, and possibly purchase a giant bag of Reeces pieces...

Where'd November go?

Feeling rather guilty about the lack of novel writing that has taken place thus far... haven't really gotten much further on paper with my novel... thinking 10,000 is looking good for this weekend's goal...

Work is great. Nice and busy (hence very little novel writing). Gene had to sign a confidentiality form so that he can come to my Christmas party. How cute!

Tassie was great. We're referring to the trip as the Mini-Golf PGA weekend. Lots of mini golf...

Okay. Must make dinner now and get back to the holiday season gift making (which is the other reason for the lack of novel writing... figure I can always write the novel throughout the next year but have only 5 weeks? before I don't get a social life).

Laughter may be the best medicine...

... but sleep-ins must come a pretty close second! There's something wonderful about sleeping to the late hours of 08:56 before you open your eyes to greet the world. There's something even more soothing to the soul which involves rolling over and dozing for another hour after that before finally waking up and leisurely checking your email and booking a three day holiday.

To say that I've had a good day today would be fairly accurate if understated!

I woke up and checked my email. Responded to a email questionaire thingy and then booked a three day holiday to Launceston for Gene and I to enjoy mid-November. Having started to spend money a mere hour after I'd woken up, I discovered the urge to spend more money. Can you tell pay day was recent? Gene and I boldly (or stupidly) brave the new DFO complex that opened a just two days ago. We went, we shopped, we left a bag of shopping - paid for - at the shops. So guess where we're going tomorrow morning?

Having spent some money on clothes (mainly black tech clothes) I arrived home and felt a little bad about the shopping spree but decided to keep spending and fulfil a promise that I made to myself after Wednesday's induction at work of sponsoring a child. I figure that the $1.30 a day it works out to will be better spent on child sponsorship than me buying junk to snack on at the vending machine round the corner from my desk. Plan is the Commonwealth Games Goodwill Partner and it's how I heard of them. They mainly focus on kids and, most importantly for me, have no political or religious affiliations. Definitely check out their site, even if you're not interested in sponsoring a child. It's a great website and lots of fun to play in.

I'm just hanging about the house now, passing time... spending less money... Dad's coming over with Mum for dinner tonight and to drop off our new business cards which is very exciting. I love business cards. Especially after so many people asked for them during Fringe.

I would be heading out to Naomi's housewarming but our car's lights have decided to play funny buggers and I don't really want to drive without lights... Gene's at a bucks night as well so maybe if he's up for taxiing out there later... but who knows! For the record I'd like to say that I'm very sorry about the whole piking thing but know deep down that Naomi would prefer us to be alive than squished in the car.

On that note I'm going to try and call her again to let her know what's happening - or not happening.

Yay for sleep!