Wednesday – New York, and the Dinosaur of Harlem!

This morning we caught the subway to Times Square, to meet up with Rob and Vicky, who had flown in to JFK the previous night.

It was great seeing them both again.  We jumped back on the subway to grab some lunch in Greenwich Village, where we sat in a classic New York pizza place, chomping away at this fine delicacy!

After a good old chin wag over lunch we started walking south down Broadway to take in the Lower Manhattan sights, which included Soho, City Hall, The World Trade Centre and Wall Street.

We reached the Staten Island Ferry Terminal and jumped on the boat, for a scenic ride across to Staten Island.

As we headed out of the Ferry Terminal we got some great views looking back at the New York skyline, and across to the Statue of Liberty.

The return journey was lovely, and as we arrived back in the terminal we all made our way back to our accommodation to change ready for our night out.

We were meeting Matt at the Dinosaur BBQ in Harlem, on arrival we found that the atmosphere was buzzing, and the place was packed.  We had fun catching up whilst sipping some New York ales and waiting for a table.

When we were sat for dinner the choice on the menu was amazing, and we all struggled to choose.

We ended up ordering a mixed platter for all of us to share, which was delicious.  When we had finished we moved back to the bar and the boys started perusing the Karaoke menu, unbeknown to them Claire had put them down for a song.

So, first up was Rob, Ben and Matt singing ‘Barbie Girl’…and then Nicola singing ‘Nobody Does It Better’.  Ben and Matt were then back up singing ‘Green Green Grass of Home’.

As all of these requests were Claire’s doing we thought it was about time she had a go, so up she went with Nicola singing ‘Eternal Flame’ and then ‘Your the One That I Want’!

It was a great night, and lots of fun keeping the locals entertained!

Tuesday – New York, shop til you drop!

We had a much needed lay in this morning, and made the most of Claire’s lovely flat, having a lazy start to the day.  It was also a great opportunity to make friends with the cats!

As it was such a nice day we put on our walking shoes and headed out to have a look around the shops, not before admiring the amazing views from Claire’s living room windows.

We started at Bloomingdales, and worked our way south to downtown…next stop FAO Swartz, so Ben could have a play with the Lego.

We then walked down 5th Avenue to Times Square, where we decided to call it a day and catch the subway back to Claire’s for a night in.

Monday – Chicago to New York

We made the journey back to O’Hare airport this morning, checking in and then going through to departures.

A short wait at the gate and we were boarding the plane and starting our flight to La Guardia in New York.  It was a bumpy but fairly quick flight, and we landed at 3:15pm (loosing 1 hour through time zone change).

Once we had retrieved our bags we caught the bus into Harlem, and not knowing where to get off (as our understanding of the bus driver’s thick New York accent wasn’t good) we followed the crowd to the subway station at 125th street.  We stood out in this area, and couldn’t feel anymore out of place!

We then caught the subway to Claire’s street, sitting in the garden next to her apartment until she came home from work.  Her apartment is a couple of blocks back from Central Park on the Upper East Side, with great views downtown from her living room on the 24th floor.  In the distance of the below picture you can just make out the Empire State building.

We dumped our bags in the guest room and went for a lovely evening walk through Central Park, getting our very own personal tour of the sights!

Back at Claire’s apartment we made dinner, and had a good old catch up over a bottle of bubbly and red wine. 

Sunday – Chicago Blues

We paid a visit to Wrigley Field this morning, built in 1914, it is the USA’s oldest National Baseball park.

It is the home to the Chicago Cubs, who haven’t won a championship since 1908.  We wandered around the perimeter of the grounds, admiring the neighbourhood townhouses that had built spectator seating on the roofs of their buildings.

After our little exploration trip north we jumped on the ‘El’ travelling into the city, sharing the journey with hundreds of Chicago Bears fans.  They all got off at our stop, as Soldier Field Stadium is right next to the Field Museum where we were going for the morning.

Founded in 1893 to display items from the World’s Columbian Exposition it is a fascinating museum with many cultural treasures.  Possibly it’s most famous inhabitant was ‘Sue’ a tyrannosaurus rex, the largest, most complete and best preserved T-Rex in the world.

We spent the morning looking around the rest of the exhibits and then caught the ‘El’ back to the stop near the hostel, walking the short distance to Lincoln Park Zoo.

Established in 1868 it is still one of the last zoos in the country to not charge admission.  We wandered around the grounds, seeing the large collection of animals they had on show.

We walked back to the hostel when the zoo closed at 5pm and had a couple of hours chilling out.

As it was our last night in Chicago, we saved the best for last…the trip would not be complete without a night out at the best Blues joint in town!

We took a walk to Kingston Mines, where Sunday night started with an open stage.  We settled in with a couple of beers, and their famous ‘wings’!

The host Linsey Alexander called out peoples names, who then took to the stage playing their instruments, in a jamming session.  It was great to watch, some artists were obviously better than others!

At 10pm he then took to the stage with his band, it was a great to watch and listen.

Once the set was finished everyone moved to the room next door, where the next band had set up and started performing.

When that set had finished at half past midnight we resisted the urge to move on to another blues club.  Instead we were sensible and headed back to the hostel, we did have an early flight to catch in the morning!

Saturday – Chicago, a busy day!

This morning we caught the ‘El’ to the City and transferred to the bus, where the bus stop had an interesting feature behind it!

We arrived at the Museum of Science and Industry by 9am and went inside to explore what the huge building had to offer.  Ben particularly liked it’s special mail box outside!

Built as the Palace of Fine Arts in 1893, the Museum of Science and Industry is now the only building left from the World’s Columbian Exposition, which marked the 400th Anniversary of Christopher Columbus’ arrival in the New World.

First on the list was the Jim Henson Experience, a special exhibit showcasing the life works and achievements of Henson.

We saw familiar characters like Kermit the Frog, Burt and Ernie, Miss Piggy, Ralph and some Fraggles – little sister Gemma would have loved it!!

The interactive displays in ‘Science and Storms’ were great, and it was great to create our own storms and energy.

The ‘Transportation Gallery’ had a full size retired Boeing 727, Steam Locomotive and a World War II fighter plane.

We thought of Dad Fenton when we looked over the ‘Great Train Story’, a giant model railway that portrayed the train journey from Chicago to Seattle.

 

With only half the exhibits seen we whizzed around the rest…it was hot work!

After watching a film in the giant Omnimax Theatre about ‘The Big Wave, Tahiti with Kelly Slater’ we felt quite sick, as the 5 storey wrap around screen left you feeling quite sea sick.

We caught the bus back to the City centre and got tickets for Wendella Boat Rides, a 90 minute guided tour on the river and lake.

We set off on the river, learning all about the architecture of the impressive structures that make up Chicago’s heart.

We then went to where the river meets the lake, and as we passed through the lock the views back towards the city were amazing.

As we got out onto the lake the views of Navy Pier and the Lighthouse were great, unfortunately as we got further out onto the open water the wind got up.

We made our way back to the lock and ended our journey back at the Wrigley building.  We caught the ‘El’ back to the hostel and had dinner, and put on some warmer clothes in preparation for our night on the pier.

We then made our way back to the City, and walked to the Navy Pier.

Constructed in the early 1900s the pier has been home to several things; first it acted as a pleasure pier, then it was home to the Navy during WWII, next Illinois University took it as an extension to it’s campus, and in the late 90s it was returned to a pleasure pier.

We walked the full length of the pier, getting great views of the skyline at night.

 

We then went on the Wave Swinger, being lifted 14ft into the air and spun at speed until our heads started spinning!

Next was a ride on the 15 storey high Ferris Wheel, where we got amazing views of the City, just a shame Nicola didn’t feel too comfortable…again, give her a skydive any day!

Before heading back to the hostel we watched the excellent Halloween firework show that the pier put on every Saturday night in October.  With accompanying Halloween themed music it was a great end to a busy day!